It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night

T'was a night, muggy steamy, out of sight, writing dreamy spectres in the foggy distance. The moon shone sickly in a vaporous sky and humidity dripped from the trees. Dark was the forest under the brooding pines.

A shadow moved in the dimness, becoming clearer as it emerged from the mists and approached the campsite. Vaguely human in shape and stance, but strangely bulky, covered in coarse fur, and with vulpine head, the figure stopped just beyond the trampled area of the camp. Lifting its snout, it sniffed the air, its released breath coalescing into a cloud that drifted slowly into the gloom.

Apparently satisfied by the information conveyed by the scents conveyed to its enquiring nostrils, the creature now moved closer to the little tent pitched at the far side of the site. It moved cautiously, clearly not yet confident of its prey. Far above, the clouds opened a rift in their serried ranks and the moon peered through on the scene.

The increased light from the moon seemed to encourage the figure, for it lifted a paw and jabbed at the tent, as if attempting to open an entrance to it. A shiver ran through the tent at the contact but it remained closed. Sounds found their way to the outside, however, sounds of movement and an intaking of breath.

“Who’s there?” The voice emerged unnatural in the forest setting, an environment unused to the intrusion of humanity.

The creature now dropped to all fours and edged away slightly, as though to give itself room to pounce if the human risked a look outside. Silence reigned for a few moments.

Then the sound of a zipper tore through the stagnant atmosphere and an opening appeared at one end of the tent. The animal crouched lower to the ground, watching the opening intensely.

A face emerged from the darkness inside the tent.

“Is that you, Schnitzel? Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you all day.”

The creature was trembling now with excitement as it stared at the human. Suddenly it swept its head to one side and picked up something from the ground, then it shook its head so that the object flew from its mouth to bounce from the fabric of the tent to the human below.

The man picked it up and shook his head. “Alright, Schnitzel, just this once, but then you must let me sleep, okay?”

He emerged further from the tent, lifted his arm to one side and threw the object as far as he could, so that it went bouncing off into the darkness. The dog leapt after it and the human went back to bed.


Word count: 445
For a Secret Admirer
Prompt: As requested. Thanks for the spur to write!