Personal Forecast
"I don't think I caught your name?" the patient said as he was checking out. It was the week before Thanksgiving, 3 PM on a Friday, typically a slow time for appointments. Nobody wanted dental work right before the weekend. And with a holiday upcoming,...
Perfect Start
It was the thirty-first day (or evening, more accurately) of December, closing in on midnight. Outside, the rural air was calm and clear but bitterly cold, a faint, otherworldly crescent moon hanging low to the southwest. Inside, resting warmly on the...
Entrance Poll
"Field, if you open that door _one_ more time ... " The harvest mouse, peering into the dark November chill, re-adjusted his muzzle mask and called over his shoulder, "I thought I heard something!" _Like a car, maybe? Like crusaders for democracy,...
The Squirrel Next Door
Arms crossed, Emerson surveyed a field of wheat. In the late-afternoon light, the flat, golden vista bore a similar hue to his fur. The harvest mouse closed his blue eyes, listening to the crop rustle and sway in the breeze. _Is this what the ocean...
Snowed In With You
"It's your week to do the dishes," Petra called from the kitchen. "Don't think I'm gonna do 'em just cause they're pilin' up! I've already started the laundry _and_ I'm going to the store. I'm not bleedin' Cinderella, you know. Even if I am friends...
Standing O
It was Friday, just before noon. "You're all set," Meadow said, handing the patient an appointment card and a complimentary toothbrush. The harvest mouse flashed a golden, bucktoothed smile. "We'll see you in six months!" The patient, an older...
Top to Bottom
Kyler closed his helmet visor. He stared forward, rocking back and forth. Slow, deep breaths. In through the nose, out through the maw. On the count of three: one ... two ... three! The otter launched off the block. He crossed the timing line,...
Happy Golden Days
Meadow, seated on the couch, glanced toward the living room window. The outside world was dark and quiet, heavy with snow. Had been for hours. Big, fluffy flakes tumbled down from heaven like salt from a slow-motion shaker, made visible by the...
Mouse Your House
At eight-o'clock sharp, the network 'primetime' feed starts. "Tomorrow night," the announcer declares, voice dripping with anticipation, "it's an _all-new_ episode of the award-winning hit show **The Capybaras**. They are the chilliest rodents in town...
That's So Us
Summer was in full stride. Barely noon, and the sun, high and mighty, ruled the sky with fiery confidence. A light breeze came from the west, fluffy, white clouds acting as roving islands of shadow (but providing no lasting relief from the...
Side Mission
"Agent 31 ... " Arlet glanced down at her paws. The sleeves of the snow rabbit's fresh uniform were rolled up to her elbows. No sign of the vivid red blood that had abstractly dyed her pristine, white pelt when she'd returned from the lunar surface a...
4.2 - Flying Colors
"So, _then_, I picked up a communique from a pirate ship," Seldovia said, excitement in her voice. Redwing's communications officer gestured with her black paws. "Like, from one to another? They've been using low-band frequencies they _think_ will go...