Stink Bug – Chapter 5
I stared closely at the white cliff wall as I climbed down. It was crystalline and beautiful, like snowflakes compressed together. As I moved downward, different crystal surfaces lit up and twinkled in...
View ArticleThey look like burrowing owls…
Stink Bug Saturday. It’s become a regular thing on this blog. I write a chapter every week to continue the story that started with a silly photo of a stink bug in my home office quite literally...
View ArticleMephitic
I’m part of a Facebook group associated with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The group is all the WriMos from the Rochester, New York region. NaNoWriMo is a November thing, but writers write...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 6
The sun was low on the horizon and the shadows very long when we reached the stand of trees. It was dark in there, all shadows and flashes from the few remaining streams of light able to penetrate the...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 7
I walked a few paces behind K’eel. He – she – kept looking back at me, fluttering her wings with each hop. The sounds of squawking and clucking floated toward me, growing louder with each step. The...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 8
T’r’bl swooped down from the trees and landed in the center of the cleared area before me. Flames fluttered in the wind kicked up by her flapping. I ducked to avoid getting dust in my eyes. W’oo’woo...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 9
The entertainment went on like this for nearly an hour. Sometimes only one Vrr’ak’l would be performing, sometimes as many as ten were leaping and flipping in the air in a mad flutter of feathers and...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 10
It started with a sneeze that startled me from my slumber. There was a tickle in my throat and I coughed. The tickle wouldn’t go away, and the cough grew in intensity. I sneezed again. My eyes burned....
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 11
I rolled over. The stiff feather blanket scratched across my chin. I blinked my eyes and was surprised to see that this was already daylight. I heard the familiar trills and clucks of the Vrr’ak’l...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 12
I couldn’t get K’eel nor W’oo’woo to elaborate any further. They were nervous and eager to change the subject. I decided not to press. T’rb’l would explain later, I was sure. K’eel flew off, leaving me...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 13
T’r’bl told her tale: Not so long ago, and yet it seems an eternity, we lived happily as a large tribe of more than one thousand in the foot hills of the T’t’t Mountains. A day’s flight in nearly any …...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 14
I stared at T’r’bl for a long time. She didn’t move, other than the occasional blink in that curious way that birds blink. I broke her stare and scanned the other Vrr’a’kl. They too stared back at me,...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 15
The Vrr’ak’l had dispersed. Tr’b’l had vanished into the canopy. K’eel and W’oo’woo still sat on each side of me, shielding me with their warm feathers. W’oo’woo was clucking quietly to himself,...
View ArticleVrr’ak’l
Today I’m sorting my field equipment for my field season (a month of camping) which starts in about a week. In the process, I’m cleaning up my home office a bit. I was putting some of my old artwork...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 16
K’eel quickly ushered me back under the forest canopy as the sky darkened. There was a flash and a clap of thunder, followed by the rush of water from above. Under the trees, the air grew damp, but we...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 17
V’x was tinkering with her back to us when we approached. She was trilling quietly as she fitted together some carved bits of wood on a large bench in front of her. Her feathers were in complete...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 18
I sat down and waited. K’eel was agitated and groomed her feathers furiously, warbling to herself as she did so. Five minutes passed. My knees were aching, so I got up and walked around. I peeked at...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 19
V’x kept lagging back, heavily favoring her right side. I tried to stay with her, encouraging her to keep up. She would flutter her wings and hop to speed up, but would soon slow again. K’eel squawked...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 20
V’x began: “When we were first here, we were lost. We saw the Keepers, their flying machines and wheeled carts. They marched around the open spaces surrounding the trees. We would try to approach them...
View ArticleStink Bug – Chapter 21
Though I tried more than once to strike up conversation, V’x did not speak again until K’eel returned about an hour later. K’eel carried a bundle that she dropped in the middle of the platform. She...
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