29 - Some strange tracks in the field.

joneworlds@mailbox.org

I was out walking around the old school field with Hat's daughter Ellie, and her dogs. Most of the snow has melted, which is a bit depressing because as usual it uncovers a bunch of frozen dead gnomes. I just put them in a bag I carry and I'll bury them in one of my holes, later. I'm always finding new uses for all those holes I dug.

Ellie's got a lot of stuff on her mind, between her nephew gone missing, and trouble with the centaurs, and money, and her health, and all the terrible stuff she tells me other people said and did to her. I just listen, mostly. You know, it took me long time to learn to do that. I guess most other people just know, but for some reason it took me a long time to learn not to offer encouragement or ideas. But now I've figured out how not to do that. Better late than never, I guess.

And the dogs and us run across this patch of snow that's all red with gore, and what looks like a fur or feathers, and also a goblin arm which was still twitching somehow. And there's animal tracks in the snow and a blood trail coming out of this mess, and out to the tree line. But I can't tell what they are. I used to know about identifying animal tracks, but I can't place these. And I think about ancient kinds of animals coming back, but I never thought about that before.

Next - 30 - Something will stay.

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