Fox Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

daughter’s hands down, ignoring her giggling. “It’s like the story of the fox who wraps herself in the skin of a dead girl,” she explained. “Somehow, in real life, we have to become like the fox girl.”
    I didn’t like the story of the fox girl. In the version my father told me, a big fox visits a country school. It is late at night and the students have decided to sleep in the schoolroom because it is too dark to walk home. All but one of the hundred students have fallen asleep when the one awake hears a soft guttural voice counting pairs of shoes outside— hana, dul, set, net —all the way to one hundred.
    Through the window, the boy sees the snout of a fox, but as it crawls through the window, it takes the shape of a beautiful young woman. The boy thinks he must be dreaming and rubs his eyes. He strains to see in the darkness and notices: the dirt from a newly dug grave lodged under her nails; the blood like lipstick staining her mouth; the glittering of a hunter’s eyes in the night.
    The boy crawls away, hiding in a far corner of the room. He watches the fox girl count the students with a kiss that steals their breaths. With each kiss, a boy stops breathing and dies in middream.
    When she approaches the corner where the youngest boy is hiding, he creeps back to his sleeping place. Sick with fear, he lies down among the dead bodies of his friends. When the girl reaches the end of the row of students, she growls. “Only ninety-nine! There is one missing. How can that be?”
    She rushes outside to recount the pairs of shoes. One hundred. She counts again, to be absolutely certain, and all the while the boy inside tries not to move, tries not to breathe. After again finding exactly one hundred pairs of shoes, the fox girl turns toward the door to recount the boys. Just then, a cock crows. The demon drops to all fours and scampers into the nearby woods. The clever boy is saved, the only one out of a hundred to live.
    â€œI don’t want to be a fox girl,” I told Sookie’s mother. “They are evil creatures.”
    Sookie’s mother shrugged. “I suppose it depends on who tells the story,” she said, choosing a deep red lipstick, like blood from a fox’s mouth, for her daughter. I smacked my own lips, which felt heavy and thick. The smell of the lipstick reminded me a little of the taste of rubber and hot dog.
    â€œThe fox girl was only trying to regain what those boys stole from her,” Sookie explained, making an effort to keep her mouth open and still.
    I frowned, and Sookie’s mother finished the story. “The fox was once the keeper of the jewel of knowledge. She kept it safe, hidden under her tongue. One day, a young scholar hunted her down, begging her to teach him a little of the world. He seemed a nice boy, sincere and eager.
    â€œThe fox allowed him to kiss her, so he could have a taste of knowledge. But he became greedy and swallowed the jewel, planning to look up at the sky, then down at the ground before it could dissolve, knowing that if he did so he would possess all the wisdom of heaven and earth.
    â€œBut the fox pulled at his chin to try to get her jewel back, and he was forced to look only at the earth. That’s why men only know about things on earth. And that’s why the fox borrows a human form, forever searching each man for that lost jewel.”
    I stared at Sookie’s mouth—her teeth looked sharp and white in that red, red mouth. “I never heard that ending before,” I said.
    Sookie laughed. “Maybe my mother made it up then.”
    â€œBoth of you, close your mouths and your eyes.” Sookie’s mother ordered. She dusted powder across our faces, and when the cloud evaporated, settling on the oils of our skin, I began to understand how makeup could be worn as a disguise. It felt like one, a shield over tender skin. And the face I saw across from mine was Sookie’s but