The Clearing

The forest finally thinned out into a wide clearing and the open sky greeted them again with its starry gloom. The other side of the clearing dropped into the infinite nothingness of The Howl. On a hill in the center of the clearing, sat an old hulk of a man dressed in carpenter’s overalls. He was hunched over in thought, smoking a corn cob pipe muttering to himself, and it looked like his muscular frame may have been permanently bent in that shape from years of pondering. His skin was black as coal and hair as white as The Cold Moon. The hill was surrounded by tools, pieces of metal and what looked like half a spaceship. Jaquelantern finally let go of the boys hand and urged him to walk to the confused looking man and his wreck