The Hidden Meadow:
A Story of an Unusual Friendship
By. Jae NHB
On a dark stormy night, a tall and slender figure emerged in the dark of night. It made an appearance when the light from the lighting struck the earth. The bronze body glinted as the rusted figure kept walking. The bronze soldier stumbled through the storm, as his movements were restricted and stiff. He made his way towards a small, abandoned village. Weeks went by and the rusted bronze soldier kept walking until the soldier came upon a meadow, the flowers and grass were tall, and the flowers ranged from a large spectrum of color.
For days the bronze soldier stood in the middle of the meadow until he came across a small, tiny red fox. A fox that seemed to just pop out of nowhere. The red fox was really happy and energetic, and seemed to only want to play with the soldier. But the rusted soldier was too tired and too old to play with the fox, even though he wanted to play; he just couldn’t. So, the fox kept persisting, he kept trying to play with the rusted soldier and over the next years the fox grew, and the soldier became more and more stiff, but their friendship grew with it. Over the years that the fox grew and he never lost his will to play with his rusted old friend. Then when the time came the rusted soldier's body fell and the soldier only had the strength to kneel, and soon his entire life slowly faded away with his last bit of strength.
The fox only wanted to play with his friend, and then that day came where his friend didn’t show a spark of life. The fox knew that he had passed, that he would never get the opportunity to play with his friend. Over the passing years the fox made a family, he grew older, but always came back to visit his friend, but in time the fox became a prize game to hunt. The meadows where the rusted soldier now kneeled became a high risk for the fox, but that never stopped the fox from returning. So, as time passed the hunters would start having to chase the fox down, making it so the fox would barely get the chance to escape. This continued for some time, but he never got caught.
In the middle of the day when the sun was high, the hunt for a fox was a big game this year. If I could catch just one red fox, I will be famous this hunting season, and I’ll finally get recognized for the great hunter that I am. Each season this one fox comes back to the meadows; this is where I hunt often, but he always seems to get away. He disappears deep in the valley, that slick fox gets away every time. But he is getting older which means the value of the fox is going down, but even an old fox still has a spring in its step.
Another year went by and that fox still manages to get away from me, but I have a good feeling this year. I stand and wait as the old fox stumbles into view, he’s too old to be worth anything. I hesitate as I make my aim, I put my finger on the trigger, and I decide to wait. I wait for a couple minutes before I put my gun down. I thought to myself, why would I hesitate in the perfect moment like this, but this fox looks so determined to go into an open meadow. What could be so important that he has to risk his whole life for? Maybe I should just follow him, see where he escapes every year. It looks like this fox is too old to even run, it looks like this fox will die soon. I don’t think he’ll make it through next year, is he planning on staying until he dies? It just doesn’t make sense, THERE he is going through a small hole in the stone wall. What is behind this wall that this fox is so fixated on, I always thought there was nothing beyond the wall. Alright you tricky old fox what have you been running to for all these years.
Deep within the meadow where the flowers and grass stood tall, and flowers came in such vivid colors. The fox came back to see his old friend, now who kneeled in the middle of the meadow, flowers and grass covered the rusted body. Why? Why would this fox risk everything just for an old rusty bronze soldier, it doesn’t make sense… wait a minute… yes it does, they were friends, and he wants to die next to his friend. - In the next year the fox and the soldier kneeled right in front of each other, and the hunter and the owner of the land made the secret meadow open to the public. He made a beautiful memorial and called the meadow, “A Hidden Friendship: Where an unusual friendship blossoms.” I made this small memorial for everyone to see, I gave up on hunting, and I made it a goal to spread the message of the brave bronze soldier and the loyal tricky fox.