Secret Santa
As was their custom, Flink left the office five minutes after Krister. The malamute's car was waiting round the corner, engine running. Flink darted a look to left and right before opening the front passenger door. Once inside, he pulled off his...
Baby on Board
I could hear crying from the top flat all the way up the three flights of stairs, which is never a good sign. I knocked cautiously, then again more loudly when it became apparent that nobody had heard me. Cate answered the door, five foot ten of pure...
Maple Sugar
The young lioness let out an excited squeal, and her companion turned in the passenger seat to grin at her. They had reached a vast lake, the water so still it made a mirror for the summer sky. A cabin perched on the shore, alongside a jetty with a...
The Countdown
FIVE, brayed the voice of Control, making her ears prick and the fur rise along her spine. A mission FOUR the sake of all furkind, the media had called it. At the boom of THREE she braced in the launch suit, giddy with pure oxygen, and tucked her...
Colliewood & Whine
Rodolfo Volpino (better-known to his adoring fans as Rudolph Volpino, or simply Volpino; like the great doyenne of Colliewood, Lassie herself, he was famous enough to need only one name) sighed and fidgeted in the makeup chair. "Almost done," the...
Freshers’ Week Friend
Sitting on the narrow bed, I performed an inventory of my new home: - Four off-white walls, awaiting posters. - One desk. - One chair. - One bookcase. - One washbasin. - Two suitcases. - Three cardboard boxes, two containing books, one containing...
An Ecstasy of Fumbling
Bentley Pringle ffox was not enjoying himself. Shivering at the side of the pitch as the spectators yelled and stamped their feet around him, he had little interest in the game playing out before his eyes. As the crowd yelled, whooped and waved their...
A Christmas Truce
Just our luck to be in the front line on Christmas Eve. And a colder, wetter, filthier Christmas Eve I had never known, nor hope to again. "Ruddy perishing perishing ruddy...." Barrie muttered. He'd been trying to strike a match for the last...
A Major Calls
We'd have gone anywhere for Captain ffox. The whole bloody lot of us. Anywhere except...well, I won't repeat what Barrie said once. Very crude, that boy. I was worried at first, when I learned I was being transferred to ffox's platoon. He...
Bentley's War
Bentley Pringle ffox was woken by a kiss. He lay with his eyes shut, holding on to the sensation. The rough bristles against his cheek. The taste of tobacco. Gradually, he became aware of dampness seeping in through his...
Northern Lights
Flink's snowmobile bumped over the ruts as he followed Krister's tracks. The vibration made his arms shake and his teeth rattle, and the icy wind stung his cheeks. With every bump he was afraid he'd flip the machine and kill himself. This was supposed...
Christmas with Krister
"Driving home for Christmas, we can wait to see some faces!" Krister sang, tapping the wheel with his paw. Flink peeped sideways at the carolling malamute. In the shimmer of passing headlamps he let his gaze rest on Krister's blunt muzzle, his slight...