We are back in the environs of my Cajun Wolves for today’s snippet. Given the first part of the #1LineWed prompt, I knew the Wolves would be involved. That prompt would be: **BETTER TO: See you with. Have loved and lost. Etc.** The #ThursdayThreads inspiration sealed the deal on who: “You can send backup now.” I have no clue where this scene will appear but it most definitely will. I hope you enjoy!

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Beau tilted his head back until his neck popped. Damn but the sky was a long way up. He lifted his right foot. Mud squelched as water gushed from the top of his boot. Chin dropping to his chest, he heaved out a sigh. Raising his head, he pleaded, “Seriously? My favorite pair of boots?” He briefly wondered who he’d pissed off, gods and human alike.

With serious effort, he freed both feet and sloshed over to the sloping wall of mud. He unsheathed claws as his hands sank into slimy dirt and no matter how hard he scrambled with paws and feet, he only managed to climb about four feet before ending up on his ass in the murky water skimming the muck. Soaked and mud covered, he just sat there, filthy hands resting on his bent knees.

“Well, ol’ son,” he groused. “This is a mell of a hess you’ve gotten into.” He glanced skyward. He was about thirty feet down. What the hell happened?

Gazing up at the sky once more, he replayed events in his mind. They’d been sent out to pick up Florent Mouton on an arrest warrant. The damn couyon took off running, he and Luc hard on the Cajun’s heels. He remembered sprinting toward the bank of the bayou, knowing that if Mouton got to his boat, they’d have no chance of catching him. Luc had been beside him, matching him stride for stride. And then the bottom dropped out. What the fuck?

He studied the space surrounding him. Sinkhole? What else could it be? Nothing that he knew of. But while Louisiana was dotted with sinkholes, including that huge one over in Assumption Parish that all but redefined Bayou Corne, he was’t aware of any in Jefferson or Orleans Parishes. Still, here he sat all but up to his ass in alligators.

Then his brain kicked in. Luc had been right beside him.Cussing in French, he half crawled, half swam searching the crater’s bottom. “Luc!” Silence. Panicked, he turned around in circles until a little voice sang in his head, “Grandmother, what big ears you have! All the better to hear with, my child.

Grandmother, what big eyes you have! All the better to see with, my child. Grandmother, what big teeth you have got! All the better to eat you up with.”

“You be a damn Wolf, Beau LeBlanc. Use your damn big nose.” He would have head-slapped himself if not for the crud coating his hands.

Inhaling sharply, he quartered the area. Luc was a Wolf. He wouldn’t drown. Not immediately. He finished one side and was about to start the next section when he drew in another deep breath. His mouth watered at the scent of hot, buttered popcorn. Someone was amused. Looking up, he saw Luc peering over the edge. Laughing. “Need some help?” his partner hollered down.

Beau snarled. “Yeah, you donkey’s ass”

Luc spoke into his radio. “Dispatch, you can send backup anytime now. Probably the fire department.”

The female voice that replied said, “You got a kitten up a tree?”

Laughing, Luc said, “Nope. Gotta wet dog down a sinkhole.”

Beau lobbed a mud ball at his partner, who ducked easily out of the way. “Asshole.”
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There you have it. Was it fun to read? It was fun to write. Writers, pick one or both and tease some words out for your WIP. Readers, have you ever seen a sinkhole? There’s a series that “marathons” on the Discovery Science Channel from time to time called “Sinkholes: Swallowed Alive.” Fascinating, but then I’m weird. And yeah, they are pretty scary..