I Almost Forgot

Kettu the gray fox sat lonely at his desk underneath the only window in his earth and wood den. A few stray rays of sunlight shined through the pane glass window, and onto the cobble stone floor. Kettu’s peppered grey fur was lit by a lamp hung from the ceiling, as he sat looking intently at a map on the carved wood desk, and wondering at a few of the names of places he wished to go one day. He had spent a rather large amount of time lately like this, but now he was starting to feel as if he should finally go and see the places he looked at on the map. He spent some time like this with only his tail twitching every now and then, being completely lost in thought.

Kettu was overall having a decent day, and lazily looked up, out the window and towards the sun as it neared midday. Then all of a sudden he realized with a sudden terror that he had forgotten something. Kettu froze, took a deep breath and uttered a single thing “This happens e v e r y time I’m supposed to be somewhere”, before jumping up in a flash and leaving the map on the desk. He busted through the small door that led up a short slope from his den to the surface, and raced out into the woods as fast as his paws would let him. Kettu had somewhere to be at noon, and he had no time to spare. He darted through the trees along almost invisible paths with a prowess that had come from following them many times. They led him to a small creek that he then followed upstream as fast as he could. Kettu had a habit of being late to anything planned, and tended to prefer not to plan things at all, but that wasn’t an option this time. This time he had to be there on time, and so he sprinted knowing there want much time left. Kettu was anxious now over his sudden hurry, but he knew it would be worth it. He kept on following the creek trying to keep his paws from getting wet until the creek lead off suddenly to the right, and Kettu went up a hill to the left. Kettu was beginning to get tired and his tail began to droop lower and lower as he neared the top of the hill.

As Kettu reached the top of the the hill he smelled the sweet perfume of chicken soup, and the pleasant smell of fruit pies. He came to the edge of a clearing in near the highest point on the hill, and stopped suddenly at its edge. Kettu looked at the small gathering of foxes, many of whom seemed at least a little hungry. They were his friends and family (along with a raccoon who he was friends with also). Kettu kept his head low, as he was still panting from all the running as he slowly, and somewhat embarrassed at nearly being late, walked out of the trees. There was food in pots, and pans on a cloth under a tree, and near them was a fox with bright orange fur who stood out somewhat from the rest of the foxes who were gray foxes. That was Kettu’s friend Tanager, and he was also the first one to see Kettu come walking by.

‘There you are Kettu’ said Tanager as he came running up to Kettu with a friendly grin on his face. ‘We were all wondering when you would show up for your own birthday party. We even waited to eat until you got here.’

‘Oh, well I almost forgot’ Kettu started, ‘but then I remembered there was food, and I came running as fast as I could’ Kettu was only halfway joking.


Word Count - 643