Fox Play

by Robin Roseau

  "Do you know how I got my job? I saved a girl's life. I interrupted a rape, kicking the asses of three men trying to rape a fourteen-year-old girl. I tried to leave before the police showed up, but she was sobbing so badly that I stayed to hold her. And it turned out her father had connections, and he got me my job, the best job I could ever have. Ever, Lara!"

  I was so angry. I pushed her. With everything I had.

  I caught her completely by surprise. She started to fall backwards off the boat. She flayed, reached out to me, and grabbed me, trying to find her balance. But she was going over the edge, if I had to go with her. I pushed again, and together we tumbled into the water.

  It was cold! I'd never been in Lake Superior, even in high summer, without a wetsuit.

  Lara and I separated even before we hit the water. The boat bumped against my back, and I was pushed under the cold, cold water.

  I kicked, scrambling for the surface, as the cold bit into my bones. It hurt! A cold that much hurts! It's not like stepping outside in cold weather, even in the dead of winter, this was far, far worse.

  I found the surface, then shifted to fox, trying to get some fur around me, but I was tangled in my clothing, and I went under the surface again. The clothes were wet, and they tangled around me instead of sliding off. I couldn't squirm out of them, and I couldn't swim with them dragging me deeper.

  I shifted again, back to human, and dragged myself towards the surface, my limbs already growing numb.

  I was tired, tired already. I made it to the surface, but I was tired, and I started to sink again.

  Then Lara was there, pulling me back to the surface, throwing her arm around me and kicking strongly.

  "I've got you," she said. "Michaela, I've got you."

  "No," I said weakly. "Just let me go."

  "No! Mine!"

  "No," I said weakly, but now too cold to resist, and she dragged my tiny, limp form. I didn't know where she thought we were going, anyway. It was so far to shore.

  But then I banged against something hard, and there were hands pulling me out of the water, then strong arms picking me up and carrying me into the boat cabin. Hands removed my wet clothes, and then a large hot body was wrapped around me, and blankets around both of us.

  They tried to pour coffee down me. I wasn't interested, I just wanted to sleep, I was so cold and tired.

  Another warm body climbed inside the blankets with me, and there was a little fox cold cut sandwich: wolf, fox, wolf.

  Someone was rubbing my hands. Someone else was rubbing my feet. And then I heard the Alpha's voice speaking firmly, "Drink this, Michaela! Now!"

  I drank. It was tea, and I let them pour the entire cup inside of me.

  I opened my eyes. Lara was in fresh, dry clothes, her short hair already drying, looking at me with concern. I recognized Elisabeth behind me, and it was Francesca in front of me.

  "Who won, Elisabeth?"

  "Um. One of the kids, I think."

  "More tea?" Lara asked quietly.

  "Get her something hot to eat," Elisabeth said. "Then more tea."

  Lara disappeared, and I zoned out, not caring anymore. Elisabeth was trying to talk to me, but it didn't register.

  I wondered if they'd kick me back out of the pack. I wouldn't blame them. I'd nearly killed the alpha, and I was just a stupid, uneducated fox, anyway.

  Lara returned and tried shoving food at me. I turned away, but she grabbed me by the jaw and said firmly, "Open!" When I clamped my jaws together, she squeezed at the sides of my jaw, her hand so large compared to my small face, she was able to force me to open my mouth. She slipped a piece of chicken into my mouth and ordered, "Chew that and swallow. You do not want to see what happens if you spit it out."

  I gagged it down, and when she reached for my jaw again, I told her, "I'll behave."

  "Good," she said. "Open." I opened, and she gave me another piece of warm chicken. After the third piece, I said, "Please, enough."

  "She's warming up," Elisabeth said. "But she's still cold."

  I opened my eyes and found myself staring into Francesca's concerned expression. "I made a mess of things. Again." Francesca reached up and caressed my face, not saying anything.

  I turned to Lara. "What are you going to do to me?"

  "Feed you more hot food," she said. "And pour this tea into you. Open."

  I let her pour the tea in. But once I swallowed I told her, "Please don't be evasive."

  "I don't know what you're asking," she said.

  Elisabeth answered for me. "She wants to know what you're going to do to discipline a pack member that pushed the alpha into a freezing cold lake during a justified moment of anger, almost getting herself killed in the process."

  "I'm going to beat the crap out of her for scaring me to death," Lara said. She was smiling when she said it.

  "You promised you would never hit me," I told her.

  "Smart ass," Elisabeth said. "She's feeling better, Alpha."

  I turned away from them, but there was nowhere to look where there wasn't a wolf face watching me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see them.

  "I'm fine," I said after a while. "Crisis averted. I'm sorry I ruined everyone's fun."

  "It takes more than this to ruin everyone's fun," said Elisabeth. "Use your ears."

  So I did. On our deck, I heard gentle conversation. And barely in the distance, the laughing of teenagers enjoying a beautiful day.

  "We whisked you in here so fast, everyone just thinks we're warming you up and talking," Elisabeth said. "I think we're sailing around one of the islands right now. If you're ready, we should go up on deck. The sun will feel good."

  Francesca slipped away from me, and I immediately missed her warmth. Then Elisabeth helped me sit up, wrapping the blanket around me. "I don't have any dry clothes." I looked at Lara. "Where did you get those?"

  "My jacket," Elisabeth said. "And Harper had a change of clothes. Parents always seem to be prepared for the weirdest things. She has a change of Sophia's clothes, too, for you."

  Elisabeth slipped out of the room, and Lara helped me get dressed in the borrowed clothes. I couldn't look at her.

  "You never answered," I told her.

  "I'm the one who needs to apologize," she said. "You were justified to be angry, and I should have let you push me in. I'm so sorry. I pulled you in after me."

  "I went in willingly if it meant you were going in," I said. "I was so angry. Now I'm just deeply humiliated. Everyone knows how stupid I am."

  "Jumping into Lake Superior in late April is definitely stupid. Damn, that was cold."

  "I wasn't talking about that," I said. "And you know it."

  "You're not stupid, Michaela. You are as smart as anyone I know."

  "All right. Uneducated."

  "You're not that, either. Your education has simply been unconventional. Michaela, is this why you've been resistant to everything else I've suggested."

  "I wanted you to be proud of me. I didn't want to tell you."

  "All right," she said. "Sometimes you're stupid."

  "Thanks," I said. "I needed that."

  "Do you like teaching the kids?" she asked.

  "What does it matter, Lara?"

  I turned away, still cold, and pulled the blanket around me. I stepped outside to find a place in the sun. Lara followed me. Everyone turned to face me when I stepped out on deck.

  "I'm fine," I said. "I'm sorry for the excitement. I was a little worked up." I picked a sunny spot and sat down, closing my eyes. Then I felt Lara sitting down next to me.

  "Are you still mad at me?" she asked.

  "No. I feel dead."

  "Oh honey." She pulled me to her, and I let her, but I didn't curl into her like I usually do. "Will you talk to me about it?"

  "Not much to talk about. That's the whole point."

  "How is it someone with nothing past an eighth grade education can fool everyone?"

  "Fool them how? I don't pretend to have more education th
an I do."

  "No, but you use phrases like fait accompli. You talk as if you are well-educated, and I know you didn't learn the things you do for your job by the eighth grade."

  "I read a lot," I said. "And I even used to audit classes at Northland College in Ashland. For a while, I audited two a term, but there wasn't anything I wanted to take last fall, and then we were too busy together, I decided I was done, at least for now."

  "Will you please let me hold you properly?"

  "I want to know what you're going to do to me. Can you please get it over with? Are you throwing me out of the pack?"

  "Is that what you think?" she asked quietly.

  "I don't know what to think if you won't tell me."

  "Do you think there's anything I can do that would be worse than what you're doing to yourself? Besides, you went in with me."

  I curled up next to her, and she was so warm.

  "You were right to be angry with me," she said. "I should have talked about it with you, but we got caught up with everything, and it all got away from me. I didn't intend it this way. I wasn't trying to blindside you or put you on the spot. I wanted to see if it was feasible."

  "It's not."

  "I am sorry. Will you forgive me for letting it get away from me, and for you finding out about it this way?"

  "Yes," I said.

  "Good." She lifted my chin and stole a kiss. I didn't put any passion into it, but it felt nice anyway.

  "Can we talk hypotheticals for a minute?"

  "That's not practical."

  "Humor me?" she asked. I nodded. "Let us say we could magically wave our hands and give you all the diplomas you needed to be legally entitled to teach, and Francesca were to help you. Would you want to do it?"

  "It doesn't matter," I said.

  "Hypothetical, and I have a magic wand. Please play my game, Michaela."

  "All right. Magic wand. Zap." I thought about it. "Would I be locked inside a school?"

  "You would be teaching the natural sciences with an emphasis on hands on experience. You tell me?"

  "It would still be more time in a building than my current job."

  "True. But a whole lot less in a car."

  I smiled weakly. "Point to your side. I don't mind that part, but it's not the best part." I considered it. "I like teaching Angel."

  "I thought you might."

  "I like the kids."

  "They respond well to you, and Scarlett thinks you walk on water. She probably does especially now after you pushed me into the lake."

  "Hmmph." I thought some more. "It doesn't matter what I want."

  "Do you forget my magic wand? Yes or no. Would you want to do it?"

  "Only the sciences?"

  "And maybe math."

  "All right," I said. "Yes, I'd want it. But it doesn't matter. I can't."

  "Forget teaching requirements and think about qualifications. What aren't you qualified to teach?"

  "Lara, I audited the teaching classes. I know the requirements. And an 8th grade education isn't it."

  "Yeah, yeah. The material. Do you know the math?"

  "At a high school level? Of course."

  "Chemistry. Physics?"

  "I don't know about the physics. I might have to read up a little."

  "Biology? Conservation? Geology?"

  "Yes, of course. Those are my job."

  "Lab work?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, so what can you NOT teach?"

  I thought about it. I knew these topics inside and out to the college level, except the physics was light, and I had only take a few college math classes over the years, maybe four or five. Of course, I didn't have a single college credit, but I had learned the material nevertheless.

  "I guess I could teach all of it. But I don't have the credentials."

  "So, magic wand waving in the air still. If I got you the credentials, would you want the job?"

  "Yes, but-"

  She held out her hand. "Shake on it, then."

  "Lara, we can't get me false credentials. It will catch up to the kids eventually."

  "I wouldn't dream of it," she said. "If I get you legitimate teaching credentials, will you teach my school?"

  "Yes."

  "Shake on it, little fox." So I shook her hand. It wasn't like she'd get me the credentials.

  Then she began squishing me in a tight hug.

  "Of course," I said. "I wouldn't have any students."

  She laughed. "Yeah, right." Then she lifted her voice. "Francesca, can you pull yourself away?"

  Francesca turned around, then excused herself from a conversation with Michele Lassiter. She came and sat on Lara's other side.

  "Francesca," Lara said. "Can you explain the state legal requirements for teaching at a private high school?"

  "There aren't any."

  "What?" I said.

  "What matters is that the students are taught the required material sufficiently to pass the state exams. But we're accredited, so it's a little more than that."

  "How much more?"

  "High school diploma or the equivalent and demonstrated competence in the material being taught."

  "I don't have a high school diploma. Or equivalent."

  "Francesca, do you think that's a problem?"

  She laughed. "Probably not. She might have to read a few books before taking the GED exam. Or she could earn a diploma from Wolf Valley if she tests out of all the subjects. The GED exam might be easier, but if she does it my way, then if there are any subjects that she's weak, I'll know what they are and what she needs to study."

  "How long doing it that way?"

  "Well, it's not like she'll have trouble with the sciences or math. I don't know about the other subjects. We have an intentionally difficult curriculum."

  "By fall?"

  "Oh, I thought you were wondering about this week. Probably by the end of May, maybe sooner."

  I stared at her.

  "From working with her, are you comfortable if Michaela teaches math and sciences."

  "Absolutely."

  Lara smiled sweetly. "I would like you to start immediately. Perhaps you can give notice tomorrow morning. We'll get you caught up with your backlog so your boss is left with a happy taste."

  "This is crazy," I said. "They deserve better than me."

  Lara's face darkened. "Do you know the material we're talking about?"

  "Yes, but-"

  "Can you teach that material to these kids?"

  "Yes, but-"

  "Do you want to teach these kids?"

  "Yes, but-"

  "Do you want to spend every night in my bed?"

  "Lara-"

  "But what?" she asked.

  I turned to Francesca. "Shouldn't I student teach?"

  "You have been," she said. "What do you think we've been doing?"

  I stared at Francesca. She shrugged and smiled.

  I turned to Lara. "You win."

  She smiled. "I usually do."

  * * * *

  We sailed until five. I eventually warmed up. We sailed back to the marina and docked, and the kids all descended on me.

  "Wow! Michaela," said Angel. "What did Lara do now? I wasn't looking, but suddenly everyone said you pushed her in and she pulled you in afterwards. And couldn't you have done it about three hours earlier?"

  I smiled. "I'm sorry you didn't win."

  "Was it cold?" Scarlett asked.

  "Horribly," I agreed.

  Sophia and Ava stepped up. "Angel and Scarlett have been telling us about your classes. We want to know what sort of interviews you're going to need to accept us as students. And are you going to have any camps or anything this summer we can attend?"

  I sighed. "You'll need to talk to your parents first. I'm not sure they're going to want you studying with me."

  "What?" said Ava. "Why not?"

  "People who push the alpha into the lake aren't necessarily the first people you want teaching your kids," I said.
/>   Ava laughed. "I saw the whole thing. That was so cool."

  "Your mother may not agree, Ava," I said. "For now, I am letting the alpha handle it."

  "Is she really mad at you?" Ava asked.

  "No. She apologized for what made me so angry. But the last time I went too far, she threatened me with a spanking on my bare bottom in front of the entire pack. It could still happen."

  "She wouldn't!" said Angel.

  "My experience is that the alpha rarely bluffs," I said.

  After that, I let myself be herded, along with everyone else, onto the boats back to the island.

  * * * *

  Dinner was another large picnic. After the third person asked me what Lara had done to get pushed into the lake, I was ready to find a beer or three and let them put me to sleep.

  But then I turned around, and June and Benny were walking across the lawn towards us, holding hands. He looked nervous. I forgot my own issues and focused on his.

  "Hey, Benny," I said. "It's good to see you."

  "Heya, Michaela," he said. "I heard you went swimming earlier. How was the water?"

  "Oh god. June!"

  "I didn't tell him," she said.

  "Does the whole town know?" I asked.

  "Pretty much," said Benny. "Glad you're okay."

  "Michaela, will you help with introductions?" June asked.

  We didn't introduce Benny to everyone, but of course he needed to meet Lara and Elisabeth. I made a point of introducing him to Donald and Michele Lassiter as well. After that, I hung out nearby and watched how he interacted with everyone.

  Lara came up beside me. "Feeling better?"

  "I'm still not qualified," I said.

  She sighed. "You know I'm going to win. Stop struggling. Francesca and I will get you qualified, and you'll be great."

  "All right." I watched Benny. "What do you think so far?"

  "I think we'll tell him. I don't know how it's going to go. Are you sure you want to go first?"

  "Yes. He knows me, and I'm far less threatening. I can shift slowly, make it take a few seconds, and that might help him believe, too."

  "I'll have some blankets ready afterwards. The humans can be touchy about nudity."

  "Yeah. I am sometimes, too. I don't like to be naked around strangers, at least not standing around naked."

  We stood side by side, leaning lightly against each other. "Are we all right?" she asked me.

  "I'm worried you don't respect me."