Otter Creek Does it hurt to feel so high?

Dusty Rose imagined so too.

"Then let's move while it's still numb," he suggested. "Just back into the trees a bit, alright?"

He helped as needed, wanting to get Etienne out of the cold wind. The ground was hard, but Dusty Rose raked a a shallow bowl into the dirt and pushed slimy leaf litter back into place. It was not a den, but it would be warmer than the frozen dirt, and softer still besides. And it was just barely big enough for two of them, but that was by design.

"Lemme look at 'em," he said, poking at one of Etienne's paws with his twitchy black nose. There wasn't much he could think to do for them, but he could at least assess the damage. "So," he said while he did this. "How'd this happen?"

He didn't guess it had been entirely by accident.