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+---
+title: Options
+genre: prose
+
+id: options
+toc: "Options"
+
+project:
+    title: "Buildings out of air: Paul in the Woods"
+    class: paul
+    order: 26
+    next:
+    - title: Stagnant
+      link: stagnant
+    - title: Paul
+      link: paul
+    prev:
+    - title: Swear
+      link: swear
+    - title: Notes
+      link: notes
+...
+
+What did he do when he was in the woods?
+Where did he go?
+Was there always one spot, one clearing deep within the heart of them, that he would visit?
+Did he talk to the trees or only to himself?
+When he chopped down trees, did he leave them there to rot in the quiet or did he drag them out of the woods, behind his Shack, and [dismember them][]?
+Did he use any for firewood, or did the pieces rot behind his Shack, forgotten?
+When was the last time he built any furniture?
+Did he get any better at building it or did he just quit at some point, let the desire to create fall behind him like a forgotten felled tree?
+
+A tree fell in the forest: did it make a noise?
+Paul typed his thoughts on cards, or wrote them in a book: did anyone read it?
+If anyone did, was his life changed?
+For the better or the worse?
+Did he glance at the mess in the top drawer of his Writing Desk as he cleaned the Shack out long after Paul had quit using it?
+Did he put tools in there or leave it empty?
+[What did he do with the desk?][]
+Did he add it to the pile of rotting wood out back, or did he chop it up for a bonfire with friends, or a cozy fire with his wife and children, or did he take it to the dump three miles away to rot there?
+Are these all the options?
+
+Did Paul ever think about any of this?
+Walking in the woods one afternoon after becoming frustrated with his writing, did he sit on a stump and cry?
+Did he wonder whether he should have made other choices?
+Did he consider quitting smoking?
+
+[dismember them]: weplayedthosegamestoo.html
+[What did he do with the desk?]: finding-the-lion.html