RIP Story: June 28th, 2024

Jean and Antoine stood in their favorite field. The air was warm, but the last autumn winds brought a chill. Thir fur coats kept them warm, but they knew this would be the last they’d see of each other for a while.

This has been the first year Jean and Antoine had been on their own from the end of one winter and into the next one. Jean spent the days eating the freshest forest greens while looking into the sky for winged claws. Antoine had found the perfect storage location for his winter and spent the sunniest parts of the day gathering food for the coming winter. A winter that felt so far away at the time, but now, the friends stood here, in their favorite field, delaying their departure.

Jean would be spending most of the winter hiding underground. Antoine had his trees and stored food to keep him fed through the winter.

“Do you think that giant fish is still in the river?” Jean asked.

They had spent an afternoon in the peak of summer but the river. Antoine spotted a giant trout in the water. Bugs were falling onto the water’s surface and Jean watched as each bug was swallowed up by underneath the surface.

“Would you stay in one spot of a long rover for that long?” Antoine asked in return.

“Maybe we can go back in the spring?” Jean replied.

The song of the wind played against the colorful leaves. “Will we stay in one spot a long time?” Antoine asked.

Jean was quiet for longer than Antoine had hoped. “The river helps the fish move. I don’t want to go anywhere else. Where else would we go?”

Antoine’s tail flicked with relief. “Yeah, a tree is a tree is a tree, right?”

Jean answered with silence as the song of the wind played its tune.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.

EPILOGUE: Ugh, I never felt the story arc in this one. I placed two furry friends in a forest and didn’t know where to take them beyond the moment. Sometimes stories are the moment. That will be something to explore at another time. How much of a story can be written that covers seconds in real-time? An effort was made, see you tomorrow.