November 7, 2011

• Still Winter

  STILL WINTER                        She stood under the sagging limb of a large pine tree and listened. She focused her mind and senses and listened until she filtered out the piercing wind and the occasional crack of a tree limb laden with snow. Finally, her concentration went beyond the sound of snow gently settling on the landscape. She stood totally still…..every few moments she would tremble from the cold but it would pass. She could feel the long, slow heart beats deep in her chest. She continued to listen into the bleak surroundings listening for the opportunity that would lead to a kill. She had lost her new born before mid-winter and now it was the freezing heart of the season and she still could not accept the lost. Confusing…..alive and then dead. The cold had killed him. She had mourned a still born from two years ago but this lost was full of life and then the cold came. The invading, merciless chill of nature. She had seen the remains of others resulting from “night death” when the cold was so thick in the lungs that some were unable to breath it out and it froze there in their chest. Dying alone in the dark cold…..confused and then peaceful. She listened. Her eyes closed to the numbing wind. Quiet….concentrating….then a ‘snap’! She opened her eye’s. To her right. Another ‘snap’! She slowly crouched to conceal her profile. Long moments passed. There in the tree line! She slowly made her way across an open area towards the opposite tree line. She stopped every few feet to listen. Halfway across the clearing she saw movement! She moved faster now, her heart pounding and her blood rushing through her body bringing needed warmth to her muscles. She sprang at the very last moment and tore through the sparse bushes and low hanging tree limbs. The doe fell under her impact but regained it’s footing and began to flee, but, she was on the deer just as fast and brought her down with a throat kill. Then she fed.  Later, she laid by the kill and watched the steam rise from the bloody wounds. She laid there not moving. She listened. She focused her mind to all the sounds around her. Soon the wolves would smell the blood and show in numbers to great for her to fight. She listened to the sounds of the still winter and waited. 　   </>

    

  • 11:11 am
  • 8 Comments