I swear she came out of nowhere.
The field went out far as the eye could see, no way somebody could have come up without us knowing it. There wasn’t nothing there but miles of dead harvested corn stalks. We’d turned our backs for a minute, shuffling through the bed of Devon’s truck for the guns. Not that we were going to hurt it right then and there, but you know. Just to be safe. In case the thing got flighty and tried to attack. It took us just a minute. One minute, I’m telling you, and when we turned back, there she was. Standing angel-like in a deep green raggedy dress, between us and our catch.
She wasn’t very tall. Maybe five two. And she had on moccasins like an Indian. But they were boot-like and tied up all the way to her knees. Good thing too, cause it was cold and you could see her breath on the air. Her eyes were dark, most intense eyes I ever seen. And her hair was a dusty color, matched the twigs sticking out from it. It was like she’d just crawled out of a bush the way her hair was with leaves and sticks all up in it. But it didn’t matter, cause she still stood regal-like with the sun setting behind her. Looked like a girl from a fairy book.
So when we turned round, there she was. We all staggered, made an awful ruckus crunching the frozen ground under our feet. I about lost my britches I jumped so high. I’m telling you. It scared me to death.
“I’ll give you a hundred and fifty dollars to let it go.” She said.
It took us a minute to figure she was talking to us. Couldn’t believe she was even there to begin with. When we came to our senses, Devon took a step forward and spoke to her real low. I knew he was scared too, but he hid it better than me and Charlie.
“How’d you know ‘bout that?” he said. “And how the hell did you get here?”
“A hundred and fifty dollars right now if you let it go.” She said and stared him down.
Charlie, standing next to Devon, nudged him and whispered, “Just take it, man. Somethin’ ‘bout this ain’t right.” Devon didn’t take his eyes off the girl, but he nodded.
She held out her hand, and had two green bills in it. They fluttered a bit in the wind. Devon approached her, slow but cool. At arm’s length he stopped, looked at the money then back at her. She raised her eyebrows like she hadn’t got all day. Then he grabbed it.
“He’s all yours your highness.” Devon said as he tucked the money into the pocket of his jeans. When he turned back toward us, he mouthed with eyes wide, let’s go.
Devon and Charlie strode right away to the truck. I took some backward steps but kept watching as the girl bent down and pried open the trap. That fox didn’t move, didn’t snarl, didn’t make a peep. Thing was a wild beast for us, but not for her. He was like a tame pup for her. She held its paw for a minute when it was free, whispering something all the while. I couldn’t believe my eyes the fox let her close. And then, I’m not joking here, the fox set his paws on her knees and brought its nose up to hers. Their noses touched. A wild fox touched its nose to that girl’s, I’m not joking. I saw it and I couldn’t believe it. Then it ran away right toward the spit of woods on the east side.
She stood and looked back at me. Probably I was gawking with my mouth open or something. I tried to speak, started to, stuttering like an idiot.
“H-how’d you—”
“You’re fools.” She said, then turned and started heading east.
I watched her walk the whole way. And sure enough, she went into the woods. Who knows what she did there. Where she lived. Who she was.
When we were back in the truck, engine rolling, heat blasting through the vents, Charlie said it first.
“How the hell did she know, man?”
“I don’t know.” Devon said as he shifted gears and turned toward the road.
How did she know we’d been hired to catch a live fox? The price, if we could deliver, a hundred and fifty dollars.
But that wasn’t what got me most. What got me was the fox nose. I could still see it outlined by the setting sun. The critter stretching out its neck, fur twirling in the frigid air, and then resting for a wild second its nose on hers. Like it was thanking her or something.
“Did y’all see them touch noses?”
But they didn’t remember that part.