On the Loose

WITH MOOSE!

I'd
promised
Moose
a long
walk
this
morning.


He took me up on my offer.

Halfway home
on our
four-mile
hike, he
picked up
a critter's
scent
and bolted.

I knew I was in for a LONG wait.

I photo-
graphed flowers, drew words in the gravel, paced back and forth for a quarter mile, hollered after this hunting dog and wondered why this escapade wouldn't end.

Then I glimpsed something furry peeking out and scuttling back into the grassy roadside.

I hollered "Moo-oose!" again. But, it wasn't him. The furball scampered up a tree.

Who was more surprised –

the coon or me?

I snapped his picture, looked down and...

saw Moose loping my way. Oh, oh!

Before Moose realized what he'd stumbled upon, I snapped on his leash and gazed up –
in awe.

The coon was nowhere to be seen. It was his turn On the Loose eluding me with Moose!