we are a family

The boy had been quite serious about catching the squirrel. He was going to catch it, and take it to Ma, and then maybe she wouldn’t be so cranky all the time. Arne knew he got cranky when he was hungry, and he could only assume she was the same. She was probably hungry because she was sleeping when she should be eating.

However, there had been a bit of a... miscalculation. You see, squirrels were a lot smaller than puppies and Arne had thought to chase the rodent into a hollow... As his legs seemed to realise his error before his head did, he had skidded, slipping on loose leaves. His head made it into the hole, small tusks lodging themselves in the soft bark of the inner tree, but his shoulders were too wide. Pushing back didn’t do him much good with his tusks stuck and his shoulders jammed, and to top matters off, the squirrel had started to drop things on his head from above!

He huffed in frustration, shoulders wriggling to give his neck a bit more room, neck straining to get his tusks free. He was finally released with such force that he propelled backwards, landing squarely on his butt. His eyes narrowed, giving the tree a closer look. He hadn’t realised he was getting bigger. He could have sworn he would have fit in there a month ago.

Shaking some of the loose bark from his head (there was still a small bit of wood clinging to one tusk and a dusting of timer fragments decorating the hair over his shoulders and about his neck), he only caught the end of the call. It sounded a long way away, and for a moment he thought to ignore it... but then, what if his siblings managed to meet someone new and he missed out?

Just has he suspected, Kaija hadn’t waited and for once he was glad that he decided to show up when someone wanted him. He held back a bit though, having heard his sisters greeting but not entirely trusting it himself. His tail arched up over his back, a low uncertain, Ooowoo? leaving his chest as the fur along his spine displayed his discomfort and uncertainty, the boy leaning back but not retreating. Sure he looked like them, but did that really mean this was their dad?