Chap #4 Abandoned | Jackie L. Mustoe | Cots World Tales
It was still a few miles back to her den and normally she would have done the journey in a couple of hours, but now, as the weather was so atrocious, it would take a lot longer.
It was now half past eight, and she was very tired and cold. She had had to go through some very deep snowdrifts, some had covered her office completely, and she had found herself having to burrow out of them.
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‘Oh dear, what a silly lady I have been. If only we hadn’t caught that chicken and made the farmer angry I would have been home by now, nice and warm and dry in my den.
‘It’s no good, I’m going to have to find somewhere where I can have a sit-down and rest awhile.”
She had just found herself a nice little place out of the bitter wind when she saw some car lights in the distance. They were coming along the road in her direction. She lay completely flat and watched intently as she knew that lights meant humans and mostly all of the humans she had come across had wanted to do her harm. She would lay there until the lights had gone, but they seemed to be slowing down. She tried to lie She went right up to it and put her nose to the ground and said in a soft voice, ‘Is there anyone in there?’
She heard a couple of little sobs and then another couple of squeaks. Mrs. Fox knew that there was something not quite right. She picked up the sack in her strong jaws and took it back to the little shelter she had found earlier. She set it down gently on the snow and began to bite at the knotted string. All the time she was doing this, the sobs became louder and louder.
After some time, she managed to get the string off and open up the sack. To her astonishment, two black and white balls of fluff huddled up together, and then two pairs of frightened eyes full of tears turned and looked at her. ‘Oh, you poor dears, what on earth has happened to you?’
She now realized that the humans she had seen throwing this sack out of the car had intentionally abandoned these two darling collie puppies. She also knew that they would have surely died if she had not found them. Mrs. Fox now had to gather all of her strength and get these two forlorn little creatures back to her den as quickly as possible.
‘Now then, you two, you mustn’t worry anymore, I’m going to take you back to my den where you can have something nice and warm to drink and a good sleep by a nice warm fire.’
The two puppies looked at Mrs. Fox and thought she was a kind lady. Their sobs were now beginning to subside.
‘Now you must hold on tight as I am going to have to carry you home in this sack and we’ve got a long way to go.’ She gave them both a warm smile as she could see that they were both very frightened indeed.
The snow was coming down very thickly, the wind was blowing and howling through the trees, and it seemed angry with everyone and everything in its path. The sky was pitch dark and it was certainly not a night to be out in, let alone with two very small young puppies.
Well, the sooner we start, the sooner we will be home, she thought to herself, picking up the sack in her strong jaws, turning into the biting East wind once more, her battle now was against winter’s most gruesome. The two puppies tumbled backward and fell to the bottom, upside down. One puppy started to cry but his brother put his front paw around him and snuggled up close.
‘Don’t cry, little one, I’m sure it’s going to be all right. Don’t you think that this lady seems kind?’ They had never seen a fox before.
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‘Oh yes,’ replied his little brother between sobs, ‘but what if she isn’t?’
The elder of the two didn’t want to think that far ahead so he just snuggled up even closer and said with as much confidence as he could muster, ‘Oh, she will be, now try and get some sleep.’
His little brother closed his eyes. He looked at him tenderly. Even though he was only a few minutes older, he had always been a bit bigger and more confident. He had bossed his little brother around in a nice way and took control of situations right from the start. Their mother hadn’t scolded him, as he had done it so lovingly, she realized that all he wanted to do was protect his little brother.
He knew that their mother was no longer around, he missed her very much. The responsibility frightened him a little but he was aware that he must now take complete charge. He determined that nothing or no one would ever come between him and his little brother. He now felt utterly exhausted and couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer and drifted off to sleep.
Mrs. Fox found the going extremely tough, but the more she thought of those two puppies, the more determined she became. She tried not to think of the driving snow, the gale-force wind that she was battling against, as she struggled on. Her jaws were now beginning to ache with the weight of the sack. She couldn’t see anything in front of her with the snow falling so thickly but her sharp instinct was now telling her that she was not far away from her home. Only one more field to cross, one more wall to climb over then she would be inside her wood.
This spurred her on. She couldn’t wait to get home, her jaws, her neck, and back were aching terribly, she was wet through and her paws were cold. She was pleased she had got some wood in for her fire before she had gone to her friend’s house, now all she had to do was light it.
She could now see the wall. She jumped on top of it, dragged the sack up and over then dropped it on the other side. She jumped down beside it, gathering it back up in her aching jaws, she was just yards now away from her front door. She was worn out, the night’s activities had left her near broken. She could have so easily just laid down in the cold snow and gone to sleep. She could carry the sack no longer. She lay it on the ground and dragged it. The puppies had woken up.
They were disorientated, not quite knowing where they were and now what was this strange bumping on the ground? This frightened them. The bumping stopped and they heard a door being opened, then they felt they were on the move again, then the door closed. They had, at last, arrived at the home of Mrs. Fox.