Four Towers and a Tuesday

Canvas Mesa City never slept on a Tuesday — and the Crayon Cow Saloon was the loudest proof of that.

The saloon sat smack in the center of town, four tall crayon-shaped towers rising from its roof like crayons tipped toward the sky — one red, one yellow, one green, one blue. Inside, the booths glowed warm, the music thumped low, and the smell of cinnamon fizz drifted through the air.

Crayon Cow wiped down the bar counter and grinned at the crowd. Her blue mask caught the light, her giant glowing blue crayon propped against the wall behind her.

"Refill on the mango frost!" called someone from booth three.

"Coming right up!" she called back.

But near the back, in the smallest corner booth, sat a little goat kid alone.

His name was Pip. He hadn't ordered anything. He just sat hunched over a beat-up brown notebook, pencil moving fast and quiet.

Crayon Cow glanced over — and stopped.

She squinted. Those drawings in that notebook were

Static on a Quiet Night

Crayon Cow leaned closer. Pip snapped his notebook shut.

"Sorry," he mumbled, hugging it to his chest. "It's nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing," she said, but she didn't push.

Then every screen in the saloon flickered.

The music cut out. The mango frost machine gurgled and went quiet. A large wall-mounted screen above the bar buzzed with static — then snapped to a live feed from the city's weather drone, hovering high above Canvas Mesa City.

An older woman stood at the saloon entrance, breathing hard. She wore a long patchwork coat and bright orange boots, and her silver hair was pinned up in a wild twist. She was Marta, the city's official drone operator — a sharp-eyed, fast-talking lady who'd run the sky monitors for twenty years.

"Crayon Cow!" Marta pointed at the screen with a shaky finger.

The drone footage showed the canyon walls just east of the city — cracking. Long, jagged splits running straight toward the water pipes that fed Canvas Mesa City's entire supply.

"They're going," Marta said. "Fast."

Pip stared at the screen. His pencil slipped from his fingers and hit the floor.