Thanks to Artur Rosa for permission to use his charmingly whimsical “The Gardeners”!
…Continued from yesterday
Ksdfghjm and Mbvcduytr withdrew
their eyestalks at the same time. But they would not leave their gardens
unprotected. They wrapped their stalks around each other and pressed their eyes
together for fastest communication.
“Agreed!” they both roared. Their
eyestalks whipped back outside just as the steebaughs stampeded out of the
forest into the graffala-covered clearing in front of the cave. They stopped
cold at the sigh of the heavy egg sacs. One, a large male, bared his foretusks
and speared a graffala stem. He tossed it high in surprise when it spurted
purple liquid and screamed a high-pitched squeal. He shook his head, then ran
toward another graffala. That seemed to signal the others to attack the garden
too.
In their frenzy, the steebaughs
did not see the orange eyestalks waving above the twin caves across the
clearing. They did not see the large dark-orange pincers that emerged from the
caves. The UV light immediately began to burn camouflage patterns into the chitinous
shells of the pincers, so they became almost impossible to see as they swept
through the steebaughs' frenzied herd. Soon graffalas' shrieks were matched by
the dying cries of the steebaughs, and their purple fluid mixed with the
steebaughs’ green ichor.
The burning pincers withdrew into
the caves. Ksdfghjm and Mbvcduytr rested silently, in agony. But they dared not
call for help, or risk further damage to their prize gardens. Finally, the sun
set. Dark figures emerged from the caves, sqeezing out of holes usually left
for eyestalks alone. Ksdfghjm surveyed the clearing, then dipped his pincer
into a pool of green ichor.
“Oh, sweet relief,” he breathed.
Mbvcduytr was busily doing the same. Once their wounds were treated, they began
to pull away the steebaughs’ remains from the graffala garden. They worked in
grim tandem, for once not competing with every breath. But as they slid back
into the caverns, loaded with sweet steebaugh meat, Mbvcduytr pushed ahead,
muttering, “I see your largest grafalla sacs were damaged. Too bad. Looks like
I will have the better harvest again this sun.”
Ksdfghjm didn’t hesitate as his
rear pincer lashed out of the cave and sliced across Mbvcduytr’s remaining
sacs. He said nothing as they made their way into the cavern depths.
Dogs in house
|
Houdini, Brindle
|
Music
|
Allegro Classical
Fall 2011 Sampler
|
Time writing:
|
~45 minutes
|
September word
count:
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