Swiftcurrent Creek Our song has not been sung

Julius stepped into the great outdoors and Relonikiv tagged along right behind him, close enough to be considered a tailgater. When his brother dropped his nose to the ground to take in all the scents, the runt slowly pushed past him and did the same. He immediately discovered the family's latrine. An adult might have wrinkled his or her nose at the odors there, yet the puppy just grinned in delight.

He moved on from there, padding perhaps two feet away from the den's mouth. Although no adult swooped out of the woodwork to block them, Relonikiv had no desire to stray far. It didn't seem Julius had any intentions to take off either. For now, the young brothers simply wanted to check out their small dooryard and did not even think of making any bids for escape.

Though it was a relatively small area, Relonikiv soon became caught up in all the sights, smells and sounds out here. He began to bounce on the balls of his feet, pink tongue waggling from his mouth. He bumped against Julius as if to get him to join in the prancing too. He still wasn't the most coordinated of creatures and eventually went careening sideways, smacking against the rocky lip of the den's entrance.

This didn't hurt in and of itself, though upon impact, the youngster accidentally bit down very hard on his own tongue. Relonikiv yelped, then looked in bewilderment at Julius. He didn't realize what had happened or what hurt, exactly. His tongue protruded from his mouth like a dead strip of flesh, already beginning to bleed and swell.