April 1st. How can that be? In this time of quarantine, time is acting totally weird. On the one hand, it stretches interminably. On the other, it races faster and faster until I lose track. Today is Wednesday. And therefore, there should be words. Foolish words. Or words about a fool. Because it’s April Fool’s Day. Amazing that today’s THEME is **FOOL, FOOLING, FOOLISH**. As a result, I dipped into ROGUE MOON and found this scene with Rudy Tornjak, our Wolf hero, out hunting in the bayous, and the foolish people who interrupted his hunt.
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Rudy padded through the underbrush, his nose to the ground hunting prey. He craved the taste of fresh blood. Most of the little animals in the bayou had gone still, hoping to hide from him. That was fine. He was after something bigger. Something that would give him a challenge.
He crossed the road, noting headlights bearing down on him, but ignored them. Entering the thick undergrowth on the other side of the asphalt road, he paused. Moments later the car swept past. He had only a glimpse of a white face, blurred by speed and darkness, before the car was gone. A face that haunted his dreams. Before he turned to hunt deeper in the woods, thinking the woman just a figment of his memory, his ears picked up the sounds of a second vehicle.
Normally, the road remained devoid of traffic at night. This stretch of backwater highway running along Blue Moon Bayou was sparsely populated and those who lived here knew to stay inside after the sun went down. Danger prowled these woods. He prowled here.
Still worrying over the identity of the woman in the car, he raised his muzzle to the grinning moon and howled in frustration. Only silence answered his call. He faced the direction the vehicles had gone. Something prickled at the edge of his consciousness—some instinctual sense that he needed to follow the vehicles and find the woman. He set off at a determined trot, skirting the edge of the woods and the road. Curiosity—and that push—overcame his need to hunt and blood his kill.
Rustling halted him in place, one front foot lifted and frozen as his nose sifted through the enticing odors wafting in with the mist. Something plopped in nearby water—either gator or bullfrog—but he ignored it. He hunted on land tonight.
There it was again. Footsteps. Human. A man dared enter his territory tonight. His ruff bristled and he crouched, waiting to see which direction the fool went. The acrid burn of gunpowder mixed with the tang of gun oil. The man was armed. Maybe not so much the fool after all. He passed within feet of Rudy.
Any pup could have stalked the man. He crashed and stumbled along the game trail, cursing and panting. This was not the sport Rudy craved but his curiosity was even more aroused now, so he followed just close enough to keep tabs on the human.
Until Rudy heard the woman scream.
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Something tells me Rudy is about to play an April Fool’s joke on that hunter. 😉 I’m making a bit of headway on the new words and chapters in a novella I’m calling MOON CROSSED, that is a bridge between BRIDE’S MOON and ROGUE MOON, which will appear in MOONSTRUCK: BETRAYAL. March is gone so that deadline is past. New deadline…end of April. We’ll see. No promises. Speaking of April Fool’s Day, did you ever play any tricks? Or get played? C’mon. You can tell us. 😉 And if you don’t share a “confession,” You have to share FOOLISH words!
And it continues. The numbers go up each day. People worry. Hopefully, all of you are staying home, staying safe, and staying healthy. In case you’ve ever wondered about where I come up with Thursday Thoughts, it came about in fits and starts. I used to jot down odd things that made me think and I’d expound upon them. Then I discovered Tut.com when I was really down one time. Every day, I get something inspirational in my inbox. Sometimes, they apply to writing (in my warped way of thinking, anyway) so I save them in my files and pull them up when appropriate or my head is wrapped around it. We all need a light that isn’t a train. This one ties not only to writing, but to live in general…
