elder futhark

        The hubub in the street had gone viral. Chewbacca had about thirty residents and half of them were converging around the Skell Van. Artie was given a soft place on the grass. He smiled like a space cadet. Kept telling everybody he felt no pain. He looked ghastly.
         Tyson Gowain lumbered up, knelt with cracking kneecaps, and touched Artie's arm. "How're you doing, Mormon?"
          "OK. No pain."
          "I should say not." Smirking. "Your breath smells like a bud stud farm."
         

                                                                                    *


           Cherry Blossom squeezed Leah's hand. "Let's go for a walk."
           "Yes." Her cheeks were all aglow.
           From the front steps, Ziggy and Cherry Blossom had created a kilnstone path down to the dirt road leading into thick cedar. The women walked arm-in-arm, which caused them to stumble. Bluebell laughter.
           Into the gloom of the wood they went. A flutter of quick wings overhead. Then a hush.
           "Cherry!"
           "I see him!"
           Dressed in black denim, the archer emerged, from one shade zone to the next.
           "This isn't happening," Cherry Blossom moaned.