“It’s your turn for Critter of the Month Douglas! You ready to go?” Dr. Pete Diggle poked his head into the large enclosure, his handlebar mustache curling up in a smile at the dog-sized creature bounding towards him.
Its furry body wriggled with energy, and it vaulted on the claws of its folded wings like a pole vaulter to jump up into Pete’s outstretched arms. Pete laughed when Douglas nuzzled his hair. The large head cocked this way and that like a bird’s, large eyes focusing on every detail as Pete backed out of the large aviary and closed the latch…The trees that shaded the garage-sized enclosure of wood and wire mesh, the leaves that fell to the ground in the sudden cool breeze. Pete’s beat up white truck parked in the narrow driveway, right by a yellow painted shed, and a bright red bucket that sat against the wall of that shed. A lizard that scurried behind that bucket…
Douglas scrabbled against Pete’s shirt with small, sharp claws, pushing against the arms that held him. One large, leathery wing unfolded and buffeted Pete in the face. Pete’s grip loosened, and Douglas unfolded both wings to their full, five-foot span, and jumped down to the ground running.
“Wait Douglas, wait!” Pete ran after the feisty pterosaur, but the terrier-sized creature was nimble for an animal with wings for front legs and such an over sized head. He bounded for the shed like a dog after a squirrel, his long, thin tail bouncing like a flag behind him.
Douglas got away! It won’t take long for Pete to catch him though, so stay tuned! I hope to see you again in a day or two. 🙂
Pete's Paleo Petshop 
I am once again late 😢
I’m loving the story by far! I am excited to see what Douglas will do soon.
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No worries, since I’m technically late too! I’m glad you enjoy my “filler episode”, lol, and I hope you enjoy the short story to come. Hopefully I’ll get it done before the end of the month! If not, well Douglas will get a special double month feature!
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Go get ‘im, Pete! With a critter as big and hyper as Douglas, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a common occurrence for him. 😛
I like how you were able to mesh the description nicely into the fabric of the story. 😀 When you mentioned the yellow shed, the bucket, and the lizard that scurried behind it, at first I thought it was just some helpful background info to give us an idea of the setting and help us put ourselves into Pete’s shoes (which it did), but when Douglas started running towards the shed in the next scene, that description also helped me see clearly that he was chasing after the lizard (hopefully my guess is correct!), even though you didn’t explicitly tell us so.
I’m curious to know more about how you’ve used ellipsis, though. Is that just a style thing? 🙂
I’m looking forward to reading the complete story!
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Lol, yes, this can happen a lot with Douglas, so Pete usually has a pet carrier ready in the truck. He has a few snacks to encourage the excitable critter to come running back though, so his escapades are never very long. He just couldn’t resist going after that lizard 😀
I tend to use ellipsis as a way to connect two changes in thought. Especially when the thoughts are kind of wandering between subjects, like in the details Douglas was looking at. A sort of wandering mentality.
I tend to use it even more when there’s a sudden change in tone, like when Douglas suddenly scrabbles out of Pete’s arms.
I don’t know if it’s the correct way to use, but I do notice I tend to use it that way 🙂
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