Fireball: A Fox Tale

Part 7: The Hospital

"Come on, buddy. You've got to eat something," Zach said as he placed a bowl of food in front of the stubborn fox.

While his mother-in-law found herself stuck at the hospital, Zach found himself on petsitting duty. Mandy had decided to stay with her mom as much as possible, but she made an effort to come back every night. Before the two succumbed to sleep, his beautiful wife made sure to update him on Nora's progress. So far, the poor woman seemed to be on the mend, but the doctors had informed Mandy that her mother had just suffered a massive stroke and would need to stay at the hospital for a while longer. The younger woman had found that hard to take in.

But Fireball seemed to have been most impacted by this unfortunate situation. Since Nora's departure, the fox had lost all of his youthful energy. Zach missed the Fireball he had met on the day he and Mandy had arrived here. What happened to the fox who ran circles around him and Mandy in an attempt to capture their attention? What happened to the fox who had practically begged for pets and scratches? What happened to the fox who would do just about anything for a treat? The fox at Zach's feet was nothing like the one he had met only a few days ago.

Fireball barely moved from his fleece bed by the hearth. Zach had originally left the fox's food in the kitchen, hoping it would get him off his paws, but that didn't help. Nothing did. Occasionally the fox would take a single step out of his bed to lap up some water or eat a few bites of food Zach had placed by him, but his normally ravenous appetite had disappeared.

However, as soon as Mandy would walk through the front door, Fireball's eyes would light up with a glimmer of hope as he rushes to greet her. But as soon as he realizes Nora isn't with her, he would sulk back to his favorite spot.

Exasperated, Zach slumped on the couch and stretched out his legs, letting his feet rest on the coffee table in front of him. He looked around for the remote and found it stuck between two of the couch's cushions. Nora didn't own much, but she did have a flat screen TV plastered on the wall just above the fireplace. He began to flip through the channels, but when he peered down below the screen, he caught Fireball staring at him with his sad amber eyes.

"What do you want from me, Fireball?" Zach asked. He switched off the TV and focused all of his attention on the fox. "Huh? You won't do anything! You've hardly let any food or water get into your system. You won't run around or play with your toys. You don't even respond when I try to pet you or scratch behind your ears." He sighed and shook his head. "Look, I'm sorry I'm not my mother-in-law, ok? Really, I am. I know I don't even remotely look like her. But Mandy tells me she is recovering nicely and will hopefully be back soon."

Fireball huffed and let his head droop back onto his bed.

"What if..." Zach began. "What if I took you to go see her? To see Nora?"

The fox's triangular ears pricked up at the sound of his human's name. He lifted his head again and gazed at Zach.

"Alright then. I'll go get my shoes."

🐾🐾🐾

"You haven't been in a car too often, huh?" Zach asked with a laugh as he stepped out into the hospital parking lot.

Fireball paced around on the dark brown leather passenger seat as he continued to process these new smells wafting into his coal-black nose. Throughout the twenty minute drive, the fox had dug his claws into the seat's fabric and occasionally reminded Zach of his discomfort through a series of whimpers.

"We're here now, buddy! Come on out!"

As soon as Zach opened up the passenger door, Fireball hopped out onto the asphalt. He sniffed at the material beneath his paws. It didn't smell like dirt. It didn't feel like dirt. It sort of had the color of dirt. What was this stuff?

Meanwhile, Zach attached a leash onto Fireball's leather black collar. After giving a slight tug to make sure it was secure, he led the fox through the parking lot and onto the pavement.

But as soon as the duo reached the automatic sliding glass doors, a nurse approached them and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, sir," she said. "We don't allow animals in here. Especially not that ..." The nurse nodded her head towards Fireball. "...thing."

Zach tried to keep his cool. "You mean a fox, right? Surely you're not so ignorant that you wouldn't know a fox when you see one."

"Seriously? I'm not stupid! I may be blonde, but that doesn't make me a fool. I'm a nurse, not some drunk bimbo on the street." She glared at Zach. "But you'll have to excuse me if I don't jump for joy at the sight of one of those killing machines."

With a harrumph, she tossed her long golden locks behind her shoulder and stormed back into the hospital. The clicks of her heels against the white tile floor faded away as the doors closed behind her.

"Well, that was awkward," Zach said as he looked down at Fireball.

The fox peered up at him and tugged on the leash, hoping to get inside the building. Why weren't they moving?

"Sorry, bud," Zach said as he ran his fingers through his coarse oily hair.

At that moment, Mandy ran outside and embraced her husband.

"I got your text. I'm so glad you're here! But..." She looked down at Fireball. "He really shouldn't come inside."

"I've already been informed," Zach said with a huff.

Mandy nodded. "I heard about your little encounter with Nancy."

Zach raised an eyebrow and with the leash still clasped in his hands, crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You're on a first name basis with the nurse?"

Mandy shrugged. "We were childhood friends. We always talked about how we wanted to be veterinarians when we grow up, but, well ... you know how that turned out."

"So, she's an animal lover, huh? It sure didn't seem like it."

Mandy sighed. "Don't judge her too harshly. Of course she's still an animal lover, but a wild fox had killed all of her chickens the other day, so you can imagine how she would feel after seeing Fireball. Besides, rules are rules. She had only been doing her job." She paused for a few moments and took a deep breath. "Look, let's just go inside. You can tie him up to that pillar over there."

🐾🐾🐾

Fireball felt betrayed. How dare that blasted human leave him behind!

He walked towards the building, but just as the glass doors began to acknowledge his presence, he felt his collar digging into his throat. No, just a few more steps more! But no matter how hard or how many times he tried, it was all to no avail. This stretchy thing would not stretch enough.

He needed an escape plan.

To be continued...

A/N: Hi guys! If you enjoyed Part 7 of Fireball's story, please don't forget to vote! And if you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave them here. I'd really love to hear what you guys think!

I felt like Fireball didn't make much of an appearance in the last part, so I really wanted to make sure he had more of a presence in this one. Next week I'll be on vacation (at Disneyland and Universal Studios, woohoo!) so I really won't have much time to write. But hopefully I'll finish the next part soon.

What do you think Fireball is going to do next?

Will he be able to get into the hospital and find Nora?