The Big Wild Wood Part I (Non-rhyming sonnet series)

The Big Wild Wood

I

'Come on Scotland!' The little boy calls out.
Scotland, the much beloved bear of Lucas
Slides down the duvet and onto the floor,
'Coming' Scotland cries, as he starts to run.

He grabs his rucksack from the door handle
And leaps into the air... Geronimo,
..through the air, downstairs to Lucas' strong arms.
..'Gotcha' Lucas shouts out confidently.

'So, where are we off to?' Enquires Scotland,
'It's adventure time, my dear bear, let's go!'
Lucas grabs his Ben Ten rucksack and smiles,
as his pal climbs into his coat pocket.

We're having a sleep over! Lucas cried.
'A sleep over?' Scotland exclaimed, 'wow wee!'

II

At pace the pair set off to the wild woods,
singing as they strolled in the morning sun,
both looking forward to their adventure.
Soon they were stood beneath a large signpost.

[ THE BIG WILD WOOD - BEWARE, BEARS EAT PEOPLE! ]
'That sign's new', remarked Lucas nervously.
Scotland wasn't worried in the slightest,
He was a bear after all, why worry?

'I'm here Lucas; no sign can stop our fun!'
Scotland smiled reassuringly at him.
'You are right, my fine bear, let's go for it!'
Bravely Lucas strode on with his best friend.

The sun speared the gold of the woodland floor,
with the gentleness of autumn caress.

III

Lucas was looking for a place to camp,
A safe place in the ground to stay the night;
Somewhere they could make a camp with a fire.
They entered a clearing and looked around.

The pair waded through the long fingered grass.
On the other side the trees were older,
Large oaks, cedars and maple trees stood proud.
'Here' Lucas said, 'beneath this cedar tree.'

Below the tree was a large pre-dug trench
It was full of golden leaves and branches.
An old wartime trench, suspected Lucas.
'Trenches provided soldiers safe shelter.

'And so, my dear bear, safety for us too!'
'Yes Scotland, this is perfect, lets clear it!'

IV

Together they scooped up the bronzed crisp leaves,
Scattering them upon the woodland floor;
It was hot work and the autumn sun glowed,
making the pair warm with fun and effort.

Scotland sat down to rest for a wee while
when all of a sudden he jumped straight up.
'Ouch, what is that?' cried out the alarmed bear.
Lucas inspected the area further.

As he pulled away the leaves, he looked down
and saw an old tarnished brass door handle.
'Wow!' they both chorused. 'What is that there for?'
Quickly they worked, clearing away more leaves.

The area revealed an old wooden door
It certainly hadn't been used in years.

V

Suddenly there was a loud roar, 'What's that?'
They both shrieked. Lucas could see a large bear,
and it was angrily running at them!
'Quick, help me open the door' Lucas cried.

The large door creaked open, revealing steps
leading down to a dark unknown domain.
With no time to think and the bear close now,
They leapt into darkness. Bang! The door slammed.

The darkness was a thick veil all around.
Above the bear was growling at them both.
They could hear and feel the bear pace around,
scratching and snarling in fuming frustration.

BANG, THUMP! The door shook under the bear's weight.
The bear could smell and could taste their blind fear.

VI

Nervously they hugged one another, 'I'm scared'
Scotland whimpered, 'that bear sure is angry!'
'What are we going to do now? We're stuck!'
'Don't worry Scotland, we can work this out!'

Lucas took off his rucksack and rummaged.
'Yes, here it is!' Light poured out of a torch.
The darkness transformed to a murky haze.
They looked around, surveying the unknown.

The staircase led up to the trench's door,
Where the bear was heard pacing and sniffing.
Scotland held tightly to Lucas' jacket.
Slowly Lucas walked away from the stairs.

There were earth walls with hanging root tendrils
..further on a door, but a door to where?

VII

The pair made their way to the distant door.
Lucas twisted the cold metal handle
and pushed hard. The rusty hinges complained,
It must have been years since they had been used.

Lucas shone his torch around this new room.
There were tables in this room, and a cage?
As the torch light shone through the cage bars
Lucas and Scotland could see four bear cubs.

All four were shaking and crying in fear.
The cage was dirty and it smelt awful.
'We have to help them!' Scotland cried out loud.
He jumped off Lucas and climbed through the bars.

The bears cowered away from Scotland's reach
'Don't worry little bears, I'm one of you!'

VIII

The cubs looked at Scotland up and then down.
It was true he did look a lot like them.
But then they looked at Lucas warily.
He was not like them? He was different.

He was like someone they were frightened of
The bears shook from the fearsome memory.
This quickly disappeared when Lucas smiled
No one with a smile like that could be bad.

Lucas rummaged deep into his rucksack
and pulled out some bread for the hungry cubs.
They devoured it in seconds. 'Poor starved bears!'
Scotland exclaimed. 'Now we have to free you!'

Suddenly there was a crash. 'What was that?'
The cubs cried, 'he's coming!' Loud footsteps loomed..

IX

'Quiet little cubs, we need to hide, be brave!'
Scotland hissed and hid himself with Lucas
In came a large man. Scotland peered at him.
He had a long black beard and mean dark eyes.

As he walked in the cubs whimpered out loud.
'Shut up!' He spat as he sat himself down.
He then emptied the sack he had with him.
There was enough food to feed an army.

Chicken drumsticks, pies, pizzas, bread and drinks..
..surely he would never eat all of that?
whispered Lucas. But eat it all, he did!
It was worse than watching greedy pigs eat.

This feast was washed down with buckets of beer.
He belched, farted and yawned, then closed his eyes.

X

As he snored, Lucas and Scotland crept out.
On the man's belt there were a bunch of keys.
Surely the cage keys were on that bunch?
Carefully, Lucas tried to unhook the keys.

..Slowly, he pulled the keys, carefully, slowly..
..then the man coughed and turned, the keys remained
In Lucas' hand, 'that was close!' he confessed.
Right, let's free those bears and get out of here.

They unlocked the cage and freed the scared cubs.
'Quickly!' urged Lucas, lets get out of here.
We don't want Sleeping Beauty to wake up.
They all hurried towards the other door.

Lucas opened the door for all to leave
But then Sleeping Beauty started to wake.

M. Moran
21.12.08

I wrote this for my son, Lucas. It is wrapped up in a folder, along with accompanied pictures waiting for his first read on Christmas day. (I hope he likes it!)

There is more to this story, so if there is enough interest I will post part II