Human Nature

Stepping over debris, the fox sniffs at the ground. She laps a browned stain in the icy ground and wanders deeper into the valley. A million bodies lay fallen in the snowbank, being slowly covered by the flurries. She looks out then turns back to the forest. A moose in the distance startles her and she races towards a large boulder in the distance. Close by, she smells two humans. She peers over to see two children walking through the snow. She cowers as they walk by, picking up plastic bottles and debris.

“I hate this new job,” the taller boy says as he tosses a bottle into the burlap sack he’s carrying.

“It pays well enough. After the depression, we needed the money,” the other murmurs.

The taller boy scratches a growth on his neck and picks up more debris. The fox watches, her eyes and ears twitching to make sure she’s not in danger as she watches. The boys disappear from view and she hops on top of the boulder. She walks over to wher the boys were, but a hare dashes by, taking her mind away from her work. She rushes after it, scaling rocks and diving thorugh brush. All of a sudden, a loud crash startles both the hare and the fox and the fox dashes up a tree. A plume of smoke rises in the distance. The smell of fire wafts into her nose, and she begins to make her way out of the forest. She’s almost out when she is greeted by the worried look of a young girl. The fox scrambles up another tree, but the girl pays her no attention.

“Mike? Davey?” she screams as she looks around the forest.

There is no answer. She drops her sack at the edge of the fox’s tree and wanders into the brush. The fox waits for her to leave then moves two branches lower on the tree, eying the sack. She listens for the girl to come back but after a while, she climbs all the way down and sniffs at the sack. she bites a corner of it and plastic spills out. She sniffs at a bottle, but a gruff male voice startles her. She runs back up the tree and watches as a man in a camouflage uniform grab the sack and walk into the forest. She curls up and falls asleep.

“Damn kids stepped on a landmine,” she hears as heavy steps thud under the tree.

The uniformed man is back, holding the little girl by her collar. She is charred on her face and has red welts on her back. He throttles her and tosses her to the ground. The fox watches intensely as the man kicks the girl in the back. She growls as the little girl cries on the ground.

“How can stupid can you brats be! For eighty years no one set off a single bomb and now you’re costing me money!”

The girl sobs as the soldier spit on her and leaves, kicking over her burlap sack as he marches into the forest. The girl lies motionless on the ground for a while, then slowly she rose, grabbing her bag and shoveling the trash into it. She turns and walks away from the forest, slowly picking up more debris from the snow. She is long gone when the fox scales the tree again and resumes nosing through the snow, looking for her next meal and stepping gingerly to avoid any forgotten landmines.