This morning, driving in a morose mood (to which I have no right, but unsmiling and gloomy nevertheless), the red fox ran across the road 30 yards ahead — a bright red ruff and head, a white-tipped tail stretching out behind his sprint — . Two seconds from seeing to disappearance … and with that ocular incantation, my day changed. The fox gave me a levitation bump, the push I needed to remember my everyday measure of grace that comes from the wild creatures and weather of this part of the world, the buck-up push to bring me back into the common offering available to anyone paying attention to birds and sky, to anything feral moving along a horizon line. You do not know what might come forth and cleanse the bad spirits of the day. Open your eyes. Be ready.
