The eyes of predators and prey alike followed them. The smallest member of the party lifted his nose out of his book and turned a full 360°.
“Mo-o-o-om!” Jonathan’s plaintive cry split the silence. “You told me we’d see lions and tigers and bears. But according to the ‘Habitats of Land Mammals,’ they don’t ever live in the same place.”

(I hope you enjoyed this morning’s story. I write these micro-stories from a prompt word in one minute. I can edit as much as I want after the one minute, but the bones have to be there before the alarm rings. This one took a bit of tampering. I wasn’t sure at first who needed to be the animal nerd [I use that term as a compliment, for sure]. I’m glad I decided on the little kid.

I did this same, “micro-story a day” skill-building project in 2010. It revolutionized my writing and prompted the development of my “Flash Your Fiction” workshop for writers. To see the stories from that project, go here.”)