The fox-hand.
- joneworlds@mailbox.org
When we got home from the funeral, Mother went
into the kitchen to boil potatoes. I went upstairs
to wash my shirt. I went to turn on the water,
when I noticed to my shock that my hands had
changed. My left hand had become a fox's head, and
my right hand had turned to glass.
Scared, I began to hit the fox-hand with the
glass-hand. The fox's head spoke to me.
"Stop. Why do you attack me?"
"It is because I am frightened by the change."
"And your other hand is of glass, why did you not
think to strike that one with my body?"
"Because you are a beast, and liable to hurt me."
"I am your left hand. Go downstairs, and see what
has happened."
When I came down into the kitchen, I saw that
mother had chopped herself into a dozen small
pieces. I began to weep. The fox-hand took pity on
me.
"Gather all the pieces into the pail. Take them
into the forest, and bring a shovel and three
pieces of cloth. And I will tell you what to do."
I did as I was instructed. In a thicket of spruce
trees, the fox-hand spoke again.
"Bury the neck and the right foot here under this
tree. Take the other pieces back to the meadow,
and arrange them evenly in three rows. Place a
piece of cloth at the front of each row. Then
return here, and wait for me." My hands became
natural again, and again I did as I was
instructed.
When my tasks were complete, I returned to the
spruce. After three minutes, the fox appeared
before me as a full and natural fox, and spoke to
me once again.
"Do you wish to see Mother?"
"Yes, I would."
"See, for from her neck and foot has grown a
computer. Can you read what it prints?"
The screen blinked, "All, that not is confronts
whether against it or before it - it must be of
those types, seeing will only this."
I frowned. "I do not understand the meaning."
"Go now to the meadow, and find Mother there."
I once more did as I was instructed. The pieces I
had laid there were gone, and in their place were
twenty-seven daffodil blooms. From the center of
each bloom dangled a small wire, and upon the end
of each wire was a glittery letter. I wrote them
all down in my book.
And to this day, I have been re-arranging the
letters on that grid, over and over, again and
again. Striving to see a symbol, a message. But I
cannot find it, and it has not been revealed to
me.
The fox has not returned.