I am pleased to announce that my writing has won me a fox. There is a shockingly tiny group of fox-winning writers out there. This is definitely going on my CV, right next to ostrich herding and singing lullabies to a sick lion.
Okay, it’s not a real fox. They belong in the woods. I won a felt fox by fibre artist Bella McBride. Our local CBC’s radio show The Shift held a contest for listeners to write in with a name and a story for the fox. Many of the entries were read on the air (including mine – squee!) and Candace Hare, director of the Nashwaaksis arm of the Fredericton Public Library, was the judge.
I listened to the show last Monday, shoulders tight and nails nibbled. Finally, they announced the winner – and it was me! I got an extra thrill as they discussed the highlights of my entry on air and giggled over all the parts I wanted people to giggle over.
My fox arrived by courier and is now presiding over my writing desk as muse and writing trophy. There isn’t much money in fiction writing, but there are wicked perks where you least expect them.
Here’s my entry, which is a light-hearted bit of fun I hope you’ll enjoy reading as much as I did writing it:
Red O’Sullivan, the CBC Fox
Red O’Sullivan was an urban red fox
Who lived near the library in an old cardboard box.
He listened to the CBC on his phone
Sipping coffee and wishing for a show of his own.
Red worried a great deal about climate change
And found human indifference incredibly strange
So he started a podcast to vent his rants
And recorded it from home where he didn’t need pants.
The CBC staff liked his podcast, you see
And invited him over as an interviewee
He arrived on time in his orange fox fur
Only to hear, “You can’t go in there , Mr. Fox, Sir.
You are naked,” said the security guard.
“I’m a fox,” answered Red, nervous and swallowing hard,
“I’ve an interview at two. Please, let me through.”
“I can’t let you in naked. You need clothes, you do.”
“But this is my dream job – the first fox on air!
Is there possibly anything inside I could wear?”
“There’s a green coat and hat in the lost and found,
And this CBC t-shirt’s been lying around.”
They nabbed some suspenders and a pair of pants
From a fan happening by who enjoyed fox’s rants.
A scarf from the guard and his look was complete,
Red the fox went inside to his interview seat.
He answered questions in a confident voice,
Leaving his interviewers no other choice.
He was hired at once to the CBC team,
You can find him there now, he’s living his dream
In a lost and found coat and lovely green hat,
Sipping coffee and hosting a climate change chat.
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Jennifer Shelby 