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Written by Alison Giblin
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Wednesday, 12 March 2008 |
The Country Way She couldn’t feel any better lying there in her den feeding her young cubs. Rubbing her face into her cubs to pass her scent and to breathe in the delicate smell of her young but it was time she went out to hunt. If she didn’t feed there wouldn’t be enough milk and their survival meant everything to her. Her russet head poking out of the den ears pricked up to hear any danger. Thankfully all was clear so out she scrabbled into the new dawn. Trotting along the well trodden path she lifted her nose to any scent that came her way, checking every moving twig and leaf hoping for a vole to help quell her hunger. She looked around seeing the grass glinting a little with the light frost that had settled that night, the miles of hedges sprouting with new growth and the little wood on the hill where she was heading. She didn’t mind that it was far away as she loved to stretch her legs especially as she had been in the den for some time. On she went stopping every now and again to dig at a mouse hole but with little success. Wandering along the hedge ling seeing what was underneath she spotted a mouse. Pouncing high to catch him she missed and saw him run into his hole. With that she started to dig with real fervour as she knew he was in there. Scratching with her front paws, spraying dirt everywhere she knew she would win eventually, when she heard a noise. Yes she had heard that noise before and it filled her with fear. The horns blowing, the dogs barking and the thud of the horses’ hooves told her to run. She ran like she had never run before; she had more than her own life to lose this time. She ran like the wind towards home hoping against all hope that she had the speed, but snatching a look behind showed that the snarling dogs and flashes of red coat were near. Run, run, running, stumbling in a hole she had so happily dug before. Staying upright almost feeling the breath of the dogs behind. On she went, spittle flying out of her gasping mouth, along the hedge line homeward bound. Suddenly she was feet away, relief flooding into her. Nearly home to her babies, but the entrance was no more. She could smell that humans had been there. Total despair in her mind as she felt the pain of flesh ripping from bone.
Copyright 2008 Alison Giblin
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