The Thing About Foxes Part 1 - Coming Home

The Thing About Foxes

Part 1

Shields

There is little or no heat loss from a fox’s tail, likewise from his back or the top of his head. When he curls up and fully wraps his tail around him tucking his head in, he has a protective insulating shield from the coldest of cold, and from thermal imaging too. He is safe and secure.

The girl has had a similar shield except her shield has made her totally invisible. A closely guarded secret to all, including even her. But her shield did not make her feel safe and secure, despite we suppose, that being the intention. Many many more layers of her shield and still she was not safe, not visible, but not safe…….

Beginnings

When the girl was born she knew something was very wrong. She remembered what she later called the river and later again called the river of life. She remembered other things too that she couldn’t quite grasp. But she couldn’t feel the others, she couldn’t feel anything, she couldn’t share anything. She was cut off and all alone with the shadows in the darkness.

The fox cub doesn’t understand. He remembers playing by the river with his brothers and sisters and he remembers the warmth of his mother and father. Then they were gone and he is somewhere else. There was a smell, a noise, something very bad. He is cold and sodden wet and his leg stabs with pain. He can’t move. He is very afraid and all around him is black….