Polite Ultimatum (Story Track #11)

As I strolled through the park grounds on a lovely spring morning an icy chill ran up my spine.

That feeling of being watched, nay stalked clenched my bowels.

Eyes pryed away my outer selfhood and left only my primal core. But no matter where I looked only semi-bucolic normalcy was to be spied.

Then as I reached the front door step I found the note:

Dear Human Fe/male (you all look and smell the same),

The food dispensing machines have been broken for years! Fix them post haste.

Full suet goodness is expected immediately upon your receipt of this message.

Now fill the baskets and back away slowly. We expect your compliance and your kat to be locked safely behind the invisible forcefield by no later than 0800.

In Antici.......
............
Pation,

The Squirrels,  Erm, we mean the Robins!  Yeah. The Robins that's the ticket.

Something Adorable This Way Comes (Story Track #10)

"Of course it's a changeling!" the nurse maid replied. "But it's a might bit cuter than the Lordship's babe. That I'd swear 'pon my mother's grave and before the rack!" she inadvisably exclaimed just as the Master of House rounded the top stair.

Lord Alistair thought to himself: "The drudge is correct. The imposter is much more handsome and better mannered than my brat! Not that truthfulness willl save her from getting the boot. God let the wife not notice!"

And in this revere Alistair went to fetch the good doctor to increase Lady Sylvia's laudanum and then to locate the head butler to sack the uppity nurse maid.

The Clandestine Lives of Furniture (Story Track #9)

When we walked in and turned on the light we didn't expect to see the Seating in a coffee clatch.

We simply admired their lines as they inturn ignored our human intrusion.

With no by our leave the furniture continued their shellacy musings as all of us, man and not, enjoyed the view.

(Photography by John Amplas, used with permission)

Mood Indigo (Story Track #8)

The air stole the chilled breath from my lips.
Racing, the plume lifts in a frothing mass.
A sprint to join it's lover in the heavens.
To entwine its soft azure self with Dawn's rosy glow.

His Character was as Plain as the Bark of His Trunk (Story Track #7)

Freddy was a creep.

All the other oaks avoided him. He was the kind of trunk that drank too deeply and got all grab-assy. He once chucked a nest of baby mice into the underbrush just to see how long it took for their mum to rescue them.

The dryads knew better than to shelter inside Freddy. His bark labeled his character very clearly.

Yep that Red Oak was just an asshole plain and simple.

They See All and Know All (Story Track #6)

The hairs on my neck rose ever so slightly in the foggy morning air.

An uncanny sense of being under surveillance cloaked my mind like a sodden blanket.

But it's obvious that I am utterly alone.

Laughing I think it's not like the hills have eyes!

Ernest in the Rain, an Ernest Chronicle (Story Track #5)

You know perhaps I was a bit too hasty...

Today the Grumpy has become the Serene.

Was it my offerings that soothed his brow?

Did he simply want some time in the spotlight?

Perhaps Ernest simply was taken by a bad spell of the rheumatic yesterday?

I still think his pockets carry treats. Yet I have noticed a lack of squirrels nearby.

He's a puzzle my new acquaintance.

Good day to you fine fellow!