Maple

Born on Canada Day

Maple sighed and stared at the tree. He flipped a loonie between his claws, listening to the clinking and clanking noises that it made. It was the only interesting thing where he was. The tree was boring. The tap was boring. The sap was… barely moving. This whole process was worse than watching paint dry.
He sighed again and squeezed the loonie between the pads on the underside of his claw. Maple then tossed it in the air and caught the little coin between his teeth. He caught it carefully. He didn’t want to puncture yet another loonie.
A bird whistled overhead as Maple began to walk away from the tree. The bucket hanging below the tap hadn’t even met the sap it was supposed to hold. Maple moved on to another tree and looked into its bucket. It was about half full. Maple was bored and impatient, so he grabbed the bucket with one claw and placed it on the ground. He then rocked back onto his hind legs and arched his tail over his back. He grabbed a second bucket that had been hung on his tail. Maple hung the bucket over the tap, and placed the other onto his tail.
Maple just barely saw a small squirrel scurry off in the distance. He sighed once more and wandered back to his large, open cave,, where his best friend Wapiti was waiting for him.
Wapiti heard the massive Imperial walking before he saw him. Wapiti turned and smiled at his friend. “Welcome back Maple!” he called over.
Maple dropped the loonie into his paw and dropped it into a pile of other coins. “Hey Wapiti. How’s everything going?”
“Slow, as usual. How are the buckets looking?”
“Barely anything in them. Only one bucket had something, and it’s only half a something.”
“Well-” Wapiti mused, “-harvest season is just now starting, so I’m sure in a few days or so, everything will be up and running smoothly.”
“I suppose.” Maple turned the bucket upside down over the collection tank and watched the sap drip down. “I do also wish the trees would grow faster. Putting only one tap in each one is making things annoyingly slow.”
Wapiti snorted a small chuckle. “Nature sure is nice to have around, but it definitely could use a kick in the butt sometimes.” Maple gave a small laugh as well. “Maybe we could kick the sugar in the butt too.”
“Nah.” Maple squinted his eyes at Wapiti. “Last time you did that, you dented the thing. We still haven’t even fixed it! It’s got your cloven hooves imprinted on its side forever at this rate.”
Wapiti grunted and moved past Maple. “It is so not my fault. There was a bee on me.”
“Excuses, excuses. Hey, do we have any finished yet?”
“Just about!” Wapiti trotted down to the end of the collection container, over to a small fire pit with a large pot on top. Maple followed in three large steps. “It’s been boiling a while. It’s definitely melted down.” Wapiti craned his neck to see over the edge of the pot. Maple just lowered his head some.
“Smells about done.” Maple picked up the pot with his tail and walked deeper into the cave. Wapiti came up behind him and used his antlers to tip the large pot over a smaller one. The boiled sap trickled down. “I’ll clean this up if you watch the pot.”
“Of course, boss.”
Maple narrowed his eyes slightly and put a claw on Wapiti’s back. “Don’t you sass me boy.”
“Sir, yes sir!” Wapiti stood up as straight as he could, lifting his head, and staring straight into the back end of the cave. Maple chuckled and shook his head. Wapiti looked over at Maple and smiled.
Maple trotted off to the river. It only took him a few minutes. He thought about Wapiti and how it would take him ten times as long. Maple laughed to himself and dipped the large pot into the rushing water. He swung it around a bit and then let it sit, letting the leftover, cooked sap soak and fall off on its own. Maple quickly realized that he had left his loonie at the cave. He sighed and looked around. He wondered how he would keep himself occupied for nearly twenty minutes while the pot washed out.
Maple rocked back on his hind legs and plopped his bottom onto the ground. He had to wiggle around a bit, as he managed to sit right on a rock. He scowled and ended up reaching under him with his free claw and scraping the rock from under him. Maple let his tail fall across his lap as he sighed yet again. One of Maple’s claws absent mindedly began stroking the hair at the tip of his tail. As Maple’s mind wandered off, his claw began to braid pieces together.
The next twenty minutes seemed like an eternity. Maple had ended up counting leaves. He was ecstatic once the pot was clean. He loped off this time, making it back to the lair in under a minute.
“Geeze Maple,” Wapiti spoke without even turning around, “think you could run any heavier? I think the next thing on your to-do list is to cause an earthquake.”
“Oh hush you.” Maple snorted and placed the bucket next to the collection tank. “You’re just jealous.”
“Jealous of everyone hearing me? Nah, man. I like being quiet. Creeping up on people. Saying ‘boo’ and scaring the daylights out of them.” Wapiti giggled. “So amusing.”
“So evil.” Wapiti turned and gave Maple a wink. Maple walked over to Wapiti and looked down in front of the small elk. “All done?”
“Yup! Just have to bottle the darn thing and then we’ve got our first jar of syrup for the season!”
“Perfect. The neighbours have been wondering when they can have the best pancakes in Sorneith again.”
“Tell them that they can have some if they bring us some.”
“They always do.”
Wapiti nodded and pushed the bottle towards Maple. “I have hooves. Close the cap please.”
Maple took his claws and held the small metal cap between to claw tips. He daintily screwed the cap on and pushed it back in Wapiti’s direction. “Your turn to deliver.”
“I thought I delivered the last one last season.”
“You’re the alpha and omega I guess. First and last.”
“Oh I’m the alpha now?” Wapiti puffed up his chest. “Thank you for finally admitting that.”
Maple laughed and gave Wapiti a small tap on his rear. “Get going boy.”
“Alright, alright.” Wapiti nuzzled the bottle into a basket and picked it up with one of the prongs on his antlers. “I’ll be back in about two hours, boss.”
“Be back before sunset.”
“Sure thing mom!”
“I’m your boss and your mom?”
“Sounds about right.”
Maple laughed and sat himself at the entrance to the cave, watching Wapiti trot off into the distance.

Lore made by CivElynBird (#105012)