I stopped writing this at the first moment I ran out of steam
She encountered a fox. This delighted her. Then she saw its mouth foaming.
This reminded her of something. -- Other than rabies. She thought, what, Maggie, does it remind you of? She walked closer.
It wasn't smart.
The fox barked. It was surprisingly doglike. A burgundy "arf." A strike of cello.
The fox rooted at a patch of dirt. Sideways, as if trying to rub off its nose. It curved its head into the ground like a scythe curling under wheat.
Now it seemed to be trying to get to its brain. It twisted its neck down violently. She saw an upper vertebra squeezed up under the ruddy bedsheet at the base of its skull. The fox jammed its eye socket at the burst of dirt. Perhaps it thought the tormenting rabies could be ground out of its eye.
This all only served to jostle Maggie's memory more. The weird familiarity was way way too strong and she definitely unwisely walked to within lunging distance. Nobody was around really. If there were a passerby they would have shouted, "Hey" but this was just some random walking road somewhere.
Behind Maggie there gathered a heavy tide of memory. Little driplets of it tanged upon the tip of her tongue but she couldn't spit it out. Like the blue-green ocean the immensing tide was impenetrable but full with the force of a thousand softnesses. She was borne forward toward the rabid fox which was still snarling and dervishing itself, the weight of the wave taking away her breath. The bigger it grew the wider her eyes got. It all seemed ready to crash any instant, but didn't. It just grew.
Maggie caught glimpses into the waves. There were intruders. One frothy memory formed on the surface and then instantly was gone, but Maggie recognized it as getting ice cream with Daddy at Friendly's after that funeral. Glittering on the back of the wave was that time she walked down this random road A fluffy fox that peeked out was definitely from that Disney movie. Her brain was trying too hard, that's why
This reminded her of something. -- Other than rabies. She thought, what, Maggie, does it remind you of? She walked closer.
It wasn't smart.
The fox barked. It was surprisingly doglike. A burgundy "arf." A strike of cello.
The fox rooted at a patch of dirt. Sideways, as if trying to rub off its nose. It curved its head into the ground like a scythe curling under wheat.
Now it seemed to be trying to get to its brain. It twisted its neck down violently. She saw an upper vertebra squeezed up under the ruddy bedsheet at the base of its skull. The fox jammed its eye socket at the burst of dirt. Perhaps it thought the tormenting rabies could be ground out of its eye.
This all only served to jostle Maggie's memory more. The weird familiarity was way way too strong and she definitely unwisely walked to within lunging distance. Nobody was around really. If there were a passerby they would have shouted, "Hey" but this was just some random walking road somewhere.
Behind Maggie there gathered a heavy tide of memory. Little driplets of it tanged upon the tip of her tongue but she couldn't spit it out. Like the blue-green ocean the immensing tide was impenetrable but full with the force of a thousand softnesses. She was borne forward toward the rabid fox which was still snarling and dervishing itself, the weight of the wave taking away her breath. The bigger it grew the wider her eyes got. It all seemed ready to crash any instant, but didn't. It just grew.
Maggie caught glimpses into the waves. There were intruders. One frothy memory formed on the surface and then instantly was gone, but Maggie recognized it as getting ice cream with Daddy at Friendly's after that funeral. Glittering on the back of the wave was that time she walked down this random road A fluffy fox that peeked out was definitely from that Disney movie. Her brain was trying too hard, that's why