City Fox

• Ben Fisher, Grade 5P
• Short Story
• 2013

I look out the window. I see a fox. I see him every day. He’s so graceful and beautiful. He runs so fast, and he’s so kind. In this city at night, as it is now, he is the king.
He’s so beautiful; he’s orange with a white stomach. He gets lots of food. People feed him and he also gets food from...well...the bin. I see him leave sometimes, always coming back to this big city. He comes back with friends. Sometimes they come back with other friends. I’ve started to realise that Jared’s friends are coming back with other mates...I think that might be bad for Jared.
Me, well, I just adore him. I named him, Jared. I’ve been living in this thirty storey building for ten years. I got here when I was nineteen. I live alone. My name is Sharon
It’s a week later. I was right... Jared doesn’t like to eat anything because the other animals attack when he tries to get food. Jared’s starving. I don’t like it.

I went to the shops today. I saw him. It was Jared, I know it was. I stroked him. He was so soft and he was so slender. I felt sad.
It’s two months later and I can see them everywhere. The animals. I’ve been spending more time at the shop to feed Jared. I feel so sad. Jared can hardly open his snout. His chest is so thin...paws so weak. He has no more power. The king no longer.
There’s a new law. There’s no public rubbish bins anywhere. That’s meant to be a solution. It’s anything but a solution...for Jared.

I saw Jared leave today; probably not coming back. It’s best for him.