Monthly Archives: July 2022

Excerpt from Tales of the Lunatics for #LineByLineTime “Midnight Blues”

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Skyshaker shifted, slowly switching his tail. His head lifted and he inhaled deeply, sifting odors from the cavern air. Moonsinger tilted her head, silently asking what was wrong. He shook his, unable to determine why he was uneasy. The fire was warm, the sand was soft, his belly was full. Why did he feel he needed to be up and hunting?

Moonsinger began to tense up, reading his body language. She jerked, looking over at the opening to the nursery cave. Skyshaker caught his breath as a small weight settled on his front paws. He glanced down to see the two rescued kits. The older had brought his little brother in.

The pack leader bent his head to the little ones. The older stretched up and put his mouth to Skyshaker’s ear. “Watch my brother. Bad ones come. I need to gather our sisters.”

The two adults stared at each other. “Wait with your brother. I’ll go alert the others.” Skyshaker motioned for Moonsinger to protect the little males. She curled herself around them as Skyshaker moved silently to the nursery opening.

He took a deep breath and realized a new scent was on the breeze blowing into the cave through the opening on the outside wall. Bad ones indeed were coming. The air stank of the rogue he had killed his first day and the killers of the boys’ mother and pack. He slid across the room next to the opening and vibrated his throat in the inaudible signal he had trained the females to react to.

The females remembered their training well. Shadows moved without sound, plucking up their assigned kits and climbing the nets on the walls to the ledges above. The nets rose with them, leaving them out of reach of attackers. Skyshaker set himself ready, his fangs covered so they would not shine in the dark.

Excerpt from Project Burning Bush (a work in progress) for #LineByLineTime : “Morning Scene”

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The smell of burning wood and the rustle of movement snapped the four teens into wakefulness. Nita and Harper were on their feet before their eyes were completely open.

Luthor stretched and yawned. “Morning already?” He rubbed his face. “Guess breakfast is up to me and you again, Nita.”

Minji rolled to her back and groaned. “It was not a dream, then? Ow, my back! This ground is far too hard. Perhaps next time I will try the hammock you suggested, Luthor.”

Nita collapsed crosslegged on her silver emergency blanket and grabbed her shoes. “Phew,” she muttered. “Need to do some laundry, but how?”

Harper heaved a sign and reached for his shoes as well. “Laundry, sure. I want a cup of coffee and a breakfast taco, myself. Mom was all ‘that’s unhealthy!’, but Dad always got some for both of us when he took me to school. School, huh. Wonder what Mr. and Mrs. Williams are doing right now?”

Project Burning Bush (WIP) for #LineByLineTime: “Dusk”

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“The sun is close to setting,” Nita pointed out. “We need to find someplace to spend the night. We don’t need to be walking around in the dark, even with flashlights. If anyone is searching for us, we’ll see their lights.”

Minji pointed at a rock wall close by. “That looks like it will make an adequate shelter. If it gets chilly after dark, the rock will radiate heat. We will have our backs protected.”

“Not a good idea,” Luthor disagreed. “That rock will radiate heat all right and all the wildlife, including snakes, will be snuggling up to it.”

The other three teens stared at him. “So what are you suggesting?” Harper demanded. “Build a fort out in a clearing? I don’t think we can do that before dark.”

Luthor rolled his eyes. “Very funny. We need to get up to the top of Enchanted Rock. Fewer snakes, less wildlife, especially predators. Plenty of big boulders to put our backs to and they’ll radiate heat, too. Not to mention we’ll get a better view of the area.”

Nita wrinkled her nose. “I really hate to admit this, but Superman might actually be right.”

Harper groaned, loudly. “You want us to climb a mountain after we’ve been hiking all around it? I’m tired, I’m hungry, and more than a little freaked out! Why can’t we stay down here?”

“Snakes!” Minji snapped and pulled on his arm.

Despite Harper’s grumbling and groaning, the quartet made it to the top of the dome and found a large flat top rock with a lack of snakes. As the light of the sun slowly faded, Luthor pulled a firestarter kit out of one of his many pockets and started a fire with the sticks and branches he had collected during the climb.

Nita curled her lip at the snake Luthor was skewering and found a way to the top of the boulder. “You three can eat that nasty thing,” she told them from above. “I’ll be up here looking for signs of life and eating my sandwich.”

With the coming of true dark a breeze picked up and the teens pulled out their jackets and Luthor dug out several emergency blankets. “I always carry some of these. Habit.”

He was stretching up to offer one to Nita when her hand snapped down and clutched his. “Superman! I see something! It looks like firelight!”