Wood

by Alex Mcdermott:

Climate change. Global warming. Dying polar bears. Mass extinction. You can’t go anywhere without hearing about Man’s damage to the planet. We are killing the Earth. But are we really? We are destroying it. There’s no doubt about that. But killing it? Mother Nature hides her sinister grin as we chug along in our SUVs and consumer culture. Robert Dunbar’s short fiction piece Wood gives us a frightening glimpse of that rictus grin and it doesn’t come smelling like roses.

Dunbar’s descriptive writing is amazing, and as we travel to the edge of town, we feel the decay. Time, economic woes, and a simple lack of care of concern have taken their toll. We feel the seediness in the brick and mortar. But there’s something else there as well. The poison that comes with that brick and mortar. Man’s indelible stamp of destruction that touches the forest just beyond the pavement. Something is wrong. Something… is… very wrong… and the stench of death is on the wind. It crawls into your home while you sit obliviously stuffing yourself with fast food. Your “things” piled around from WalMart will not protect you now.

Wood does have it weak moments. Dunbar’s use of humor in this story does detract from the narrative at certain points. It’s not his strength as a writer and the one-liners fall flat. His skill rests in the details that prickle your skin and cause you to break out in a light sweat. As the tension built, the jokes and wisecracks shifted the tone and threatened to derail the terror train.

Our growing environmental crisis is going to be the most serious problem younger generations face in the coming decades. Mother Earth, however, will not die. We will. Did we create the monsters in the Wood from our pollution and poison? Does it really matter as they devour us and reclaim their territory? Read Wood and be very afraid of your backyard the next time you decide not to recycle.

Wood can be found on Amazon.com.