Norwegian Forest

Getting off the train, I felt a sudden and poignant hit of chilly air. Yeah, it smelled like Switzerland, I reckoned. I looked up the sky, crystal-clear blue with tranquility only found in this northern nation. Lying in front of me was a dark, vast, and old pine tree. I realized immediately the forest was just a few feet away; it’s like walking into a gigantic no man’s land, full of primitive and exotic touches from the Nature…

Dinner appointment at 6 pm, I briskly glanced at my wristwatch: 5:34. Good, I had plenty of time hiking through the mysterious woods. Although it’s only beginning of autumn, I needed to wear a sweater and a windbreaker up here near the fjord. Fjord it was. The beauty of Norway deeply engraved an impressive mark on my mind’s eye.

Passing by a tiny wooden cabin, I noticed there was a wind chime dangling languidly in the façade. What caught me off guard was a fisherman’s half face emerged from the back of windowpanes. The blue bonnet embroidered with red elks stood out in the dim light; I thought I saw a… thanked goodness! It was a paper doll…

Liv told me I should join their “tur” in the forest one of those days. I laughed over it, thinking: Oh no, I would freeze my butt off if I were to stay a night outside in the cold Norwegian forest…

Here I was, walking toward a friend’s house for an unknown and supposedly delicious dinner. My mind raced like a space shuttle, yarning for an adventure. Nevertheless, the paradigm of verb conjugation still lay at the back of my heavy head. Not only must I finish the essay, but also a novel I scheduled to cross the midway. Oh well, the heck! Why couldn’t I just enjoy this giant forest?

6:49 pm just popped up; and I quickened my pace only to see a cherub flying by and the magic wand being held by a fairy giggling down the muddy trek… Wait, wasn’t that from my elementary school days?

Norwegian forest, a mixture of déjà vu and apprehension surreptitiously evoked the sleeping neurons in my exhausted brain. It was in the year of 2000; a year I flew away to embrace a childhood imagination.