The Midnight Fox

Over the next four days, Tom goes to the creek and waits for the black fox. He is not naturally patient, but he learns to appreciate the beautiful nature surrounding him and daydreams about inventing a new color that is inspired by the golden-green of the meadow grass. He is so deep in his daydream that he nearly misses the black fox who glides across the field, pounces on a mouse, catches it, and carries it away.

Tom is fascinated by the fox and compares his fixation with her to Petie’s obsession with Monopoly. Acting on his gut instinct, Tom follows the fox through the forest. He hears her bark and senses that she is asking him to follow her, to somehow save her, but instead, he ends up in a field full of cows back at the farm. Tom tells Hazeline that he followed a fox who called to him, and Hazeline explains that the fox was probably luring him away from her den. Tom shares that she is a black fox. This piques Hazeline’s interest, and she tells him that she has only seen a black fox as a lovely fur coat.