Tettegouche, N. MN (Source: Derek Montgomery for MPR)
His nails were dark and sharp, spreading before him as he stretched first one paw, then the other. He backed further under the Juniper hedge.
She should’ve stayed home, not taken the canoe across the water.
He’d felt the storm coming, and had refused to board with her. She’d laughed, secured her furs for trade, and pushed off, waving her paddle before turning toward the far shore.
Rain was relentlessly cruel. Thunder pierced his sensitive ears. Waves crashed cloudy red, tumbling pebbles.
Nightfall, pressing in, might calm the storm. He’d wait here for her.
She always came back home.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)
Carrot Ranch Prompt (09/30/2021): In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story uses the phrase, “across the water.” It can be any body of water distant or close. Who (or what) is crossing the water and why? Go where the prompt leads!
Valley of the Trolls 
I hope it’s not a long wait for the cat but based on the title and the red waves I’m not sure she’s returning from this trading trip.
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(You get to imagine the next lines…)
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I think she’s going to return. She’ll be the same, but different, and only the cat knows.
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From your lips to God’s ear! Meow.
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Or maybe it’s a Halloween ending. We each get to finish the tale in our own way(s).
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Oh, sadness. There’s always that one time… The North Shore can get slammed in autumn gales! I’m hoping she had places to shelter, take safe harbor. Well done, Liz!
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Well, I saw a cat, though that’s an unlikely canoe partner on a good day, so maybe her dog refused to go along. I hope he’s correct in that she comes home to him.
Great visuals, aurals; “Waves crashed cloudy red, tumbling pebbles….”
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Thanks!
Yeah, it may be dog, or cat, or wolf, or…some kind of as spirit animal? Go wherever it leads you.
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