We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Now that the cooking is done, it’s time to sit back, relax, and read a story by our latest contest winner! Joan Leotta wrote a short but sweet tale about a jungle, a tiger, and a hunter who takes a shot.
Check out last week’s prompt and the winning story below.
Prompt:
Where are they? He thought, stopping to wipe the sweat out of his eyes. The jungle heat had become brutally oppressive, sapping the energy right out of his body. He knew he couldn’t go on like this for much longer but what choice did he have? He leaned wearily against a tree trunk and took in the deep green foliage that surrounded him, wondering at the remarkable stillness of the afternoon. It was only then that he caught a glimpse of orange creeping slowly toward him through the trees. Tiger! His body screamed into action as he dropped into a crouch and raised his rifle.
[x_line]
Tiger
By Joan Leotta
Powerful orange legs propelled the tiger from crouch to a jump. As the beast arched toward him, he found it hard to breathe. He looked up. Sky was blotted out by the body hurtling over toward him. Had the tiger’s striped being cut off all air as well as sky? Sweat poured from his brow into his eyes. He squeezed the trigger. Misfire. He felt the whip of the tiger’s tale as it passed over him. Snarling, grunting, scuffling from behind. He took a deep breath and turned. Tiger was engaged with a wild boat that had, with uncharacteristic silence been stalking him!
The boar was cleverly positioning his head to gore the tiger.
The hunter raised his gun and shot their common enemy. Tiger looked up, shook his massive head in the direction of the hunter. He had sweet meat…enough for now, but…
The hunter nodded and backed through the brush, around the clearing, back down the trail to his car. No more hunting that day. He had already bagged his trophy. His own life.
[x_line]
Joan Leotta has been playing with words since childhood. Joan recently completed a month as one of Tupelo Press’ 30/30 poets. She has published or has work forthcoming in Red Wolf, Thynks, Knox Literary Magazine, A Quiet Courage, Eastern Iowa Review, Silver Birch, and Postcard Poems and Prose. In addition to her work as an award-winning journalist, short story writer, author, poet, and essayist, Joan performs folklore and one-woman shows on historic figures. Her current books in print include:
The Legacy of Honor series:
Giulia Goes to War, Letters from Korea, A Bowl of Rice, Secrets of the Heart:
now available from Desert Breeze Publishing and Amazon
Simply a Smile: A collection of Short Stories from Amazon
WHOOSH!: A picture book from TheaQ and Amazon
Joan lives in Calabash, NC where she walks the beach with her husband Joe. She collects shells, pressed pennies, and memories.
To learn more about Joan, check out these links:
Website: www.joanleotta.wordpress.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Joan-Leotta-Author-and-Story-Performer/188479350973
For those of you who missed out on last week’s contest, check out our current active contest or sign up for our newsletter to get the latest in news and updates.
