Turtle Feathers

By Marian Allen

More off-beat animal stories from the author of LONNIE, ME AND THE HOUND OF HELL.

The dog Joseph's stepmother gave him leads him away from his intended route. Disobedience puts a young mermaid's life into the relentless claws of a crab. A penguin thinks his fortune is made when he discovers a cache of Scotch.

Twelve short pieces from flash to full, from romance to bizarre.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marian Allen
• Release date: Jul 30, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476036656

Book preview

Turtle Feathers

by Marian Allen

Smashwords Edition

©2012 by Marian Allen

Discover other titles by Marian Allen at Smashwords.com

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MarianAllen

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

The Day the Dog Ate Popcorn

Originally published in the Southern Indiana Writers’ INDIAN CREEN ANTHOLOGY

Out of the Cradle

Originally published in the Southern Indiana Writers’ BEASTLY TALES

Craw

Originally published on the Quills and Quibbles website

Dog Show

Originally appeared on Marian Allen’s fiction site

Follow Your Bliss

Originally appeared on Flash Me website

For a Few Bottles More

Written in response to a challenge by Chuck Wendig of Terrible Minds, originally appeared on Marian Allen’s fiction site

Millefleurs

Originally appeared in the Southern Indiana Writers’ 2000 TALES

Truth in a Tale

An excerpt from SAGE, a work-in-progress, originally appeared in the Southern Indiana Writers’ THERE’S SOMETHING UNDER THE BED-TIME STORIES

Born Again

Originally appeared on Quills and Quibbles web site

Personal Essay -- My Mother

Originally appeared on Marian Allen’s fiction site

Turtle Love

Originally appeared in the Southern Indiana Writers’ UNBRIDLED LUST (story is G-rated)

Home on the Range

Originally appeared in the Southern Indiana Writers’ IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING

The Day the Dog Ate Popcorn

We moved from Louisville in search of a clean environment and got chickens. Go figure.

It was what you might call a minimalist flock -- three. The smallest was Hennessy. The middle one was Chickabiddy. The biggest, most aggressive one, was Popcorn. Open the henhouse door, and Popcorn would be there, alert, balanced, beak and claws loose in their sheaths. Go ahead, she seemed to cluck. Make my day.

We had two dogs. Honeybunny was a big dumb blonde; her hobby was rolling in compost heaps. Lizzie (officially, Lizzie Diggumsmacks Allen), was a Cairn Terrier; her hobby was growling.

There were six of us: Myself, Charlie, and the kids (Annie, Beth, Ruthie, and Meg). Six people, five critters. That should have given us the balance of power. How was I to know Mother Nature had her thumb on the scale?

* * *

Now, we raised the chickens in a cloistered henhouse, but a day came when we remitted their vows, and they roamed free.

As the day passed, Lizzie studied the chickens, and apparently concluded that these were creatures she could do business with. She shook herself, as a man might roll up his sleeves, and moseyed toward the hens.

Lizzie’s going after the chickens, Ruthie warned me.

She’s not going fast enough to be after the chickens.

Lizzie began to pick up speed.

There she goes! Beth shouted.

Ruthie snatched up a switch: long, slim, whippy, and more suited to elevating impressionable young minds than to driving off determined carnivores.

The terrier struck. Popcorn, surprised by a rear attack, tore herself from Lizzie’s jaws.

I was raised in the inner city; I wasn’t accustomed to the random violence of the barnyard. I screamed. Little Meg, in my arms, tried to climb my head for a better view.

Charlie! Lizzie’s killing the chickens!

Popcorn streaked around the edge of the cleared land. Lizzie was right after her, her mouth foaming with feathers. Ruthie began to gain ground.

Lizzie caught Popcorn and Ruthie caught Lizzie. Ruthie thrashed at the terrier while Popcorn flopped, like a boxer saved by the bell.

Charlie pelted around the corner of the house, brandishing his weed-cutter.

The new cry rose: Daddy’s going to kill Lizzie!

Charlie dropped his tool and went at the dog hands-on.

Lizzie bit him.

You bit me, you dog!

Lizzie knew when to fish and when to cut bait. Now she ran, dribbling