trouble in my bloodstream

The return of daylight was not missed on the dark furred child, who found himself constantly searching for new reasons to be out and about. The warmth of the sun on his dark fur, turning the ebony hues iridescent as an oil slick, was unspeakably splendid. He closed his eyes just to feel the warmth on his eyelids, and turned his face up to the cascading rays. The world was burgeoning with life all of the sudden, and more new noises cropped up with each passing day. He was listening to the songbirds that roosted in the rafters of the old barn, they sang with high pitched melodies each time they returned to the nest. Lately, there were more little voices piping up from the nests. The gawky youngster crooned quietly to himself, trying to match the warbling tone of their little songs of the parents feeding their young. Tightening the muscles of his lanky neck and throat, tipping his chin down and to the right- just a little bit down, coil the tongue.. purse the lips a little? Tilt your head like... that! His inner monologue choreographed the movements of his skull until he found himself forming a shaky, pitchy version of the barn swallows' song.

Oh so pleased with himself, the boy's scraggly tail beat happily on the terra by his hip. His oversized paws clenched rhythmically at the dirt beneath them, claws digging little furrows into the earth as he massaged the damp soil with delight. Spring was so great, he wanted it to be spring forever.

""