Published: November 2021 in Conceit Magazine      Sarama, a chalk-white Scottish terrier, trotted easily, straight up the middle of Rillito River’s dried-up bed. Her black nose quivered as she paused momentarily to inhale the pungent aroma of dead brush and tawny grasses, seared under a hot Tucson sun. She noted her beloved human, Gina,…

     Gerry woke with a start! Her short, gnome-like body jerked up like a coiled spring being released. Some potent sense that had always alerted her in the past when danger lurked—or the harsh thump that echoed throughout the house—was what jolted her wide-eyed awake.  Regardless, she knew something was amiss in her home…

     It was a glorious, sunny day, in the garden patch that ran along the edge of the old woman’s tiny cottage. The fat toad rested in its ceramic house, croaking contentedly as it eyed the plump elderly lady filling its shallow pond. A snake slithered through the ivy groundcover, seeking a flat rock to…