Fox Within

www.tianxinqi.com

Nicholas was an unusual student, one that no one could ever forget or want to remember.  Clever, he was a fox and just as devious. Nicholas had a "history" and would create more in his future, of that all were certain.

When he walked by with his mother as she pushed a stroller, Nicholas was normal compared to his mother and brother.
  
Mother was a ragged woman, worn out, face drawn and gray, a face that drooped.  Tattoos laced up and down her bone thin arms, even onto her brown stained fingers.  Little brother looked straight ahead with dim eyes, no sound or smile, with a flat face like a paper plate.

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Nicholas was as canny as a fox, eyes dashing from side to side, up and down, casing sidewalks and trees.  He focused on people and their eyes, and they immediately looked away. Something about his eyes pierced them as his next prey.

School Principal escorted Nicholas to his second grade classroom and handed him off to his teacher. He spoke a few words, almost in a whisper.  They both led Nicholas to his seat, in front row to the far right.  His desk was placed two feet away from students to his left and behind him.

First day, second day passed quietly.  Third day, all hell broke loose.  

It was hard to describe a whirlwind in a classroom where desks flew and students ran to back of classroom.  

Principal came running, scooping Nicholas up in a grip, while the boy screamed maniacally, biting and scratching.  The principal ran with the boy to the nurse's office, phoning his mother and psychiatrist.

Mother had forgotten Nicholas' medications that morning. Psychiatrist raced down to this school and administered meds himself.  What were they?  This, then that, and that, and more of this.  Finally, there was Lithium.

Fourth day, fifth day, weekend.  On the sixth day, Principal walked through second grade classrooms with a fourth grade girl, blonde and clearly shaken.  She gazed around the room and shook her head.  Principal saw Nicholas' seat was empty and caught Teacher's eyes.  She shrugged her shoulders as he nodded, understanding.

He was late, about eight minutes late, and when Nicholas swung open the door, he ran to his seat, hugging his backpack to his chest.  Fox eyes, darting side to side, a gleeful smile cut across his face.

Principal made another round with the girl, who pointed to Nicholas , nodding.  Yes that's him that's him!

Principal sauntered up to Nicholas, "Hey, how are you doing?" Just as casually, Principal opened the backpack and retrieved a steak knife. Replacing knife into backpack, he said, "Let's go talk about this..."

Apparently, Nicholas walked to and from school, following this girl and her friends.  Each day, he hissed, "I'm gonna kill you..." And this one day he ambushed her from his hiding place in a bush.  

Natural born killer

Straddling over her, he stabbed on one side and then the other of her face with a knife stolen from home. He laughed and howled "I'm gonna kill you..."

Friends ran to her, Nicholas stuffed the knife into his backpack, raced away.  

Cumulative folder and information shared that Nicholas' father was incarcerated in Astascadero Prison for the Violent and Criminally insane, and Mother had just been released from Los Angeles County Jail Division of Mentally Ill.  Nicholas had been diagnosed as bi-polar before he was seven.

What happened to Nicholas the Fox in the years that followed?

I don't know, sure wish I did. It has been 25 years since that time with Nicholas in my classroom.  If I saw him again, I would cross the street and hide.

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I will read ashes for you, if you ask me.

I will read ashes for you, if you ask me. 

I will look on the fire and tell you from the gray lashes 

And out of the red and black tongues and stripes, 

I will tell how fire comes 

And how fire runs far as the sea.

By Carl Sandburg

Fire all throughout the Southwest--it is burning, eating and consuming every single thing in its way.

from a distance

Residents are looking back at the fire, as they drive away with just clothes and photos.

From YouTube site

Dry dry air, heavy and suffocating.  Sun scorching burnt earth, 100 degrees or more. Tinder dry vegetation, ready to burn.

Oh, God!  Please protect the firefighters!  

Oh, God! Bless families whose homes are burned to the ground!

Every summer, I post about wildfires.  Last year, we could see the flames from our house. One year at a school where I taught, ashes covered playground and swings.

w.words...Explosions!

After Garth's latest beer brewing, the bottles exploded with such a force that nearly all of Lucy's latest canned ginger peaches had broken into soggy mess in the cold room.  Everything was soaked and pitted with broken glass, even the smoked-ham hanging from rafters.

How it is done.

"I may be an old fool, short on common sense, prone to sipping one too many, but I ain't reckless"...Garth mumbled, settling down in a broken rocker.  Lucy had sent him flying to the basement, throwing  pillows, blankets, an old crossword puzzle from 1976, and a flashlight.  

Lucy was a God-fearing woman, but she painted him from head to toe with profanity.  It was appropriate, and he knew it.

His old boxer, Leonard, trotted down to join the exile and that old basement door slammed shut.  Lucy was still cursing, of that he was certain. His stay in the damp basement would be long. He could die of hunger before Lucy opened the damn door.

Crossword Puzzle, no. 284, June, 1976.  He grumbled.  Pages were brown around the edges, tobacco juice spotted randomly. He pulled a nub of a pencil from his coverall pocket, to pick up where he left off.

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"36 across, 9 letters...eager to fight, hostile, aggressive...starts with the letter B."  Tap, tap went pencil, throat cleared and spit tossed, and then "Ah...bellicose."

Garth filled in the boxes, and moved onto 36 down. "7 letters, letter b...asphalt found in nature.." His eyebrows burrowed, then eyes lit up. "Bitumen...wretched stuff, nasty." 

"I'm may be a sonofabitch, but I ain't dumb."

The basement door opened.  Lucy called, "Here's your supper!" She threw a plate down the steps, where the food rolled and landed on steps and floor.

"Boy, Leonard, she sure is mad, ain't she?"  Leonard licked stairs and floor clean, while Garth found bags of potatoes to settle in for a night, or maybe more.

The italicized underlined words above are provided by River, in a weekly Wednesday Words, where 6, 12 words are thrown at us, challenging bloggers to stretch their writing a bit.  River will provide these words for the month of June, and then another bold and brave blogger will challenge bloggers once again.

You may post your take on these words in the comment section at River's blog, OR post them at your own site.  Link it back to River, enabling others to visit you.