The Fox of Richmond Park

by Kate Dreyer

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me straight away?’ Sophie whispered. ‘We could have handled it together.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Sophie. Please listen—’

  Sophie snorted and turned away, hiding her own onslaught of tears. Blake and Bailey were a few leaps away now, unsure whether to stay or leave them to it. ‘Your words don’t mean scat to me anymore, Jake.’

  Vince had let her down more times than she could count. Not showing up when they’d arranged to meet. Forgetting to catch her any rats when it was his turn to hunt. But he’d never lied to her. Not once.

  Jake moved towards her. ‘Sophie…’

  Sophie spun to face him and pushed her snout close to his, almost touching. Lowering her voice, she growled, ‘Alice and Vince are both dead. My friends. Both dead because of you.’

  Edward’s voice rumbled over them. ‘If you two don’t mind, I’d quite like to get some sleep.’

  Sophie quickly turned and bared her teeth at Edward. Looking pleased with himself, Edward took a step towards her, stamping his hoof in the dirt. Her heart pounded in her ears. Retreat, her instincts screamed at her, but she took a deep breath and held her ground. If Vince were here, he’d tell Edward exactly what he thought of him. He was never scared of the deer. Sadness and anger exploded in her chest. Edward had taken Vince away from her. He’d taken Alice away from her. Now he was taking Jake away from her. She couldn’t let Edward have the last word.

  She walked right up to him, close enough to receive a hoof to the head, if Edward decided on it.

  ‘Sophie, stop! What are you doing?’ Jake said.

  ‘Be careful!’ Bailey shouted.

  She ignored them. ‘You…’ she began, her legs trembling beneath her, ‘…are a lying, manipulative, twig-headed, dung-eating, human-pet. And you can avoid my questions all you like, but the residents of this park will soon learn the truth about you.’ She turned to leave and the others quickly followed.

  ‘What exactly do you think you’re going to do, fox?’ Edward boomed after them. ‘You better watch your backs.’ Edward snorted as he settled down on the grass then curled his neck around to rest his head on his flank. Sophie spun her head and watched him close his eyes, before yelling as loud as she could.

  ‘And your antlers look like scat.’

  *

  The journey towards Hampstead Heath was uneventful. The roads were almost empty, and Arthur, with his new-found bravery, curled up only a few times. They passed through a smaller grassy area, skirting around a steep hill, taking their time to enjoy the relative silence. After the grass ended, houses spread in every direction. Penelope landed briefly to tell them that it was nothing but houses from there to the heath. Their route would be twisty and indirect, but following the paths was easier and safer than trying to leap fences and avoid the humans’ dogs.

  Vince had joined Laurie, Rita and Arthur, and they walked as a foursome at Arthur’s pace. The tiny hedgehog could be surprisingly speedy when he wanted to be, although he did need fairly frequent rests. Vince was glad of the breaks, though, as his injuries were still bothering him.

  As they walked, Arthur was full of questions for Vince. How far had he come? What was the scariest thing that had happened to him? Had he eaten any good worms? Rita grew tired of hopping and went back to perching on the back of Laurie’s neck. As Vince dutifully responded to Arthur’s endless inquisition, Laurie hurried ahead, eager to speak to Rita alone.

  ‘Can I ask you something?’ Laurie said.

  ‘Sure,’ Rita replied over Laurie’s shoulder.

  ‘If you had to choose between your best friend, who you’d known your whole life, and someone who you might want to be your mate, but you weren’t really sure, which would you choose?’

  ‘I think you’re asking the wrong bird. I’ve never had either.’ Rita laughed. ‘What would Socks want you to do?’

  ‘Socks? Oh, I don’t know. He’s always joking about me finding a mate and leaving him, but I never in a thousand seasons thought I would.’

  ‘So you do want Vince to be your mate?’ Rita jumped down from Laurie’s back to peck a beetle from the pavement, then quickly flapped back up and grasped Laurie’s fur in her talons again.

  ‘Maybe. I mean, he’s nice…’

  ‘Stubborn, though. And grumpy,’ Rita said. Her voice was serious but Laurie could tell she was smiling. ‘Really quite grumpy, to be honest.’

  Laurie laughed. ‘That’s true. But I’ve been called worse in my time.’

  ‘I think you know what you want to do, Laurie. You just want me to give you permission. Which is odd, because I didn’t have you down as a fox who needed permission from anyone to do anything.’

  Rita was right, of course. Ajadi’s speech had had an impact on Laurie too. It was a battle between her head and her heart, but when she thought about spending the rest of her nights with Vince, she filled with warmth. She just wanted someone to tell her that leaving Socks behind was okay. That Socks would be fine without her. Not that it would help her feel any less guilty, or upset.

  ‘I’d miss him so much, though,’ Laurie said. ‘There’s not been a day since we met that I haven’t spoken to him. He’s the main reason I wanted to help Vince.’

  ‘But Vince was the reason you helped me, right?’

  Rita was right again. Laurie nodded.

  ‘I don’t think any of us really knows how you feel,’ Rita said. ‘I had no friends in Richmond Park, Arthur was all alone and Vince had lost everything… But you know what? You can always go back. It’s a long way, but why not stay with Vince for a while and see how you feel? You’ve got nothing to lose. And if you decide to stay, we can send messages back to Socks. Go and visit him. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.’

  ‘Hmm, I suppose that could work. It doesn’t seem fair, though. I don’t want Vince to get his hopes up.’

  ‘Laurie, I know almost nothing about males, and even less about foxes…’ Rita paused. ‘But I think it’s probably already too late for that.’

  Laurie let out a snort as she tried to hold in her laugher, worried that Vince might hear and interrupt. After composing herself, she moved the subject away from her own dilemma. ‘What about you, Rita? Are you excited about Hampstead Heath? Do you think it’s the one?’

  ‘I hope so. I’m excited for Vince. I just want him to be happy.’

  ‘Of course, but what about you? There might be some magpies there. Aren’t you looking forward to meeting new birds?’

  ‘Not really,’ Rita said.

  ‘Oh, come on, not even a nice male? One who likes singing as much as you…’ Laurie wriggled her backside to rouse Rita into a response. It didn’t work.

  ‘No,’ Rita said.

  ‘Oh.’ Laurie had never seen or heard Rita on any setting other than ‘absurdly cheerful’. She’d obviously hit a nerve. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude…’

  ‘It’s okay. I’m just not used to talking about myself, I suppose,’ Rita said. ‘No one’s ever asked about me before. Or cared.’

  ‘Until I met you and Vince, no one ever cared about me either. Except Socks. The only reason I brought it up is because I thought magpies always lived in pairs. Mated for life, you know?’

  ‘Some do, some don’t. There are sometimes flocks of us who don’t pair up. If there’s not enough trees to build nests.’

  ‘There weren’t enough trees in Richmond Park?’

  ‘I didn’t say that. You know what? I don’t really want to talk about me at all. I’m going to fly up with Penelope.’

  Before Laurie could respond, Rita unfurled her talons and disappeared from Laurie’s back. She flapped overhead, climbing higher until she was a mere speck in the sky. Laurie frowned. She’d clearly said something wrong, but what?

  *

  ‘Just over this bridge,’ Penelope called from the air.

  Laurie’s back was once again Rita’s resting place, their previous truncated conversation apparently forgotten, as Laurie ambled beside Vince and Art
hur. It had been a slow journey, but a mercifully quiet one, with most of the local animals keeping their distance from the strange group.

  Vince’s heart was pounding. This could be the one. His grandparents’ park.

  They crossed the final road – Arthur announcing his complete lack of curling up, followed by cheers from everyone else – and made their way onto the bridge that Penelope was now perched on the edge of.

  Vince had assumed the bridge spanned a river, but a glance through the handrails on either side told him different. Train tracks.

  He froze, heart racing – this time with fear. He was far above the rails. Even if a train came by, he’d be perfectly safe. Despite repeating the fact over in his mind, it didn’t seem to slow the hammering in his chest. ‘You didn’t say there were train tracks,’ he said to nobody in particular.

  ‘Just look straight ahead. Focus on the trees,’ Rita said.

  Vince did as he was told and locked his eyes on the trees at the end of the bridge. His legs moved slowly towards them, his brain focusing on the park beyond. The rest of them followed, whispering encouragement. He was horribly embarrassed, but remembering how Laurie had been scared of Arthur made him feel a bit better.

  The clank of metal on metal turned his ears. His stomach lurched at the faraway humming of an engine. The wounds on his neck threatened to explode, such was the pressure of the blood surging through his veins, powered by his relentless pounding heart. ‘No, no, no…’

  ‘It’s okay, it can’t hurt you,’ Rita said. ‘It’s all the way down there, and we’re all the way up here.’

  Vince’s legs moved him into reverse and he stared wide-eyed through the handrails as the train trundled closer. Pure fear flushed away his embarrassment and he staggered backwards until he was clear of the bridge, then collapsed onto his belly. His friends approached, Laurie’s face bearing a sympathetic – if somewhat exasperated – smile.

  ‘After everything that’s happened, you’re scared to walk over a bridge?’ Laurie said.

  Behind them, the train sailed past with a hum, then faded again as the tracks led it away to its unknown destination.

  Vince looked at Penelope. ‘Is there another way in?’

  ‘Mother Nature, pull yourself together, Vince!’ Laurie grabbed the scruff of his neck between her jaws and dragged him to his feet. He cried out, more in protest than actual pain, and wrenched himself from her grip.

  ‘Okay, okay, I get it! I’m pathetic!’ he barked.

  ‘No one said you were pathetic.’ Rita shot Laurie a look, who responded with a ‘who, me?’ expression.

  ‘Do you think you can go across now? The train’s gone. We’ll help you,’ Rita said.

  ‘Maybe. I think so. Just… don’t rush me, okay?’ Vince replied.

  Rita and Penelope flew to the other side of the bridge and perched on the handrail. Arthur began to scuttle across. ‘Come on, Vince! You can do it!’

  ‘I’ll be right behind you, okay?’ Laurie whispered.

  Vince’s fear was fading, but the embarrassment was creeping back in.

  ‘Can… Can you go across first?’ Vince said to Laurie.

  ‘Nope. Off you go.’ She nodded towards the others.

  Vince took a deep breath and began to walk. A car engine roared some way away and he stopped, front paw poised in the air. His ears twitched and the hair on his back bristled. Something nudged his back leg. He turned and Laurie’s green eyes flashed at him.

  ‘Go on! You’re doing great!’ She smiled.

  He carried on, the others cheering with every step, like new parents encouraging a cub to pounce or howl for the first time.

  A siren blared behind him. Adrenaline filled his body and he went to turn, but Laurie grabbed his tail between her teeth. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ she said, her mouth full of fur. She didn’t let go, even when he started to walk again. Vince wasn’t sure which was worse, feeling like a new-born cub, or like a dog on a lead.

  Holding his breath, he focused his gaze on the ground in front of him. Paw by paw, he made his way across, Laurie tugging at his tail whenever he paused for longer than a blink.

  Finally, he reached the other side and exhaled. Rita, Arthur and Penelope cheered. Laurie released him. ‘Thank me later, poodle,’ she winked. If it had been anyone else he would have taken a swipe at her.

  ‘Next time, you’ll be riding the train!’ Rita said.

  Vince shivered at the thought. ‘Let’s just get to the park. I need a lie down.’

  Rita sang as the group headed to the entrance, where the trees parted for the path. ‘A home for Vince across the tracks, trees tall and grasslands wide, a magpie flutters overhead, a vixen by his side.’

  Laurie turned away, trying to conceal a smile.

  ‘Shh!’ Vince hissed at Rita, then after a moment added, ‘At least that one rhymed.’

  *

  Vince looked towards Penelope. ‘Is this it? Are we here?’

  ‘Yup. Hampstead Heath,’ she said. ‘I don’t know my way around, mind you, but you’ll soon get your bearings. Listen, I really should be getting back. I’m not usually nocturnal, you know.’

  The animals thanked her, and Arthur said a tearful goodbye, promising to send her a message soon. Penelope bent her long legs and jumped into the air, before beating her great wings and soaring away.

  Vince turned back to the path in front of him, which split out three ways, with a building nestled in the left-most fork. He began to walk along the middle path, which looked like it would lead into the middle of the park, rather than along the edges like the two others.

  ‘Are you coming, you lot?’ he shouted over his shoulder.

  ‘Yes!’ Rita flapped over to him.

  ‘How does it feel?’ Laurie asked as she joined him, Arthur trotting alongside.

  ‘Good, I think. Yes. Definitely good.’ Vince twisted his head back and forth, taking in everything.

  As the path curved around the building, an enormous expanse of grass opened out in front of them. Thickets of plump, green trees huddled together in the distance, where a thin path ran. Beyond that, more grass, more trees and who knew what else? Penelope said there were ponds, but at that moment, he didn’t even care. It was what he couldn’t see that filled him with happiness. No neatly clipped hedges. No perfectly symmetrical flower beds. No roads. No railings. Just wide, open space.

  ‘Want to run?’ Laurie said.

  ‘More than anything,’ Vince replied.

  ‘Go on, then.’ She nudged him with her snout and bared her teeth in a grin.

  Vince returned her smile, trying to forget that she would soon be heading back to her home on the noisy streets.

  ‘Not without you.’ He nudged her back, then took off across the grass, as fast as his aching body would allow. She chased him, caught up and bounded beside him, and together they raced through the park that – as the moments went by – felt more and more like his home.

  As they ran, Vince’s worries dissipated into the air, and the pain of his injuries wasn’t far behind. He pounced, pinning Laurie to the ground and pressing his snout gently into her neck. She laughed as she rolled from under him, then leapt up and did the same to him, being extra careful to avoid his sore spots. The last fox he’d tussled with had been Sophie, a season ago, but it felt like longer. It felt like for ever. This was not just a different park but a different world. He shivered as the thick grass tickled his back and the cold night breeze whipped at his fur, but inside he was warm. He was happy. This was the place. And this was the vixen.

  ‘What are you thinking about?’ Laurie said.

  ‘What do you think?’ he said, pushing her off with his hind feet. She landed on all fours and crouched low, tail wagging.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know… Me?’ She screwed her face up and stuck her tongue between her front fangs.

  ‘Yes.’ He matched her pose, belly to the floor. ‘But specifically, what I will do when I have to say goodbye to you for ever.’ Without her, the
re would be a void – in the park, and inside him – but he was asking her to give up everything… He sunk to the ground, ears drooping.

  Laurie relaxed, letting her weight fall onto the grass. ‘Well, I’ve been thinking…’

  Vince’s ears perked up.

  ‘I’ve become rather fond of Rita and Arthur. Laurie’s voice was flat, but her eyes glittered. ‘So, I think I can probably put up with you for a little while longer.’

  ‘I see. And how long is a little while?’ Vince matched her tone. She could tease him all she liked, he didn’t care anymore. She was staying and he felt like his heart might burst out of his chest.

  ‘Oh, I don’t know… Until I get fed up with you, probably. You seem to have a habit of getting into trouble, and I’d really like a quiet life, y’know? And if you ever upset me, Socks will have every cat in London over here to tear you to pieces, understand?’ Her mouth began to curl up at the edges.

  ‘Oh, and there I was thinking you could look after yourself…’ Vince began to pull himself to his feet. ‘Perhaps I’ve made a terrible mistake?’ He grinned.

  Laurie stood up. ‘Says the fox who’s scared of bridges.’

  ‘Actually, I’m scared of trains,’ Vince leapt towards her, rearing up on his hind legs. Laurie did the same and they stood together, paws on chests, for a second, before collapsing onto the grass in a fit of giggles. Vince leaned in and licked the fur on Laurie’s neck. She moved her snout towards his and their noses touched, her green eyes meeting his yellow ones.

  ‘Sorry to interrupt…’ Rita’s voice came from the ground beside them. Rolling their eyes at each other, they found their feet and shook the loose grass from their fur. ‘…but someone wants to speak to you. Well, us. All of us.’

  ‘Who?’ Vince said.

  ‘A pigeon. She’s back there. Where we came in.’