Cindy and Tony had hoped to take a 7:00 AM
flight from Honolulu, but there was too little time between sunrise and the
time the plane would leave. They agreed
that it would be best for them to take Hawaiian Airlines flight 0010 at 8:00
AM, which would arrive in Los Angeles at 4:25 PM.
To save time, they made the dangerous
decision to spend the night in the airport.
Cindy and Tony packed all their belongings in Tony’s boogie bag. Cindy’s boogie bag was a large traditional
palm-leave handbag, and it was loose enough to let air into the bag. After dark, when Cindy turned into a fox, she
crawled into her handbag for the night, and Tony closed the bag.
The handbag wasn’t comfortable for Cindy,
but they didn’t have much choice. It was
still less uncomfortable than the airport seats where Tony slept.
Just before dawn, Tony took Cindy—still in
her handbag—to the nearest women’s restroom and threw the handbag through the
door. Tony hoped that no one was in the
restroom at the time. As soon as Cindy
started to turn into a girl, she came from the handbag and put on her
clothes.
When Cindy was fully clothed, she looked
up and saw a woman staring at her, wide-eyed and open mouthed. The woman had seen her change from a fox to a
girl. Not knowing what else to say,
Cindy said to the woman, “Every now and then, a girl likes to have a new look.”
The woman, not knowing what else to say,
said, “Yes, I can see that,” as she watched Cindy walk from the restroom.
Tony and Cindy had less than two hours to
buy their tickets, check in, and board their plane. They had to hurry; but, by this time, they were
always using the word hurry.
Their trip to Los Angeles and
to America’s East Coast went very smoothly. At long last, Tony’s parents, sister, brother,
and grandmother met Tony and Cindy at Congaree Regional Airport.
Tony had emailed his parents to let them
know that he would take a guest to meet them.
He had said that Cindy would study at Congaree University. Tony also asked if Cindy could stay with the
family until they could find her a place to stay; and Tony’s parents said that
Cindy could stay in the family’s guest room.
Tony’s email also said that Cindy was a fox. His mother wrote back to say that it would be
more respectful to call her “an attractive young woman.” The expression, “She’s a fox,” is not
disrespectful, but some older people feel uncomfortable with it.
So far, so good. The next step in Tony’s plan would come that
evening at the supper table.
Tony’s older brother had already moved out
and lived on his own. His
eighteen-year-old sister, who would soon be a freshman at Congaree University,
still lived with her parents. His
twelve-year-old brother, of course, also lived with their parents. I mentioned Tony’s parents, which means two of them.
Tony’s grandmother also lived with them, so the household had six people
in all. With Cindy, there would be seven
people at the table for supper.
Not surprisingly, they all liked
Cindy. Tony’s sister was happy to hear
that she and Cindy would be classmates.
Most of the family members asked her the usual questions, such as how
she liked the United States and questions about life on Kanifay Island. Tony’s little brother wanted to know about
South Seas island headhunters and was disappointed to hear that Cindy had never
met one.
Tony’s plan had one little problem. During his six weeks on Kanifay Island, he
had seen the sun set sometime after 7:00 PM.
When the family rose from the supper table (later than usual) at 7:10,
Tony remembered that the sun set later in places that were farther north than
Kanifay Island. The sun had not yet gone
down.
The family moved to the living room,
turned on the living room light, and continued their conversation. After Tony’s grandmother had finished washing
the dishes, she rejoined the rest of the family.
The family was still in conversation when
the sun went down at 8:23 PM. There
would be a little light for another fifteen minutes or so; then darkness would
fall.
From Tony’s place on the sofa, he looked
out the window and saw that it had become dark outside. The conversation stopped and everyone became
quiet. In front of Tony’s whole family,
Cindy turned into a fox. Tony’s
grandmother leaned forward, cleaned her thick glasses, and looked even more
closely at Cindy.
Tony broke the silence. “Mama,” he said, “I did tell you that Cindy
was a fox.”
“Yes, you did, Tony,” she said, “but I
thought you meant that she was—“ Her
voice broke off.
“And you were right. She is
an attractive young woman. She’s also my
friend.” Tony quickly told them Cindy’s
story and how she had to leave Kanifay Island and go to college in the United
States. He waited for them to say
something.
Tony’s sister was the first one to
speak. She put her right arm around
Cindy’s left arm and held her hand.
“Cindy,” she said, “I’m looking forward to us being classmates—and
friends.” She looked at Tony and said,
“If she’s your friend, she must be a fine person.”
Tony’s brother said, “Can I teach her some
tricks?”
Tony said, “No! She’s not a dog.” As it would later turn out, Cindy looked
forward to learning tricks because it would be good exercise for her.
Grandmother said, “She’ll get hair on the sofa.”
After more conversation, Tony’s mother
said, “College dormitories are busy places, Tony. She would never be able to keep her secret in
a college dorm.”
“She would have to stay with a host
family,” Tony agreed.
“You mean us.”
Tony’s brother’s face lighted up, and he
said, “Can we keep her?”
“What you mean to say is, ‘May she come to
live with us?’” his mother corrected.
Grandmother said, “You’d better keep the
windows closed. If she gets out at
night, she’ll turn over the neighbors’ trash cans and throw trash everywhere.”
“I don’t think Cindy will do anything like
that,” Mama said. She looked at her
husband and asked, “What do you think?
Will it be all right if she stays?”
Daddy looked at Tony and Cindy. “Welcome to your new home,” he said to Cindy.
Cindy’s paperwork for Congaree University
went through very quickly. She started
as a freshman that fall and made new friends easily. As I write these words, Cindy is now in the
second semester of her freshman year, she’s enjoying it, and she’s making all
A’s and B’s.
Keeping Cindy’s secret has been hard for
all of them. One of her new friends
found out that Cindy was a fox fairy.
Being the true friend that she was, she never told anyone, and she
joined the others in keeping the secret.
From time to time, a teacher or classmate saw Cindy in her fox form, but
her friends always managed to convince them that they had just imagined it.
One day, Cindy had a problem when she went
to Dutch Square Mall with Tony’s mother and sister. Malls don’t have windows, which makes it
harder for people to notice what time it is.
Darkness fell, and Cindy became a fox right there in the mall.
Cindy’s mother did the first thing that
came to mind: She quickly picked up Cindy and wrapped Cindy around her
neck. Cindy, knowing what Mama had in
mind, bit her own tail to make herself look more like a fox-fur wrap. It hurt Cindy’s tail to bite it, but Cindy
felt she had to make it look realistic.
As they reached the mall exit, Mama handed
sister the car keys. Sister ran across
the parking lot to the car and quickly opened the car door. Then Cindy jumped from her place around
Mama’s neck, ran across the parking lot, and jumped into the car. Everyone who saw this happen believed that
they had seen a woman holding a dog and letting it run to a car. People are most easily fooled when they fool
themselves.
Cindy has grown to enjoy life in America,
and she has another three years of college ahead of her. As it was on Kanifay Island, her secret life
as a fox has become somewhat like a game of hide and seek—except that she
doesn’t have to fear for her life. Cindy
does, however, get a little scared when she hears someone say, “She’s a fox.”
No comments:
Post a Comment