Mira had never met a male fox before in her life. She had spent the first days of her life burrowed for the winter under the snow-covered forest with just her mother and her sisters. She had no brothers.
As curious as she was as to what a boy fox was like, she figured this was probably for the best. Shortly after she was born, the Porcupine Witch had visited her burrow and cast upon her this curse: "Whensoever you meet a new male of your kind, you will hurt him where it hurts the most."
Now Mira didn't know what this meant but by the way her mother gasped, she figured it couldn't be good.
Mira didn't want to hurt anyone, so she figured it best when she spent the winter curled underground, drinking milk from her mother with her sisters.
But as winter began to thaw into spring, and the sun began to warm the snow-covered forest, Mira began to get restless. She knew she had to venture out eventually.
So, one day she began to explore the forest. The snow was still covering the ground, but the air was warm, promising of the spring to come.
And then she stumbled upon a small clearing. And instantly she gasped. Within the clearing five young foxes, just as old as her were rolling in the snow playing. Two of them were female like her, but there was something different about the other three, and she figured they must be male.
And instantly she knew what the curse meant; instantly she knew exactly what she was going to do.
She tried to hold back, but the urge came over her, so strong, it couldn't be denied.
Before the other foxes knew what was going on, she scampered into the clearing, ran up near the tail of one of the males and sniffed him as customary for foxes. Before he could process what was going on, she leapt back and swiped her paws across right under his tail, claws extended in such a way where it would not do any long term damage, but it was sure to leave a nasty scratch.
The fox let out a yelp and dropped, folding to the forest floor, paws clutching at the scratch wound.
Instantly, Mira spotted a pinecone on the forest floor, and kicked it as hard as she could. It sailed at another of the males at top speed, passing right through his front legs, continuing through to his back legs where it suddenly met resistance with a loud crack. With a yelp, he dropped too.
Mira turned to the third male who was looking shocked, and instantly she pounced, throwing her full weight at him causing him to tumble onto his back. She would have landed on top of him, but just as her weight was starting to come down, she redirected all four of her paws so they all came crashing down right within his back legs. He yelped, and Mira leapt off him as he writhed on the forest floor in agony.
As Mira breathed, coming back to herself, she looked up at the two females, one staring at her like she was a complete freak, the other with a glint of amusement in her eyes.
Mira looked around at the scene, a knot growing in her stomach.
"I'm sorry, I didn't..."
And with that she fled.
"Wait!" The second female fox call after her, "Can't you wait until my brother gets here?"
But Mira didn't look back, she couldn't believe what she'd just done.
Unfortunately, she didn't see where she was going.
SLAM!
As she regained herself, her heart filled with dread as she realized it was another male fox about her age. A very attractive one at that. He smiled at her, like he thought she was very, very, pretty.
Mira gulped. The poor guy had no idea what he was in for.
So she did what she had to do, and booked it out of there as soon as she could.
"I'm sorry," she called back to the poor unfortunate handsome male, "I'm under a curse!"
Finally she pulled to a stop, thinking she had gone far enough so no one was following her. But then she heard pawsteps, scrambling through the brush after her.
And into view stepped the handsome fox she'd just met, he was hunched inward, like it was uncomfortable to move, but he seemed also determined not to loose her. She gulped, afraid of what she'd do next.
"Hey," the fox said, spotting her, "you said you were under a curse. What did you mean?"
Mira realized she didn't feel that same urge she had the first time she'd seen him, apparently it only worked on first time acquaintances.
Still, he was kind of cute, and the knowledge of what she'd just done made her blush. Oh how could this be her life?
"I'm so sorry," she cried, "An evil witch porcupine cursed me when I was born to hurt every male of my kind where it hurt the most." She started bawling, ashamed of what she'd done, and embarrassed at how ridiculous her story sounded.
But the male just sat down beside her. "No biggy." He said, then he winced, "actually, yes biggy, you are really talented at inflicting pain, ouch. But I forgive you."
Mira looked at him, "Really?"
"Yeah, sure," he replied, "It happens."
Mira looked at him, skeptical of the meaning behind "it happens", but then shrugged.
"Say," he said, "I was on my way to meet some friends to play, want to come with me?"
Mira's heart warmed, "definitely."
When they arrived, Mira realized the "friends" were the five foxes she'd met earlier, the second female was his sister. The three males were recovering from their ordeal and looking at the two females awkwardly.
With the support of her new friend, Mira explained what went on. The others forgave her and agreed to let her join them.
Every once in awhile, a new fox would join in, and if it was a male, Mira would have to do her thing (poor creatures), but they quickly learned to look past it.
By the end of the day, Mira had made plenty of new friends, and – Mira smiled to herself – perhaps a really cute future boyfriend.
When her mother asked her how her day had been, Mira told her all about her new friends. Mira left out all the awkward details, but Mira's mother cringed inwardly every time she mentioned a male, knowing the situation that implied.
But she was glad for her daughter. She'd feared her curse would hinder her making new friends, but she'd managed to make them anyway. As Mira dosed off to sleep with her sisters, her mother watched her, pride filling her heart.
