Each New Day

It was a nice day. Chilly, but the sun was bright and slowly the air near to the ground was warming. Near a stand of trees, out of the wind and in the sun, a wolf slept. Bonsai, for that was his name, had been walking for most of the night, through the dark and cold, without knowing why. He'd paused shortly before daybreak and found this spot, curling up to doze away a few hours before he went on.

He was hungry. But he'd found no prey that he could take down by himself- they were either too big or too speedy. He felt the ache in his belly and remembered the time before when his family had hunted and pulled down game, filling their bellies until they were bloated, stuffed full of food until they could only flop down and sleep off the meal.

Ahh, now he was dreaming of food, intangible chunks of meat that had him chewing and drooling in his sleep. Until a loud caw sounded close by, jerking him to awareness, and he stretched, yawned, and remembered with regret that dream vision filled with tasty offerings.

But there was no food here, and no point in wishing he had food, when there was plenty of it out there, just waiting for him to catch it. Stretching again, scratching a brief itch on his neck, the young male rose and approached the lake, lowering his head to lap at the cool water.