Recanting Holzhof

early years, The Genesis of enchantment

© Jonathan David Woodyard

Jonathan whose name could not be said by his little sister when she was two years old goes by his family nickname Dondon. He lived twenty years in Franconia, Germany and named his character Holzhof meaning Woodyard in German. Many of the names of people and places in the Holzhof Enchantment are real and their entwined stories have a basis in reality but ultimately the idea of writing a fictional novel appeals the most to me.

~ Jonathan W.

Prologue

It’s not everyone who reflects upon the event of their life much less writes about it, but I felt as though the events of my youth were unique enough to embark on the endeavor of clarifying my life in written word.

fours, waddled forward on his knees behind the volunteer, saying, “this is how you do a takedown.”

What happened next was the demonstration occurring as he said, “sweep the arm and lean on the shoulder” as he swept the minor child’s arm, he fell on the kid’s shoulder with his total weight.

We heard a loud snap, and the volunteer disappeared under the 8th grader giving the demonstration.

No one reacted as the massive 8th grader pushed his large body off the crumpled remains of the volunteer.

About three seconds passed before we all heard a kid squeal, “your arm!” The volunteer appeared to have developed a second elbow in the middle of his right forearm where Gigantor had swept it.

The volunteer let out a blood-curdling scream which cued the coach to reappear. He sent us to the locker room to get dressed, and we spent the rest of class watching the police, firefighters, and paramedics pour into the gym.

And that was the start of my first and only wrestling season. If I remember correctly, I wasn’t very good at it, probably slightly above mediocre.

Is there a lesson to be learned besides not leaving 8th grade boys alone with 6th-grade boys? I don’t know, but

ran up energized and full of adrenaline, having survived our first battle.

We forgot to run to the room with the mats and were laughing about our welts when we entered the room, to which the coach bellowed, “Partner up!” So we did, and did that incorrectly, so the coach paired us off and had us sit down before asking for a volunteer.

The naïve 6th-grade volunteer was jubilant and eager to be the first to wrestle, which we all noticed but ignored. The coach had him get into an essential takedown position on all fours, then summoned his gigantic 8th-grade minion to assume the role for a basic takedown.

As this was happening, the rest of the 8th graders, who had been running stairs ever since the towel fight, started to enter the room. This displeased Coach, and he muttered something about running through basic drills on the volunteer until he returned. He sent the group of runners out of the room, and the door closed behind him.

The remaining 8th grader, who was easy twice the size of pump;pops ngg the 6th-grade volunteer who was still on all