Search For A New Home

Kelley Vernon

            “MOM! DAD! NO!”

            “Come on Flower it’s been a month since mom and dad died, aren’t you done crying yet.”

“Go away River, I don’t want to talk about it!”

Ever since mom and dad were killed by that hunter, Flower hasn’t been the same. She is depressed and never wants to play anymore. She has even stopped eating. I know flower and she loves to eat.  She says she’s fine, but then she locks herself in her room. I think it’s this den. I think we need to find a new home. One that doesn’t remind her of mom and dad so much.  

“Hey Flower, What do you think about moving?”

“What do you mean by that River?”

“Like, you know, to find a new home, a place that doesn’t constantly remind us of mom and dad.”

“That sounds like a good idea River, pack up your stuff and we will leave in the morning!”

“Great this is going to be wonderful!”

All night the brother and sister packed up their things for morning. The two didn’t get to bed until about Midnight. They had planned on leaving at about 6:30 A.M., but they both slept in until 10:00 A.M. When they woke up they ate breakfast, grabbed all of their things and left.

“Where were you thinking of going River?”

“I don’t know, I thought we could go to the big city, or we could stay in the woods, but it’s up to you.”

 “Well I think we should go to the city that sounds exciting!”

“Ok, that sounds great!”

The two head for the city to start a new life. As they go along they meet all kinds of new friends. Some told them good things about the city and others told them stories filled with fear and Doubt about the city. As River and Flower continued on they began to second guess going to the city. They were starting to think that maybe the city idea, was a bad one. But as they kept walking they thought of all the good stuff they might find in the big city, like new foods and smells.

 After all of their deep thought the two decided to find a place to settle down for the night. They found a small cave, that wasn’t too small or too big. The two talked for a while, telling each other what they were looking for in a new home. They also talked about what they might see in the city.  Then, after a while they both got tired and fell asleep.

In the morning when they woke, Flower went to get some water and River went to find some berries. When they both got back to the cave they had some breakfast.

 While Flower went back to the creek to fill up her water bottle once again, River started to play with his favorite Toy, an old phone that his parents found for him one day, it didn’t work but he didn’t care. It was a nice gift and that is all that mattered to him. When Flower got back they left the cave and continued on to the city.

As they were walking they started to see the tops of buildings, and began to smell all of the wonderful smells.

 But before they walked out of the woods, they decided to eat some lunch. Flower remembered that she had a loaf of bread in her bag and that’s what they decided to eat. After they ate they said their goodbyes to the forest, then stepped out of the trees.

They saw all sorts of different types of cars zooming by. They saw buildings higher than all the trees in the entire forest. People on bikes, people rushing around on foot, and even a few mopeds. The two of them were so excited that they had finally showed up to the city. They could now see why some called it bad and why others loved it.

The two of them had come straight into a park that was full of dogs. River was so happy that he began to run around like there was no tomorrow. He was running and meeting new friends and before he knew it flower was nowhere to be seen.  As he was playing, he had not realized that he had moved so far away from where they had come in.  

River was now very scared, he didn’t know what to do. River had never really been alone before. He started to whimper, then a little girl came along, picked him up, and took him home with her. The girl had thought that he was just so adorable. River was struggling for a while trying to get out of the girls arms, but it was no use, she was squeezing him like he was her new toy or something.   

            Flower had searched that whole park three times looking for River, but she failed to find him anywhere. She asked all of the animals in the park if they had seen him and they all said that they did but that they were not sure where he had gone off to. Well, all except one dog named daisy who saw him get picked up by a little girl and her grandmother. She said that those too always picked up strays. She also told Flower that they sold them too. This frightened   Flower, she may never see her little brother ever again.

The girl and her grandmother kept walking until they stopped at a place with a sign that said “POUND” on it. The two then walked inside and took River to the back room and threw him in the nastiest kennel. The kennel was full of blood, bones, and clumps of dog fur. River was not sure why they had put him in this nasty place, but what he did know is that he hated it. He thought that it smelt worse than the squirrel stew that his mother used to make, and that smelt like dirty socks.

A while later River heard the two talking about something.

“But Grandma I really like that one, do we have to sell him?”

“Oh I guess we can keep one.”

“Thank you Grandma, I love you!”

The little girl came back into the room and took River out of the horrible cage and took him to her room. She made him a little bed Out of pillows and this really soft blanket with hearts on it. They played in her room for a while, until the girls grandmother came in to put her to bed.

As the girl fell asleep River decided to conjure up an escape plan. The plan was that he was going to wait until she let him go outside to do his business, and then he was going to run, and he was going to take that soft blanket with him.

Meanwhile, in the park Flower got so tired from looking for River that she decided to find a nice spot under a tree to sleep for the night and continue the search for River in the morning.

It was now morning and time for River to carry out his plan, and to make sure that blanket went with him he carried it around everywhere. First, he ran to the door, then he had to whimper so that the girl would let him out. As soon as he was outside he ran like his life depended on it. He ran and he ran until he found the dog park that he was taken from. He searched all over the park until he spotted his sister underneath a huge pine tree. As soon as he saw her he bolted across the way and then pounced right on top of her. When she opened her eyes she was so happy that it was him that pounced on her and not anyone else.

“River, I never thought that I was ever going to see you again!”

“Me either Flower!”

“I am just so glad that you are ok.”

“Me too.”

That day the two decided that even though the city was way more interesting than the woods, that they should go back home. They both realized that it did not matter where there were, anywhere was home as long as they were together. So they decided that they would go back their old den and live there together forever.

So, Flower and I are now the happiest foxes in the entire forest and that grand adventure taught us that family is the only thing you need to be happy, not expensive things or new homes. We decided to keep the good that we already had, we didn’t need anything but each other.