The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “RANGE”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories
***
“So, how many do you think are out there, Pardner?” Clement called loudly, as hot winds swept the Martian landscape of the Arizon’ Range.
“It’s hard to tell from here,” she answered evenly, looking askance at the lariat he twirled lazily overhead, adding quietly, “But you’re surely not gonna catch any endangered Schmitties with that thing, as they’re round and hard as a bowling ball underneath all that fur.”
“I suppose you know the best way to gather them up for the Intergalactic Bio-count, too” he sneered, long past the limits of his patience for this taciturn, know-it-all Schmittygirl.
“In fact I do…it’s an old family tradition,” she replied, and reaching into an inner pocket of her lizard-hide vest, she pulled out the snissle-whissle, passed down from a long line of wranglers who’d ridden the ranges of the myriad planets of this galaxy (and a few others as well), protecting the beasties over centuries of industrial creep, back when wild Schmitties weren’t scarce and double-hump desert steeds loped free over distant horizons; so saying , she folded her legs and sat herself down on a small boulder by the waning campfire, and began to play a jolly, ancient tune from those times.
The red land began to undulate and rustle as the spheroidal critters rolled toward her, giggling and clacking against one another in their haste to hear the old tunes, familiar down to their genetic code.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2022)
Valley of the Trolls 
I’d love to have witnessed that! Nice one Liz.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Close your eyes, take a deep breath…and you’re there!
LikeLike
Liz, as I read the two origin installments of your Intergalactic saga I couldn’t help but think that your story could easily be the Don’t Look Up part II.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really? I liked that Nature prevailed over Human Nature…survival of the Schmittie-est!
LikeLiked by 1 person
cool Six!
(Put me to mind of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books I favored as a youth… and, still do)
Must be a fun series to write, for the near exotic details (trickier, we know, to create than it seems), the typical alien worlds settings where everything is strange and different for it’s own sake is not nearly as engaging (and fun to read) as what you’ve created here. Familiar but different (in some cases, way different.
LikeLike
It was fun. There are a few more, visited over the years. Can be found by tapping the tag, Schmitties, at the bottom of the post.
LikeLike
Clever her, clever story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Mimi!
LikeLike
Her playing those tunes reminded me of the Pied Piper.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or a shepherd gathering her flock…😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Best be careful not to attract any Tribbles.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cuz Tribbles bring troubles!
LikeLike
Ah, this is how I feel when I listen to Eddie Harris or The Shadows! Very clever, very fun read.
–Shay/Fireblossom in WP clothing
LikeLiked by 1 person
funny and well thought out…you’re a writer!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you…I try!
LikeLike
She’s a veritable schmittie whisperer, I like her approach. But clements are yet clements, sigh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We always hope for overall balance for tut the good of Schmitties everywhere.
LikeLike
Clever and hilarious, Liz, although I did have to keep blocking out ‘schnittie’, a common Oz abbreviation for schnitzel. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😲
LikeLike
That was a fun read, the pied piper of Schmitties, and her snissle-whistle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! For more, tap the Schmitties tag at the post’s end!
LikeLike