President Fox

Chapter 1: Hatching a Plan to War Against Bears

Fox cowered inside the rock crevice, squeezing himself as hard as he could against the dank walls. Outside two black bears roared and threw their heavy bodies against the stone he was hiding under. Anytime now, and the whole thing would crush him

Fox called out with a shiver of desperation in his shriek, "Please, please give me more time! I will pay you back. I promise. I will pay you back!"

A roar and another thump trembled through the stone, the vibration amplifying the shiver down Fox's back. A bear thrust his nose into the hole and growled, "I don't believe you. You were sly enough to go to different bears to get your loans. It is impossible for anyone to pay back that much meat to all of us in one lifetime. I might as well tear you into pieces and send off your body parts to all your lenders."

Fox shivered. He had been too lazy to hunt for his own meat in the past three months, so he had borrowed a slab of meat half his weight from each of six bear clan. Fox had lied and told them that he was planning on planting a field of sunflowers. It was going to attracts birds and deer, he promised them. It would be a perfect hunting ground, he gushed. But instead of buying seeds and planting those sunflowers, he had either eaten up the meat or bartered them for something special, like the juice of over-ripe fruit that made him feel dizzy and nice all over.

At least these bears were still talking to him. As long as they talked, he could reason with them. "But that will get you nothing. Each of you will barely get a mouthful."

The bear took a long, indulgent sniff. His growl sounded indolent, as though he had already made a meal of Fox and was now picking his teeth with the bones. "We will make an example of you. We will wear parts of you like a necklace around our neck and tell every potential borrower your story." He grinned menacingly, all jowls and snout in that narrow opening. "Your bones will be the perfect reminder to our other clients."

The bears, of course, were making a loss. The only reason they loan out surplus meat was so that they could get a fresh supply of meat in the future. That was the reason why any animal who came to borrow could only take up to half its body weight. The repayment was one month later, at double the weight of borrowed meat. If the borrower could not pay with meat they hunted, they pay with their bodies. Fox had nice fur though. Maybe that would make up for the difference.

"No, no, wait!" Fox shrieked. He swallowed and bit a paw for a moment to calm himself. Though he was trembling so hard, it felt like he would snap a bone, his voice sounded cunning and conniving when he said, "I have an idea. I know how to pay back my debts double, oh no, triple to all the bears."

The bear's nose disappeared from the hole and a holler of laughter thundered outside. The second bear said, "Wait. Let's hear him out. I am curious to hear what he wants to say before we break him."

Fox took another swallow and muffled a whimper behind his paw. Then he said, "Thank you. Thank you for listening. I notice that not a lot of animals go into your territory. Am I right?"

A thoughtful silence later, the first bear said, "Yes, you are right. What has that got to do with you paying back your debts?"

"If I can persuade an army of animals to go to your area to openly fight you, will you consider that as payment enough?"

The second bear asked, "Why would we agree to a fight?"

"Because bears are the greatest animals in the jungle. Nobody can fight you and win. You can eat them to your fill, and sell off the carcasses to other carnivores in the neighbouring valleys and jungles."

"Interesting idea," the second bear said. "But how will you persuade them to do it?"

Fox swallowed. He sent a little prayer out to his ancestors, the ones who died of old age. "In that respect, I will need your help to do something that will make them mad enough to want to fight you. I need one of the bears to do something that will be considered so deplorable that it will make the other animals declare war on your kind."