As light faded from the sky, shadows lengthened. The thrum of life shifted, taking on a different cadence with the change from dayshift into nightlife. My no means quieter, it was the chirping of birds and cicada that traded in for a chorus of frogs, of deers screaming in the woods, of a loon crying out on some distant bog. It was a low rumble, more felt than heard, as a mother crocodile coaxed her hatchling to hurry out of their shell and into her waiting mouth. There, in the cage of yellowing teeth, they would be safe. For a time.
More eyes than the gore crows were watching. Reflective irises - catlike in the way they caught the light - revealed a smaller reptile lurking nearby. A caiman, bold and hungry, inched ever closer to the nest. When a hatchling strayed too far from its mothers watchful gaze, the caiman struck, its sharp teeth sinking into soft skin - and a life barely begun met its end.
More eyes than the gore crows were watching. Reflective irises - catlike in the way they caught the light - revealed a smaller reptile lurking nearby. A caiman, bold and hungry, inched ever closer to the nest. When a hatchling strayed too far from its mothers watchful gaze, the caiman struck, its sharp teeth sinking into soft skin - and a life barely begun met its end.
