Pignut

Pignut

Jeff stared up at the tree and scratched his head. How a pig could manage to get up in the branches remained beyond his understanding. “Tell me again how you got up there?” Had Quentin any fur, he might have bristled. As it was, his smooth, pink skin faintly wobbled...
Oldfield Birch

Oldfield Birch

It is said there is an old field, where heavy mist shrouds everything in a thick, hazy gloom. Except, of course, for the birch. The birch is old and, they say, the birch is mean. Its wiry branches will whip in the wind and, if you get too close, will give you a good...
Nogal

Nogal

Nogal’s feet hung off the ground as he reached into a barrel. His fingertips scraped against the sharp nails that lay at the bottom. Sucking in his breath, he leaned in further, grabbing a handful of nails as the barrel toppled over. As he went down, Nogal’s foot...
Monk’s Pepper

Monk’s Pepper

I perhaps should have listed this story under “A” for “Awkward…”  Monk’s Pepper “What’s so special about it?” Ginny said to the peddler standing outside her opened kitchen window. “What’s so special about this pepper that it...
Laurel

Laurel

Laurel sat in her throne atop a dais that looked down into a courtyard. There, half-clad men cavorted as they thrust spears at one another and sparred with swords. Some forwent using weapons and fought each other with bare hands. Villagers from the valley came to...
Knobcone Pine

Knobcone Pine

Cobwort and Cow trundled through the woods, grabbing at whatever they could find with their grubby little hands. “I found a fistful of berries!” Cobwort cried. “I found a bunch of shiny green leaves!” Cow replied. Neither was happy with what he had found, and both...