Red Fox in the Snow



The following is a story I imagined from this painting of a peaceful small village in the South of France after a rare snow. The painting is the creative work of Jane Johnson of West Jefferson, NC. We collaborated for an art exhibit called, "More than Words," at the Ashe Arts Center in September, 2012.



Painting by Jane Johnson of West Jefferson, NC

Red Fox in the Snow

Life changes and changes live. The frolicking vixen becomes a mother with five kits to feed. Call me Red. You know me.

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Just last week in the South of France, the weather was dry, warm and luxurious, but this week brought the unexpected snow. Only yesterday, Lady Jeanne of the House worked outdoors gathering sticks and hauling off debris. One moment she worked under a bright blue sky as a light wind spread a fresh cool. The wind grew strong though and whipped the creaky trees. It howled louder by the hour with dark clouds building, and when it finally stopped, we were surrounded by a silent leaden stillness.

The snow started at nightfall, and by morning, we had a white new world. It has been such fun for my kittens, so new! I can hear the scratching of a mouse under the blanket right in front of me, a hardier kind of food for the family waiting now in the cold den. As this day ends and night returns, I will deliver the fresh meat and then return in cover of dark for the pomegranate.

My life has been a short eight years. Lady Jeanne is ninety but she may have more years left than I do. I am not afraid of her. She watches me through the window and sometimes leaves morsels on her doorstep like my favorite melon and tips of squashes and eggplant. I don’t think she minds sharing her pomegranates. It is a good thing because there is no camouflaging myself in this snow.

During spring and summer, I foraged for flowers that bloomed on the shrubs and the fruits that came after. Those were tasty, but since the apples of autumn, finding fruit is much harder. The long-lasting pomegranate here is a lucky find. The fruit remains on the branches into winter, drying and hardening, but inside there are juicy seeds with a lingering tang of late summer. Lady Jeanne knows I take one now and then. You can bet I’ve marked my territory.

The seasons affect changes within the pond too. Fish are delicious but hard to catch except in summer when the water is warm and minnows swim close to the bank. It is easier to catch frogs and big-eyed grasshoppers. Lizards and small snakes have completely disappeared in the cold.

How well the trees dress for the seasons. In spring they wear pastel pink buds and chartreuse leaves, and then for summer they change into deep verdant greens. By fall, they’re all wearing madras! In winter, a time when they bare most of their bark, ours are cloaked in mistletoe. Others don only a pearly broach of it. Today, they all wear robes of snow.

Weather is not too hard on the structures here, though there is some wearing of stone, rusting of metal and warping of wood over time. Lady Jeanne has seen more of that than I will ever see. She stores potatoes and carrots in a root cellar, and she is a foxy lady. I can’t dig into it. The walls are too thick.

Soon after the ides of winter, a funny little boy comes to visit Lady Jeanne. Any day, he will arrive again with the others, and then I will bring all my kits and we will watch them in the warm house through the windows. Their gifts will be more than food, but late at night, I expect there will be delicious morsels we have never tasted left for us on the doorstep. For this it is hard to wait.

 Diana Renfro, 2012

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