Yesterday I was playing blox fruits with an awakened phoenix , death step , serpent bow , yama and I had max level.
But today when I logged on I was level 1039 with awakened buddha , electro , acidium rifle , and pipe.
Everything except for my fruits got reset.
Anybody know how to fix this?

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The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

Appalachian Grandpa- Cat tales

The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

​
The fire crackled merrily as Glimmer lay stretched out before it. The dancing flames made her skin twinkle, which was how she had gotten her name from Grandpa, and the dazzle sent diamonds onto the ceiling. I had stopped in the doorway to the living room to watch her as she sparkled, and she grinned impishly when she noticed me.
"Is that milk water for me, handsome?" She asked, and it occurred to me then how young she seemed. She was like a girl in her early twenties in both appearance and mannerisms. I wondered not for the first time if she would be that way when I was grandpa's age?
She patted the fireplace as she sat up, inviting me to sit with her, and I brought the hot cocoa to her as I leaned back against the rough stone fireplace. Grandpa was sitting in his favorite chair, watching the two of us with a knowing smile. I appreciated him for that more than he would ever know. It would've been easy for him to be hurt, but he always seemed to take the closeness of Glimmer and I as just one of life's little blessings.
The widow had been very happy to have her cat back, and she thanked us all for finding him so quickly.
"He's a silly old thing, but he's all I've got left, and I'm quite fond of him. I'm glad he didn't wander off in the snow and get himself frozen to death."
She had excused herself pretty quickly, telling grandpa it looked like he was entertaining. She gave me a wink that I'm not sure I understood, and as she drove carefully down the driveway, grandpa waved at her from the porch. The three of us settled in and got ready for Glimmer to begin her story, the fire the only light in the room.
Glimmer took a sip of her hot cocoa and made an appreciative noise as the warmth fell over her.
"That's good. We don't have anything quite that good in the woods."
"Are you telling me that your civilization has existed since before settlers came from England, but you haven't figured out hot cocoa yet?" I asked with a little laugh.
Glimmer gave me a withering look but spoiled it by winking at me, "We have sweets, of course. Just nothing quite this frivolous exists in our world. We have more immediate concerns, like survival."
"And cats, apparently," I added.
Glimmer nodded, taking another sip of her cocoa, "Yes, and cats."
"Wait," grandpa said, "when I made you the wooden cat, you didn't seem so surprised."
"Well, I had seen wild cats before," Glimmer said a little tartly, "They run everywhere in the forest. But this cat was different. He was so strange that I didn't immediately realize he was akin to the felines I knew."
She closed her eyes, and as the smoke wafted into her face, I could tell she was time-traveling back to her girlhood days. Grandpa got that same look when he thought about the past, and I suppose it was universal. Glimmer was content to let the steam caress her for a few moments, beginning her story without much warning.
This was the time after Fisher's leaving. He had come to see me before he left and told me that he was going to fight in a war. I knew of wars, though I had never fought in one. He said he would be gone for a long time but that he hoped he would see me again. I didn't really understand, but I was upset at the thought of losing him. We had become close, and I didn't want to say goodbye. He told me this was something he had to do, but I didn't want to hear it. I told him to just go, that I didn't care if he came back or not, and turned away from him so he wouldn't see the tears I was trying to hold back.
When he said nothing, I turned back to find that I wasn't the only one failing to hold in my sorrow.
I was used to seeing Fisher sad, but he had seemed different after his encounter with The Bone Collector. He told me this was a thing he had to do and that getting away from the mountains for a while would be good for him. He wanted to see the world and grow into someone who could protect others. I refused to listen to his excuses, though. I was young and spirited, and if he was going to leave, I told him to just go ahead and go.
So we parted ways.
I never knew if his sadness was as deep as mine, but it was several days before I was fit for much beyond moody turns.
Life went on, though, despite his absence, and many weeks later, I found myself in the woods again.
Now, you may find it odd that I had never seen a cat before, but my people usually stay in the deep woods. I am considered an oddity because I will go so close to human places. In those days, I would not even go that far. Fisher had always come to visit me near the borders of my world and his, and without him to visit, I hadn't been anywhere near the humans in ages. On this particular day, I was supposed to be gathering herbs for medicine, so my mother could cure some of our people who had become ill. I had collected quite a few herbs, but when I found that I was close to the border again, I got a bit reminiscent of the times I had spent with Fisher.
So I decided to go and have a look at some of the other people that lived in the area.
I didn't know any of them, but Fisher had talked about some of them. His parents, his grandmother that had passed on, some of his neighbors, and of the friends he often went out with who I knew had been killed by the Strange Lights. I wasn't afraid of being seen by any of them. I could move as gracefully through the woods as any deer, and I had hidden from humans before. So I took my sack and bow and decided to see what I could see.
I was hopeful at the start, but it was not the grand adventure I thought it would. I saw human signs, old fires, and the waste they sometimes leave behind, but I encountered no people. I followed a trail to Fisher's old house, but I couldn't bring myself to get close. I missed him terribly, and the thought of seeing something that would remind me of him made me sad. I had turned around, preparing to head home again, when the strangest little creature stood in my path.
His fur was the color of a campfire, interspersed with dark browns and dots of gray. His ears had a distinctly chewed look, and his paws were large and very furry. He held a magnificent tail behind him, and he had come up on me without a sound. I was startled at first, drawing my bow and challenging him, but he meowed good-naturedly and cocked his head as if to ask what I was doing?
We stood there for several seconds, but when it became apparent that he meant me no harm, I put my weapon away and bent down to touch him. He was very soft, not bristly, like some of the other cats in the woods. He was a little muddy, but it was clear that someone was taking great care of him. He was well-fed, fatter than any cat I had ever seen, and he showed none of the hesitancy around me that many of the forest creatures did. I sat and let him butt his head against my hand. My other hand glided along his silky fur, and when he came to sit in my lap, I giggled as he rumbled against my stomach.
When I heard the sound of people returning to Fisher's old house, I realized I had been sitting there for a while.
I had become enchanted with this little beastie, and as he walked back into the woods, I followed him eagerly.
We spent the night in the forest, hunting mice and playing with the leaves and sticks that caught his attention. As the night went on, I became quite enamored with the little animal, and the more time we spent together, the better I felt about Fisher leaving. We were cuddling in the bows of a tree when the first fingers of sunlight began to peek over the horizon. I realized I had been out all night with him, and when I picked him up and headed for home, I had every intention of taking him with me.
As we walked back through the woods, I was confident that no one in my enclave would've seen anything like this before. Some of them had cats, but nothing as grand as this one. One of my cousins had a beautiful spotted cat, and my older sister had a white one with red eyes, but their hair was short and coarse and nowhere near as luxurious as this fellow. I smiled to myself as I thought of the jealousy on their faces when they saw him. Once mother had touched his silky fur, there would be no way she could turn it away. He would sleep next to my head at night, and I would drift off listening to the deep rumble of his purr.
I was so involved with my daydream that I almost missed when he wiggled out of my arms.
He had been riding along calmly until that point, purring against my side as the two of us walked. He looked back the way we could come and made that strange meow sound again. I was perplexed. Did he have a mate he needed to get back to? He started to walk away, but I picked him up again and tried to continue walking home. He wiggled out of my hands again, though, and glanced back at me with remorse as he shook his little head.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "Don't you want to come home with me?"
In response, he started to walk off again.
I took a step towards him but stopped myself before I could grab him up again. I turned around instead and headed for home, a little angry as I crunched through the underbrush. If he didn't want to come back with me, then so be it. I wouldn't force him, and the farther I got, the madder I became. Who cared if he didn't want to come back with me? I didn't need him. I had been fine before him, and I would be fine again.
Let him wander off into the woods if that's what he wanted to do.
Let him run afoul of a big mean coyote or a hungry owl or…or one of the bigger wild cats….or a snake…or….or
I wiped my eyes as they started to leak.
The anger leaked out with them, and soon I was making my way back the way I had come.
In my mind, I could already see him at the mercy of one of the coyote packs in the area or carried away by a hawk. He was a big fella but wouldn't stand a chance against a pack of dogs. I wouldn't find him in time, I thought, or I would find him too late, or I would find nothing but a smear of blood and some of that gorgeous fur stuck in the pool. I swiped at my eyes as the tears kept coming, already sure he was lost.
The sky was pinkening, true dawn still hours away, and when I heard him meow, I turned to find him cocking his head at me again.
I laughed, scooping him into my arms and hugging him, and he wiggled and meowed in confusion.
When I put him down again, he started walking the way we had come, and this time I followed him.
I could see the light beginning to intrude on the dark world, but I didn't mind. Some members of my race cannot stand the light, but I have learned to love it. It stings my eyes and makes my skin burn a little, but I try to spend some time each day in the sun, knowing that my friends are part of that lighted world. That thin line on the horizon would have been enough to send both my parents scuttling back to the depths of the enclave, but I followed my new friend evenly as he made his way. I expected I would find a little burrow of beasties like him, perhaps even some little ones with a mate who would be worried, but as we got closer to the edges of humanity, I realized where he was heading.
When we came to the edge of his home, the lights already on in the big house, he looked back at me much the same way I had looked at him on the border to my world.
"What? Don't you want to come home with me?" that look said, but I shook my head at him.
"No, this is where we must part ways, little friend."
He came back, butting up against my leg and giving me another rub of his silky fur, and then he trotted off for home, bounding up the back porch steps as he sat patiently at the door.
I had turned to leave, the dawn very close now, when a high and excited voice found its way to my ear.
"Clarence! You came back!"
I peeked through the trees and saw a little girl pulling him into her arms. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine, and as she rubbed her face against the cats, I realized this had been where he was returning to. She was his family, she was the one he had been trying to get back to, and I felt a little guilty for trying to keep him. He had a home already, and my ownership of him had been an act of theft.
"I told mommy you would come back. I'm sorry I put you outside yesterday while I was trying to nap. I won't do it again. Come on, let's get you some breakfast. Then we can brush you and get you," but their plans were cut off by the closing door, and as the day began, I slipped back into the woods and made my way home as well.
The fire crackled as she finished, and I saw a tear roll down her cheek as she remembered that day.
"I think, in a way, that was how I said goodbye to you as well, Fisher."
Grandpa smiled, "To me?"
Glimmer nodded, "You were never mine to keep, either. I felt hurt when you left, though I didn't admit it. You were gone, and I thought I could simply exist without you. Watching that cat go, realizing that it might get hurt and feeling hurt that it wouldn't stay, made me remember how you had left as well. I needed to come to terms with that, which helped a lot."
We all sat silently for a while, Glimmer putting her head on my shoulder as the fire crackled merrily behind us.
When Grandpa chuckled suddenly, I looked up and saw Glimmer cock a sardonic eye at him, "I had to get a cat out of the widow's house once. She didn't know it was a cat, of course. She thought it was a haint that had taken up residence in her attic. So there I am, prepared to do battle with a dark spirit, and when I step into the attic, I find myself face to face with a highly upset bobcat."
Glimmer's hand slipped into mine as the two of us listened and laughed as Grandpa unfurled his tale of a spirited wild animal and a surprised Grandpa. We sat by the fire as the snow came down, and the fire warmed our bones. I could feel Glimmer's warm, comfortable weight as she leaned against me, and as Grandpa unveiled his tale, I smiled, enjoying these small blessings as they came.

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Brothers Grimm (2005) (Vudu/HD) $6
Bullet Train (2022) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4.75
Bumblebee (2018) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $2
Call Me by Your Name (2017) (MA/HD) $6
Call of the Wild (2020) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $1.50 (GP/HD) $1.25
Candyman (2020) (MA/HD) $4.50
Captain America: Civil War (2016) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (GP/HD) $2.50
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $7 (GP/HD) $5
Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $2.25
Captain Fantastic (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Captain Marvel (2019) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) $4.25 (GP/HD) $1.75
Card Counter, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5
Cars 1-3 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $16.50 (GP/HD) $9
Casablanca (1943) (MA/4K) $6.50
Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) (Vudu/HD) $13
Cats (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
Celebrating Mickey (2018) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3.75
Chaos Walking (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Chappaquiddick (2007) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.50
Charlie's Angels (2000) (MA/4K) $7.75
Charlie's Angels (2019) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5.50
Chasing Amy (1997) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Chicken Run (2000) (MA/HD) $5.25
Choice, The (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Christopher Robin (2018) (MA/HD) $5.25
Chronicles of Riddick (Unrated Director's Cut) (2004) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Cinderella (1950) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3.75
Cinderella 'Camila Cabello' (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50
Clerks (1994) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Clerks III (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Clifford the Big Red Dog (2021) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Cloverfield (2008) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.75
Coco (2017) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) $5.50 (GP/HD) $2.50
Cold Pursuit (2019) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
Coming to America (1988) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Commuter (2018) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Conan The Barbarian (2011) (Vudu/4K) $5
Concussion (2015) (MA/HD) $2.75
Constantine: The House of Mystery (2022) (MA/HD) $3.50
Contractor (2022) (Vudu/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Courier, The (2020) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Criminal (2016) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Croods (2013) & A New Age (2020) (MA/HD) $7.25
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001) (MA/4K) $7.75
Cruella (2021) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
Da Vinci Code (2006) (MA/HD) $7
Daddy's Home 1-2 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Daddy's Home 2 (2017) (Vudu/4K) $4.50 (iTunes/4K) $2 (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Dallas Buyers Club (2013) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3
Daniel Craig Collection 5-Movie (Vudu/4K) $20
Dark Knight (2008) (MA/HD) $5
Dark Waters (2019) (MA/HD) $5.75
Darkest Hour (2017) (MA/HD) $2.75
Day After Tomorrow (2004) (MA/HD) $6.75
DC League of Super-Pets (2022) (MA/HD) $5
Deadpool (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2
Deadpool 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.25
Death on the Nile (2022) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
Death Wish (2018) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Deepwater Horizon (2016) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Detective Knight Collection 1-3 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $15 $5.75 Each
Dictator (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Die Hard (1988) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $4
Die Hard 1-5 (MA/HD) $16 $4.75 Each
Dirty Dancing (1987) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4
Dirty Grandpa (2016) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Disaster Artist, The (2017) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
Disneynature Born in China (2017) (MA/HD) $5.25
Django Unchained (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Do the Right Thing (1989) (MA/4K) $6
Doctor Strange (2016) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) $4.25 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $2.75 (GP/HD) $2
Dog (2022) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Dolittle (2020) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3.50
Don't Worry Darling (2022) (MA/HD) $5.50
Doorman (2020) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Doors (1991) (Vudu/4K) $4 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022) (MA/HD) $4.25
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) (iTunes/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $5
Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), The Wolf Man (1941), The Invisible Man (1933), The Mummy (1932) (MA/HD) $18.50
Dracula 2000 (2000), II: Ascension (2003) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $10.50
Dracula Untold (2014) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) $4
Dragonheart 5-Movie (MA/HD) $15
Dredd (2012) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Drive (2011) (MA/HD) $4.25
Drugstore Cowboy (1989) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Dumb and Dumber To (2014) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Dumbo (2019) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (GP/HD) $2.50
Dune (2021) (MA/4K) $5 (MA/HD) $2.25
Dying of the Light (2014) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) $5 (MA/HD) $3
Early Man (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Echo Boomers (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Eddie the Eagle (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6
Edward Scissorhands (1990) (MA/HD) $3
Eighth Grade (2018) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Elvis (2022) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $4.50
Elysium (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25
Empire of Light (2022) (GP/HD) $4
Encanto (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) (GP/4K) $3.50
Enough Said (2013) (MA/HD) $2.75
Equalizer (2014) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $3.75
Equalizer 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $2.75
Equilibrium (2002) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Escape from L.A (1996) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Eternals (2021) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3
Evan Almighty (2007) (MA/HD) $3.50
Everest (2015) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3 (iTunes/4K) $4
Evil Dead II (1987) (Vudu/4K) $4.25
Ex Machina (2015) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (Vudu/HD) $4
Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021) (GP/HD) $4.25
F9: The Fast Saga + Director's Cut (2021) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $3.50
Fahrenheit 451 (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3
Fantasia (1940) (MA/HD) $7
Fantasia 2000 (2000) (MA/HD) $7 (GP/HD) $5
Fantastic Beasts Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $8.50
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $3
Fantasy Island (2020) (MA/HD) $7
Farewell, The (2019) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Fast & Furious Collection 1-8 (MA/4K) $27.50 1-9 (MA/HD) $10
Fatale (2020) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Father Stu (2022) (MA/HD) $5.75
Fatherhood (2021) (MA/HD) $3.75
Fatman (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Field of Dreams (1989) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $6
Fifth Element (1997) (MA/HD) $6.75
Finding Dory (2016) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (GP/HD) $1.25
Finding Nemo (2003) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3
First Purge (2018) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $4.50
Five Feet Apart (2019) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Flatliners (2017) (MA/HD) $4.50
Flushed Away (2006) (MA/HD) $6.50
Forbidden Kingdom (2008) (Vudu/HD) $4
Ford v Ferrari (2019) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Forever My Girl (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Forever Purge (2021) (MA/HD) $5.50
Forrest Gump (1994) (Vudu/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Founder, The (2017) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Fox and the Hound (1981) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Fox and the Hound 2, The (2006) (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $3
Foxcatcher (2014) (MA/HD) $4.50
Frankenstein (1931) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Free Guy (2021) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $3.25
French Dispatch (2021) (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3.50
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) (MA/HD) $3.50
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Fruitvale Station (2014) (Vudu/HD) $4
Fury (2014) (MA/4K) $6.50
Galaxy Quest (1999) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6
Game Night (2018) (MA/4K) $5
Gamer (2009) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Gangs of New York (2002) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Garfield (2004) (MA/HD) $6.50
Gemini Man (2019) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Get Out (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3.75
Ghost in the Shell (1995) (Animated) (Vudu/4K) $4
Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) (MA/HD) $3.50
Girl with All the Gifts, The (2016) (Vudu/HD) $5
Gladiator (2000) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Glass (2019) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.50
Glory (1989) (MA/4K) $7.75
Godfather Trilogy (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $14
Gods of Egypt (2016) (Vudu/4K) $5.25 (Vudu/HD) $2 (iTunes/4K) $1.50
Godzilla (1998) (MA/4K) $8
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) (MA/4K) $5.75
Good Boys (2019) (MA/HD) $3.25
Good Will Hunting (1997) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Goosebumps 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $6.50
Gotti (2018) (Vudu/HD) $2
Grease (1978), 2 (1982), Live! (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $14
Green Book (2018) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $5
Green Knight (2021) (Vudu/4K) $5
Green Lantern: Beware My Power (2022) (MA/HD) $3.50
Green Mile, The (1999) (MA/4K) $6
Greta (2019) (MA/HD) $5.25
Grey, The (2012) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.75
Grown Ups 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $5.50
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) (Vudu/4K) $4.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Half Brothers (2020) (MA/HD) $5.75
Halloween (2018) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4.25
Halloween Ends (2022) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.50
Halloween Kills (2021) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $4.50
Happy Feet (2006) (MA/HD) $4
Happytime Murders (2018) (iTunes/4K) $1.75
Hard Candy (2005) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Hardcore Henry (2016) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Hate U Give (2018) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Heat: Director's Definitive Edition (1995) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.25
Heavy Metal (1981) (MA/4K) $6.25
Hell Fest (2018) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Hell or High Water (2016) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (Vudu/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Hellboy (2004) (MA/4K) $7.75
Hellboy (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Hercules (2014) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.50
Hidden Figures (2016) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1.75
Highlander (1986) (Vudu/4K) $5
Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Hobbs & Shaw (2019) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3.75
Hocus Pocus (1993) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Holiday Inn (1942) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Home Alone 1-2 (MA/HD) $7.50
Hope Springs (2012) (MA/HD) $2.50
Hostiles (2017) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Hot Fuzz (2007) (MA/HD) $3.50
Hotel Mumbai (2019) (MA/HD) $5.25
House of Gucci (2021) (iTunes/4K) $5
House of the Dragon: Season 1 (2022) (Vudu/4K) $9 (Vudu/HD) $5
House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3.75
How to Train Your Dragon Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $7.50 $4.75 Each
Hulk, The (2003) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Hunger Games Collection 1-4 (Vudu/HD) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) $12
Hunt for Red October (1990) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Hunter Killer (2018) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Hurt Locker (2008) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Hustle, The (2019) (iTunes/4K) $2
Hustlers (2019) (iTunes/4K) $3
I Feel Pretty (2018) (iTunes/HD) $1
I, Frankenstein (2014) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
I, Tonya (2017) (MA/HD) $5.75
Identity Thief (2013) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $3.75
If I Stay (2014) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
I'm Not There (2007) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Imitation Game, The (2014) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks (2017) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Impossible, The (2013) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
In the Heights (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Incredible Hulk (2008) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5
Incredibles (2004) (MA/4K) $7.75 (iTunes/4K) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.75
Incredibles 2 (2018) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) $4.50 (GP/HD) $2
Independence Day (1996) (MA/4K) $7.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.50
Independence Day: Resurgence (2014) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1.50
Indiana Jones 1-4 (Vudu/4K) $25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $20
Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Infinite (2021) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Inglorious Bastards (2009) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $6
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) (MA/HD) $6.50
Inside Out (2015) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) $4.25 (GP/HD) $1.50
Insurgent (2015) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.25 (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Interstellar (2014) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) $5.75 (Vudu/HD) $4
Invisible Man (2020) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $3.75
Invitation, The + Unrated (2022) (MA/HD) $6.50
Iron Man 1-3 (MA/4K) $20 (iTunes/4K) $15 (GP/HD) $7
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) (Vudu/HD) $6.75
It's a Wonderful Life (1946) (Vudu/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Jackass Forever (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Jacob's Ladder (1990) (Vudu/HD) $3
Jason Bourne (2016) (MA/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (MA/HD) $3
Jaws (1975) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75
Jaws (1975) Jaws 2 (1978) Jaws 3 (1983) Jaws: The Revenge (1987) (MA/HD) $15
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Jerry & Marge Go Large (2022) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Jesus Music, The (2021) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Jexi (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Jigsaw (2017) (Vudu/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2
John Wick Collection 1-3 (Vudu/4K) $16 (iTunes/4K) $14 (Vudu/HD) $7
Judy (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Juice (1992) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $5.50
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle (2017) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $2 (MA/SD) $1
Jungle Book (1967) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $4
Jungle Cruise (2021) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $3
Jurassic World Collection 1-5 (MA/4K) $20 (iTunes/4K) $17.50 (MA/HD) $10.50
Jurassic World Collection 1-6 (MA/4K) $24 (MA/HD) $12
Jurassic World: Dominion + Extended Cut (2022) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $4.25
Justice Society: World War II (2021) (MA/4K) $5.50
Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Keeping Up with the Joneses (2016) (MA/HD) $4.50
Kick-Ass (2010) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Kick-Ass 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $5.50 (iTunes/HD) $5
Kid Who Would Be King (2019) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $4.75
Kid, The (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.25
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Killer Elite (2011) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2.75
Killer Joe (Director's Cut) (2012) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Killerman (2019) (Vudu/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Killing Lincoln (2013) (MA/HD) $5.25
Kin (2018) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
King Kong (2005) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $3.50
King of Staten Island (2020) (MA/HD) $4.75
King's Man (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.25
Knives Out (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.25
Knocked Up (Unrated) (2007) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Kung Fu Panda Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $12.50
L.A. Confidential (1997) (MA/HD) $5.75
Lady and the Tramp (1955) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3.75
Last Duel, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $4
Last Night in Soho (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25
Leap! (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Legend of Hercules (2014) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Legion of Super Heroes (2023) (MA/HD) $6.25
Let Him Go (2020) (MA/HD) $4
Life of Pi (2012) (MA/HD) $2.50
Lighthouse (2019) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Lightyear (2022) (MA/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $2.75 (GP/HD) $2
Like a Boss (2020) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Limey, The (1999) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Lincoln Lawyer (2011) (Vudu/4K) $4.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Lion King (1994) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) $4.50 (GP/HD) $2.75
Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998) (MA/HD) $6.75 (GP/HD) $5.25
Little (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
Little Mermaid (1989) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3.75
Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014) (MA/4K) $5
Lock Up (1989) (Vudu/4K) $5
Logan (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
Logan Lucky (2017) (MA/HD) $1.50 (iTunes/4K) $2.25
London Has Fallen (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2.75
Longest Ride (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $1.50
Looper (2012) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3.25
Lord of War (2005) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Lost City, The (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Love Actually (2003) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Love, Simon (2018) (MA/HD) $3
Lovebirds (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.50
Luca (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $3.25
Lucy (2014) (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (MA/HD) $2
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022) (MA/HD) $6
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982) (MA/4K) $5
Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome (1985) (MA/4K) $5
Mad Max Collection 1-4 (Vudu/4K) $20
Magnificent Seven (2016) (Vudu/4K) $6 (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Maleficent (2014) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3 (GP/HD) $1.25
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.50
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $1.75
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.50
Many Saints of Newark (2021) (MA/HD) $2.50
Marksman, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5.50
Martian - Extended Cut (2015) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Martian (Theatrical) (2015) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3.25
Mary Poppins Returns (2018) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Matrix: Resurrections (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Mechanic: Resurrection (2016) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
Megan Leavey (2017) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Memory (2022) (MA/HD) $4
Men (2022) (Vudu/HD) $4
Men in Black 3 (2012) (MA/HD) $2.50
Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Menu (2022) (MA/HD) $5.75 (GP/HD) $4
MIB: International (2019) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $4.75
Midway (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) & Minions (2015) (MA/HD) $8.25
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $5.75
Miss Bala (2019) (MA/HD) $3.75
Mission: Impossible Collection 1-6 (Vudu/4K) $25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $20
Mitchells Vs. The Machines (2021) (MA/HD) $4.75
Moana (2016) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2
Money Monster (2016) (MA/HD) $3.25
Monster Hunter (2020) (MA/HD) $4.25
Monsters University (2013) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3.50
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (MA/HD) $4.75
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983) (MA/4K) $7.50
Moonfall (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) (MA/HD) $4.25
Morbius (2022) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3.50 (MA/SD) $2.25
Mortal Engines (2018) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $2.50
Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2014) (MA/HD) $3.50
Mr & Mrs. Smith (2005) (MA/HD) $5.75
Mulan (1998) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) $5.75 (GP/HD) $3
Mulan (2020) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2.25
Mulan 2 (2005) (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
Mummy (1999), Returns (2001), Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008), Scorpion King (2002), Mummy (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $18
Mummy, The (1999) (MA/4K) $3.50
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4
My Girl (1991) & 2 (1994) (MA/SD) $7
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $5.50
Natural, The (1984) (MA/4K) $5
New Mutants (2020) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $2.75
News of the World (2020) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3.75
Night at the Museum 3-Movie (MA/HD) $14 $6 Each (MA/SD) $9.50
Night House, The (2021) (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3
Night School (Extended) (2018) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $2.75
Nightmare Alley (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
No Time to Die (2021) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Noah (2014) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/HD) $1.50
Nobody (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25
Nope (2022) (MA/4K) $8 (MA/HD) $6.25
Nope (2022), Get Out (2017) & Us (2019) (MA/HD) $10
Northman (2022) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $5
Now You See Me 1-2 (Vudu/HD) $4 (iTunes/HD) $6.50
Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $3 (GP/HD) $2.50
Oblivion (2013) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) $3.50 (MA/HD) $2.25
Old (2021) (MA/HD) $4.50
Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (2019) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Only God Forgives (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Onward (2020) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $4 (GP/HD) $2.25
Orphan: First Kill (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $7
Other Woman (2014) (MA/HD) $2.25
Our Kind of Traitor (2016) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Out of Sight (1998) (MA/HD) $3.50
Overboard (2016) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $6
Overlord (2018) (Vudu/4K) $5 (Vudu/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) (MA/HD) $2 (GP/HD) $1
Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $4.50
Parasite (2019) (MA/HD) $4.75
Passengers (2016) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $3
Paterno (2018) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.25 (GP/HD) $2.75
Patriot Games (1992) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Paw Patrol: The Movie (2021) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5
Peanuts Movie (2015) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.25
Pearl (2022) (Vudu/HD) $6
Penguins of Madagascar (2014) (MA/HD) $1.75
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) (MA/HD) $2.25
Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $1.75
Pet Sematary (1989) (iTunes/4K) $4 (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Pet Sematary (2019) (Vudu/4K) $4.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $2.50
Pete’s Dragon (2016) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.25
Peter Pan (1953) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Peter Pan: Return to Neverland (2002) (MA/HD) $6.25 (GP/HD) $4.75
Peter Rabbit (2018) & 2 (2021) (MA/HD) $10.25 $5.75 Each
Peter Rabbit (2018) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $5
Peter Rabbit 2 (2021) (MA/HD) $3.75
Philadelphia (1993) (MA/4K) $7.75
Philomena (2013) (Vudu/HD) $2
Pitch Perfect (2012) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.75
Pitch Perfect Collection 1-3 (MA/HD) $11.50
Planet of the Apes 1-3 (Newer) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $12
Playing with Fire (2019) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.50
Pocahontas (1995) (MA/HD) $6.50 (GP/HD) $5
Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998) (MA/HD) $6 (GP/HD) $3.25
Poltergeist (1982) (MA/4K) $5
Power Rangers (2017) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.25 (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Predator (1987), 2 (1990), Predators (2009), Predator (2018) $11
Predator (2018) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $2.50
Premium Rush (2012) (MA/HD) $3
Prey for the Devil (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) (MA/HD) $7
Prophecy Collection 1-5 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $14.50
Protege, The (2021) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75
Psycho (1960), Rear Window (1954), The Birds (1963), Vertigo (1958) (MA/4K) $17
Pulp Fiction (1994) (Vudu/4K) $5.50 (Vudu/HD) $4.25 (iTunes/HD) $5.25
Punisher, The (2004) (Vudu/4K) $6
Punisher: War Zone (2008) (Vudu/4K) $6
Purge, The (2013) (MA/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
Purge: Anarchy (2014) (MA/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75
Purge: Election Year (2016) (MA/4K $5.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
Puss in Boots (2011) (MA/4K) $7
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) (MA/HD) $8
Race (2016) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $2.50
Raid 2 (2014) (MA/HD) $6
Raid: Redemption + Unrated (2012) (MA/HD) $5.50
Railway Man (2013) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) $4.50 (GP/HD) $1.50
Rambo Collection 1-5 (Vudu/HD) $15
Rambo Last Blood (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $2.75
Rambo: First Blood (1982) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) (Vudu/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.50
Ray (2004) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5.25
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.75
Rear Window (1954) (MA/4K) $4.75
Red (2010) (Vudu/4K) $6.50
Red 2 (2013) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $1.50
Red Rocket (2021) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Replicas (2019) (Vudu/4K) $5.50
Requiem for a Dream - Director's Cut (2000) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Reservoir Dogs (1992) (Vudu/4K) $5 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) (MA/HD) $2.25
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $3.25
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) (MA/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $4.50
Respect (2021) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Revenant, The (2015) (MA/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3.25
Rhythm Section (2020) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Richie Rich (1994) (MA/HD) $5
Riddick - Unrated Director's Cut (2013) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4
Riddick Collection 1-3 (Unrated) (MA/HD) $14
Ride Along 1-2 (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5 $2.75 Each
Rio (2011) (MA/HD) $5.50
Rise of the Guardians (2012) (MA/HD) $3.25
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2010) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5.75
Robin Hood (2010) (MA/4K) $6.50
Robin Hood (2018) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
RoboCop (1987) (Vudu/HD) $7.50
RoboCop (2014) (Vudu/HD) $2
Rocketman (2019) (Vudu/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) $2.50 (Vudu/HD) $2.25
Rogue (2020) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3.50
Role Models (Unrated) (2008) (MA/HD) $3.50
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) (MA/HD) $3.50
Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.50
Rough Night (2017) (MA/HD) $4.50
Rumble (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6
Running Man, The (1987) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Rush (2013) (MA/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/HD) $3.25
Safe House (2012) (MA/HD) $4 (iTunes/HD) $2.50
Sandlot, The (1993) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $5
Saturday Night Fever (1977) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Sausage Party (2016) (MA/HD) $4.25
Saving Private Ryan (1998) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Saw (2004) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $3
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) (MA/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $5.25
Scream (1996) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.75
Scream 5 (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Scream Collection 1-3 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $13.50
Secret Headquarters (2022) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/4K) $6
Secret in Their Eyes (2015) (MA/HD) (iTunes/HD) $2.25
Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) (MA/4K) $6.25 (MA/HD) $5
Selma (2015) (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/HD) $2.25
Shallows, The (2016) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD $4.25
Shang-Chi (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $5 (GP/HD) $3.25
Shawshank Redemption (1994) (MA/4K) $5
Sherlock Gnomes (2018) (Vudu/HD) $2.75 (iTunes/4K) $2.25
Sicario (2015) (Vudu/4K) $6 (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3
Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $3.75
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2
Sing 2 (2021) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.75
Singin' in the Rain (1952) (MA/4K) $6.50
Sixteen Candles (1984) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $4.25
Skyscraper (2018) (MA/4K) $5.50 (MA/HD) $1.75
Slender Man (2018) (MA/HD) $5.25
Smile (2022) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6.75
Smokey and the Bandit (1977) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $3.75
Smokin' Aces (2007) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/HD) $5.75
Smurfs 2 (2013) (MA/HD) $3.25
Snake Eyes (2021) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Snowman (2017) (MA/HD) $2
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.75
Soul (2020) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $3.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Source Code (2011) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.75
Southpaw (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Southside With You (2016) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Space Jam (1996) (MA/4K) $5
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Sparkle (2012) (MA/HD) $3.50 (MA/SD) $2.25
Speed (1994) (MA/4K) $5.25
Spider-Man Collection 1-8 (MA/HD) $26
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $4
Spiral (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.50
Spirit Untamed: The Movie (2021) (MA/HD) $4.25
Split (2017) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.75
SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) (Vudu/HD) $4.75 (iTunes/HD) $3.50
Spontaneous (2020) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Spotlight (2015) (MA/HD) $5 (iTunes/HD) $3
Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Stand Up Guys (2012) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Star Trek (2009) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $7
Star Trek 1-3 (Vudu/4K) $18.75 (Vudu/HD) $9.50 (iTunes/4K) $13.50
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) (Vudu/HD) $1.75 (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Star, The (2017) (MA/HD) $2.50
Step Brothers + Unrated (2008) (MA/HD) $6.75
Strange World (2022) (MA/HD) $5
Strangers: Prey at Night (2018) (MA/HD) $3.50
Studio 666 (2022) (MA/HD) $6.50
Suicide Squad, The (2021) (MA/4K) $5
Sum of All Fears, The (2002) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75
Super 8 (2011) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (Vudu/HD) $3.25 (iTunes/4K) $5
Survive the Night (2020) (Vudu/4K) $4 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3
SW: A New Hope (1977) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Attack of the Clones (2002) (GP/HD) Ports to MA $6.50
SW: Empire Strikes Back (1980) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $6.75 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Force Awakens (2015) (MA/4K) $5.50 (iTunes/4K) $3.75 (GP/HD) $1.50
SW: Last Jedi (2017) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) $4 (GP/HD) $1.25
SW: Phantom Menace (1999) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) $6.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Return of the Jedi (1983) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) $6.75 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Revenge of the Sith (2005) (MA/4K) $7.50 (GP/HD) $3.50
SW: Rise of Skywalker (2019) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/4K) $5 (GP/HD) $2.50
SW: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) (MA/4K) $6.75 (iTunes/4K) $4 (GP/HD) $1.50
SW: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) (MA/4K) $7.25 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (GP/HD) $3.25
Taken (2009), 2 (2012), 3 (2015) (MA/HD) $9
Ten Commandments (1956) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $5.75
Terminator (1984) (Vudu/HD) $7
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $4.25
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) (Vudu/4K) $6.75 (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/4K) $2.50
Thing, The (2011) (MA/HD) $6.25
This Means War (2012) (MA/HD) $4
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $2.25
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3.50 (GP/HD) $1.75
Thor: The Dark World (2013) (MA/4K) $7 (iTunes/4K) $4.75 (GP/HD) $2.25
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) (MA/HD) $3.50
Till (2022) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Titans: Season 2 (2020) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (MA/4K) $6.25 (iTunes/HD) $4.50
Top Gun (1986) (Vudu/4K) $5.25 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) (Vudu/4K) $6.50 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $6
Total Recall (1990) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.25
Toy Story 1-4 (MA/4K) $23 (iTunes/4K) $21 (GP/HD) $11.50
Traffic (2000) (iTunes/HD) Ports to MA $5.75
Training Day (2001) (MA/4K) $7
Transformers 1-5 (Vudu/4K) $29 (Vudu/HD) $22
Trauma Center (2019) (iTunes/4K) $3.25
Trick 'r Treat (2009) (MA/HD) $5
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) (Vudu/HD) $2.75
Turbo (2013) (MA/HD) $2.25 (iTunes/SD) $1.25
Turning Red (2022) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $4.25 (GP/HD) $3
Umma (2022) (MA/HD) $3.75
Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
Unbreakable (2000) (MA/4K) $6 (GP/HD) $3.75
Uncharted (2022) (MA/4K) $5.75 (MA/HD) $3.75
Uncle Drew (2018) (Vudu/4K) $6.25 (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $3
Uncut Gems (2019) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Under the Skin (2014) (Vudu/HD) $5.25
Underwater (2020) (MA/HD) $5.25
Underworld: Awakening (2012) (MA/HD) $1.75
Underworld: Blood Wars (2016) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) $2.25
Universal Soldier (1992) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.25
Untouchables, The (1987) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $5.75
Up (2009) (iTunes/4K) $7.50 (MA/HD) $6.75 (GP/HD) $5
Us (2019) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $5.25
Usual Suspects, The (1995) (Vudu/HD) $6.25
Van Helsing (2004) (MA/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $4.75
Venom (2005) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.75
Venom (2018) (MA/4K) $7 (MA/HD) $3.50
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $3.50
Vertigo (1958) (MA/HD) $5
Vice (2018) 'Christian Bale' (MA/HD) $4.25
Vivo (2021) (MA/HD) $4
W. (2008) (Vudu/HD) $4.25
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) (MA/HD) $6.75
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $3
War of the Worlds (1953) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $7
Warcraft (2016) (MA/4K) $5 (iTunes/4K) (MA/HD) $2.25
Warrior (2011) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/HD) $4
Warriors, The (1979) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5.75
Waterworld (1995) (MA/4K) $6.75 (MA/HD) $6
Wayne's World (1992) (Vudu/4K) (iTunes/4K) $6.50
West Side Story (2021) (MA/4K) $6 (MA/HD) (GP/HD) $2.50
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022) (MA/HD) $5
Where'd You Go Bernadette (2019) (MA/HD) $5.50
White House Down (2013) (MA/HD) $3.50
Widows (2018) (MA/4K) $6.50 (MA/HD) $1.50
Willow (1988) (MA/HD) $6.75 (GP/HD) $4.50
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) (MA/4K) $5.50
Wind River (2017) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $4.25
Wolf Man (1941) (MA/4K) $6.50
Wolf of Wall Street (2013) (Vudu/4K) $6 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.50
Wolverine (Unrated) (2013) (MA/HD) $3.75
Woman King (2022) (MA/4K) $7.25 (MA/HD) $5.75
Wonder (2017) (Vudu/4K) $5.75 (iTunes/4K) (Vudu/HD) $3.25
Wonder Park (2019) (Vudu/HD) $3 (iTunes/4K) $2.25
Wrath of Man (2021) (Vudu/HD) $3
X (2022) (Vudu/HD) $7
X-Men (2000), X2 (2003), The Last Stand (2006) (MA/HD) $14.50
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) (MA/HD) $6.25
X-Men: First Class (2010), Days of Future Past (2004), Apocalypse (2014) (MA/HD) $11
Yesterday (2019) (MA/HD) $4.50
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) (Vudu/HD) (iTunes/HD) $5
Youth in Revolt (2009) (Vudu/HD) $4.50
Zathura (2005) (MA/HD) $6.75
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) (MA/4K) $7.75 (MA/HD) $3
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) (MA/HD) $4.75
Zootopia (2016) (MA/4K) $7.50 (iTunes/4K) $5.25 (MA/HD) $4.75 (GP/HD) $3.50

Hi everyone,
I am 21 years old and scared half to death right now. I feel like I’m running circles in my head trying to sort this out. And I’m just hoping someone can help me. I never saw myself in a situation like this so please no judgement. :(
I took an early result test Sunday morning on Mar 26th and it came back positive. Immediately I went into my nearest urgent care because I didn’t know what else to do. They drew my blood and called me back a few hours later and told me my HCG level was at a 6.8. They said that was super low, so they then had me come in again the following day on the 27th, for another blood test, to see if it was increasing. That one came back at a HCG level of 27. I visited a clinic yesterday, where they did a transvaginal ultrasound. As expected there was nothing to see yet. All they could measure was my uterine lining. Now it’s just a waiting game until my next appointment in a couple weeks to see if we can get a measurement.
This is where it gets messy… My last period was February 24-26, (it wasn’t implantation bleeding, it was heavy). My cycles aren’t regular. So, I had sex with guy #1 on Mar 3 and I had sex with guy #2 on Mar 14
Guy #1 pulled out but kind of late Guy #2 finished inside me
My period tracking app estimates that I ovulated around the 9th or 10th. But then again my cycles aren’t always regular.
I’m almost wondering if it’s guy #2 because of how low my levels were at first. But idk this has been eating me alive all week and I just need others opinions on who you think the father is.
A huge thank you to anyone that read all of that!

The desert holds many mysteries, and keeps endless secrets- the harsh, arid landscape ensures as much. Because of this, the desert of Arizona isn’t stranger to numerous urban legends that range from believable, to downright strange. From the Mogollon monster to the Phoenix lights to the hauntings of Jerome, there is a lot to wonder about when you look out into the vast landscape of Arizona… but, perhaps the most believable urban legend of them all is the legend of Slaughterhouse Canyon.
Southeast of Kingman, Arizona, you will find Luana’s canyon- more commonly, and ominously, known as Slaughterhouse Canyon. The canyon is settled within large, looming mountains… the dusty desert floor alive with brittlebush and mesquite trees. The nearby town of Kingman was settled in 1882, and soon after a railroad line was put in place, running through the small town. This brought miners from all surrounding areas coming to the new settlement in order to put down roots, and mine for gold in the Northwestern Mountains. One of these miner’s had a wife named Luana, and a handful of children, who all settled into a small shack along the riverbed that snaked through the canyon.
One day, Luana’s husband packed his belongings and his mule, kissed his wife and children goodbye, and set off to mine the nearby mountains. Days passed, and Luana began to grow worried, as her husband never returned- later, it’s believed that her husband was a victim of robbery or killed from the harsh environment of the unforgiving desert. When her husband never came back to the small shack with gold in his pockets, Luana began to panic, as the family had begun to run out of food, and they were slowly starving. When food ran out completely, it is said that Luana slowly began to grow insane, forced to listen to her children’s screams bouncing off the canyon walls, unable to look at their pale, sullen faces.
Unable to cope with the deafening screams of her children, and slowly losing her sanity, Luana made a startling decision. She donned her white wedding gown, grabbed an axe, and one by one, began to murder each of her children within the tiny shack. When the shack was quiet and the screams had ended, Luana looked around- the shack walls, and her once white wedding dress, were now stained bright red. From here, Luana dismembered each of her children into smaller pieces- and, piece by piece, brought them to the the river and threw them in. Once she finished her task, she collapsed at the edge of the river, and began to wail. She stayed at the river’s edge screaming and crying until she, too, died- a combination of starvation and mourning the deaths of her children.
Legend has it that you can still hear the wailing of young children, and the screams of a panicked woman, echoing against the canyon walls if you are brave enough to visit Slaughterhouse Canyon late at night. Many from the area have claimed to hear these disembodied voices, and they won’t call it an urban legend- they simply call it fact. Would you visit Slaughterhouse Canyon?
Links
Only In Your State
Kingman Daily Miner
Puzzle Box

I wasn't sure if anyone else had noticed this but, there are 4 arabian horses that match the description of the horses used by the 4 horsemen in the book of Revelation in the new testament.

• You have the white horse which can be found near Lake Isabella. The bible typically associates white with righteousness. I typically associate this with an honorable Arthur.
• Then you have the red chestnut horse which can be found west of Strawberry near Owanjila. The bible associates this horse with war or in some versions civil war. I typically associate this with a dishonorable Arthur
• You also have the black horse which can be bought at the Saint Denis stables once the player has completed chapter 4. The bible associates this horse with pestilence. Arthur at this point has contracted TB and could be a subtle hint of whats to come.
• Then Finally there is the rose grey bay which can be bought at the blackwater stable during the epilogue. The bible associates this horse with death. At this point Arthur has died and can serve as a reminder of his death.

I could be looking into this too deeply but I thought it was a cool detail if its intentional. I couldn't find any information about this online so i figured I could share this
Edit: There's also the Warped Brindle located near Wapiti. I think that its placement near Wapiti was no accident. US soldiers were selectively breeding horses to have solid colored coat(typically white in color) while the natives used what nature provided. This meant that the natives usually had horses that had unique coats with spots and other unique visual traits