Creature Comforts Part Five

Afternoon drifted on as the sun moved slowly from South around towards West, casting leafy shadows across the lush green lawn. Alice was oblivious to the rays that were now blazing down on her naked lower legs. Then she awoke suddenly, her head momentarily jerking causing a cricked neck, “Ouch!” She declared, as shooting pains of pins and needles had her massaging the area pretty quick.

The feeling didn't last long as Alice suddenly remembered where she was. Sitting up noticing how red her legs were becoming, she took the ear pieces of her Walkman out.

Swallowing and gasping she turned to see a buzzing angry wasp swimming around in her wine, the furry insect was definitely not looking too good as it went round and round almost drowning and probably pretty tipsy, its flimsy legs paddling away for dear life. Alice stood up forgetting about her burning pins and tipped the wine out on the lawn.

Still in shock she turned to notice behind the sun lounger down on all fours, was what she first thought was a dog, but on closer inspection Alice realized it was a fox. It never moved but just whimpered. Her first thought was, that it was the one from last night's storm. She'd never been this close up to a fox before, suddenly wondering what it would be like to live somewhere like Canada and come face to face with a wolf which of course was so much larger. Thankfully this was not an encounter she anticipated in the future.

Neither Alice nor fox seemed to show fear, but she dare not move afraid she'd scare the creature off. Looking down at the lawn where she'd thrown the wine, Alice was pleased to see that the wasp had flown away, it was never her intention to see the poor thing drown.

Fox whimpered again and edged closer towards Alice, which she thought very unusual as foxes would normally run from humans. “What's wrong, are you hungry?” She uttered. Still fox wouldn't come to standing.

“Tell you what,” Alice declared, now sitting on the edge of the sun lounger. “I'll go get you some more tinned meat, I'm sure we have some.” As she came to standing, fox made a whining sound again, its breathing erratic and suddenly made a painful rasping noise as it shuffled along the grass on its belly.

Immediately Alice thought there was a problem. “You poor soul, what's happened to you? I bet it was something to do with last nights storm.” Moving slowly closer Alice knew it was dangerous to go to close, but for some reason didn't feel any fear as she spoke in a gentle voice, not wishing to frighten the creature. “It's okay, I won't hurt you.” As Alice got closer, fox backed away bearing its teeth.

She decided to get a thick towel from the house and also some thick garden gloves, not really knowing if the fox might have flees, or even worse might bite her. “What a day this is turning out to be.” She voiced out loud to herself. “I shan't have time for a drink at this rate with all this responsibility.” Walking up the garden path, Alice looked back to see fox still watching her but not moving.

Back in the kitchen, she found an old wicker basket in one of the kitchen cupboards, it had been used for collecting apples from their tree. “This will do nicely!” She said out loud. One of her thick bath towels hung slightly out of the washing machine, so Alice went to get it though it was still damp, thinking it would be ideal for wrapping around the fox and picking it up.

Her garden gloves were in one of the dresser drawers which she took out, she'd not used them in a while so they were still quite thick. “They'll be perfect, though I do hope fox doesn't reveal his teeth to me.” Armed with all the essentials, Alice made her way back outside and down the path. Reaching the lawn fox was still down on its belly with nose between front paws.

Alice could feel the heat on the bottom of her legs and felt annoyed she'd not put any suntan lotion on. So ambling over to the garden shed to take her mind off the burning sensation, she trundled the wheel barrow out the door, placing the wicker basket inside. Fox gazed with a trusting look its eyes and ears pricked up.

Putting on the gloves, she then picked up the towel folding it in half to make it thicker. “Oh, well, here goes,” she uttered, moving slowly towards the animal. Fox recoiled slightly at the sight of the woman, unsure of what she would do next.

Still talking gently to the creature, Alice hoped fox would be more receptive if she just sat beside it a while, though she wouldn't be sitting on the grass which was still wet from the night's storm. Pulling the lounger slowly closer, she spoke softly. “You've really got yourself in a pickle, haven't you?” Fox seemed to appreciate her words and showed acceptance of Alice.

“Now! Here's the plan,” she began. “I'm going to place this towel around you, lift you in to that basket.” She pointed at the wheelbarrow in clarification.

Fox didn't move but continued to watch with its beady eyes that seemed to understand this lady's whimsical words, or so it seemed to Alice.

She'd never known such a trusting wild creature, as she lifted fox up with the towel. It's wistful eyes seemed to gaze into hers as if to say, “please help me.”

Wheeling the barrow up the garden path, Alice felt like this creature understood rejection too, reminding her of those that didn't understand her drinking problem. “I know you're only a fox, but it's nice to talk and not have someone answer back, telling me all the time what a stupid person I am.”

She smiled reaching the backdoor. Alice left fox in the barrow and entered the kitchen, making her way to the cupboard for another tin of cooked meat. Opening a can of spam, she dished up the contents onto a plate. Turning she was surprised to see the fox out of the barrow and standing at the back door, licking its lips in anticipation of the food.

“I don't believe it!” She added, now grinning at the old saying of: as sly as a cunning fox. “So, you're not hurt. You must just be starving you poor thing.” She placed the food outside the door. Even before she'd put the dish down fox was lapping it up. Alice savored the moment at how tame the creature was, believing she must have a gift with animals all of a sudden.

To be continued...