 White-footed
Sportive Lemur - Issue
Forty-Nine |
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Claire's Choice by Matthew McAyeal Claire barged into the mansion's parlor. Inside, she found Frank, her worthless fat oaf of a brother. He couldn't be more of a contrast to the elegant room, but there he was. He was lounging in an armchair like he owned the place and slurping cognac that didn't belong anywhere near his uncultured lips! She stalked right over to him. "Claire!" he gasped. He ought to be surprised. She was holding a revolver in her hand. Claire didn't answer. She relished the look of dumb shock on her dumb brother's dumb face. Summoning up her hatred for the worthless fat blob in front of her, she fired. Claire would not be denied what was rightfully hers.
Several hours earlier, Claire arrived at the mansion of her late grandfather. In fact, he had only recently become "late" as this was the reading of his will. Claire had purposely decided to arrive fashionably late so that everyone would notice her new dress and furs. As she neared the drawing room, she caught a snippet of the will reading. "--Claire gets nothing. Frank receives two million dollars--" Claire stopped in her tracks. She seethed. How could that stupidly eccentric grandfather of hers give two million dollars to Frank and nothing to her?! Frank would have no good use for that money. It belonged to her! Claire decided that if she got nothing, Frank would get nothing too.
Claire was now leaving the parlor. She didn't care that she had just committed murder. No one would suspect her. They all thought she was such a great and wonderful sister, putting up with all of Frank's ignorance and worthlessness. Well, it turned out even she had her limits. As she entered the drawing room, she noticed the will resting on a table. Claire walked over and grabbed it, intending to chuck it into the fireplace. She quickly scanned the document to find the offending section. She found it all right:
Matthew McAyeal is a writer from Portland, Oregon. His short stories have been published by Bards and Sages Quarterly, Fantasia Divinity Magazine, cc&d, The Fear of Monkeys, Danse Macabre, The Metaworker, Scarlet Leaf Magazine, Bewildering Stories, The Magazine of History & Fiction, Tall Tale TV, Fiction on the Web, and Necro Magazine. In 2008, two screenplays he wrote were semi-finalists in the Screenplay Festival. "The New Normal" was previously published in Journeys through Chaos. |
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The White-footed Sportive Lemur is endemic to Madagascar, inhabiting
the southern subtropical or tropical dry shrubland where they eat
mainly leaves. During the dry season they may depend entirely on
the leaves and flowers of Alluaudia species. They are coprophagous,
consuming and redigesting their feces to further breakdown of the
cellulose contained in it. They are similar to other lemurs in the
family, with a grey back, a pale grey to white ventral side, and
a light brown tail. They range from 24-26 cm in length and their
tail from 21-26 cm while their weight averages 0.54 kg, which perhaps
explains while they are nocturnal and move through the forest using
a vertical clinging and leaping technique. Males live in solidarity
and have territories that will overlap those of one or more females.
Males may meet with females during the night for foraging and social
grooming and the species is polygynous. They defend their territory
by monitoring it and vocalizing loudly when strangers approach and
both genders may engage in physical combat to defend their territory.
Mothers give birth to one offspring a year after a 4.5-month gestation
period. Breeding happens between May and July, and births happen
between September and November. They are born with their big eyes
open and the ability to cling to branches. Infants are highly vulnerable,
so mothers take great care to keep them close by. When leaving their
nest to forage at night, a mother transports her young in her mouth
and places them in nearby branches while she eats. After about a
month, they are able to climb and jump. The International Union
for the Conservation of Nature lists the white-footed sportive lemur
as Endangered with the number of mature individuals is decreasing
due to habitat loss and degradation. Primarily, their main threats
are annual burning practices to create new pastures for livestock
as well as tree harvesting for charcoal production and timber. Climate
change also affects them. Their spiny forest is known as one of
the driest and most unpredictable climates in all of Africa, making
white-footed sportive lemurs' habitats especially vulnerable to
climate change.