Fireball: A Fox Tale

Part 8: The Break-In

Nora eyed the young couple standing in front of her. She had lost some of her sight due to the stroke, but she could still see a hazy outline of her daughter with Zach's arm around the girl's thin shoulders.

"So Fireball is here?" Nora asked.

Mandy and Zach nodded in response.

"Right now?"

They nodded again.

"And I'm not allowed to see him?"

They shook their heads.

"I'm awfully sorry, Nor," Zach said. "I tried to get him in here. Really I did. But Nancy wouldn't allow it."

"Who's Nancy?" Nora asked.

"You remember her, don't you, Mom? We went to school together. She's one of the nurses here."

Nora just shrugged.

"Anyway, like I told Zach, rules are rules. No pets allowed."

Nora sunk her upper body further into the yellowing pillows behind her and let a sigh escape from her frail body. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to spill out like cascading waterfalls down her cheeks. But she could never show weakness in front of Mandy and Zach. Not now. Not ever.

"He really misses you though," Zach said.

Nora nodded. A single tear managed to escape and found its way down her cheek and off of her chin. It created a small dark blue splotch on her sky blue dressing gown. "I miss him, too. It hasn't even been a full week yet, but I sure do miss him."

🐾🐾🐾

As Fireball paced around the shade-covered pavement, he discovered something of great importance. In order to best survive in the human world, one must actually be a human.

To his great disappointment, tooth and claw had failed him as far as escaping from his terrible confinement. All he had left now was his wit. After all, isn't that what foxes are known for?

Fireball watched as person after person passed by him and entered through those strange doors - doors that would lead him to his human. But not a soul seemed to pay him any mind. Could no one see his current predicament? Had they no sympathy? At this point, despite all of his yips and tugs at his constraint, he might as well had been invisible.

These humans clearly had somewhere to be. But so did he and it happened to be in the same place. Why should they get the privilege of entering while he did not? He needed a miracle.

That miracle came in the form of a young girl who seemed to have walked across the street just to see him. The girl held an empty box in her arms. Just a few minutes ago, it had been filled with an assortment of gadgets and gizmos to be sold at her family's garage sale, but they had quickly disappeared thanks to the generosity of a passing nurse.

But when she approached Fireball, she placed the box down by the pillar the fox currently found himself tied to. Now, with her hands freed, she caressed his fire-colored coat, letting her fingers run down his back and behind his black velvety ears. As wonderful as this sensation felt, Fireball was still on a mission. Once again, he tugged at his leash and ran in the direction towards the doors. The girl nodded and used her small furless paws to disengage him from the pillar. Were human pups always this intelligent?

With his newfound freedom, the fox tried to come up with a way to get inside the hospital without drawing too much attention to himself. For if that loud lady saw him, she would surely kick him out again. But what could he do?

After a few seconds, his eyes landed on the perfect key to his plan. Fireball walked over to the box the child had brought with her and after a proper sniff-down, decided it would suit his needs. His jaws sunk into one of the cardboard flaps as he tipped the box in his direction. After a few adjustments, the fox found himself fully enclosed in darkness. Now he had only to wait.

The girl giggled at the fox's antics, thinking this surely must be a game. At any moment, the fox would pop out of the box and then the process would start all over again. But to her great disappointment, that's not what happened at all.

Instead, as soon as a new patient stepped inside, he dashed behind her - box and all. His leash trailed behind him as he raced past the reception desk, leaving patients, doctors, and nurses in utter shock as they attempted to comprehend what exactly their eyes were telling them. How could a box just glide down the glossy white halls on its own?

"Why do you just stand there?" Nancy shrieked as she tossed her clipboard aside. It landed on the reception desk with a loud bang, disturbing some of the papers scattered all over it.

Everyone else turned their attention from the strange gliding box to look at the frazzled Nancy. They blinked at her, clearly still very much confused.

Exasperated, Nancy turned on her heels and followed Fireball down the halls. "Must I do everything myself?" she muttered. "They're just a bunch of idiots! I don't know how I even put up with them. Moving boxes? Hmph! I don't think so!"

To be continued...

A/N: Hi guys! As a reminder, if you liked Part 8, please don't forget to vote. And if you would like to leave a comment, I would love that as well. Seriously, I really enjoy talking to you all.

I'm so thankful for all of your support so far. It's just so amazing! I mean over 100 reads?! I didn't think that was going to happen! So seriously, thank you so much!

Also I just wanted to apologize again. I was hoping to update the story much earlier, but life has gotten pretty crazy lately, especially since school just started for me again this week. What kind of idiot signs up for 17 units with seven classes? This girl apparently! But it will be okay. I'll still try to work on this story whenever I can because I don't think I will be able to survive if I stop writing.

Can you guess where I got the inspiration for using the box as a way to get Fireball inside the hospital? Hint: Think Pixar! :)