Sinister: Re: black fox fable

[julesmarkham]

hi there sinister folk,
I thought I'd send you another little fable of mine, I hope you like it.
It's about...hope, and how the black fox deals with fear.

The Black fox hung down her head. The void inside her chest where her heart
once rested ached. She glared up at the sky, as if she could frighten it
away. She shook her head furiously and growled at herself. She dug her claws
into the ground, ripping gouges into the earth until finally, her anger
abated, she flung herself to the ground.
~Am I asking too much to be treated with a little kindness? she whispered to
herself, to the silence around her.
~Is there one single creature alive that would never deceive me or abandon
me or cause me harm? A single, solitary individual I can trust without
doubt?
She lay in silence for a long time, thinking of nothing. Finally she got to
her feet and started walking. She walked to the city limits and on into the
country. She walked with no direction or destination, she just walked. She
felt nothing, hunger and exhaustion were of no importance to her. She walked
to the sunset and did not stop. She walked through the night, past towns and
rivers. She walked through the next day, and the night that followed it. She
never stopped, never slept, never ate, just walked.
The air changed from city smog to salty spray and she did not notice, the
ground beneath her feet changed from tarmac to grassy dunes and she did not
notice. She stopped when the grass and sand became a rough pebbled beach,
and stared out to sea. The wind was cold, the sky clouded. The fox closed
her eyes and she could see herself walking into the sea along the sea bed,
clambering over submerged rocks and valleys, the desire to walk stronger
than gravity, than science. She opened her eyes and walked into the sea.
The water was freezing, but she did not turn back, but swam on, pulled back
and forth by the currents and riptides. The cold seeped into her bones, but
she did not stop, but kept moving until she felt stone beneath her feet. She

pulled herself out of the surf and onto the sharp rocks.Shivering and
exhausted, she lay down. She looked back, in the distance she could see the
mainland. The tide was turning, and the waves were dragging back to the
shore. She looked down into the water, knowing that the rocks would soon be
submerged by the incoming tide. A pointed black face looked back at her.
She stared at the reflection.
~What's your name, she whispered shakily to the flickering likeness. The one
solitary individual who would never deceive her or abandon her, who she
could have absolute trust in.
The fox smiled at her reflection, who smiled wearily in return.
~I think I'd forgotten about you, she said softly.
The image seemed to wink at her, then disappeared into the foam. The fox
nodded to herself as the surf lapped at her feet.
She dived into the sea and followed her reflection back to the shore

I hope you like it, julesx
PS Colin M is a groovy groovy bloke (...for an old fogey!!)


+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
   +---+  Brought to you by the undead Sinister mailing list  +---+
   To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
   send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
   majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "tech-heads and students" +-+
 +-+  "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper        +-+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+