Red Fox

• Chloe Mclean, Grade 8
• Poetry
• 2010

The plants were shifting ever-so-slightly in the breeze and even though she knew it was only wind she didn’t want to remain close. Then she heard a sound that she had never expected to hear in the forest. A gunshot. Eppi froze. She heard another one but this time she heard a pitiful yelp following the shot. Hunters. She ran, frantically towards the sound, and then stopped dead. There were two hunters. They were both standing together in a clearing, their guns aiming down at the ground to where the body of a fox lay. They lifted the guns and spun around. Eppi’s blood went cold. The guns were now pointing not at the dead fox, but at a small cub. She had just seen it, shivering and gazing at its dead mother in anguish and horror. It was very small. It was just a kid. All its fur was already orange-brown. Its paws and the area surrounding its nose were white. The cub slowly looked up into the cruel faces of the hunters. It whimpered, and backed away into the bush as the hunters raised their guns.
Hidden beneath the branches, it flattened its body onto the ground, just out of sight. Eppi crept towards it, very slowly, not wanting to startle it or let her presence known to the hunters. The men let fire once more, missing the cub by inches. Eppi made her way frantically towards it, where it lay, hidden but in very grave danger. She realised how much danger she was in herself and thought about turning around, but she knew she had to stay. The thought of seeing its body lying on the ground when she could have helped it was too much to cope with. The men were beginning to get frustrated. The cub was breathing very softly and couldn’t be detected. The hunters walked closer, looking confused.
‘Where is it?’ one man asked.
‘It’s in there somewhere.’ Said the other. He reached the bush and pushed back the leaves. They raised their guns and then stopped. The cub wasn’t there. ‘What! How could it get away?’
‘It was right there! ‘It couldn’t have escaped!’ ‘Listen. It must still be here. Just listen.’ Both men were silent, waiting for any sound to give away its surroundings. Of course, Eppi had the cub. She had taken off the blanket and fished up the fox before it could snap at her.
There was complete silence. Eppi silently begged the cub not to make a sound. She didn’t need to; it was too scared to even move. She held her breath. The men were edging cautiously, closer and closer to where Eppi was crouching. She knew she had to act fast. She groped around on the ground until her hand closed on something solid. She threw it across the trees and into the next clearing.
The men stiffened, hearing the sound of something crunching somewhere off in the next clearing. Eppi crept silently away, with the wriggling bundle cradled in her arms.