Walter

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

The sun had moved enough in the sky for Walter to make out the direction it was travelling in. Michael had once told him that if he should ever lose his way, to pay attention to the sun's path.

He'd learned in science class how the sun travelled across the sky and that by knowing what direction it went in, in correlation to yourself, you could figure out what direction you were facing and this would help you figure out what direction to take.

He watched as the pups played and he watched the mama fox as she watched him. But his attention was focused on the shadows that were being cast on the ground.

When he'd entered the field, the shadows had stretched the other way and had eventually stopped moving altogether as the sun sat above him. As the sun travelled across the sky, the shadows cast by the corn stalks had slowly grown longer in one direction.

"I'll need to go left," he told himself.

Getting up, he slowly made his way past the pups and the mama fox. He continued walking between the stalks in the hope that he would exit the field sooner than later.

What had felt like thirty minutes had passed when he finally exited the cornfield. He noticed that he was now farther from the barn than he thought he would be, but he was relieved that he could at least see it now.

The excited sounds of chickens clucking could be heard coming from the barn's direction. Seconds later the sound of a shotgun was heard. Walter watched as a small animal ran out of the barn, quickly followed by the farmer who took a shot at it as it ran away.

"Dag nabbin' fox!" the farmer yelled. "I'm gonna sic the dogs on ya."

As he watched the farmer run up to the house, he caught sight of the fox running in his direction. Clenched tightly in its jaw was a chicken, its head dangling loosely out the side of its mouth.

Oh no, he thought. If he's running in my direction, then the dogs will run this way and chase me too.

He turned and started to run as fast as he could. It took but a few seconds for the fox to catch up to him. It ran past him and stopped some fifty feet ahead. It looked at him briefly as if saying 'follow me' and promptly disappeared into the field.

As he neared the spot the fox had disappeared into, he could hear the dogs barking wildly as they came running after them.

"Oh geez, Mr. Fox. I think you might have a good idea by hiding in the corn," he said.

The idea of venturing back into the corn field wasn't a pleasant one, yet waiting to come across a couple of mad barking dogs seemed even less pleasant.

As he went into the field, he hoped that he was at least heading in a direction that was safer then what was behind him.

Making his way down the rows, he occasionally caught glimpses of the fox ahead of him. It would appear and then disappeared, almost as if it was making sure that he kept up with it as they made their way through this great big sea of corn.

He could hear the dogs barking behind them, "Oh I hope I get out of here soon."

As if he had been heard, the fox appeared in front of him, chicken still in mouth. A few of its feathers were missing from one side, likely the result of hitting one of the stalks. The fox looked at Walter for a moment and then headed off towards his left. Without hesitation he followed.

The dogs were in the corn field now, he could hear them barking and tumbling into the corn. He must have travelled a hundred feet or so when he finally exited the corn field for the second time. Trees lined up ahead of him, following the field's path. Ahead was a small opening that led up a slight hill into a blue sky.

The fox looked at him once more and then began to run alongside the rows of corn.

"I'm sorry Mr. Fox, but I can't follow you anymore. They are chasing you after all," he said as the fox continued on its path away from him.

If he could run up that hill and hide somewhere, he could avoid the dogs altogether.

The sounds of crashing stalks and barking motivated him to move. He ran past the trees and started up the little hill.

It was steeper than he'd expected and just as he was about to crest the hill, he looked back quickly to make sure the dogs hadn't exited yet before he had a chance to hide. The last thing he wanted was to have them exit and mistake him for the fox and chase him.

Hiding from the dogs became the least of his worries when he realized he could no longer feel the ground beneath his feet.