Destiny

This story is set in the world of a novel that I've been working on. It's only peripherally related to the plot and not included in the book itself.

Once upon a time, in a forest where such time happen on a regular basis, there was a city built into and around an enormous oak tree, called Grand Oak. Grand Oak was populated by a variety of talking rodents. One such rodent was a pika (tiny round-eared and short-tailed critters) named Destiny.

Epidemic

From the journal of Grant Elliot:

September 25th:

School was boring today, as usual. Nothing exciting to report. News says there's a pretty serious disease outbreak in Boston, which is near Grandma and Grandpa's house. Hope they're healthy.