*****Four Months Later*****
My eyes slowly slid open to see a very green clearing and a pond. I stood up from my leafy enclosure and step outside with a stretch. I made my way over to a pond and sit at the water's edge, looking down at the pond which still had a small layer of frost along the edges as winter had just ended. The newly formed leaves gave a wonderfully sweet scent to the air.
I perched on a rock and held my tag in my hand close to my chest, if only he would had found me during the winter…But the again, I was in a log for the majority of the winter, waking up occasionally to eat or just get some air and think every few weeks. My eyes ease as I look at the golden colored tag Rebekah - If found, please call 555-2109.
No one would find me. I don't even know where I am or where Jason is. It's not like the humans would just walk up to me, thinking I was someone's pet, even with a collar.
"Oh that's cold!" I hear Verne call from the log as he stumbles out, shaking snow off of himself that must have fallen into his shell, "That's cold! Uuugh. The one place that I didn't have a shell." After his little freak out he smiles and looks around himself, "Wow…Spring…That means there's only 274 days until winter!"
I giggle at his odd behavior as he turns to the log.
"Everybody wake up! Hibernation's over!" Verne calls walking into the log.
"Morning!" Hammy calls, jumping out of the log and standing at Verne's side.
"Hi Hammy." Verne says, touching Hammy's shoulder.
"I gotta go peepee." Hammy says suddenly and shoots off into the trees at the speed of a bullet.
Verne nods before he looks panicked. "Not in the lake we drink from!" Verne yells after Hammy before turning back to the log, "Alright everyone. It's spring! That means we've got to get to work!"
"Ahhh, finished." Hammy says as he appears next to Verne before doubling over, "No…wait…" He shoots back into the bushes.
"Come on everybody. Don't make me come in there." Verne says, hands on his hips.
"Y'all better listen. I've been holdin' something in all winter and I'm about to let it out." Stella's voice comes from inside the log. Immediately everyone runs from the log screaming.
"Thank you, Stella." Verne says
"Oh, I can clear a room. Verne. Come on, that much I can do." Stella says, walking out of the log, her black and white striped tail swaying behind her.
"Good morning everyone." Lou says, stretching, "Just a super-duper morning, huh?"
"Aw, jeepers." Penny says, bending over slightly, looking really tired.
"Whoa, not looking so good around the eyes, there , Hun." Lou says, touching her shoulder.
"Bucky and Quillo were up every three or four weeks and Spike kept poking me." Penny says, giving a jab with her finger for emphasis.
"Oh, well he is kinda pokey." Lou says.
"Yep, the sharpest of the bunch, there." Penny says, hands on her hips as she smiles.
"You know what? How about I take the day shift?" Lou responds.
"Oh Lou, that'd be just super." Penny says with a smile.
"Alright kids, you heard your mother. And now you listen to me." Lou says, arms out, "Shape up, there."
All three of the triplets run over and tackle their father to the ground, making me giggle.
"Where's the food? Is there any food left? I'm really hungry? So is there any food left in here, huh?" Hammy asks, hopping around the clearing.
"We ate all the food, Hammy, during the winter." Heather says, gesturing with her hands, "So we gotta go get some more now."
"Oh! Oh! Right! I buried some nuts in the woods and I know where they are and I'll be right back! Bye!" Hammy says before darting off into the woods.
"How'd you sleep, Rebekah?" Stella asks, walking over to me.
"Oh pretty good, you?" I respond, standing up on my hind legs.
"Alright I guess. Pretty hungry, now, though." She says, tapping her stomach.
"Yeah, me too." I nod and look over at the log.
A small piece of snow fell from a branch and hit Ozzie on the head which made him make a very dramatic noise and then fall over, pretending to be dead. The triplets began to laugh amongst each other and Heather must have noticed.
"Ha ha ha ha ha," Heather says nervously before turning to Ozzie, "Dad it was just snow."
"But it could have been a predator." Ozzie counters.
"Isn't playing dead, a little…weak?" Heather asks him.
"Heather," Ozzie starts as he stands up, "How many times must I say it? Playing possum is what we do. We die. So that we live."
Heather rolls her eyes and rubs the back of her head in embarrassment.
"That's what we have to find this year, don't cha know?" Penny asks Stella as she walks over to us, "A good fella."
"A good fella?" Stella questions rather irritably, "A good fella?"
"Aw jeepers, here we go." Penny says.
"Why does everyone think I need a man, huh?" Stella asks, "I look like a mess and smell like a swamp. So when you find a fella who's decent, good with kids and has no sense of smell, call me."
I giggle, "Yeah, I'll get right on that Stella."
"You have a man in your life, Rebekah?" Penny asks, looking past Stella, her eyes locked on me.
"Oh, no, I'm single at the moment." I smile slightly, "I'm good with being on my own."
"Oh, I think we could find you someone real soon." Stella says, placing her elbow on my shoulder and leaning on me, "You're all perky looking, right? What guy's not into that?"
"I don't know…?" I answer, rather confused.
"She's also a fox." Penny adds, catching Stella's attention, "And I don't mean that in the good sense of the word."
"What do you mean?" I ask, hands on my hips.
"What I mean is that you're a carnivore. A predator. I haven't seen many carnivore's around the woods before." Penny says, "You'll probably scare off a lot of the herbivore guys around here."
"First of all, I'm not a carnivore. I eat meat and plants, not just meat. And second of all I won't scare guys off, I mean...Come on, I'm not that scary. You guys weren't scared of me, right?" I ask.
They are silent as they exchange expressions.
"What? I scared you guys?" I ask, eyes widening.
"Well, I was afraid you would eat the triplets through the winter." Penny says sheepishly.
"Why didn't you say anything?" I ask, eyes easing.
"I thought you would eat me too..." Penny says quiety.
"Did the others feel that way?" My ears droop.
Stella hold up a hand, and pinches her fingers together, "A little bit."
I open my mouth to respond when Penny speaks up, "But Verne thought you were safe so we believed him."
I let out a sigh, wishing they hadn't felt the need to be afraid of me like the others did.
"Ahem?" Verne says, shaking a branch of berries in front of us.
"Ooh, look. Food!" Penny says, pointing at the berries, obviously destracted from our current conversation.
"I think you all know what this means." Verne says, shaking the berries slightly.
"Verne?" Hammy says, running into the clearing, looking frightened.
"Just a minute Hammy." Verne says before clearing his throat and continuing, "This means we were nine berries away from starvation."
Everyone, including me, cringes back and gasps.
"Sorry, that was a little intense." Verne says, passing Ozzie and Heather each a berry, "I meant really serious hunger pains."
Hammy shakes and then spits out, "Verne!?"
"Not finished, Hammy!" Verne continues as he passes berries to Lou, Penny and the triplets, "Morning Lou, Penny, kids. So what I want to tell you all is-"
"Verne!" Hammy yells out again before clamping his hands down over his own mouth.
"I'm not done Hammy, if you have to go again then just go!" Verne says, shrugging his arms in exasperation before passing Hammy, Stella the last berry, "Okay, so all I'm trying to say is that we came a little close. So this year we have to remember to fill the log."
"All the way to the top." Ozzie adds, raising his hand up high.
"Exactly." Verne says, "All the way to the top."
I giggle and lean back against a tree.
"Because what are we?" Verne asks.
"Foragers!" They all cheer.
"And what do we forage?" Verne asks.
"Food!" The others cheer again.
"Right!" Verne smiles.
I roll my eyes and pick a handful of berries off of the bush next to me, popping them in my mouth. I look over at Penny, "See? I eat fruit." I stuck out my tongue to show her the chewed up blackberries.
Penny's nose scrunches up as her eyes widen, "Yes, I see, dear."
"Super, Verne. Really super." Lou says with a smile.
"Okay Hammy." Verne says, turning to the squirrel.
"Huh?" Hammy asks.
"What is it?" Verne asks him.
"What is what?" Hammy asks, looking confused.
"What is it you wanna tell me?" Verne asks, wondering how he forgot his problem so quickly.
"Hm? Oh! Oh uh…" Hammy stomps his foot on the ground, wracking his brain, "What was it? What was it? What was it? What was it? What waaaas it? Mmmmmm….Wait! Right on the tip of my tongue. Oh yeah!" Hammy jumps up and down, "There's a weird thing over there that I've never seen before and it's really big and really scary. Follow me." Hammy takes off toward the trees.
Verne exchanges looks with the others and they begin walking towards where Hammy was headed.
I walked a few feet behind them, watching them as they followed the squirrel through the woods.
"Hammy, what weird thing?" Verne asks as he approaches Hammy. His eyes go up to the large object that Hammy was staring at, "Oh…that weird thing…"
I raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms as I talk to myself, "He was worked up over a hedge?"
They turn to look from one direction to the other but it seems to just go on and on forever. Hammy books it to the left, "It never ends!" Then he shoots in the opposite direction, passing us before he comes back to Verne, "It never ends that way, too."
They began to mumble as they walked closer to the hedge.
Heather reaches out her hand, "What is this thing?"
Just before she can touch it, Ozzie pulls her back, "Heather no!"
"I'm scared…" Bucky says.
"Me too, Mama…" Quillo adds.
"Shh, shh, it's okay, it's just a…" Penny says but trails off and turns to Lou, "What is this thing, Lou?"
"Uh…eh…uh It's a…" Lou turns to Verne, "Verne?"
"Well it's uh…it's obviously uh…some kind of bush." Verne says, looking up at the hedge.
"I would be a lot less afraid of it if I at least knew what it was called." Penny says.
"Let's call it 'Steve'!" Hammy grins, hopping up and down.
"Steve?" Verne asks.
"It's a pretty name." Hammy says, looking up at the hedge.
"Steve sounds nice." Heather says, putting in her two cents.
"Yeah, I'm a lot less afraid of Steve." Penny says.
"Oh great and powerful, Steve!" Ozzie says, getting onto his knees, "What do you want?"
"Oh brother." I roll my eyes and leaning against a tree.
"I-I don't think it can speak." Verne says, getting Ozzie to stand up.
"I heard that, young man!" A female voice comes from the other side of the hedge.
Everyone screams and Ozzie doubles over, playing dead.
"You get over here right now." The woman says.
"Okay…" Hammy says sadly, walking towards the hedge.
"Hammy, get back here." Verne says, pulling Hammy back to his side.
"I think it came from the other side of Steve." Verne says, "I mean the bush. I mean…geez!" He makes his hands into fists before letting out a sigh, "Look there's only one way we're going to find out what this is all about. I'm gonna go check it out."
Verne turns to the hedge and begins walking with his back to the others while they followed him but Hammy gets too close and makes Verne screamed, the others scream as well.
Verne turned to them, "Aye-yai-yai…"
When he turns back to the hedge he trips and falls into the hedge, letting out a gasp. The others began to panic.
"Steve ate Verne!" Ozzie cries.
"Alright Steve." Stella says, walking over to the hedge and turning her butt towards it, "You brought this on yourself."
"Stella don't!" Verne cries, "I'm not eaten! I just tripped! I'm gonna go over there…just….nobody move."
I heard rustling behind me while the others were occupied and turned to see a flash of something climb up the tree I was leaning against. I look back to the others before jumping onto the trunk of the tree and digging my claws into the bark, clawing my way up the tree. When I got about half way up I saw a racoon sitting on the branch with a blue golf bag over his shoulder. I blinked, what was he doing up here with that? I open my mouth to say something when Verne lets out a scream, shooting back through the hedge like a rocket.
"Verne's back." Hammy says.
"Verne!" The others call, running over to where Vern stood.
Ozzie started, "What was over there-"
"Freaky pink primates!" Verne yells, cutting him off, "They must have come while we were hibernating! And they…It was awful! They had wheels on their feet and they had these sticks and they were whacking me with these sticks like it was some sick game!"
The racoon hopped onto a different branch, closer to my little group of friends that I had come to know.
"You should have died!" Ozzie says, "You should have just laid down and died."
"Dad." Heather snaps, shaking her head.
"That's not the worst part!" Verne adds, "Half the forest is gone! The oak trees, the berry bushes…They're just…th-they're just…gone…"
"Jeepers…" Penny gasps.
"What'll we go for food?" Stella asks, looking at the hedge.
"I don't know…" Verne says before adding, "But here's what I do know. We will be fine as long as no one goes over Steve again." He points back at the hedge.
"It's called a hedge, my amphibious friend."
The voice startled me, almost making me topple off of the branch until I realised the voice came from the racoon on the branch down lower on the tree.
"It is the gateway to the good life." The racoon grins, gesturing behind him.
"Uh…I'm a reptile actually. But you know, it's a common mistake." Vern says gesturing around him before pointing at the racoon, "And uh…you are?"
"Oh! Where are my manners!" The racoon says, walking down a branch and it bends as he walks closer to the end and it curls towards the ground. He hops off and walks over to the other, "I'm RJ. Now please don't think I'm prying but I couldn't help overhearing and I think I can shed a little light on what this whole 'hedge' situation is about." RJ begins whipping things out of his golf bag as he looks for something and the others start picking it up, fascinated with the items.
"RJ…" I say to myself quietly as I lay down on the branch I was perched on, one arm under my chin while the other dangled off the side of the branch, my legs straddling the branch while my tail swung aimlessly behind me.
"You see…" RJ begins, whipping out a map from his bag and opening it, "What once was mere wilderness is now 524 acres of man-made, manicured, air conditioned paradise. Except for that itty-bitty speck." RJ points to the one point on the map that still had green on it, "You are here."
Everyone gasps, making my ears prick up.
"No, no, that's a good thing! You're hibernators, right?" RJ asks, "You gather up a bunch of food? Store it away for the winter?"
"Uh huh!" Hammy chirps pointing to the log, "We fill the log!"
"Hammy!" Verne snaps.
"Really?" RJ asks, running over to the log and looking inside, "This log? This cave-like log?"
"All the way to the top." Ozzie adds.
"Ozzie!" Verne snaps, glaring at him.
"Let me ask you…" RJ starts, pulling out a tape measure and passing one end to Hammy as he measures the log, "How long does it take, you know, to fill the log?"
"274 days." Heather says blandly.
"Oooh!" RJ says, poking his head out of the other side of the log, "Ever done it in a week?"
"That's impossible." Verne scoffs.
I giggle, kicking my legs back and forth as I watch them in amusement.
"Not if we work together!" RJ says, "You see, you've got the food gathering skills, I've got the knowhow and they have the food!" RJ gestures to the hedge.
"How much food?" Heather asks enthusiastically.
"Loads of food! Heaps of food!" RJ responds with an equal amount of enthusiasm, "Food out the wazoo!"
"Well, you know, whatever kind of food comes out of a wazoo, I-I really don't think we're interested in eating it." Verne says, gathering up RJ's things and shoving them back into RJ's arms.
I huff from my spot in the tree, "Killjoy…"
"I don't know, the guy's making a lot of sense to me. I think we should listen." Lou says.
"Yeah, I'm okay with wazoo food, there." Penny adds, walking up to Vern with pink sunglasses on.
"No you're not." Verne says, taking her sunglasses away, "The tail is tingling."
Immediately everyone hands back RJ's things to Vern.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on." RJ says, confused, holding up his hands, "The what is what?"
I roll my eyes, "This thing again."
"When something doesn't feet right my tail tingles." Verne says, passing RJ the remainder of his things., "And let me tell you something. Everything you've said so far is driving my tail crazy."
"Listen. Vern, right?" RJ asks, putting his things in his bag, "This isn't something you need to be afraid of."
"Well I am." Verne says, "And for good reason." Vern turns to show him a tire mark across his shell, "This is not a birth mark."
RJ pulls an electric toothbrush from his bag and cleans the mark off of Verne's shell.
"Ah, that's because you went over there without a guide, Verne." RJ says.
"Whatever. Thanks for stopping by. We're not interested." Verne says, ushering him away.
"Not interested in the most delicious food you have ever tasted?" RJ gapes at him. I could feel my mouth watering. I had missed the foods that Jason would give me. Berries and bark just couldn't compare to chips and cookies.
"No!" Verne snaps.
"Are you insane!?" I yell from my tree in shock, turning everyone's attention to me. I immediately recoil, "Oops."
"Foxy is right!" RJ says, gesturing to me, "How could you not-"
"Not interested." Verne says again, pointing in RJ's face.
"Okay. I get it. I understand." RJ says, baking up toward his bag, "This is something you're just not…" RJ pulls a bag of chips from his bag, "Open to." Then he opens the bag and there is a puff of orange dust from the bag, engulfing the clearing in the tasty scent of the chips.
"What is that!?" Hammy asks, his mouth watering.
"That my friends is a magical combination of corn flour, dehydrated cheese salads, BHA, BHT and good old MSG. A.k.a. The chip. Nacho cheese flavored." RJ says, passing out the chips.
I smirk, chin resting on my crossed arms in front of me.
RJ looks up at me, shaking the bag, "Want one, Foxy?"
"I'm good." I say, giggling slightly as I watch the others, "I think the others would like to have some them more than I do."
"Yeah, Verne! Those were good!" Stella says, licking her fingers.
"It's all good! RJ says, tossing more chips to the others, "And we're going over there! Tonight!"
I saw the very unimpressed look on Verne's face as he walks into the log and disappears. While the others are still stuffing their faces with chips I slide down from my branch and land on my feet on the grass.
RJ turns to me, his bag over his shoulder, "So what's your name, Foxy?"
"Rebekah." I say with a smug smile, "You seem to know quite a bit about what's on the other side of the hedge."
"Well yeah," RJ says with a shrug, "I get all of my food from them."
"The humans?" I ask in amusement, "You steal from them?"
"I guess so but…" RJ sends me an odd look, "I never said they were called humans."
I smirk, "Smart racoon. That's a good trait." I walk towards the pond and RJ follows behind me.
"You know about humans?" RJ asks.
"I don't just know about them. I lived with them." I say, looking back at him as I sit on a rock.
"Lived with them?" RJ asks.
I tilted my head up and revealed my collar with the golden colored tags which had been consealed under my fur.
"You're a pet?" RJ's eyes widen.
"Was. I was a pet. But yeah, free food every day. A warm bed." I say, "It's kinda like the human was my family…"
"What, you don't have a family?" RJ asks.
"Well I do now." I say, gesturing around me, "Vern, Stella, Heather, Ozzie, Lou, Penny, Quilla, Spike, Bucky, they're all my family now."
"Oh…" RJ says, a look in his eyes.
"What, do you not have a family or something?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm a lone wolf. I travel alone. No family." RJ says with a shrug.
"But you're not a wolf." I say, grabbing his attention.
"I know but it's easier to travel by myself. No one to hold me back." RJ says, "It's easier."
I slowly nod, "Yeah I guess I get what you're saying." RJ gives me a smug look making me roll my eyes, walking backwards towards the log, "Well I'm going to go back to the log. Got things to do before tonight, you know?"
"I could give you a hand?" RJ offers.
I swiftly turn back to him and give him a nervous smile, "Thanks but no thanks. I've got it."
"Let me know if you change your mind." RJ says with a grin.
"Yeah, sure." I say, turning back to the log and began walking with a huff, I don't know what kind of angle this guy was trying to pull but it wasn't going to work on me.
(A/N: Another update? Already? Why yes it is! Please review!)