The phone in my classroom rang about 4 o'clock. It was Heidi calling me from a colleague's room on the lower level of the building. Like my classroom, it faces the construction of the new elementary school, but it also looks out on a sheltered well of a space, what used to be a makeshift amphitheater for kids to play in. These days, with the construction, the area is abandoned and fortified with hay bales to assist the drainage that comes from adjoining a construction site.
"There's a fox right outside Starr's window!" Heidi reported.
"Is it okay? Should you call animal control?" I asked in some alarm.
"It seems fine," Heidi told me, "it's just hanging out in the sun and scratching its ears."
"I'll be down in a minute," I said, hanging up the phone.
And when I got down there, it was just as Heidi had said. A young fox with a dusty ginger coat and black stockings was curled up in a sunny patch of soft dirt and long grass growing from the cracked concrete. It was mesmerizing to be so close to such a wild thing, and we watched it for at least 15 minutes, speculating about its diet and habits.
I could have stayed all afternoon, but I had work to do in my own room. I do confess, though, that I went immediately to the window and craned my neck in futility for one last glimpse of the fox.
"There's a fox right outside Starr's window!" Heidi reported.
"Is it okay? Should you call animal control?" I asked in some alarm.
"It seems fine," Heidi told me, "it's just hanging out in the sun and scratching its ears."
"I'll be down in a minute," I said, hanging up the phone.
And when I got down there, it was just as Heidi had said. A young fox with a dusty ginger coat and black stockings was curled up in a sunny patch of soft dirt and long grass growing from the cracked concrete. It was mesmerizing to be so close to such a wild thing, and we watched it for at least 15 minutes, speculating about its diet and habits.
I could have stayed all afternoon, but I had work to do in my own room. I do confess, though, that I went immediately to the window and craned my neck in futility for one last glimpse of the fox.
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