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The WoodCarver by Elad Nostaw
He was a quiet man. He hardly ever spoke but the town's people were used to his way. He was thought of, as quiet but harmless, and well liked. He carved wooden figures for people and was quite an artist. Each little character was full of detail and had love in every piece; he sold them really cheap too. People bought them by the score but since he enjoyed his work so much, he felt guilty asking a lot for them. It was almost criminal, to him, to receive money for something he enjoyed so much. The counter side though was that he had made a meager living doing it. It supported him just fine but one day he had married, and he needed more to support his new wife. He did raise his prices somewhat, and people bought them by the score nevertheless and that was enough for him. It brought his standard of living up, enough to put them back to where he was before he got married. It was a good life for him: he loved seeing the looks in people's eyes when they asked how much, and when he replied, they could never believe it. His work was famous for a hundred miles around him, and, in the days when cars were few, that was saying quite a bit. After a few years his wife started to bug him though. She'd say: "Don't sell them that for that! Ask this and raise the price some. I can always use a new hat." He did for a while but she was greedy. She kept wanting more. It was never enough! His business began to fall off and suffer but his wife was unyielding. "More! More! More!" she cried. It began fights at home. As a matter of fact, it caused lots of fights: to the point where he had wished he hadn't married her, and he began to retreat into his work, more and more. Working and working gave him an escape from a situation that he hated being in: his work was no longer fun to him. He hated it, because it wasn't for the art anymore, it was for HER! He decided to start a project to get back to his art and he thought; 'I will make this the grandest project that I have ever done'. No expense was spared, and his greedy wife went along with it because she knew his worth. She knew they d get back every penny of it. He closed off his shop to her while he worked long hours on it. Every night he would lock himself away in the basement, and work late into the night. Oh! She asked to see it all right, but he just told her she was involved and he didn't want to ruin her surprise. This delighted her to no end, as she thought that he must have her carved in it somehow, and they would get rich from it, or, at the least, make a great deal of money. The longer he worked on it, the more curious she got. She began sneaking around, to find a way in, while he was away but it was kept locked up tight as a barrel! One day she spied thru the basement window. She couldn't tell what it was but she could see that it was at least seven feet high. 'Oh my!' she exclaimed, as she thought of the money. At supper, that night, she asked. "You've been working on that for months Claude, when do I get to see it?" "Soon," he said, "it's almost ready to be stained. It's a life-size figure, and I think it's the best I've ever done!" She was impressed and looked at him, thinking of all the things they could buy with the money. The next day he invited her down to see his finished product. They both walked down the stairs into the basement and there it was! Hidden under a sheet, as if it was some sort of Paris Art Exhibition. She said. "Claude, hurry and pull the sheet from it." He replied "No, my dear! You do the honors." Her hands shook with excitement as they moved towards her pot of gold. She grabbed the sheet and pulled it away and, as she did, the expression on her face turned from excited glee to sheer horror!. She turned to Claude and just as she did his mighty axe collapsed her skull. She fell to the ground, the axe still buried deeply in her head. Claude calmly walked away. Some say he went to St Louis: no one ever knew for sure. Most people think he killed himself by jumping off the waterfall, behind his place. The river washes into the mighty Mississippi and you might never find a body in there. In any case, he disappeared from view and was never seen again and all the wooden figures he did became art treasures overnight. Today they are still worth ever so much, but the one that has caught 'the Art World' by storm is his life-size one. It is about 7 feet tall, done in red teakwood. It depicts a large man and he is swinging a big axe, down at --- a woman, his wife, on the ground before him. They say the little stains on it are her authentic blood. In any case, what makes it so popular is its life-like smile. It's even called, what else: "The Smile"! The End |
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The author can be contacted at: MechanizedGodz@aol.com |