"...& i been walkin' a long time, now. down this same path... feels like i been here before. maybe i have, in a dream... anyway. lemme just -- yeah. okay. yeah, it's fine. so i saw this fork in my path. nothin' fancy -- one road went that way, yeah, over there. but i went on the other one. not sure why, 'cept for plain old curiosity, i 'spose. i'd been down that road a time back. well, this other road went on for a ways, windin' and twistin' and just loopin' on, and on. through the forest, sure, where else's it gonna go? yeah, i know it pretty good, lived here my whole life y'know. but for some reason i just... i dunno.
"anyhow, down this path i went. i start somethin' and i finish it, yes i do. after a fair bit i come to a rise in these here woods that i didn't know about afore now. i know, but i ain't a maker - i just been livin' here for a long time. the road took a curve at th'rise and continued down 'longside it. i recall lookin' at the sky - had to be movin' on that night - it was gettin' on but i had some time. damn good thing, too.
"i saw the damndest thing thing. hidden in a little dell were all these kids! they had a little buildin' to sleep in, another one that looked like some sorta church or somesuch, i dunno. they were all out 'n about, dancin' and prancin' all over, singin' strange songs. naw, i didn't catch none o' the words, wasn't too concerned about that at th'time. just didn't recollect hearin' 'em before is all.
"so all these kids, they're singin' and such, an' then they get in a circle. they grab each other's hands and lie down, all at once, still holdin' on to each other, still singin' these weird songs. by now i'm curious as all hell so i creep a mite closer. i still can't rightly figure what happened next.
"from the middle o' the circle, a huge bird up an' flew out! no, damn it, o'course the bird weren't there before! it sorta came into bein' right then and there. ain't never seen anythin' like it. i could see right through it, like it were a ghost or somesuch. by now i was gettin' right confused. why? why the hell you think? the bird was huge! the size of a boxcar at least! it was connected to each o' the children by a separate feather, an' it kept gettin' bigger, an' the feathers kept gettin' longer! right chillin' when you think about it...
"can't rightly say what happened after that -- this man knows when 'nuff's enough. crossed m'self and went on my way, i did. nope, never went back -- didn't feel no need to. i saw what i saw, 'sall. y'see things all the time -- just gotta keep walkin'."
