I missed a couple weeks. If you want to know why, look below. But, I'm back with this week's entry, "Rennie and Sprout" inspired by this prompt:
Rennie and Sprout
Rennie basked in the sunlight. His sprout soaked it up as well.
"What's that bright light, Rennie?" Sprout sounded anxious.
He didn't answer right away. He felt strangely paternal toward his new appendage, so it annoyed him when Sprout--he hadn't given it a proper name yet--called him by his first name. "'Dad' wouldn't be any better," he thought. "Too...I don't know...familial?" Sprout was more like an arm or a leg than a child, but an arm that could talk.
After a sufficient pause, he said, "It's the sun." He tried to sound bored, even though catching a few rays was pretty unusual for a mushroom.
"It's warm," Sprout hummed with delight. "I like it!"
Rennie would have smiled, despite himself, if he could. He liked it, too.
"Ooo, flutterbies. Look at them all." The wonder in Sprout's voice wasn't matched by Rennie's sudden change of mood.
"Something's wrong," he whispered. "Moths don't like the sun."
His mycelia felt it first, a rumble running through the ground, faint and indistinct. The pattern tickled something in Rennie's collective memory, making him even more nervous. The rumble grew steadily until it resolved into a pair of running feet.
"Grandpa! Here's a double one." The little boy's voice squeaked with excitement.
The vibrations of the running feet stopped and were replaced by a slow, methodical plodding.
"Let's see, Jimmy. Yep, that's a good one."
Rennie would have held his breath, if he breathed, waiting for the slice of the knife. Instead, he heard a clicking sound.
"See how the sunlight glints off the cap? And all of those pretty butterflies? Make sure you get them, too."
The electronic shutter sounded several more times.
"Got 'em, Jimmy. Let's find some more."
Rennie let out the breath he wasn’t really holding.