Sun Mote Copse She paints me blue again

Sugar grinned when Avery agreed to give it a try with her. She bobbed her head, then began striding forward toward the water's edge. She paused there to navigate the depths with her shrewd black eyes, then stepped forward to dip her white toes into the stream. The water was colder than she'd expected and she clicked her tongue in her surprise.

Before she could venture another step, something caught her attention. There was a misshapen object floating just upstream, only a foot or so from the bank. Sugar retreated back onto the shore, then picked her way over toward it, and then thrust her pink nose in its direction. Her muzzle wrinkled at the obvious scent of damp and decay. She paused for a beat, then gave into a morbid fascination and stuck out her paw to nudge the thing closer to herself.

It bobbed and rolled in the water, bumping gently into the slope of shoreline. It took Sugar a moment to recognize it: "It's a dead squirrel."