by Patricia Gulley

This holiday short was first published by Drabble at Christmas in 2007.

“Why are we the feeders this cycle?”

“My dear, where’s your holiday spirit? It’s a once-a-year time to entwine.”

“Cave full of younglings stuck all over the walls…”

“Don’t worry about the newer younglings, Squinta and her brood aren’t coming. She’ll be on the breeding rack again, and they all want to be home for the event.”

“Oh, good, easier to watch the Tentacle Games on the viewer. And we won’t need as much meat, five-six hundred pounds should do.”

“Yes dear, sharpen your claws and teeth; I want a good picture of you carving this year.”

Check out more Christmas short stories in our Terrific Tales section–with many more to come between now and Christmas.

Patricia Gulley is a retired travel agent and the author of Downsized To Death, a traditional mystery that is about travel agent, not a tour escort. If you like older, working women protagonists and corporate mysteries from the lower rung, this one is for you. She lives on a floating home in Oregon. Visit her at her website.