Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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Workshop 2021-01-26

A small orange shape padded through the forest, barely making a sound. He entered a clearing, skirting the edge of a cliff. Wind ruffled his fur. He walked to the edge, and glanced down at the rapidly flowing river beneath him. The cliff was only one foot above the water. “Cursed global warming.” He muttered.

As if responding, the water shifted, and the wind carried faint cries towards him. A flash of grey fur caught his eye, and before he knew it, he had jumped into the water. He fought and kicked his paws every which way, hoping to touch something. Finally, the cat felt something on his leg, and he dove down into the water, grabbing the strange grey creature, and tugging it to the surface The water crashed around him, but he paddled as fast as he could, fighting against the river, not believing that he would meet his watery end.

The river soon got tired of fighting his resistant, straining body, and spat him out onto the river bank along with the mysterious creature. He laid there gasping for air and finally he looked at the animal. It was grey with pointed ears, sharp teeth, long claws, and a bushy grey tail. The creature looked too.

The cat and the wolf stared at each other, then the cat squeaked: “ You’re a wolf!”

The wolf replied, “You’re a cat!”

They both stared at each other and then ran in opposite directions screaming, “HELP!”

They ran squarely into two watermelons. One was crying and wailing. The other was scowling at the crying watermelon. She had on a tiara, was wearing two diamond necklaces, and a pair of high heels.

The watermelons froze. The cat froze. The wolf froze. And all fainted dead away.