It was just a regular day, so Charlemagne found himself doing his regular chores. After cleaning out his burrow, hidden in the Waspun meadow, not to far away, he had spent almost all the rest of the morning picking at fleas, nibbling at his butt trying to kill the pesky insects, that were
literally a pain in the ass.
Now as the afternoon rolled over the mountains, Charlemagne had wondered to edge the lake, better known as Arrow lake, licking his lips as he peeked at the water. He was craving fish, and now that he was there he might as well help himself!
Without giving it much second thought, the young fox leaped into the water,splashing water all around him. He stood in the lake where he was knees-deep into the clear water, and looked at his surroundings, barely being able to make out the blurry silhouettes of fish crcling his paws.
"That is not how one catches fish, little friend!" Macawi called, having watched the fox for a moment or two. "If this one would like, Macawi will teach him."
She came over to him, grey and tan coat gleaming in the sun that had decided to peek through the clouds for a moment. "If fox does what he just did, he will only scare them away. One must be still…" Her voice dropped to a whisper: "And quiet." She gave the little creature a grin, fangs flashing, and then walked over to the water's edge and stared down into the water, face an inch or two from the surface.
"Watch," she whispered, "and learn." For endless minutes, she stared silently at the water, which reminded her of the day at the river with her friend Thistle. She wondered when she'd next see the pregnant wolf, and then shook herself from her thoughts. She couldn't let herself become distracted.
Soon enough, and unsuspecting fish came meandering over to her, unaware of the danger. And, like a snake, Macawi's head lunged downward into the water and snapped up the fish. She bit down until it stopped flopping, and then tossed it onto the bank, grinning again at the little fox. "There. That one is yours, friend."
excuse any typos I'm on my mobile
The small fox perked his ears at the sound of another canine, he jerked his head towards the noise facing Macawi and greeted het with a flick of his tail.
"I've caught fish before!" He protested wrinkling his nose with defiance. Truth was he hadn't but.. she didn't know that and besides he had watched others fish in the lake. How hard could it be?
Then the coyote approached the shore and stood very still as she peered into the lake's surface. Then out of nowhere she lunged towards the water diving head first into the surface. A second later she popped out with a fish squirming in her jaw.
"Wow impressive! " he barked as he jumped out of the water.
Then he approached the fish and pressed his nose against it's scaly body.
"Thanks! If you teach me how to do it myself I'll give you something in return. ." He offered with another eloquent flick of his tail.
Macawi sat upon her haunches and eyed the fox. "Macawi does not normally require payment for her kindness, but she is curious. What would this one give her in return for fishing lessons?"
Macawi was surprised, really. Suddenly, her life had taken a good turn. She now had met five others who had not automatically attacked her on sight. To her, that was an impressive number, considering that her whole life she had mostly spent running from others. Though she had to admit, having a conversation with a fox was a bit silly. She wondered at how they could even understand one another. Technically foxes were her cousins also, weren't they?
A flash of her dream came back to her. What? she thought to herself, and laughed in her head. A pack with wolves, coyotes, dogs, and foxes? She laughed aloud this time, and said, "How silly! How utterly wonderful, though!"
Charlemagne wasted no time after that, he began gulfing down the fish, licking his lips as he tore apart the soft flesh. He looked up, with his mouth full, when Macawi asked what he might offer in return. "Mmm, actually" he swallowed, "I don't know I could race you to wherever you like!" he barked playfully, even if he was more than a year old, Charlemagne still behaved like a pup at times.
He didn't mind Macawi wasn't one of his own species, he didn't think much of such details, to him from coyotes to prairie dogs, and all the way to wolf pups were just potential playmates.
Then his companion began babbling about something that had the words fox, coyote and pack inj the same sentence, he tilted his head in confusion, and flicked his tail, "Pardon?"