The  Hunter’s moon rose high as Henry knelt, pulling the pie out of the oven. Dear Liza’d been sent, holey bucket in hand, to gather autumn leaves for decoration. For their 154^th anniversary, he’d sworn to make the pie on his own, though Liza was the undisputed expert in finding solutions and substitutions not available in their Ancient Forest home.

Liza returned, bucket in hand, hole fixed, full to the brim with bounty.

The pie steamed and whistled as they sat down to feast.

“Couldn’t find blackbirds, so I substituted bats,” Henry cut the first slice.

“You’re brilliant, Love!”

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)

Carrot Ranch Prompt (02/04/2021): In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that features a substitution. How might a character or situation be impacted by a stand-in? Bonus points for fairy tale elements. Go where the prompt leads.