Tapir ladies by Zaphkiellane on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

"Is something bothering you dear?" asked Rosa as she joined her favorite niece on a beach in the garden. She sat next to her in the bright light of the dry season noonday.

The oxbow lake was low having lost all connections to the river. The green wateplants and flowers from the jungle were steadily encroaching on the shrinking pool.

The woods were fading to brown from dust and dry. Parrots and plantain eaters were picking the moringa trees bare and dried palm and banana leaves hung like tattered flags around the green crowns of the trees. The ripe bunched of dates and banana sagged heavily begging to be taken before the spoiled on the stem.

"No, I'm fine," Emily, who more frequently went by Peaches, sighed, "Just thinking about getting older. My baby stripes are fading away. When I was a girl I used to wish for my all brown lady coat to come in so I could feel grown up but now that I’m loosing my stripes I feel old."

"Oh, it's just change honey, everything changes," her aunt smiled, "Besides it is, as you said what you once wished for you should feel glad about it."

"Well I don't mind not being seen as a little girl anymore but I'm not exactly keen on being an old lady either," Peaches smirked as she looked at the fading lines that now only remained on her hand and ankles. "Isn't there some part of life where you just feel comfortable as yourself?"

"Being happy with yourself is not an age, it is a wisdom," Rosa replied, "you can't really ask what season is the most beautiful or whether a sunset or sunrise is better. You have to learn the beauty of what is as it is."

Peaches laughed, "Which one of your tacky romance novels did you get that from?"

"Oh, I've read so many I can't even remember," Rosa laughed in turn, "It was probably from a birthday card actually!"

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First time I've drawn anthropomorphic tapirs. I really like the look of them. I may have to do more with the various types of tapir.