Feeding the Family

Her young are hungry and she leaves them with her mate while she goes hunting. He’s good with them and always keeps a watchful eye out for predators.

She decides to go to the mall and get a variety of fast food from the chain restaurants in the food court.

She’ll need some money, so she starts stalking the shoppers to see if she can pick out a weak one to bring down.

When the group she’s following senses her presence, they bunch together, move their young to the middle, and move more quickly into the center of the mall.

She notices an older woman is having trouble keeping up and culls her from the rest of the herd. Leaping onto the woman’s back, she easily brings her to the floor and takes her purse.

The shoppers scatter, screaming for security staff.

Having had a successful hunt, the mother makes a couple of quick stops and gathers food for her family.

Leaving the mall in total chaos, she heads for home.

“Burgers, fries, pizza, and chicken nuggets,” she calls out upon her arrival. The family tears into the feast without bothering to unwrap anything.

Later, satiated and finally left to themselves, she and her mate chat amiably while licking ketchup and mustard from each other’s faces.

“Any trouble at the mall?” he asks.

“No,” she replies. “I was in and out in ten minutes.”

A call comes from the living room. “Mom!  The news lady on the TV is talking about you again.”

–

Roy Dorman is retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Benefits Office and has been a voracious reader for over 60 years. At the prompting of an old high school friend, himself a retired English teacher, Roy is now a voracious writer. He has had poetry and flash fiction published most recently in Aphelion, Birds Piled Loosely, Camel Saloon, Drunk Monkeys, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Theme of Absence, Yellow Mama, Black Petals, Flash Fiction Magazine, Shotgun Honey, and Lake City Lights, an online literary site at which he is the submissions editor.

Lead image: “Half a holdup” (image via Flickr user dawolf-)