• Dawn was barely breaking. It was the perfect time for hunting. The Mother Fox and her young child left their den in search of their breakfast. "This morning is beautiful for hunting my son." She walked along as her young kit stumbled along beside her.

    The dew was fresh, and as I stalked through the brush and grasses for mine and my kit's meal, it clung to my silkened fur. He had to learn to hunt, and how to eat what he killed. He was a wild fox, and he would act like one. Slowly weening him off of my milk, I decided that today would make a fine day for his first lesson.

    The morning was perfect for finding drowsy and lame rabbits and field mice. Creeping silently towards a fresh morning rabbit, I hunkered down low to the ground. My child remained close to my side, for not knowing what a rabbit was or what it could do frightened him, so I decided to go first while he watched. I crept closer, my teeth bared; I could almost taste the cotton of his tail.

    Before I could claim our meal for our own, the crack of thunder snapped the rabbit and I to attention. Seeing as rabbits so fickle and bland, he immediately ran off. The thunder took me by surprise as well, returning to my kit as I gently took his scruff into my mouth. He shook ever so slightly, for he hadnt seen a thunderstorm yet. I looked up to see which way the wind carried the clouds. But...even in the morning where clouds could usually be seen, I saw not a one. Thunder boomed again, and with it the screech of a rabbit. Not far from where I stood, the rabbit I tried for breakfast fell dead. Not far from it a pheasant.

    My ears perked up hearing the yowling of something that sounded as if it were dying approached. Had I known it wasnt friendly just from its battle cry I would have left long ago. The yowling drew nearer, and my kit squirmed. Something was wrong, and I knew at that very moment that my son and I were no longer safe near the den. The yowling and the thunder drew nearer, so, without a moments heistation, I ran.

    Running through the brush and thickets of the forest, the yowls and thunder sounded all around me, sending a chill up my spine. After seeing what the thunder did to the rabbit and pheasant, I did not want to get hit by it. I could not rest, but it felt as if my legs were on fire. My kit made not a sound, most likely scared out of his wits, dangling from my mouth as I ran. Hearing the yowling and thunder get farther away, I rested on the top of a boulder, panting as I let my kit down. He didnt move, as the thunder started up again, only much closer. I grabbed my kit and continued.

    As I broke out of the forest, I found myself running towards two shelters of sorts, most likely belonging to humans. A tree and a fence seperated them, and I figured that the thunder and yowling wouldnt come near another establishment made by a human.

    Stopping at the fence, I looked around. Not a hunter or thunderclap anywhere. Resting for a second, I set my kit down at the post, pushing up some of the grass to keep him hidden until I returned. "Stay here my Son...I will drive them off and return to take you back to the den." I rubbed my head against his, before jumping to attention as the yowling and thunder followed me. I looked around, before turning away from my son, leaping through the grass towards a hill.

    Thunder and yowling all around me. I ran towards the hill, leaping over it. Thunder rang in my ears as it stopped me. I fell, before another thunderclap hit.

    It turned out, the young fox cub never saw his mother again, and was adopted by the human Widow Tweed who raised him lovingly.