Side Story 2: The Fox who Hates Humans
WHILE her grandparents were still healthy, Olivia loved winter because she could go fishing alone. The neighbors would string up nets in the frozen river and wait for fish to come, but Olivia didn’t use nets.
Fish were less likely to bite in winter, but they were still alive and therefore still needed to eat. Fishing wasn’t entirely impossible because of that. Olivia would break open a hole in the ice, warming herself by a bonfire, then drop her hook in the water and kill time waiting. She normally read a book, waiting for the jingle of the bell attached to her pole that indicated she’d gotten a bite.
Just like every other day, she was sitting near the fire reading, being careful not to let her precious book get wet. She’d made significant progress in her book when the bell jingled.
She fished up a trout and laid it out on the snow, then waited for the next jingle. It was a leisurely time for her, though unclear whether she came more for the reading or more for the fishing. Either way, animal voices flowed into her mind during this sort of time.
Want eat, want eat, want eat.
It was a hungry animal. Its eyes were locked on Olivia’s trout lined out on the snow.
“I wonder who that is,” said Olivia. She looked around. Wild animals weren’t always easy to spot. She was wary, assuming it watched from the forest. A wolf would target her over the fish.
The wolves of this forest knew to fear humans. They wouldn’t attack one unless the situation was extreme. But sometimes, and in some cases, they did. There were times a wolf attacked a person after being unable to catch rabbits or deer for whatever reason.
“Perhaps I should head home,” said Olivia. She left putting out the fire for last. She pulled out her fishing line, placed the four trout she’d caught in a bucket, carefully stowed her book in her backpack, then put out the fire.
Want eat.
Olivia scanned the forest again, guessing where the voice’s owner might be. She saw a flash of brown. It had stronger red tones than a wolf would. A fox. Olivia squinted and her eyes met the fox’s.
Hatred and memories suddenly flooded into her. She saw a fox, in pain, a steel trap biting hard on its leg. She felt aching emotions. This fox’s mate was caught in the trap. It stayed nearby, sad, refusing to abandon its mate.
“I’m sorry. That’s a hunter’s job. I’m sorry,” said Olivia. She knew the fox wouldn’t understand what she said, but she found herself saying it anyway. She even knew that animals hunted in the forest would simply say, Like I care?
Olivia took a trout from her bucket and placed it on the snow, avoided looking at the fox, and left the riverbank.
For a while after that, she made an effort not to go back to the river. If the fox started thinking fishers gave it fish, a fisher with a hunting rifle might kill it someday.
✦ ✦ ✦
🍲 🍲 🍲
SPRING came. The snow on the roads melted, along with the ice on the river. The forest was bursting with life once more.
“Olivia, want to go fishing with me?” asked her grandfather.
“I do! I want some pan-fried trout.”
“You do like your pan-fried food.”
“Yep.”
There was no way she was going to be attacked by an animal while with her grandfather. Wild animals seemed able to tell he was strong.
They used worms they found in the vegetable patch that morning as bait and fished up twenty-four trout between the two of them. Each of them carried a heavy bucket as they walked back home.
Olivia realized the fox was watching them, but it didn’t seem like it would approach because of Jenkins. She assumed her grandfather wouldn’t notice the fox if she didn’t say anything.
But he kept looking behind them and asked, “Olivia, have you ever given food to a fox?”
“Uh… Yeah. A fish. Just once.”
“It’s not good to give wild animals food. I think we’ve got a fox stalking us.”
“I’m sorry. I thought one fish couldn’t hurt.”
“You shouldn’t do that again.”
“I won’t.”
Olivia was a good girl who didn’t break the promises she made with her grandparents, but there was a reason she broke this one later.