Page 11 of How Does It Feel?

“Oh, you already got it?” Cliff motioned to the empty plastic tub I held as I continued to play back what I had just witnessed, frozen in shock.

“Yea, thanks,” I murmured, still partially dazed.

“What’s going on? You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” he said, growing concerned as he bent down, positioning himself directly in front of my face, blocking any other view.

“I uh . . . I just saw a fox,” I mumbled as I shook my mind out of its blur and absently wiped the stray hair away from my face.

What had I just seen?

“Red fox? Which way did he go? Was he just passing by?” he asked nonchalantly.

I began walking back toward the house. Twigs and leaves compacted into the grass below my boots with each step as I tried desperately to make sense of what I had just seen.

“I guess. He went off that way.” I pointed in the direction of the now-absent fox. “He just kind of . . . watched me, frozen. Then he started to come to me when you showed up. It was the strangest thing though, somehow the sun was refracting . . . shimmer-like prisms off his body.” My voice trailed off, waiting to gauge his response.

“It what!? Callie, he sounds rabid,” the gruff man stated.

“It wasn’t rabid, Cliff, it was . . . it was beautiful,” I tried to argue.

“Well, a fox wouldn’t be that close to you without running if he wasn’t rabid. I’m going to put out an APB for the boys to take care of it,” he said sternly as he pulled a black walkie-talkie free from his pocket and pressed a few buttons, inducing a loud beep that abruptly unsettled the peace of the forest.

“No! I said it wasn’t rabid, Cliff! I’m sure it was just curious!”

We had stopped our trek back to the house to stare at one another.

“Callie, you can’t save everything. If the boys see it and suspect it’s rabid, it dies.”

His voice held a tone of arrogance I began to loathe the very second it hit my ears. How had I never noticed it before?

“Please don’t, Cliff.”

Why was he not more curious about the shimmering? I had said it out loud, right?

The rest of our walk was in silence. He suddenly seemed cruel, and I didn’t feel comfortable sharing anything more with him. I wouldn’t let them hurt that fox.

I hurried to throw away my trash in the outside cans before I locked the door from the outside, not wanting Cliff to have a reason to go inside.

“You don’t need anything inside?” Cliff’s voice held something unfamiliar. Something not quite new but something I guess I hadn’t paid attention to before. “Need me to look at anything for you?”

Was he trying to get inside my house?

“Nope, I’m good. Listen, if it’s out of your way at all, I can just get Cecelia to grab me on her way. Actually, that’s probably a lot easier, isn’t it? You’re not even going to the center other than to drop me off?” Damn that old truck, this was becoming another problem I didn’t need.

“Callie, I don’t mind. Stop shoving everyone away. Now get your Disney princess ass in the truck before you’re late. Who even feeds all these animals anyway? You know they’re wild, right?” His smirk flowed into his words, and back was the friendly man I had come to heavily rely on.

Maybe that had been a mistake.

We backed out of the driveway. An old country music song about friends in a bar played quietly in the air, and I mouthed the words on autopilot, staring out the window absently.

“Wait! It’s Wednesday, isn’t it? Oh, my heavens! I forgot about the library!” I shrieked, covering my cheeks behind my now dirt-covered hands. “I told Mrs. Stinson I would read something to the kids today. Oh, I can’t believe I forgot! I even wrote it on my list for today! Shoot!” I dramatically slid down the leather captain’s seat like a petulant child.

“I can drop you off, but I gotta run out to Prairie Oaks today and handle some things,” he trailed off.

“That’s okay! Would you please drop me off at the library? I’ll just get a ride after or call an Uber,” I said in my best pleading-to-a-man voice.

“An Uber?” Cliff burst out laughing. “You ever seen an Uber in these parts, Cal?” he continued, his laughter shaking his head, but took the road that would eventually get me to the small library.

“It’s Callie,” I stated, not thoroughly ruffled.