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Sonakshi & the White Owl
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Date Posted: 07:46:32 05/03/04 Mon
Author Host/IP: 5.126.221.203.comindico.com.au/203.221.126.5
Sonakshi lay along her willow tree branch, watching ants scurry up the trunk. she batted at the moving line with her flattened paw, and laid back her ears at the thought of the unseen intruder who had trespassed on her patch earlier.
but it was getting late, soon the light would begin to fade, and evening always came earlier in the denser jungle. Sonakshi had sated her hunger with a pair of young rabbits, and was languidly stretching her black length along her branch when a white owl landed in her tree, on a higher branch.
'whoo-oo,' said the owl, 'you did not save me some?'
Sonakshi bared her teeth, and only that particular owl would not have been worried. he knew she was playing.
'get your own.' said the she-leopard with a half-purr, half-snarl, reaching a paw downwards to pick up the skin of one of the rabbits. She was annoyed when it proved just beyond her reach, and swiped at the air just above the fur, finally wriggling around to a different angle where she could reach better without leaving her branch, and picked up the remains of the rabbit with her claws.
she sniffed and licked at the bloody, furry mess a little while, a low purr starting in her throat, before she lifted it to a higher branch in her jaws, hanging it by the skull in the fork.
'there.' she said and returned to her sleeping sprawl along the low level limb of the willow. the owl cocked his head and stared at her with round copper eyes.
'you expect me to believe that was once a rabbit?' he hooted disdainfully, moving around on his perch in such a way that a leaf hung and tickled Sonakshi's soft black ear. 'ive seen more appetizing dung!'
'you were late.'
'so you finished off as much as you could and left me the skin and bones! why, how generous of you, madame Sonakshi.'
'i'll eat you too. shut up.' the young black leopardess snarled, mock-slashing at the white owl with her crippled paw.
'oh, stop it. you look dreadful with your face all scrunched and wrinkled up like that. i'll just get the other one myself, then, shall i?'
the owl flew to the ground and picked up the other pile of rabbit remains in his talons, and hung the second partial carcass up with the first. he began to peck greedily at the corpses, pulling off small pieces of fat and skin, but eyed the leopardess, who seemed to be settling herself down for the night below, thinking him occupied by his meagre meal.
'you know, Sonakshi,' he began, swallowing a piece of rabbit gristle.
'what?' she said irritably without looking up.
'you could have afforded to leave me a little actual meat on these rabbits. youre looking plenty sleek enough yourself, while poor owl has to survive on fur and marrow.' he sucked on a bone and cracked it in his beak, but when he turned back to address the leopardess, he was rather startled to find her scowling dark face taking up most of his field of vision. he jumped back, opening and closing his beak in shock, but no sound came from his gullet for once.
'owl,' she hissed, 'you talk too much.'
with that, she went calmly back to her branch, and by the time the owl's heart rate had returned to normal, she was asleep.
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