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Cookie and Screaming in Silence were a devoted pair of phoxes; nevertheless, they could not be mistaken for great parents even if one were sleepwalking in a dream of ideal parenting. They simply...weren't. But they were good parents, at least. Their three bowls sat in the grass catching the warmth of tender rays of sun peeking through the layered gauze of cloudcover. The sighing wind entwined with undercooked noodles, ones that one day would be fat and juicy. The crisp, fresh smells of wet foliage; such leaves seemed to glow if gazed upon from below. Their current location was scenic in all the best ways and Screaming sighed with that breeze, happy to be out soaking up the hesitant sun with the kids. They saw Cookie nearby, explaining something to one of the bowls. The bowls were inanimate at their current stage, even so, the two adult phoxes liked to talk to them as if they could speak right back. Screaming whined soothingly to the other two bowls, hoping their extra large, drooling, toothy mouths would remain complacent while Screaming and Cookie got down to work. "It should be easy," Cookie had reassured Screaming. "After all, it's not like they move around on their own."

We're going to be great parents. The best parents, Screaming thought softly. In their mind, it could be no other way. They and Cookie would make a nest today to house the bowls. It would support each bowl from all sides, keeping each safe from spilling. Only dehydration would be a worry for their little ones, and it wouldn't really be, because Screaming and Cookie would make sure the bowls each had plenty of broth. They were going to be the best parents!

The bowls sat quietly, as if waiting. What might they wait for? That could be anyone's guess, since they weren't speaking yet. Soon, though. Soon they would speak their first words. For now, though, the trio sat "watching" Cookie and Screaming in Silence as they got down to work, making a mighty and magnificent nest. The best there ever was.

Screaming reassured Cookie as much as themself of this fact. They would be the best parents with the best nest for their best-of-the-best bowls. All three bowls were precious and perfect.

"Yes, I agree," Cookie said, not because she could read Screaming's mind, but because they tended to reassure themself aloud.

"Oh! I did it again, didn't I? I apologize," Screaming cried, realizing that they were babbling.

"Think nothing of it." Cookie found the trait endearing, and nuzzled her mate affectionately. Then, after several laborious hours, Cookie stepped back from the nest to gaze at their handiwork. "The nest is complete."

Screaming squinted at the mass of sticks and debris that they had gathered together into a strange looking pile. "Hmm. Is it...loppy?"

"Lopsided? No, I don't see it," Cookie replied confidently.

"Well, I think..." Frowning, Screaming stepped back too, and that was the problem. Everything important halted as their butt backed right into one of the bowls. Feeling the impact they immediately jumped back, but there was nothing to be done. "Huh? NO! Blair!"

"What?" Cookie watched with growing horror as that poor little bowl tipped and rocked. Not one drop of broth was spilled, but it roll-walked itself like a top right down the embankment that fell sharply toward the creek's edge. The raging waters of the otherwise quiet creek had swelled with rain water over the past week. Everywhere, including the foothills and the slopes of the mountain, had been pounded by that rain. That along with the increasing temperatures over the past month brought forth the Spring in all of its glory and rage. And it had lead the snow and ice to melt. Even the largest of the huge broken boulders that the phoxes loved to climb all over now merely peeked up and out of the water.

Then the ground seemed to surge up much like a ski slope and the bowl missed the rocks at the water's edge, saving the actual bowl from breaking, but caught some air and landed right in the middle of the water. It immediately shot downstream.

"NO! No no no, nonono-nonono! Blair! No, Blair! Come back! No no no!" In the midst of their hysterics, Screaming leapt down the slope, losing their footing, and tumbled into the paw-sized rocks next to the creek. They regained their footing and chased after the bowl, ignoring the pain that heralded what would soon become deep bruises. Realizing they could not keep pace with the creek, they launched themselves right into the water. Fear was gone, there was only the rescue. When they came up, doused and scraggly and gasping for air, they found themselves caught in an eddy and the world spun around dizzyingly. "Blair! I'm coming!" Splashing about, they finally caught the greater current and sped down toward their missing bowl. "Mommy's coming! Blair!"

But the distance between them had grown beyond recovery. Screaming in Silence was everything but silent and that screaming did much to tire them. Their lungs burned; they could not feel the air entering their lungs. Those shuddering organs desperately expanded until air gave Screaming a head rush but the panic gripped their chest. Terror filled their heart, like chilling poison. They could no longer cry out. They could only breathe-- and the water kept blocking that air from reaching them.

Exhausted, they was about to lose consciousness when they hit a boulder with a heavy thump. A moment later, Cookie was suddenly there, and grabbed them with gentle jaws by the scruff of the neck. Screaming's ears were limp as the couple watched their bowl disappear around a bend into the thick forest.

"No..." Screaming croaked. Cookie whimpered softly, continuously, as if whispering a mournful song. Screaming had not been the only one trying to catch up to Blair. Cookie had been torn between watching the other two bowls and saving Blair. She had chosen to trust the other two bowls and bounded down the side of the creek, keeping herself fluffy and dry. Small consolation now that the outcome had been reached. And that sound of Cookie's grieving made Screaming realize that there was no saving Blair. Blair was at the mercy of Nature, and Fate.

WC: 1058