Throwing the Book at Us (Tuesday october 15th, 11:30 pm)

[Shaper Jenn]

Chapter 3

The Cornfield

Summer ebbed along like a snail. The two found wandering around in open cornfields, where the husks loomed overhead like a thick jungle, was excellent for catching mice and the long leaves provided a pleasing amount of shade. With only the crows and magpies, the pair found themselves very comfortable. They made a little home for themselves by leaning great mounds of dirt up against the green stalks and digging out enough room for a pantry and a bedroom. Every day they went for a walk and played games and pulled japes on eachother. In the evening they hunted and supped upon delicious eggs and game birds that the snake rubbed with spices. And every night they fell asleep as the kitten told grand stories about anything she thought up. 
One evening, as they were sitting comfortably together, someone lumbered through the sheafs. They had a little firefly that they kept tied to a string and it lit the way for weary travellers. But it was no ordinary traveller- it was a lynx. The snake screamed and sprang into their home. The kitten hid herself behind the dirt.
But the lynx began to speak and said, “Do not be afraid, I will do you no harm. I am injured by a farmer’s arrows, and only want to rest myself a little. If you are obliged, I’d like you to lick my wounds.”  
  
  “Poor lynx,” said the kitten. “Lie down by the firefly, only take care that you do not catch your coat on the stalks.” Then she cried, “Snake, come out, the lynx will do you no harm, he means well.” But the snake would not come out. But by-and-by the kitten came closer and was not afraid of him.
“Here, child, groom the blood out of my coat a little.” So the kitten did as she was asked and lapped at the wounds. The lynx growled contentedly and comfortably and stretched himself out on the dirt. It was not long before the kitten grew quite at home with him, and played tricks with their clumsy guest. She tugged his hair with her teeth, climbed up on his back and rolled him about, and when he growled she laughed. But the lynx took it all in good part, only when she was too rough, he called out, “Leave me alive, child.”
When it was bed-time, the cat said to the lynx “You can lie here safely.”
Henceforth the lynx was groomed every morning and night, then laid himself down by the firefly and let the kitten amuse herself with him as much as she liked- and she got so used to him that she sometimes wished he could be her littermate instead of the snake, who never came out of their home once during the whole time the lynx was there. 
  
  When the wound had healed and the pumpkins in the distant field were being piled onto sledges, the lynx said to the kitten, “Now I must go away, and cannot come back for the whole winter.”
 “Where are you going, then, dear lynx?” asked the kitten.
 “I must go into the forest and feast upon the snakes up there. In the summer, when the soil is baking, they are eager to hide away and cannot work their way through- but now, when the sun is colder, they must stay warm by chasing it. And what once gets into their minds they will follow and a serpent in the paw does not easily see daylight again.”
  
  The kitten was quite sorry for his going away, but she nodded. 
“Listen, kitten. I am dubbing you a name, but first you must hear what I need to sa.. You have been kind to me, so much kinder than I deserve, but cat and a serpent must never be. It is an abomination. In the fall, the farmer will come and cut this field down to a dry stubble with his oxen and his threshing wheel. All who are caught in it are shredded as though by the claws of a tomcat. Take my advice. Leave the serpent where it is and follow me into the forest. I will take care of you.” 
“I think I will remain here a little while longer.”
“Please yourself, Rax.” 
The kitten, now dubbed Rax, watched as her dear friend the lynx padded away through the long sheafs and into the forest. As he walked, his fur caught on the stalks and Rax was sure she saw black and red smouldering beneath his hair. But she was not sure.  

“Good riddance.” Said the snake, slithering out of the hole. 
Rax had a sudden urge to leave the serpent where she was and follow the Lynx, but it passed and they laid down together for the first time in weeks.