What’s the plot point you can develop from this photo? You take it anyway you want–humorous, scary, poignant, suspenseful. In the comments, tell me your inspiration. Here’s mine.
*****
Somehow the woods look deader in March than in the fall. Maybe because all the fall color has been washed away in the winter snows. And with the overcast skies threatening spring snow or sleet, the woods appear even deader, if that’s a thing, on the day of the spring equinox.
Hitching the straps of the backpack, I head down the trail. Grandma said The Man with the White Umbrella can always be found on this trail on this day, when the boundary between the two worlds is equal and easy to pass from one to the other.
There he is, up ahead, his white umbrella startling against the lifeless browns and grays.
I break into a jog, my loaded backpack bumping my spine.
I have to reach him. Before he disappears for another six months.
*****
