National Adult Literacy Database

October 9, 2006

This week, we have a story written by Arlene Still, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Arlene is a student in the STEP program at The Salvation Army in Winnipeg.

A Story

by Arlene Still

When I was a little girl, I lived in the country and had two little rabbits. One day my grandfather skinned them when my grandmother and me were out. We come home and there was rabbit stew for supper. I went looking for my bunnies, and my grandfather told me they ran into the deep grass and into the bush. They went looking for their mommy and daddy. I started taking walks in the bush to try to find my little bunnies, but I never did find them.

One day I went for a walk in the bush and I saw these little things walking around in the bush. They were hiding behind trees and peeking at me. Out of the corner of my eye I would see a little black shadow running really fast. I called out and asked who they were and there was no reply. I went on with my business and ate some blueberries. Then I started picking pinecones. I went back home and asked my granny about those little people, and she replied “they are little and they come out to play with children.”

The next day I went back into the bush to see if I could catch one of them and bring them home to show my granny. They were just too fast for me to catch. I can still hear the sounds of their Pitter Patter, the rustling of the grass, The sweet odour from the bush, the music of the cricket’s legs rubbing together, the whistling of the wind through the trees blowing the smell of the bears and the deers, the hissing from the snakes in the snake pits, the croaking of the frogs and the howling of the wolves.

There is still time when I want to disappear into the bush where I find a lot of peace, just to sit there and smell all the different smells and hear all the different noises. That’s where I collect all my thoughts in the bush because there's so much peace and relaxation there. I feel more at peace in the bush then I do in the city because there’s nobody there to judge anything I do or say in the bush. I often think of those little people and if I’ll ever see them again.