100 Word Story: Pace

It was hot. It had been hot for days. And the nights were fraught, the windows not yet fully open to summer and sleep scarce under winter blankets.

Sometimes, there were bursts of sound. Gunfire, she thought, though he said firecrackers. He said that to put the sound in a good light but the sound was the sound. Loud and probably aimed at something.

The sound made the dog pace. He laid his ears back on his wolf head and paced around the bed as if his scent would warn off danger and the people slept. Fitfully but all night.