Free Choice: A Scene

Abioye crouched low on her haunches, trembling from excitement, but trying to stay completely silent. This was her first hunt of large game. The savanna grasses matched the tan color of her hide and hid her from the eyes of the baby wildebeest which was wandering too far from its mother. Abioye felt an inkling of kinship with that wildebeest for she too was young and frightened without her mother near. She had only just begun losing the long tufts of sandy brown hair that was the mark of a lion cub. Her sides sweat from having her legs tensed and held so close to her body as she struggled to be invisible. "A calm mind and body is best for the hunt" her mother had often told her, but Abioye was having trouble putting that counsel into action.