Phoenix Maplewood daddy

Daddy hadn't come around in a while. Usually he wanted to play, teach them a new game. . .but he had been conspicuously absent. And unlike the adults, Timberlake was working under the assumption that Shale would simply stroll back into the forest one morning, smiling and happy. His loving, kind daddy. 

The boy stared forlornly out at the plains, sitting at the edge of the forest. The dreadful heat had finally abated, the smoke cleared. But still no Daddy. 

Was he mad at Timberlake for running away? Was he still out there looking for him? He thought for a moment of venturing out into the charred hills, undergoing a search himself. But how mad would Dawn and Adi be at him, if he left again? What if he got lost--again!!--in the process?

The brown pup flopped down and rested his chin on his paws with a ragged sigh. 

Why was everything so different, all of a sudden?