12:3

To all outward appearances the beaver was a cool as the proverbial cucumber. This could go many ways, but as long as he remained cool, he could keep the assemblage before him from seeing him dissolve into a slimy puddle; which was what he felt was likely to happen if his last ‘guest’ didn’t show very very quickly. He could see that noxious rabbit eyeing him and very soon he was going to open the unusually large trap he called a mouth and start tearing down this little ‘moment.’

And it looked, friendship or not, that Gareth was reaching his boiling point as well. The kid had always had a problem keeping his mouth shut anyway and this little gathering was obviously not sitting well with him.

The girl was cool. The beaver thought she might even be enjoying herself and Carline was too cowed to be a bother. If he could just hold the status quo for a few more minutes, this should all work.

If not… well there was always the big stick. And beavers’ knew a lot about big sticks.