🪶 Jimmy became convinced something stalked the trail. Sebastian blamed a feather and the weather. 🐺
As the darker storm clouds rolled across the valley from the mountains, Sebastian adjusted his pack’s straps. With a deep breath, he turned and stared down the winding trail. Between breaths, the wind hissed through the sparse pine trees between devastating thunderclaps. He grabbed Jimmy’s shoulder and pulled him closer. “We should head back before we get drenched in the looming rain.”
Jimmy slapped his friend’s hand off him as he crouched down beside the path, reaching out to pluck something off the ground. He twirled as he rose to his full height, brandishing a white feather. “Hold on, don’t you think we should identify what this is?”
“No sentence that starts with ‘hold on’ has ever improved my day.” Sebastian pinched his nose as he sighed. “Nothing is so important that we need to get soaked by the rain.”
Jimmy thrust the feather forward, dangling it in front of Sebastian’s face. “What do you suppose this means?”
Sebastian groaned. “You found a feather.”
Jimmy lowered his voice. “Explain why you’re refusing to accept this conspiracy.”
Sebastian’s head shook as he stared at his friend. “Are you worried that birds exist?”
Jimmy clenched his chin as he held the feather out in his fingers, rotating it. After several seconds, he strode toward Sebastian, flourishing the feather overhead. “There’s no way this just fell along the side of the trail.”
“Yes, it did.”
Jimmy shook his head and spun the feather like a conductor’s baton, shoving the tip of the feather’s quill at his friend. “Are you kidding? This is too clean. Somebody conditioned this feather.”
Sebastian rubbed his temples. “Jimmy, birds lose feathers all the time.”
“No, this is an unusual one.” He looked up at Sebastian as his lips drew into a severe line. “This feather didn’t end up here on its own!”
“How does a molted feather qualify as suspicious? Molting is a natural occurrence and not a grand conspiracy.”
Jimmy shook his head and thrust the feather toward the trees. “That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
A jagged bolt of lightning crossed the sky a second before the thunder echoed overhead.
Sebastian pointed at the darkening clouds. “Right now, nature is wondering who might survive this hike.”
Jimmy waved off his friend as he tucked the feather into his jacket pocket. Then he turned toward the trail and froze. “Look there.”
Sebastian blinked as he shook his head. “What are you talking about?”
Jimmy rushed away from Sebastian, pointing at a solitary tree. “We have fresh tracks to explore.”
Sebastian chewed his lower lip as he marched forward...
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Fresh after finishing A A Binding Choice and Warden’s Rest, I turned my attention toward my blog’s final story for May, a comedy. While thes
