smallgodseries:[image description: It’s twilight in the desert Southwest. A nine-banded Armadi
smallgodseries:[image description: It’s twilight in the desert Southwest. A nine-banded Armadillo - lit by the light of an oncoming vehicle - sits up in the roadway and turns toward its doom. Text reads, “189, AYO TOCHTLI, the small god of ROADKILL”]• • • • • Hey, kid. Hey, it’s okay. Wake up, won’t you? There ya go. No, no—don’t look behind you. There’s nothing there that you want to see. Just keep looking forward. Just keep looking at me. That’s a good kid. And jeez, you were a kid, weren’t you? Barely out of the den. Were you following your Ma?Ah. She stopped coming home to feed you, so you went looking. Well, kid, if she stopped coming home and you didn’t know a good reason, there’s a good chance you’ve found her now. Sorry it had to be under these circumstances. Sorry it had to be in my company.Come on, kid. Walk with me a little while, and I’ll tell you what you need to know.First, you’re not hungry anymore. Didn’t notice that before, did you? You’re never going to be hungry again. That’s the good thing about what just happened. There’s not much I can honestly say is good about this sort of thing, but for a small thing like you, not being hungry is just this side of paradise. You can still sleep, if you want to. Most of mine sleep once they get past the shock and dismay and the waiting for everyone else they’ve ever known. Too many of the folks you knew are gonna wind up here. Brothers, sisters, parents…the roads are everywhere, and the humans aren’t careful, and I think they just don’t care.I’m not the only small god of what they call vermin, not by a long shot. Eda P. Tate takes care of the urban wildlife, and Domesti Kate watches over the feral creatures. I’m not even the only god of the death of the small and the defenseless. But I’m the one you got. And I’m so sorry. In a kind world, I’d fade away, and you’d still be alive, not walking with a little armadillo into the land of the squished and squashed and thrown aside. Oh, don’t look at me like that. You know what happened. You may not remember yet, but you know, and you will.Found a nice coyote bitch by the side of the road a few days ago, and she should be—Whoa, kid! Don’t growl at me! Yeah, that’s your mama, but no, I didn’t steal her from you. A car did that, like they always do, and then I came for what the car couldn’t catch or kill, and brought her here to wait. You can go to her, if you want.I have to go pick up a possum. Be well, kid.And I’m sorry.• • • • • Join Lee Moyer (Icon) and Seanan McGuire (Story) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a guide to the many small deities who manage our modern world:Tumblr: https://smallgodseries.tumblr.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/smallgodseriesInstagram: https://instagram.com/smallgodseries/Homepage: http://smallgodseries.com -- source link