Claire's New Caution

Claire found herself staring at a particularly fluffy cloud, a perfect, puffy sheep grazing in a sky of endless blue. For the first time in what felt like eons, she wasn't contemplating how to sneak into the woods or what new, daring feat she could accomplish. Instead, she was contemplating the sheep. And it was, she had to admit, a rather magnificent cloud-sheep.

“Remarkable, isn’t it?” a voice piped up beside her.

Claire jumped, a startled little squeak escaping her. She’d gotten rather good at that, squeaking. It was a new skill, acquired during her recent, unscheduled forest sabbatical. She turned to see Mrs. Gable, her neighbor, a woman whose knitting needles were as legendary as her ability to gossip. Mrs. Gable was beaming, her hands busy with a ball of yarn the color of a sunset.