The Fox’s Tale

The next morning I was grabbing books from my locker when my senses were clouded by her. I took a moment to savor the pleasure it brought me before growling and slamming my locker shut.

“What do you want?” I snapped. “I’m not in the mood to get tortured by you this early.”

Ellery didn’t even blink, she just held out a lunch bag to me. “If you’re going to keep doing what you are doing at night you need to up your caloric intake or you’re going to start losing muscle mass.”

All I could do was sputter, “what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Eat it or don’t, but it’d be a shame if you lost your form, Foxy.”

I took the bag from her, still in shock, and peeked inside. When I looked up she was already walking away. “Hey Ellery, thanks.” She stopped long enough to give me a quick smile, and then she picked up her pace and was gone, lost in the crush of students.

I looked in the bag again and found a fruit studded muffin, crackled with sugar, sitting on a foil wrapped package that smelled almost as good to me as she did. Both the muffin and the package were warm.

I checked the time and cut through the cafeteria to grab some juice. As I waited in line to pay I pulled the packet out. A sticky note was stuck to it and read ‘bacon, egg, and cheese turnover.’ I tore it open and when I bit into it, it was as if all my hunger and longing for her had found an acceptable substitute.

I demolished it before I even got a chance to pay for my juice. This I guzzled on my way to English and I managed to slip into my seat with enough time to store my muffin away safely for later. For the first time since early October I was able to focus on what my teachers were saying.

At practice that afternoon both coaches gave a joint lecture on the importance of eating well, sleeping well, yadda yadda yadda, citing the long season and forecasted rough winter. I managed to catch Ellery’s eye as she was setting up a table with what looked like gift bags on it.

The smile she gave me was so fleeting that if I had blinked I would have missed it. Then she turned her attention back to her task. Before I could get too curious Coach Murphy drew everyone’s attention to it.

“Ellery has put together a small care package for each of you. At the end of practice make sure to take your specific bag. In addition to what she’s prepared you’ll find some instructions from us on the areas you need to work on.

“Don’t forget we’ll be having practice on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Then we’ll only have four days to get ready for our first game of the season. Today though, you all deserve a little fun. After warm ups we’ll be playing HORSE.”

Ordinarily I’m competitive enough to try and win a game of HORSE, but given the choice between bragging rights and a chance to chat up Ellery I chose the latter, knocking myself out in the middle of the group.

I sat down next to her. “Thanks again for the second breakfast. It was delicious.” So far so good, nothing mortifying had come out.

“You’re welcome. You got knocked out on purpose.”

“Was it that obvious?” I asked with a laugh.

“It was to me, but I doubt anyone else noticed.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t participating. You’d probably win.”

“Yes, well… I have before. This time though, my heart’s just not in it.”

The whole time we’d been talking she’d been staring straight ahead, barely moving. At first I thought she was still mad at me from yesterday, but when I looked at her face with more attention I noticed her grimacing in pain.

“Are you okay?” I asked; alarmed by how pale and drawn she looked.

“No, I need… to go outside.” Her breathing turned ragged as she tried to stand. She sank back to the ground and put her head in her hands. “Get Billy,” she panted.

“Sure thing.” I looked around and yelled “Hey Coach Murphy!” and pointed at Ellery.

“Oh shit,” he said as he jogged over and crouched down in front of her. “How bad is it, Elly?”

“I need some fresh air. Get me outside, now. Now, Billy, now.” She clutched at his arm and he scooped her up off the floor.

“What’s going on?” I asked on the verge of freaking out. “Should I call an ambulance or something?”

“No, she’ll be okay; I just have to get her outside.” He headed for the door but I dogged his steps.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Damn kid, if she hasn’t told you I’m not going to. It’s not my place.”

“She’s not dying is she?” I felt my guts seize up at the thought.

Coach Murphy laughed. “No, she’s not dying, but I’m sure at times she’s wanted to.”

“Shut your mouth, Billy.”

“That’s my girl,” he said as he carried her outside. Dejected and worried, I went back into the gym. I wasn’t prone to thinking of worst case scenarios but something about this had me rattled. I wasn’t the only one.

All the fun had been sucked out of the gym and no one was even playing. We all stood around or paced, waiting for Coach Murphy and hopefully Ellery to come back. Twenty minutes later Coach Murphy returned without her and shook his head at Coach Hendrix.

“I called James to come get her. She’s got a migraine.”

A migraine? After what he’d said to me in the lobby on his way to take her outside I saw that for the lie it was. I crossed my arms and glowered at him.

Coach Hendrix cleared his throat. “Okay fellas, I think that’s enough for today. You’re welcome to use the rest of our scheduled practice time to shoot around if you want, but you are also free to leave. Go check out what she made for you.”

That perked everyone up and there was a mad dash to the table. I hung back watching, my worry over what had happened eating at me. Based on what they pulled out I could see that each bag contained an assortment of food stuff, an index card, an envelope with our name on it, a small wrapped box, and a few other personalized items. I picked mine up but didn’t open it.

The first year varsity players kept talking about how they’d heard about the gift bags and started peppering the returning players with questions about if the rumor that she gave them one each month was true too.

Guys were stuffing food into their mouths and shaking the small packages trying to guess what was inside, but no one opened them, especially after Matt pointed out that it would be better to wait to open those at home.

“It’s always something you need, but sometimes it’s something private. Like,” he paused and lowered his voice, “jock itch ointment.”

“Dude!”

“Not for me!” He looked around again. “It was Ward.”

This set off a round of laughter from those who knew who the hell Ward was. I didn’t care. I was watching Lee ignore everything else in his bag while he read his note from Ellery.

A smile crept onto his face along with a hint of blush. He looked up, saw me staring at him and put the note in the pocket of his shorts. Then he picked up his bag and walked away. Other team members started opening their notes too.

Some laughed, others blushed, and Nick said “how does she know I get charley horses?” I walked over to Coach Murphy.

“Tell me the truth. Is she okay?”

Coach Murphy sighed. “I don’t know Xander, I really don’t. She’s strong and she’s been through worse than what she’s going through right now, but that doesn’t mean I think she can bear up under the strain indefinitely. Something’s got to give and soon, or things could get really ugly.”

“Ugly how?” I asked bewildered, but Coach Murphy wouldn’t say anything else. Annoyed, I picked up my care package, backpack, and gym bag then left. I was beyond irritated, not just because he wouldn’t tell me anything useful, but also because both days this week my time with her had been cut short.

Now there were going to be two days devoid of Ellery entirely. I wanted to claw my skin off in desperation. “Just make it to Friday,” I muttered as I threw my stuff into my car.

I sat there, car idling, too agitated to drive, so I flicked on the cabin light and opened my gift bag. I cracked a smile and some of my irritation left me. I pulled out my favorite candy bar, and a bag of cashews which were also a favorite, and another muffin like the one from that morning.

She’d also put in a package of lozenges and some elderberry syrup. I rolled the bottle in my hands, wondering if she knew that my throat tended to get rough and sore during the winter or if she’d just taken a guess. I set the index card aside, since it was pointers from the coaches. I shook the wrapped box and gave it an exploratory sniff before opening my note.

“Alexander,

You are not taking care of your health. If you do not start getting sleep and eating better you will be unable to withstand the beatings you will take in post play. Find a way to scratch your itch, Foxy. I don’t want you to get hurt.

Ellery”

“Scratch my itch? How about I bend you over the hood of my car and mount you?” I leaned my head back against the headrest and closed my eyes in frustration. “What the fuck am I going to do?” I shoved the car into drive and drove home.