I was dreaming, lost in a deep-deep slumber, when I heard Jack's voice, far-far away, calling me. "Susie...(he called) I need a box...I need a box." What? What's wrong? my mind questioned. Feeling groggy, I tried to figure out why he needed a box, and why he sounded so urgent. "Was Jack hurt?" My mind screamed, "Get up...now!" My heart leapt...
I scrambled to kick back the covers that were twisted about my body; I scrambled to find my glasses on the bedside table. And then, I scrambled--kind of in one of those "I feel drunk" attempts to walk when waking from a dream that has been holding you under its heavy hands--out of the bedroom, down the three steps into the dining room...and there was Jack, pointing out the front windows. He didn't look hurt...he looked excited!
I looked. I saw. There was a Mr. Fox on our front lawn.
This is the second fox we've spied on the gentle land that slopes away from our house toward the brush line. The other was much smaller, more reddish, and much more shy as he (or she?) remained very close to the edge of the milkweed and Multiflora rose and dogwoods.
But not this fellow. No.
He was tracking something -- a scent of the bobbed-tail squirrel that plays in that same area?
The scent of deer urine--yeah, those guys hang out in our front lawn, too. Or what?
I grabbed my camera and began to snap pics.
He sniffed here....
he sniffed there...
he follow that scent to the east...
to the south...
and then he stopped...and sniffed some more...
but after a short while, he must have decided that it was time to go...so he headed onward...
...and up the driveway toward the side lawn.
Isn't he a marvelous fellow? What a sacred, sacred gift to be given so early in the morning.
I walked over to pour myself a cup of coffee, and I just smiled...
Jack wasn't yelling "I need a box"...of course not...
"I see a fox; I see a fox!" was what he called out in excitement.
I love that man...
Funny, isn't it, how words can get so scrambled
when you are so deep into a dream.