A Motherly Trap

A sturdy cardboard box arrived right beside our nightstand, and the moment I scrambled up the edge, my breath hitched! Resting softly inside a nest of crinkled paper was an enormous, wrinkly elf with wide, velvety ears just like mine—our mother had arrived! Eager to be the very first to welcome her, I tumbled over the cardboard rim and lunged toward her lap. But as I shoved my snout underneath her folded elbow, her solid arm pinned down squarely across my plump belly. My wide ears wedged instantly between her chest and the corrugated wall! Now I am firmly stuck against her flank, warm and thoroughly trapped in the greatest cuddle.