Member-only story
Short & Weird Writing Contest
The Spinster and the Wild Man
“I’ll call you Woody for short,” it suited him in more ways than one!
At fifty-five, Lorna — the village spinster — left teaching and began her first novel inspired by folklore. The residents of Little Waters found this hilarious.
“Romance, is it, Lorna?” laughed the butcher.
“Not unless you count the mutilated sheep,” she smirked.
Her research had been spurred on by local carnage. A dismembered ewe, three dead cats and an enormous footprint by the stream. At the library she unearthed references to a wild man (woodwose) who apparently once inhabited the dense forests. The farmers organised night watches. The villagers imposed a curfew.
Lorna found him at dusk. He stood eight feet tall, covered in matted hair — or was it fur? His lips stained with blood, which wasn’t a fashion statement.
Rather than screaming she noticed his eyes. Bewildered and lonely. She could relate. “Oh, you poor thing.”
He howled at the memory of progress driving him down from the woods to the outskirts of her neighbourhood.
Lorna offered him the sandwich. He ate it, tin foil and all.
