McTabby's Drabble-a-Thon

To celebrate the births of mctabby's cats, she hosts an annual drabble-a-thon, and this year, I decided to participate, because last year I was busy recouperating from a post-birth headache and thus was quite miserable. This year, I plotted it out on the beach while watching my daughter play in the sand, so what was supposed to be 100 words turned into about 1100 words - meep, that's what happens when you don't write at all in over a year! - so I've posted it here ( behind the cut )

Oh, and sharp_tongue wrote a wonderful ficlet for me! Thanks so much for it!