Part Eight - Lane

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." 1 Corinthians 13:4, NIV

Without knowing the fate of Fritillary, Mara never returned to that farm. She travelled as long as she dared, then found an area to wander alone, keeping clear of other foxes and foraging on fruits, grubs, and fish. Fortunately, she had gained quite an excellent fishing ability, and there was no shortage of that food supply. This wouldn't be so bad, she convinced herself.

As autumn turned to winter, the relatively mild (but rainy) climate of southern England kept the rivers from freezing over, and significant snow was rare. With the food situation taking care of itself, another situation arose. She found herself longing for a mate and family, but dared not pursue this, given that there was no possibility of finding a dog fox who would tolerate her not hunting, or even accepting rabbit meat given to her. She became quite miserable from denying her instinct.

After spending some time in this state, as she was wandering the shallow edge of a river in search for her next meal, she was approached by a swaggering dog fox. "I've seen you around for so long, and just had to meet you. If I were to catch you a nice, fresh rabbit, would it follow that we could find ourselves a den and perhaps start our family? I've got a line of vixens after me, so you'd better say yes. I'm Lane, by the way."

Mara closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then eyeing Lane with the most hostile glare she could produce, she set her teeth and growled her reply, "If you want to impress me, catching a rabbit is the last thing you should do. Now go away."

Her would-be suitor stared at her quizzically. "What did you say?"

"You heard me. Get lost."

Now, this was new. Truthfully, Lane had no vixens after him. They had already all found their mates; none of them had wanted him as the family provider. His hunting skills were on par with a week-old cub, as his own mother once put it. His first attempt at a kill while growing up was on a rabbit kitten, which had promptly turned and bit him on the muzzle. He had yelped in pain, turned and run, much to the amusement of his siblings and very much to the consternation of his father. The kitten had managed to remove quite a piece of flesh, and it had taken some time for the bleeding to stop.

Ever since that first meeting with rabbits, he had been rather timid when he needed to have a killer instinct. Always expecting his prey to attack him, Lane would only chase them, and not try to go near enough to get bitten again. Even the rabbits grew to know him, and he became the subject of many of their lapine jokes.

Lane's reputation as an inept hunter had spread, and thus, when he had finally gathered the courage to meet the vixen that was known for being a loner, he had hoped that she would not have heard of him, and he would be able to have a family, after all. But her response caught him completely off-guard.

"You don't want me to catch rabbits?"

"By George, I think you've got it," Mara said with every ounce of sarcasm that she could scrape up, "But there's one thing, Lane, which you didn't get."

"What's that?"

"You're still here. I told you to scram."

"No, you didn't. You told me to get lost." Lane wasn't trying to be entirely disrespectful; he was hoping that what this enigmatic vixen was being honest about her feelings on rabbits. If she didn't want him to catch rabbits, for goodness only knows what reason, then this is the miracle that he was waiting for. Unless, she did know of his reputation, and was just slyly trying to get him to admit it and brush him off as cruelly as possible. He went on hopefully, "Pray, tell, what should I catch to impress you?"

Mara's patience was thinning. Somehow, she resisted the urge to cuff this pompous jerk and decided to go along with whatever game he was playing. "Fish," she replied, hoping that he would eventually just leave.

Not wanting to look incapable of anything, Lane jumped into the belly-deep water, and after being momentarily stunned by the icy cold, gasped, "All right, now what?"

"Catch one," said Mara, almost amused that Lane had actually gone this far. It wouldn't take long to get rid of him, now. After a few minutes of her suitor looking confused and helpless, she finished, "I thought so. You can stay here if you wish. Just don't follow me, unless you want another scar that will make the one on your nose look like nothing."

Lane gulped and backed out of the water, watching the vixen leave without even knowing her name. He wouldn't dream of fighting another fox, even a vixen, given his already nervous disposition towards rabbits.

***

Just before sunset after getting rid of the pesky dog fox, Mara was approached by a vixen. "Greetings, traveller," she said, "I've seen you around, but have never met you. Come to think of it, everyone around here has seen you but never met you. You're deliberately avoiding us, aren't you?"

"Well, given that dog fox I met today, I think I've made the right choice."

"I saw you two at the river. That was Lane you met. Bad news, believe me."

"Yes, Lane, he was all to eager to introduce himself."

The other vixen nodded in understanding, "Desperate for a mate, no doubt? Winter's getting old; the season for that is almost over."

"No luck for him. I'm in no need of a mate." The other vixen looked at her strangely, so Mara added, "Maybe next year."

"Well next year, stay away from Lane, unless you want road-kill and human garbage as your dinner. He couldn't catch a blind three-legged rabbit." The vixen chuckled at her own joke.

Mara pretended to laugh as well, but this had really piqued her interest. So, Lane was pretending to be a good hunter to impress her, and all along, he wasn't? She would have to find him again. This could be the answer to her longing for a family, if she played the situation correctly. "Thanks for the warning; I'll remember it."

"My pleasure. May the rabbits find your stomach." The fox equivalent to, 'Have a good day' made Mara shiver internally. The other vixen continued, "By the way, that's another thing everyone has noticed. You only seem to eat berries and fish. Can you not catch rabbits, either?"

Mara froze. The last thing she wanted was for the other foxes to know of her aversion to hunting rabbits. If Lane thought that he was an outcast, he hadn't seen anything yet, if word about Mara got out. Lane would seem absolutely normal then. "Uh... I just have a taste for fish, that's all. Just no reason to hunt rabbits. I could if I wanted to."

The other vixen saw no reason to press the issue any further, so just gave Mara a quick nod and then left, without either fox learning the other's name.

***

"Lane? Can I have a word with you please?"

"Oh! I wasn't following you! I swear it!" Lane jumped and turned around at Mara's question, backing away from her as she stepped towards him.

"I know that, silly. I was looking for you. I wanted to ask you about your hunting skills."

Lane held his breath. He'd been found out, if indeed this vixen didn't know the truth to start with. "Heh, um..."

"A vixen just told me you couldn't catch a three-legged rabbit. Is that true?"

Lane whispered a curse, and muttered, "Kate! She's always ruining my reputation ahead of me!"

"Well, is it true?"

Lane knew that all Mara had to do was ask him to catch a rabbit, and the ploy was finished. The only reason that he had promised to catch her a rabbit was because he had found a road-killed rabbit, and now even that had gone missing. "All right, so I'm not the best hunter! What do you want? I'm sorry I lied; you'll never see me again!" He turned and stormed off.

"Lane!"

He stopped, without looking back. "What?"

"I'm Mara, by the way."

Now Lane was confused. Why was she introducing herself before the final, mocking farewell? "Nice to have met you Mara; I'll be going now." He started off again.

"There's something you should know!" she called after him.

Lane stopped and turned around. He tried to imagine what Mara was going to say. That he was a cowardly liar? A pathetic example of a fox? "I think I get the drift, Mara."

"Actually, Lane, I couldn't care less if you can't hunt rabbits. I actually prefer it that way. No, actually, I insist that it be that way. Especially if you want to be my mate."

Lane searched her eyes. As far as he could tell, this was no joke. Mara was deadly serious. "Are you... Would you... Really?" he stammered.

"Look, I know you're going to laugh, but I may as well take the chance. I don't hunt rabbits, either. Truthfully, I can't stand the concept of hunting them. They're my friends, you see."

Lane internalized this. All right, he thought, everyone thinks I'm a freak because I can't hunt rabbits. Now, here's a vixen who won't hunt rabbits. Her friends, no less! Could it be? He spoke again, "Well, if you insist on it, then I guess I'm ahead on that point." He looked at her hopefully and added, "Maybe if I fish instead?"

"Oh, I can teach you that, Lane."

Lane paused for a minute. It was time to risk it. "May I ask if we could be mates?"

***

That spring, Mara and Lane were the proud parents of two young cubs - a dog fox (Tracks) and a vixen (Gina). Unfortunately, Tracks died for unknown reasons when only a week old. Gina, however, was as healthy as could be. She quickly picked up on the basics of fishing, which both of her parents were now quite well-versed in.

As Gina learned to fish, Lane learned to appreciate Mara's view on hunting and rabbits. He eventually admitted to her that he had never managed to actually kill a rabbit, despite having tried numerous times, and how he had gotten the ugly scar on his nose. Mara had found that particular story quite amusing. Though Lane thought Mara strange at first, he eventually started to let go of his instinct on the hunting issue, especially since Mara probably thought of him as equally strange to start with. There was no doubt in either fox' mind that they were meant for each other.

As spring turned to summer, Gina continued to grow healthily. She accepted her mother's view on rabbits without question. She even grew upset whenever rabbits would run squealing from her rather than talk to her. Mara explained that it was impossible to erase so much instinct so quickly and to just be satisfied with not hunting the rabbits. If an opportunity arose to help a rabbit, then that was not to be missed, however.

The family's habits were quite noticed by the other foxes of the area. The true reason for their choice of meat wasn't suspected; it was assumed that neither parent could hunt normally, so fell back on fishing. "Well, looks like old Loser Lane found a match at last," said Kate, the ever-efficient fox gossip, to a group of her friends, "Birds of a feather, I tell you. Double trouble."

"Well, Kate, as long as they don't bother anyone, it shouldn't concern us," replied one of the group.

***

As Gina's first and Mara's second summer came to a close, Gina let it be known that she wished to stay with the family for the time being, and would wait for another year to strike out on her own. Neither parent objected. The extra help would be welcome, in fact.

That winter turned out to be quite severe, with frequent heavy snow and enough cold stretches to form significant ice on the slower-running rivers. With the extra energy needed to ward off the cold, it took all three foxes' fishing skills to avoid starvation, or at the very least, illness. Spring couldn't arrive soon enough for them.

During one cold late winter day, only a month before Mara was due with her second litter, Lane decided to try an old tactic he used before meeting Mara to reinforce the family's food supply: garbage raiding. He knew of a nearby farm that had thrown out a large quantity of trash and decided on a night visit to rummage for edible food. Not wishing to wake Mara or Gina, he left quietly in hopes of having a good breakfast supplied for all.

After a few minutes of foraging, Lane was making poor progress. He had found no sign of anything worth eating; it was mostly paper and other household waste. In his frustration, he dove even further into the pile, and upset a garbage can at the edge of the pile.

The noise was deafening in the otherwise still night. Within seconds, a light went on in the house, and a human could be heard shouting. Lane made the error of ignoring this, and continued digging around in the pile, cursing, still finding nothing worth scavenging. He didn't notice that the man was now outside, hastily dressed in a robe and heavy coat and carrying something with both hands.

***

The sound of a single gunshot woke nearly every sleeping creature within a radius of at least a quarter mile. That included several human neighbours, and indeed, Mara and Gina as well. The two foxes immediately noticed Lane's absence, and looked at each other, with growing dread in their hearts.

When Lane had not returned within two days, they knew that he would never come back. While they were both devastated, Mara knew that she would soon have another family to care for, and Gina knew that her help would be needed now more than ever.

Mara's litter that spring was one dog fox (Mark) and one vixen (Carol), like the first. However, this time, both cubs survived early infancy. Despite the loss of Lane, the four foxes were getting along quite well, until a spate of cold spring rainstorms began.

After perhaps the third night of a downpour, the hillside in which Mara and her family resided began to collapse. Fortunately, the telltale signs of an impending landslide were evident - water and mud dripping through new cracks in their den - and the foxes had already evacuated when the slide occurred. However, the family was now homeless in the cold, pouring rain. For hours, each vixen carried a cub in their mouths and searched for a suitable new home, or any place that was dry.

They finally found one potential shelter just as it was getting dark. Mara let her cub down and decided to go first to make sure that it was uninhabited. As she looked in, she noticed that it wasn't empty. There were two rabbits inside - a buck and a kitten. The buck looked up in alarm, arose, and started forward, as if ready to bolt. However, instead of bounding for the door and past Mara, the buck collapsed and was still. Mara carefully went up to the rabbits and found to her relief that both were still alive. She went back outside and called to Mara, "Come quickly! Bring the cubs! You won't believe this!"

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