"Monica!" Matt shouted to get the white bunny's attention.
She was going home for the day and Matt had caught her at the parking lot. He was panting when he caught up to her. A determined look was on his face.
"Hi, Matt. Did something happen?" She furrowed her brow.
"I hope not." The brown bunny sighed. "Do you have time to chat? I don't want to hold you up."
Monica checked her watch. "I can spare you a few minutes. What's up?"
Matt shifted from foot to foot nervously. He bit his lip and lowered his ears. Monica nervously adjusted her purse seeing her friend so distressed.
"I've bought Kyle tennis balls to play with. I hope that it's all right." Matt started nervously
Monica blinked a few times and looked at him in disbelief. She bust out laughing. "That's all? You almost gave me a heart attack with how serious you were. It's totally fine. You could have told that to any mammal working at the orphanage."
She stopped laughing as soon as she noticed that Matt stayed serious. "Kyle should visit a psychologist."
"What happened?" Her eyes went wide and ears dropped.
"I… I think that someone has hurt him." Matt clenched his fists. "In 'the best case scenario' some kits were picked on him. I think that it was someone that worked at the orphanage. The way that he looked at me when he fell down. He was so scared to be seen on all fours. I don't know how to help him with that. The psychologist could do that. Maybe even get him to say who did it."
The white bunny grabbed the strap of her purse and held it close to her body. "Even if you're right, Kyle is a Wildfire. No one will believe him."
"What does his surname have anything to do with that!?" He shouted and several mammals turned to look at the commotion.
"Wildfire is a surname you give to a fox kit with an unknown surname. It means that there is no one who could be his character witness from before he got into the system."
"So because he was found, his word means less?" Anger rose inside the bunny. How could something like that be allowed?
"No, of course not. It's just…" The white bunny bit her lip. "Kyle isn't a good kit."
"What?" Matt was dumbfounded
"Sometimes when kits get to the orphanage for the first time they misbehave out of frustration. So it's important to have mammals that knew them before. So it could be proven that the kit's just frustrated and the issue that he's talking about is real..." She spoke quickly as if she was trying to get her point across before Matt would stop her.
"But he's always so well behaved when I visit him."
Matt shivered when Monica looked at him with pity. Matt swallowed loudly. He had known her for a long time and knew that she wouldn't lie to him. However he wasn't ready for what she was going to say to him.
"Matt. I know that you like him but you see him for an hour each week and watch cartoons with him. We have to deal with him the rest of the time. We can't get him to do his homework, clean his room or clean himself. Do you know how much of a scent mask we're using to get rid of his musk? We just decided that it's easier to use it than trying to get him to do anything. We can clean his room for him but you have to notice how messy he is. We are lucky that he just wants to stay in his room because I seriously doubt that he would listen to anything that we have to say."
"No one has given him a chance! That's why he's behaving like that." He tried to defend the kit.
"That could be true but all that we know about him is in his file. It says he's a scratcher with a history of violence and misbehaving. Matt, do you know how hard it's for a kit to be labeled as scratcher? It's not a one time accidental thing. He had to do that multiple times," She sighed. "Two weeks ago he scratched a buck that tried to trim his claws. Luckily he didn't draw blood."
"I…" Matt was speechless. "But even with all of that we can't let someone get away with this. Even a complaint could launch an investigation."
"Kyle is not a bunny."
"I know that!" Matt said in frustration.
"Yes but you don't understand what that means." She sat on the hood of her car. "You have a warped view of the foster system because you help at the bunny orphanage. Because of our size we have a higher mortality rate in accidents, especially when a bigger mammal is involved. There are a lot of kits that become orphans because of that. However at the same point we are very family oriented species so couples that can't have kits are very eager to adopt. You're the best example. You prioritized having kits over finding a mate. Kits rarely stay in foster care for more than a year. Most of the time it's just a few months and most of them consider it a pleasant experience after they dealt with their trauma. You have no idea how unusual it is."
She looked at the orphanage with a nostalgic smile. There were smiling parents coming out of the orphanage with new kits. She moved her purse into her lap and rested her paws on it.
"Since our orphanage runs rather well, we often help at other orphanages. I have to tell you it isn't pretty. Many of those children were there for years and didn't have a hope to get adopted. They form packs and herds to be more disruptive and feel more powerful. Very often teachers needed to be firm to keep them in check. Those children don't come from good homes."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Mammals would probably assume that Kyle did something to deserve it and blow what happened out of proportion. I saw his record. He wasn't staying at good places," Monica said with an apologetic look.
"Can we at least get him to visit a psychologist?" Matt felt defeated and shocked.
"Probably not."
"But you have a psychologist at the orphanage!" Matt's mouth was agape.
"Yes, a prey psychologist. It's a completely different field of study. Also, very often there are species specific psychologists. Cultural differences are just too big." Monica seemed defeated. "We can't get them to send someone to trim his claws. We sent that request two weeks ago. I doubt that they'll even consider sending a psychologist for a fox. We didn't even get permission for buying him a crutch."
They looked at each other in almost morbid silence. Matt's mind was blank.
"I should get going. My husband and kits are waiting for me." The white bunny finally broke the silence.
"Yeah. Sorry for taking your time." Matt said with a stunned expression.
"It isn't a problem. I think you should know that if you are going to keep helping him." She was worried about Matt. "Will you be ok?"
"Yes." He smiled weakly. "You should get going. I'll see you next week."
"Bye." She waved as Matt turned around and went to his car.
Matt sat in his car. His paws tightly clenched the steering wheel in proper driving position. Blunt claws were digging into the rubber as he was looking in front of him with a stern expression. The bunny wasn't that much into driving but that familiar position was bringing him some comfort in that chaotic moment. Finally he rested his forehead on the top of the wheel and his ears were hanging low. There were so many things wrong with society but the amount of problems that Kyle had to deal with was just mind boggling.
Matt pulled out the phone and looked at the pictures of the smiling Kyle. The fox's eyes were full of joy and even teeth showed in few pictures that he was biting a ball. The kit that didn't have to worry about anything other than playing his game and watching cartoons. He sighed loudly. There wasn't such a thing as a bad kit. There were just kits in bad situations and with problems. Mammals just weren't willing to take their time with them.
He sat straight in his seat and used Zoogle to find the closest shop with the rehabilitation equipment. The bunny found one that was on his way back home. Matt left the parking lot with a new determination to help Kyle.
He followed the GPS to the shop. He parked his car at the sidewalk and walked in. It was a small shop that had the equipment mostly placed on the wall and few wheelchairs displayed on the floor so mammals could try them out. A middle aged lynx lady was sitting at the counter doing crossword puzzles. She lifted her head when she heard chime at the door.
"Good afternoon. How can I help you,sir?" She smiled politely and put down her puzzle.
"Hello. I would like to buy crutches for a feral fox kit." He smiled politely back at her. She nodded and pulled out a book and flipped through it.
"Are they supposed to be for a general use by different kits or are you looking for crutches for a specific fox?" She was reading something on the page.
"They are for my friend, a seven years old fox boy." Her finger was moving on the page and she tapped the page with her claw when it stopped. She closed the book and Matt saw that it was a book with growth charts for different mammals.
She got up and went to the section of the wall that had crutches. They were all white but there were few different models.
"So at what stage is your friend?" She stood a few feets away from him to make sure that he wasn't overwhelmed by her size. She wasn't that much bigger than him but still wanted him to feel comfortable.
"Sorry but I don't know."
"It isn't a problem. Does he walk on all fours, like a dinosaur, like a dinosaur but with his back in vertical position or like a ballet dancer?"
"I would say somewhere between on all fours and a dinosaur but mostly all fours." She kept her professional smile on but Matt saw a quick flash of surprise and his ears dropped. "Is that bad?"
"Of course not. Every kit goes at his own pace." She averted her gaze from him and was fixing things on the shelfs to make them look nicer. " If I may know, how do you know him?"
"He stays at the orphanage that I volunteer at."
Her smile dimed and nodded slowly as if she hoped to hear something different but she had too much experience selling rehabilitation equipment to expect anything different "Ok. Since he isn't going to have physical therapy I suggest underarm crutches. They have a padded area to place under his armpit and rest his weight on them. It should be a good solution for him since we are not worried about his posture and proper gait. Also he'll have a lot of fun with the swinging motion of his movement. You'll be surprised how fast he can be like that."
Matt looked at the crutches that she pointed out. They would let Kyle move around in an upward position but that wouldn't be walking. It felt like giving up rather than working towards a goal. "And what should I pick if I want him to improve?"
She smiled sadly. "It doesn't work like that. Without physical rehabilitation he'll just develop bad walking habits and bad posture. It'll be really taxing on his back and he can develop spine issues because of that."
Matt blink. He couldn't believe that such a simple thing as picking wrong crutches could cause harm to the kit. Was he really ready for that kind of responsibility? Maybe just playing games with him would be enough. After what Monica had told the bunny, he knew that Kyle had a low chance to get adopted. Maybe Matt had known that all along and just didn't want to acknowledge it.
Everyone had already given up on Kyle. The fox was alone in the world. He deserved better. Maybe Matt wouldn't be able to get the fox kit adopted but he can at least try to get him to walk.
"I'll do my best to help him." The bunny said with determination.
"Things like that take a lot of time and you said it yourself, you are just a volunteer. You will move one at some point." The lynx tried to be realistic about the situation. She saw the determination on his face and sighed. "I will tell you which one you should pick under one condition. You have to promise me that as soon as you decide to move on you will come back here and buy the proper crutches for him. I will even give you a discount."
"I will, I promise." Matt with a confident look in his eyes and lynx smiled.
"In that case you should buy one forearm crutch. However there are few important things that you need to know." Matt pulled out a phone and started typing.
"Using only one crutch will force him to actually walk rather than swing. You have to make sure that he regularly changes sides or he'll develop some weird walking habits that will be difficult to fix. It also allows him to build his muscles more evenly. It sounds stupid but at first your boy will try to walk on all fours with longer front leg. You have to make sure that he isn't doing it. Without support, his muscles have to be tense to stand. He forces himself into an uncomfortable position to be upright. With a crutch, he'll relax because it'll do all the work for him. So the most comfortable position for him will be legs and hips as if he was walking on all fours and pushing his chest up with the crutch. It's very easy to spot because he'll arch his back to do it. This arch is your number one enemy. Doing it from time to time isn't a problem but over a long period of time it would cause spine issues." She looked Matt dead in the eyes to make sure that he understood that she wasn't joking around.
"When you set the height of the crutch make sure that he can comfortably hold a straight back with it. It's better to slowly increase the height rather than try to force him into a position that he can't do." She looked at the shelf and was checking tags
After a few seconds she pulled out a crutch and handed it to the bunny. It was the generic forearm crutch with a white and gray colors. "This one should be good enough for a few years."
"Thank you very much." The bunny said with a beaming smile.
"It isn't a problem. I picked up a few things after working at this shop for a few years." She said bashfully.
He paid for the crutch and left with a big smile on his muzzle.
"""
It was lunch break. They were sitting in their usual configuration with Liam in a corner of the room and the rest of the team sitting at the opposed side of him.
"We have plenty of time. We are way ahead of schedule with our deliveries," said Owen with a smile. "I don't remember the last time that we had this much breathing room."
"Don't get used to it. We all know that it won't last." Matt pointed out
"Yeah but we can still enjoy it." The hyena said and got a fist bump trom the gopher.
"Relax Matt. It is good to have a slower schedule from time to time." Tom smiled and other guys were nodding with agreement.
"I like it too. I am just saying to not get lazy." Matt tried to defend his position.
During that whole exchange Emma was silent and was furiously typing on her phone. Finally she put the phone on the table. She put her elbows on the table and holded her hoofs together. She rested her chin on them and looked at Matt with a smirk. Everyone noticed that weird behaviour and stopped talking. They looked at her confused. She seemed as if she was waiting for something.
"What is it Emma?" Matt asked, expecting some weird shenanigans and mentally preparing himself.
"Oh it is nothing really. I am just wondering how Kyle is doing." She said with an even bigger smirk.
Matt ears dropped in an instant. The bunny's eyes met with the hyena's. The bunny was shocked that she knew about Kyle. Liam lifted his paws in surrender. "I haven't told her anything."
In an instant Emma's smirk disappeared from her face and looked at Liam. "You knew!?"
Before Liam could answer, Matt interrupted him. "How do you know about him?"
Tom and Owen were so confused and tried to understand what was going on. Emma sighed sadly. She had imagined it going differently. She gave Liam last side glance before focusing on Matt. The sheep put on a mischievous smile.
"You mom wanted to get more information about her future grandson. I was surprised that I didn't know anything about him." Emma looked away from Matt.
"There is a kit that you can adopt, that is great news!" Tom said with excitement. " That was far quicker than you have expected."
"I am not going to adopt him. I am just helping him." Matt said with a groan. "My mother is over reacting."
Tom kept smiling but realized that he would get nothing out of the bunny so his head slowly turned to the next best thing. Emma was more than happy to provide the information.
"He is a 7 year old kit, doesn't have strong bonds with his littermates and already stays in his own room. He has a feral condition. He is holding up adoption of his littermates because he is a part of the package. Not many new parents want kits with health problems."
"Oh that is tough but could have been worse." Owen said considering all options. "He just needs a lot of physical therapy."
"Yeah and he is old enough that he could be separated from his littermates." Tom said, trying to be encouraging. "That sounds perfect since you already have a connection with him."
"Guys I am just helping him. I am not going to adopt him." Matt said, a little annoyed.
"Why?" Emma was confused. "You almost desperately want to have kits."
"It is just not right to separate him from his littermates." Matt answered quickly.
"But that could help him and his littermates." Emma said with a furrowed brow. "Is it about him being feral?"
Matt slid his paw over his ears and looked away. "Yeah. I don't know if I can take care of him properly."
The atmosphere around the table got gloomy. They could tease Matt all they wanted but at the end of the day, Kyle was a kit with a medical condition. The bunny needed to decide for himself if he really wanted to deal with it.
"So when are you visiting him again?" Tom asked, trying to change the subject.
"Today." Matt smiled softly. "It turns out that they didn't have money to buy him crutches so I got him one."
"Wait." Emma looked at Matt. "You were at the orphanage yesterday, right?"
"Yeah."
"So you are going to see him two days in the row and you have bought him something." Emma had a mischievous smile on her muzzle and the bunny got nervous. She reached for her phone and started typing.
"Don't you dare." Matt shouted as he realized what she was doing.
"I am sorry Matt. I was bribed with a pie." She locked her eyes with Matt and pressed send on her phone.
After a few seconds Matt's phone pinged. He checked it and saw that he had text from his mom. He groaned loudly and slammed his head on the table. "She wants me to call her after the visit."
Everyone around the table beside Liam started laughing. The hyena stayed quiet during that whole exchange and looked more and more uncomfortable as the conversation went on. His eyes were focused on the bunny.
"""
"Matt, I'm sorry but I need to know." Liam was panting as he caught up to the bunny at the parking lot, next to his car.
Matt was going to the orphanage after work and wasn't expecting any of his coworkers to follow him. However the thing that shocked him the most was the pained expression on Liam's muzzle.
"What do you need to know?" Matt furrowed his brow.
"Why did you lie about Kyle? It is one thing to not say something but this time you actively lied. Are you ashamed that you're helping a fox?"
Matt looked away from the hyena. "No of course not. I'm just weak. You understand that I am afraid of him, right? I can barely get enough willpower to be able to help him. I'm not sure if my resolve would survive contact with someone who doesn't like what I am doing."
"You think that your friends and family would like you helping a fox." Liam was shocked. His coworkers didn't seem to be speciest but he only had known them for a few weeks.
"No… Yes… I don't know. I just didn't want to take any chances. I prefer them trying to push me to adopt Kyle rather discouraging me from visiting him." Matt was ashamed to look at Liam
"And why don't you want to adopt Kyle? I know for a fact that you don't care about him being feral. Is it because you are afraid of him? You already have made such great progress. You'll get over it in no time." Liam tried to be encouraging.
"Why do you care so much?" Matt gave Liam a side glance.
"I don't know. Maybe it's solidarity with another unliked species." Liam shrugged.
"Kyle is a fox. He should be adopted by at least another is way too many differences between us to make it work. Week ago I didn't even know how to play catch with a predator. "
"I can help you with that!" The hyena offered eagerly. "You could ask me about things that you don't understand."
"Is it what this thing is about?" Matt was getting annoyed. "Do you want to be a hero by proxy?"
"No! He just really needs you!"
"What about what I want? Am I a bad mammal because I want bunny kits?" Matt was really angry at that point. "If Kyle really needs to be adopted so bad, why don't you do it? I am sure that your roommates would love to have a kit around. Remind me, how long ago did you finish college?"
"Hey! That is a low blow."
"So you can criticise my life choices but I can't criticise yours. I see, sounds fair."
"It is not about life choices. It's about the life of the kit in need."
Matt sighed. "Do you think that mammals working at the orphanage are evil?"
"What?"
"Every day they see kits in need and they don't adopt them. I'm sure that many of them could do it. They help them but don't want to provide a permanent home for them. Does it make them bad mammals?"
Liam stood shocked next to the car and started nervously scratching his paw. "No but.."
Matt interrupted the hyena. "There are hundreds of kits in orphanages. I'm sure that I would find one in an even worse situation than Kyle. Should I adopt that kit instead of Kyle?"
"No one will adopt him if you won't do it." Liam finally said when he realized that this conversation was getting out of control.
Matt sighed. "Yes, you are probably right. It's sad but why is it my job to do it? I'll try my best to help him. Is it enough?"
"You already like him and have a connection with him." Liam sounded almost desperate.
"He's 7 years old and only a few inches shorter than me. In a year or two he will be taller than me. If he gets hurt I won't be able to carry him to safety. I won't be able to carry him to his bed when he falls asleep on the couch. I'll never understand what it's like to be a fox or a predator. And maybe I'll never stop being scared of him."
"But you could love him when no one else would." Liam offered.
They stood in silence. The exchange drew the attention of a few mammals but no one seemed to be actively listening to what they were talking about. No one really knew how to continue that conversation. Luckily for them ping from Liam's phone saved them and the hyena went to check it.
"Would you like an autograph from the first bunny officer?" Liam asked casually and continued when he saw confusion on Matt's face. "She ended up at their precinct and Ralph offered to get it for you."
"Thanks but I'll pass for now. We will see if she's any good first." The bunny smiled weakly. "I guess I will be going. I need to get the crutch to Kyle."
Matt pointed at the crutch that was laying at the back seat of his car. Liam saw it and looked displeased. "It's a generic one that they use in hospitals."
"Yeah they only sold them in that color."
"You could buy some permanent markers and color it together with Kyle." Liam suggested
"That sounds like a great idea. I'm sure that he'll love it."
They had an awkward chat about office supply stores and after saying goodbyes, they went their separate way. Both of them had a lot to think about
