An Unlikely Friendship--Leyla

 My name is Vanessa and I am a 5-week old fox. My parents have always been strict with me because they are so scared of the world around us. They think every predator is out to get me and our family but I don’t like to judge other animals before I meet them. All of our predators can’t want to eat us all the time. I just can’t believe that. What if they are just as misunderstood as we are to our prey. I think rabbits are adorable, I don’t want to eat them. I usually just eat berries, fruits, and vegetables. I know that there is a predator that feels the same way about foxes like me. I asked my parents if I could explore in the forest by myself because I’m almost 6 weeks old and about to leave the nest, I just want a little bit of freedom. They said I could go explore but I couldn’t go past the river because that’s where bears are. So I told them I wouldn’t and I went on my way however I need to know if what they are saying about the bears is true. Maybe some don’t want to eat us. I went past the river and I immediately saw a bear. He was scratching his back on a tree and eating berries just like I do. I’m so curious if he will eat more or be friendly to me so I take a chance and I call him over. I say, “Hey, you over there!” He looks over and starts to walk up to me then sits up on his hind legs. He’s very tall and I’m a little scared but I have to know if my parents are

just being overprotective. So I say,” Hi, my name is Vanessa. What’s yours?” Then he says,” Umm...hi, I’m Jordan. You’re not scared of me?” I exclaim,” No! Are you gonna eat me?” He says,” No, I’m not like other bears. I eat berries and plants. I don’t like to kill other animals.” I was so happy to hear that. I knew my parents were just judging a book by its cover. So we talked for hours about our interests and we had a lot in common despite being two different species. I tell him goodbye and we make plans to talk with each other the next day. I get back to the cave and my parents asked where I had been. I knew they wouldn’t be happy that I talked to a predator so I just said,” Sorry I fell asleep by the river and I lost track of time.” My father then said,”It’s okay we’re just glad you are okay.” I smile and go to my side of the den to go to sleep because I’m so excited to see him tomorrow again.

It’s the next morning and my parents wake me up to tell me that they’re going to leave for the day to go find food for us and that I needed to stay in the cave all day. I tell them I won’t leave the cave to ease their minds and they leave. After a couple of hours, I go again to meet up with Jordan. So he asks me where I live in the forest and I point to the mountain and tell him that I live in a cave there. He then says,”I’ve never been to that mountain before my parents won’t let me go over there because they’re scared of the humans.” This made me sad because I understood what it was like to have overprotective parents so I invite him to come to the cave to show him that there is nothing to be afraid of. He agrees then we head over to my cave. I see a bird fly over me but I think nothing

of it. We arrive at my cave and he says,”Wow, my parents were really protecting me from nothing there are no humans over here.” I laughed and said,”I told you!” We both were very tired from our journey so we took a nap.

I wake up from my nap and realize it’s dark outside. I start to freak out because Jordan is still in the cave and my parents could be home any moment. I wake him up and he starts to run home. I’m so happy I got away with seeing my new best friend again. A few hours later, my parents come home and I can tell something is wrong. They sit with me on my side of the cave and they ask me if I had become friends with a bear. I tell them no and they ask me again. I can tell they know. Then I remember the bird that flew over us and I knew we were caught. I tell them yes and they immediately become more angry with me. They repeat what they’ve always said about bears and other predators then I say,” He is different from other bears and actually wants to be friends with me. You can’t judge all bears off of one experience you may have had. I’m going to be leaving the nest in a week. I’m sure I can make good decisions for myself by now.” With an astonished face, they tell me I can no longer be friends with this bear and that he is too dangerous to be friends with. I run out of the cave and I run towards where I think my best friend’s cave is. Luckily, I find him walking by this waterfall. I call him and he looks behind himself. I tell him what happened and told him that we should runaway and let other animals know that not all animals have to be enemies.

He agrees and we start our journey to change the animal world and dynamic one animal at a time.