CandyCoatedCactus

   As Knoll descended out of the mountains, she was grateful for the warmer weather.  She supposed she could phase out to avoid the inconveniences of the physical world, but she couldn’t do so for long.  And besides, she enjoyed feeling of the grass below her feet as she walked.  It was rhythmic and gentle and made her feel connected with the earth.     The grasses gave way to spruce saplings, quaking aspen and lodgepole pine.   Off in the distance she heard a persistent tapping.  She headed for the sound and found a strange sight: a stone the size of an apple was hurtling itself at the side of a shallow pit.  It would get up of its o

    Knoll crested the hill with a sigh.  She had set her sights on this spot hours ago.  Juniper trees didn’t generally grow on the peaks, and she hoped it may have been a waypoint like the ones Mother had told her about in the conservatory.  Now that she was here, she didn’t see anything of note.  It was the same as so many sage covered sandy peaks she had seen before, offering a wide view of the surrounding countryside and nothing more.  This business of following her feet was wearing on her soul.  She was lost and alone, now more than ever.    The meadowlark below her sang out in joy at the rising sun.  Knoll cast about search

   Knoll dragged her turf-laden tail behind her as she followed the creek.  Stretching her legs was uncomfortable at first, but she had settled into a slow even pace.  A herd of deer stood in perfect stillness on a slope, watching her tail drag through the grass.  When she got too close, they darted up the hill and out of sight.  Knoll frowned in frustration.  She felt a strange urge to follow them, but she wasn’t sure why.  She put those thoughts aside and continued to follow the creek as Mother had recommended.    She came upon a patch of the creek that was frozen solid.  There was a perfectly round white disk sitting on the ice, lik

    For the first time in a long time, she was waking up.  A meadowlark sang out his long descending song.  Dairy cattle walked past the creek fat with snowmelt, heading to the barn for milking.   A rooster crowed out a proud call, a fog horn compared to the meadowlark’s flute.  A man shook a can of oats to call in the horses.  The creaky old door to the chicken coop was opened.  Soon enough the hens made their way to her back, scratching through the soil looking for grubs.  She didn’t have grubs on her back when she fell asleep, but she could sense them there now.    She sighed the deep sigh of those just waking.  She didn’

    As she trotted away from her forest, Rice felt a weight lifting from her.  It had been too long since she had ventured away from the cave.  Here in the open air the scents were fresh and new.  The meadow grasses rose up around her, seed heads nodding in the wind.  The ground sloped up until suddenly the it disappeared altogether.  She sprang back from the cliff face, and then crept forward on her belly to admire the view.  The river below rushed by, leaving a shale beach below her carved out of the rock.  She perked her ear tufts out of old habit as something caught her eye.  A glittering white patch covered the rocks on the stoney beach.