
The May 30, 2023 99-word story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a beaver slap. It can be an actual tail slap warning on the water or an imitation. Is a beaver slap the name of something — a new type of burger, perfume, or a sci-fi gadget? Take ecological and poetic licenses. Go where the prompt leads! Submit by June 5, 2023. Please use the form below if you want to be published in the weekly collection. The Collection publishes on the Thursday following the next Challenge. Stories must be 99 words. Rules & Guidelines.
Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “High Water Collection” .
Safe Haven by D. Avery
Wintertime was the worst. Then the pond out back was frozen over, the beavers invisible and unavailable to her. She imagined them content and cozy in their lodge, happy they were safe. In the summer her father often complained about them, kept the rifle out, but he was too lazy to set traps under the ice.
Now her father’s glass banged the table, a hard slap of sound, a warning of what was coming next. Sometimes she dreamed of escaping, of swimming underwater and entering the beaver lodge. Sometimes she prayed the beavers would just flood this house away.

In addition to what I post here for the Carrot Ranch challenges, there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.