Ice Age

Into the Night

Sid scanned along the ground, picking up rocks and striking them together to create a spark to light the fire. He heard rustling from the bushes and thought it was Crash and Eddie, who ran off to play. He picked up another rock and struck it against another rock. Sparks erupted from it and that wone would work. Another rustling from the bushes. Yet, he thought he could save sworn Silver had emerged from it and was tired from the long trip.

"Boy, Manny sure took a big leap with Ellie today," Sid sighed.

"Sure did," Diego agreed.

"He stood on the shore of uncertainty and dove right in. Splash. Kind of brave, huh? The way he faced his fear."

"I wouldn't know. Sabers don't feel fear," Diego replied.

"Come on, all animals feel fear," Sid explained. "It's what separates us from, say, rocks. Rocks have no fear." He tossed a rock in the little puddle.

"And they sink."

Diego raised his head as Silver laid on the warm ground. "What are you getting at, Sid?"

"It may surprise you to know that I, too, have experienced fear."

"No. You?"

"Yes, as impossible as it seems, the sloth has natural enemies that would like to harm or otherwise "kill" us."

"I wonder why?"

"Jealousy, mostly. But the point is that fear is natural. And you're letting the water make you its prey. Just jump in and trust your instincts."  Sid started jumping into the bushes and swimming in it and on the tree trunks. Silver watched him as he did. "You know, most animals can swim as babies. And for a tiger, it's like crawling on your belly to stalk helpless prey." He then hangs on the vines like a puppet. "Now, claw, kick, claw, kick. I'm stalking the prey. Claw, kick Now I look back over my shoulder to see if I'm being followed. And I'm breathing. And I'm stalking and I'm stalking and I'm..." Diego just cut the vine and that made Sid fall below with a yelp."I'm falling."

"Correction. You're sinking. Kind of like a rock," Diego grinned at the fallen sloth and Silver began to chuckle.

Manny and Ellie continued walking alone in the willow path. The night seemed to be dark.

"Hey, do we do any special tricks like roll over?" Ellie suggested. "Or do we just throw our weight around? I don't know my own strength yet."

Manny began to think it over and try to find a way that there are other species like them.  "Ellie, do you realize that now we have a chance to save our species?"

"Really? How are we gonna do that?" Ellie asked.

"Well, you know..."

Ellie stopped.  "Did you just...?"

"No, no, I don't mean-"

"I'm not a mammoth for five minutes and you're hitting on me?" Ellie asked angtily.

"I wasn't saying... Not right now," Manny stammered. "In time. I was just saying that it's our responsibility."

"What?"

"All right, that came out wrong. I... You're very pretty, but we just met..."

"Responsibility? Just doing your duty? Is that it?" Ellie shouted, upset. "Ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to save your species. I got some news for you. You're not saving the species tonight or any other night."

And just like that, she left.

Silver and the others had made their campfire, ready to spend the night and leave in the morning. As Silver gathered a few more wood to keep the fire going, Manny approached them.