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Outside, cool air blew against the two foxes fur. The pair looked around quickly, then ducked out of the way of the front doors. As they caught their breathe, Agnes looked back at the building. She gasped. “This is Burgges, Bunce and Bean’s market!”
Ash looked up at it. “Yep” He said with a wary look on his face. Agnes looked at him, and the two shared the same feeling. Sure, more food was at hand, but with this new attack against the three farmers, the consequences would be even more dire. They had to get their human-to-animal relationship rectified. Ash led the way, bringing the two of them across the street to another set of buildings.
Ash looked at every building’s front window as they passed, Agnes following wordlessly, until Ash stopped, looking at a large school complex. “What is this place?” Agnes asked.
Ash silenced her with a ‘shh’ then read the school directory to himself, mumbling the names of the buildings. Finally, he found what he came for. “Ah ha! Right there!” Ash said, pointing, Agnes looking where he pointed. “The science lab, room 25B. Come on, there should be some fox experiments in there still.”
The pair ran across the lawn, Ash not bothering to check much since the school was already closed. Time passed and the pair made it to the door of the science building. Agnes panted as they neared the door. “You ok?” Ash asked.
Agnes nodded. “Yeah, let’s just do what we came here for and get back. Mom’s gonna’ be worried.” Ash couldn’t argue with that, and nodded.
“I have to pick the lock. Do you think you can lift me?”
Agnes looked worried, and Ash gritted his teeth.
Moments later Agnes prodded at the door, following what Ash hastily taught her. The lock was picked almost effortlessly.
“Good job.” Ash said as Agnes was set down.
Agnes smiled, happy about her success. The pair entered the building and eased themselves inside. The pair jogged down the hall, turning down hallways until finally Ash stopped them, looking up at the door. “Here it is.” Ash said. After another successful lock picking with Agnes, the pair jogged into the room.
The pair looked about, seeing cages lining the far wall. “Over there.” Ash said, indicating to a table leg, which the two scaled. The pair climbed to the top of the table, and walked along the cage’s fronts, looking at the sleeping animals inside.
“What should we do?” Agnes asked.
“I don’t know,” Ash said, “we should probably talk to one.”
“Oh, are you sure?” Agnes said, worried. “I mean, we found them, why don’t we-”
Ash protested, “we’ll never know if this whole thing worked unless we-”
“Hey,” came a voice inside the cage, which drew the two foxes attentions to it.
A black fox walked up to them, gripping the cage bars. “I’m trying to sleep here.”
“Sorry,” Ash asked, speaking for the pair. “I read a human interest story that said foxes could get domesticated.”
“Well, this is the place where that’s happening.” The fox replied.
“Are you ok?” Agnes asked, looking worried, “you look unhappy.”
“Eh, I wish I wasn’t in this cage. But I’ll be shipped to a family soon since my experimentation was successful.”
“So it worked then? It worked!” Ash asked.
The fox in the cage nodded. “Yep. The man is a genius. He cares too. Much better than those three farmers.”
The two nodded. “Well, thanks, that’s what we came for. Come on Agnes.” Once the foxes were on the floor, Agnes asked Ash, “what does this mean? How will we get to a family like that fox?”
“I don’t know.” Ash said, “I only planned as far as tonight. Now that we know it’s a true thing, I’ll work on some way of convincing my folks to move in with some humans. It’s the best thing for all of us.”
Before Agnes even knew what she was doing, she pecked Ash on the cheek. “Thank you.” She said, then jogged back to the school entrance. Ash didn’t have time to respond and followed.