As she sneaks out around six pm,
My whole family crowds around my sister’s bedroom window
Like moths to fire.
Watching, waiting,
We glance from her hole to where we saw her yesterday.
As I scan the ground like a hawk stalking its prey,
I see a flash of reddish gray.
It is her.
The beautiful vixen slithers out of her hole like a snake.
We see her tiptoe to the space next to the trampoline,
You can hear her as loud as you can hear a butterfly’s wings beat,
Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.
Her soft paws barely touch the ground.
Under the deck is where she has made her new home.
It fills me with regret and sadness
When I think about how humankind
Probably demolished her original home.
We will let her live in peace,
No matter what.
We think that she will be a mother soon.
Maid Marian is what we shall call her,
A beautiful name.
She is our new company,
This beautiful fox is now a beloved new member of our family.
Oakley McCarthy-Arcos is a fifth grader fromFlorida.