Tall Tails

Chapter 6: Stirring Echoes

Carlos Aguera hiked up the huge flight of steps towards what he'd been told was an abandoned fox temple. He was a 3rd year photography student at UCLA and he'd recently taken an interest in historic sites around the city. His dream job was to be a nature photographer for National Geographic, however he also found historical photography immensely interesting. Every time he took a picture of a historic place, he couldn't help but wonder what the lives of the people who lived there were like. However, what he really liked capturing the most, were melancholy or surreal moments or places and was hoping to get some shots of that nature from this location.

Carlos reached the top step revealing the temple ahead, just as the sun began to sink below the horizon, the golden light quickly beginning to change to deep orange as afternoon began to fade to dusk. The temple was certainly abandoned and looked like it had begun to collapse with one side of it beginning to sag. The walls surrounding the exterior of the temple were cracked and grass and weeds had begun to grow between them. A gentle breeze whipped through the area rustling the tall grass which had already begun to overtake the temple. Carlos pulled out his camera and had only snapped a few shots when he heard a voice behind him ask. "What are you doing?"

Carlos whirled around, surprised to hear another voice and was greeted by a young anthropomorphic fox boy with bright orange fur who looked no older than 12 or 13 wearing a simple linen button up shirt and brown pants. Carlos held up his camera thinking the fox must have followed him up here to ensure he left the temple alone. "I'm just taking some pictures for a school assignment, I'm not going to try to do anything, I promise." The fox tilted his head pictures? With that?" The fox asked, pointing to Carlos' camera. Carlos looked at the fox curiously for a moment, trying to determine whether what he'd just said was an insult or not but the fox's curious gaze made him decide it wasn't and Carlos relaxed. "What does that mean? What's wrong with my camera?" The fox leaned in to get a closer look. "I've just never seen a camera like that. Where do you put the plates?" Carlos was now extremely confused, "plates?" The fox nodded, seeming completely unphased by Carlos' confusion "Yeah, you know, the thing the picture appears on after you take it." Carlos laughed a little thinking the fox was joking but when the fox didn't laugh along Carlos stopped. "Wait, seriously? You realize the type of camera you're describing is ancient right?" The fox's eyes widened in surprise and his ears drooped in embarrassment.

"You know, if you're interested, I could show you how it works." Carlos offered, trying to ease the fox's embarrassment. The fox's face lit up and his ears switched from drooping to their usual upright position almost immediately. "Really? Do you really mean it?" Carlos nodded as he walked over to the stone steps to sit down, taking a moment to look over the city spread out below them. The fox sat down beside him, his eyes fixated on the camera. Carlos stuck out his hand. "What's your name? I'm Carlos." The fox sniffed Carlos' hand and then glanced up at him for a moment and his ears drooped again. "I...I don't really remember my name, most people just call me Fox." Carlos was surprised and a bit concerned for the boy. "What do you mean you can't remember,? Where are your parents?" Fox winced at the questions "I kind of live alone. I'm the only fox around here." Carlos shook his head. "There are tons of foxes in LA, what are you talking about?"

Fox looked taken aback at the question. "I mean I'm the only fox around the temple, don't worry about it though I'm fine, I promise, I've been on my own for a while now." Carlos started to say something and then sighed. "I'm not sure I believe you, but you don't look malnourished or anything." Fox smiled and his tail wagged a little, his eyes then fell back on Carlos' camera. Carlos couldn't help but chuckle at his curiosity. "This is a digital camera." Carlos flipped the camera over so Fox could see the screen. "It doesn't use plates, it records the photos internally and later I select which ones I want and print them out instantly." Carlos turned the screen on and cycled through the pictures causing Fox's jaw to drop in astonishment. "You can see them? Just like that? No waiting?" Carlos nodded, chuckling again. "That's right, want me to take your picture?" Fox's face lit up and he nodded vigorously. "Yes! Please!" Fox then sat very still and relaxed his face. Carlos pointed the camera at him and adjusted his lens bringing Fox into focus. He stopped for a moment and raising his eyebrow he looked over the camera at Fox, "you can smile you know." Fox's ears went back and he fidgeted "I can't smile that long." Carlos shook his head realizing for whatever reason Fox still thought his camera worked like an early camera which took several minutes to produce an image. "Just smile as long as you can, and relax." Fox nodded and adjusted his pose and Carlos brought him into focus and snapped the picture.