Chương 3: Water

Splashing himself in the face with cold water, he growls at the damned little squirming shapes that won't be caught by his too slow hands. Bearing his sharp canine teeth at his own reflection he decides to take a break and think of a better way.

'Settle down' he thinks to himself too mad to plan.

'Maybe if I gather some sticks and make a small box and close them inside it?' Getting creative has turned out to be the most fun he's had these last two days searching the forest near this river for any direction back to home hole. He still doesn't know where he is, but he hasn't seen anything dangerous since falling through that strange tree. Small fuzzy things chitter from the canopy above as he searches the forest floor for sticks and some ivy.

Returning to the waters edge with his pile of stuff, he walks over to the shallow spot where he can see those slippery things splashing over rocks. He would have to catch something today. The fruit from that bush he had last night was too sour and he craves some real food. One stick down, one stick across, some ivy here to bind it, and repeat. After a few attempts his project comes together and he has.. well it's not pretty… but it's kind of a box. Oh well either it works or it doesn't.

He lowers the box thing into the water where it seems a few squirmy things cross regularly and waits hovering directly over it incase something goes wrong. After what seems like forever one of the things bounces off the side and he scrambles to smack it into the box and cover it with his whole body. Splayed out over the thing that's almost half his size it rocks his little body back and forth in an effort to escape, but with the sticks and his hands working together it steadily gets tired and slows its thrashing.

Gathering the thing in a hug close to his chest the pup tries to carry it carefully out to the river bank and drop it on the rocky shore. Throwing his hands up in celebration, he jumps and lets out a few "hoop hoop"before realizing how loud he was and quickly stops to stare into the forest for anything that may be searching for a small furry snack. Tho he hadn't seen or heard anything dangerous yet, a shiver crept down his spine when thinking about running for his life just a couple of days ago.

Stolen novel; please report. The squirmy thing flaps its fin, bouncing on the rocks in front of him.

'I need to finish it.' Looking around for a solution he spots a large rock the size of his head. Lifting that thing is the hardest he had worked in his short life, but dropping it on the squirming things head definitely made it stop moving.' What now?' He thinks to myself. Remembering father building a fire for the meat slices he made at home hole, he realized that maybe he needs some loose sticks to make a pile. Remembering the pattern his father used.

His father had grunted in approval while picking up the driest sticks, so the pup search for those. Having gathered a pile of sticks and he slapped a rock with another rock over and over until it made several small flashes. With a slight his and crackle the small fire began.

Then he dropped closed and pursed his lips to blow air to make it bigger and hotter.' Fun sounds!' He thinks while he stays close with an ear and listens to the small crackle and pops from the dry sticks. Making a fire was so hard. It took till after dark to get going and his belly was grumbling by the time he had it large enough to hold the squirmy thing over. Using the small claw on his first finger he cut open the critter and emptied the smelly stuff from inside.

He had watched his father so many times, but he hadn't exactly seen one of whatever these things are, so he guessed and hoped it was good to eat. The smell is unbearably good. The pup began to drool as he watched the meat turn darker. Resting on his backside with a full belly he looks off into the moving water in front of him. Lit by the dying fire light it's so amazing. Spurts of orange and yellow as the water splashes against the rocks farther in.

As he stares in wonder, he picks up a small pebble and tosses it into the river. BLICK. He raises my eyebrows in surprise. Having never been near a body of water, he had never heard such a noise. He throws another bigger pebble. BLICK. He concentrates while pursing his lips and blows out to hear a "BO". Taping his tongue to the roof of his mouth and humming makes a "LEE LEE" ' Oh this is a fun noise!'

Figuring out how to copy the sound took so long that the big white ball of light was almost at the top of the sky so he decides to lay on his back and look into the clear night sky at all those sparkles.

"BLICK BLICK."

' This is definitely my favorite noise!'

"BLICK BLICK" He yawns deep, content with another "BLICK". He floats off to sleep cuddled next to his slowly dying fire.