Where Did That Fox Go?

Today we were in the Publix parking lot and this little kid was staring at our car. Transfixed.

It brought back memories of a night not so long ago...

If you get squeamish, skip this post.


We had went to a restaurant way out in Edgefield, South Carolina. It was late by the time we got in the car to head back home.

We are driving down a country two lane road when all of a sudden we see yellow eyes and hear "THWAP"! It was enough to send fear through your heart.

"We hit something!" I yelled.

"Yeah, but I don't know exactly" grimaces hubby.

"Was it a dog?"

"No" he replied. "I think it was a coyote or maybe a fox."

We continue down the road in silence when all of a sudden we hear thump, thump, thump.

OH GEE..... IS IT STILL THERE?

Visions of some poor thing runs through my mind, I think I am going to be sick.

Then we hear funny fumbling noises, and slapping, and things dropping off the car.

"Should we get out?" I wonder aloud.

"No. If something is alive it will sure as Hell bite me if I try to help it. We just need to get home."

We turn at the lake, taking a quick left, and something falls off our car.

Yuck.

Hubby slowly turns his head and looks at me. "Maybe we better stop at the car wash."

I vigorously nod my head.

We get into town and pull into the car wash. You know, one of those 24 hour gas stations with a car wash tunnel attached? As we pull into the car wash, we read where it's two dollars to run though the cycle. Oh and it only takes quarters.

We dig around and come up with a buck fifty. We are going to have to go inside to get more change.

Hubby backs out of the wash and turns the car around and parks in front of the store.

People stare. People stop. A woman is horrified and covers her eyes and runs into the store.

Not good.

We slowly get out.

I refuse to look.

I come back with quarters. I don't see anything on the grill.

I ask hubby " What were they staring at?"

He said "Oh there was something there alright. A fox. I had to get a plastic bag from the trunk and use it to cover my hand to pull it off of there. It was wedged pretty tight."

Thank God I am not a guy. I would have fainted if asked to do that.

We go through the wash cycle. It's silent in the car.

What was a great evening with friends turned into Roadkill Hell.

Days go by.

We forget the "incident".

Then hubby has a near collision and has to honk his horn.

It doesn't honk.

It doesn't toot.

It doesn't beep.

It warbles like a baby bird.

He takes the car in to get the grill fixed and have the horn looked at while it's there.

Seems that the fox took out quite a bit of stuff under there. Our air conditioning was pretty much gone, (it was winter and we hadn't noticed), and some other pretty important stuff was history.

So over a thousand dollars later we end the fox saga.

Until today. When the little boy looked at our car like there was a fox stuck in the grill.

I couldn't look.