The next morning Marci stayed in bed and did not move a muscle or make a sound as her parents packed their things into their Jeep 4x4. Once they left she too began to pack. The morning sky was indigo, the air was chilly, and silence was infinite. Any combination of the three would have had anyone her age scamper back into their warm comfy bed. The sound echoed through the trees was destined to lure Marci into the forest.
Marci walked through hedges and tangle branches that curved along the canyon and finally climbed down the flat to an open prairie. There she saw the animal whose distinct call led her here. The elk was the size of a large horse but twice the girth. At first sight she was fascinated. Their antlers were so wide, she could not have reached from one finger tip to the other to span the length of their antlers. The calls they make were piercing and unique from one another. “What are they saying? What they doing that for?” she asked herself. She sat there watching as they moved through the prairie and against the forest. They did some odd things like brushing against the willows and aspens, breaking many of them. They bugled, grazed and fought throughout the day, she watched with her eyes glazed from the top of a boulder.
Ahead of the herd she could see, a large dog like animal. A wolf! Actually a pack of wolves, focused on the grazing elk and deer. All of a sudden everything is set in motion. The dust rises and chase begins, it all coming her way! Luckily she has a head start and she begins to run, jump, and stumble her way back up the canyon.
RME
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