A Fox Filled Day

To understand this blog entry you have to understand that the Captain is a Fox. We used to play a sort of game with our friends where we were different characters or creatures. The Captain was always Fox, a fox named Fox. (We were really clever, there was also a Dragon named Dragon, a female fox named Vixen, and a gigantic fish named Fishy. Anyways, the point is that he is Fox.) A fox is a very good way to describe the Captain. He's cunning, quick, witty, curious, and when he wants to be he's absolutely adorable. It's something of a running joke now, he'll say things like "My paws hurt," and if he does something silly I'll call him Fox. My character was a mermaid and a mermaid, sadly, probably does describe my character very well. The Captain's family lovingly calls me "Mermy."

Because of our personas I've slowly been collecting Mermaids and Foxes. I have a mermaid doll named Eleanor and then a stuffed animal Fox that the Captain and I named Toffee, one Christmas the Captain gave me a fox shaped box, his mother gave me a little Fox and Mermaid sculpture for my birthday, and for Christmas this year Aisling gave me a Foxy hat. It's knitted from red and white wool with little ears, two button eyes, a little nose and whiskers, and a white pom pom at the back for a tail.

Yesterday I spent the day with the Captain and his family. I feel a little silly wearing my Foxy hat in public but it's a hat and I wanted to keep my ears warm, plus I was going to be out with the Captain and he always says it looks cute so I wore it anyway. We went out to lunch at the restaurant where the Captain and his sister work, ironically, they only serve chicken and the Fox works in the back, with the chickens. I think they must trust him a lot, that or they keep him well fed so he doesn't sneak chickens away. At lunch they told me about footprints on the bridge in the back yard. They thought the prints were spaced too far apart to be a cat's, and the claws were out on each print. The Captain also pointed out that the animal would have to be very agile to leap off of the bridge onto the cliff bank from as far as it had, so, since it was too small to be a dog it must have been a fox out on the Fox's bridge! After lunch we went to a park and scampered around looking at all the plants and trees and things. Then on the way home the Captain was being all sleepy and cute. Aisling made a comment about him being a grumpy fox, and about grumpy foxies nipping. The Captain tapped his teeth together just enough to make noise, I don't think Aisling heard it but I was amused.

After a full day of fox jokes and me running around in my Fox hat I had to go home. It was dark out and there was a full moon. Aisling was walking me to my car since I'm too afraid of their yard to even walk to my car alone. As we were talking an animal made a screaming noise out in the woods. Because Aisling loves terrifying me she informed me that it was a rabbit. As I was about to slam the door shut and hurry to my nice safe bed she thought of something else. Foxes make a sort of high screaming noise sometimes, it might have been a fox. I didn't want to meet a screaming bunny or a screaming fox, so I hurried away home as the thought crossed my mind "Wouldn't it be funny if I saw a fox while wearing my Foxy hat?"

So I ended my very Foxy day driving home and remarking at the number of deer out. And then I saw something loping across the road ahead. I thought at first that it was a raccoon, since it was too large to be a cat and the tail was too fluffy. But wait! The tail had a white tip! As I drove closer I saw that the animal was red, and too big to be a raccoon. Then it turned it's head and I saw it's fox shaped ears and face, and another look at it's fluffy tail as it jumped the fence into a field and hurried away.

A real, live, wild fox. And it must not be the only one! I used to think that, sort of like wolves, there were no foxes left happily running through farmers fields. Why else would the Captain's neighbors have a herd of chickens running loose in their yard all the time? Maybe the foxies are coming back, I know of at least two near the Captain's house. And if there are two foxes one might be a girl fox, and the other might be a boy fox, and then there might be adorable little red fox kits! And someday I might find one and feed it and wash it and bring it to the Captain and say "Can't we keep him!" and then we'll build a little Fox house for him and name him Captain, so there will be a Captain called Fox and a fox named Captain. And then the world will be a happier, fuzzier place. The world needs more fuzziness, don't you think?