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(400 words)
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Persistence had paid off. The lady in the purple coat had shadowed the hunt many times without success, but today she came upon the hounds, surrounding a fox, the huntsmen yet to arrive. A window of opportunity!
The fox was cornered, although the foxhounds seemed curiously indifferent. The L.I.T.P.C. rushed towards them. Conveniently, a colleague with a video camera followed close by, filming her as she ran to confront the dogs. Described on a Facebook page as ‘bravely fighting off a pack of vicious hounds,’ the dogs obediently made way for her, allowing her to scoop the fox up, and with her videoing companion in tow, she ran down the road, the hounds showing little interest in pursuing her. The daring rescue was complete!
“Handsome fox, I couldn’t let you be killed by those nasty vicious dogs,” she said.
“Thank you, dear lady, you are most kind,” said the fox opening his long jaws, showing rows of pointed teeth.
“I was with friends at a dinner party recently,” she said, panting a bit as she ran. The fox pricked his ears up.
“One said a fox had dug under her fence and killed every one of her chickens!”
“Oh, that wasn’t me madam,” said the fox, his yellow eyes glinting.
“You won’t bite me, will you Mr Fox?”
“No madam, why would I?”
Her little legs continued scurrying along the road. She felt hot and breathless and the fox felt unexpectedly heavy. She hadn’t planned ahead and wasn’t quite sure what to do with him. “Another friend said a fox had bitten the heads off all her ducks in the night! You won’t bite me, Mr Fox?”
“No madam!” The fox put his head on one side, winked an eye and wagged his bushy tail. “You can release me now madam, the dogs are upwind and I know where I can go to earth.”
The L.I.T.P.C. lowered the fox down, glad to be relieved of the burden. Just then the fox turned and bit her hand.
“Owww! That really hurt!” Blood was pouring from a lacerated finger. “Mr Fox, you said you wouldn’t bite. I saved you from certain death!”
The fox laughed. “If I’d wanted to, I could have bitten your finger clean off!”
The L.I.T.P.C. dropped the fox, sobbing. “Go Mr Fox, bad Mr Fox, go! But why did you bite?”
“Because I’m a fox,” said the fox.
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Featured in the book and audiobook, To Cut a Short Story Short: 111 Little Stories
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Why do I get notion that this post was motivated by recent political developments? 😉
Actually I was driving along and The Snake by Al Wilson came on the radio. I listened to the lyrics (for once) and thought it was a really good tale, although I’ve heard a similar one involving a scorpion, and there are no doubt others, probably dating back to Aesop’s Fables and before (hence the title). I looked it up on the web when I got home and Donald Trump was reading it in a speech, so that is the political connection.
However, it was motivated by a video I saw on Facebook of exactly the scene described. The only difference was that there were one or two huntsmen on horses hanging around, but from a word limit point of view I omitted them. I originally included a link to the video in the story but it has since been removed from Facebook. Hmm…The comments on the video were as described – ‘vicious dogs’ etc. etc. when they were nothing of the sort. Why they all let her rush in and grab the fox is a mystery, as is what she intended to do with it, and why they didn’t chase her (as far as videoed anyway).
The second half is based on the exact comments of two women at a Christmas dinner I went to. Probably the ending came to mind (subconsciously) from the Snake song. Anyway, thanks for reading, ‘liking’ and commenting on it, much appreciated!
Interesting to hear backstory. I do see you are quite prolific writer – published any book that I could buy and read? 😉
Ha ha. No, I’ve only been writing for fifteen months and everything I’ve written is on this blog, which is only five months old. However, thanks for your interest and it is on my mind to get something published, maybe in a year or two’s time, most probably a book of short stories, which is my favourite genre. I do enjoy writing though, so we’ll see…
OK, definitely keep in touch and let me know if you decide to go publish route – I’ve actually participated in few small publishing projects so I may have advice or two that could (hopefully) save you some time. Good luck and I’ll be reading!
Thank you, that’s much appreciated and I will definitely bear your offer in mind!