PREVIEW of

Stripes in the Sand

by Shino Puppy

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Chapter 1

Are we there yet?” The age-old venerable phrase
emanated from the back seat of the dull grey
minivan for the sixth time in as many minutes. The blue-
maned, grey-furred lion in the driver’s seat rolled his
spectacle-framed dark green eyes as he let out an
exasperated sigh. The pumpkin-coloured tiger in the
passenger seat looked over at the driver with sparking
blue eyes and a smirk before twisting around in his seat to
address the two rambunctious cubs in the back seat that
had vocalized the time-honoured question.

“No, we are not there yet, but Uncle Issac promises
to tell you the moment we get near the beach house. Isn’t
that right Issac?” The well-built tiger swiveled back
around in his chair to give the lion in the driver’s seat
another amused smirk.

“Why did you do that, Dusa?” said the lion in an
annoyed whisper, tossing his coworker and best friend a
sideways glance. “Now they’re gonna be asking me every
other minute or so. Is this payback or something? For
roping you into that deplorable vendor-client meeting last
Friday? Because I already told you, I had no idea the
vendor was going to blow the contract like that.”

“No, actually.” The tiger responded with a
thoughtful glance and a growing smile. “But now that you
mention it…” He suddenly spun around in his seat again
to look at the cubs, a wide grin plastered across his face.

“Hey boys, once we get there, how about we have Uncle
Issac take you down the boardwalk for ice cream?”

At the mention of the creamy dessert, the cub’s eyes
lit up like Christmas had come early. The white tiger cub
buckled into the rear passenger seat dropped his eyes
from his father and made a low “ooohhhh” noise as his
eyes glazed over, clearly lost in the thought of a waffle-
cone mint chocolate triple-scoop with sprinkles. The
younger lion cub, identical in appearance to the larger lion
behind the wheel, spoke up from the booster seat into
which he was buckled. “Is that true Dad? Are you and
Uncle Dusa really going to get us ice cream?”

The older lion shot his striped friend a death stare
before finding his cub’s eyes in the rear-view mirror. “Yes
Jamie. I’ll take you down to Petey’s after we unpack, but
you’re each getting only one scoop. You got that Duma?”

The smile quickly melted off of the white tiger cub’s
face before forming into a disappointed frown. “Yes,
Uncle Issac. Only one scoop.” The cub said in a sad
monotone, his delight towards impending ice cream
crushed by his newly imposed scoop count limitation.

“You’re awful, you know that?” Issac whispered
quietly to Dusa. The big orange tiger simply responded
with his trademark smirk and resumed staring out the
window. Responding only in his head, he thought to
himself “You have no idea, bro.”

Chapter 2

The tires of the minivan crunched to a stop on the
gravel driveway in front of a quaint beach house. The
signature scent of salt water greeted the gang as the doors
opened and everyone stepped out. Almost in unison, the
group took in a deep breath and let out a long contented
sigh. They looked down the hill next to the cottage to the
private section of beach below, sparkling in the bright
summer sunlight.

The cottage was a gift; something left to Issac by his
grandfather before he passed away. Issac had spent many
a summer in this cottage during his youth, and was elated
to be able to share the cozy bungalow with his own child.

The serene peace Issac felt as he gazed at the house
was quickly shattered by the shout of the cubs from
behind as they took off in the opposite direction of the
cottage.

“Last one there is a stinky dog!” Jamie yelled, making
a beeline for the footpath at the edge of the clearing;
Duma hot on his heels.

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…there's lots more naughty cub action ahead!
To continue the story, e-mail ShinoPuppy@gmail.com or see below!