Years ago I read a story by a female author in my American Lit class. It was when we were reading Sarah Orne Jewett and Edith Wharton along with some others. I thought the author was one of the two, actually, but I haven’t found anything like it by them…
Anyway, a woman is outside just before dark, doing so chore a ways from her house. She starts to head back, but there’s a monster (perhaps a demon) in a tree that won’t let her pass. She’s afraid that it’ll swoop down on her, so she waits, unable to think of a way to get by it.
Any idea what I’m thinking of?