Sly as a Fox {Book One}

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Author's Note (A/N): The image above is of Willow.

Below is the list of the species:

-Volpe: American Red fox; Vulpes vulpes fulvus

-Lupo: Northwestern Gray wolf; Canis lupus occidentalis

-Carca: American wolverine; Gulo gulo luscus

-Pantera: North American cougar; Puma concolor couguar

-Orso: Grizzly bear; Ursus arctos horribilis

Sly

adjective

-cunning or wily: sly as a fox

-stealthy, insidious, or secret

-playfully artful, mischievous, or roguish: sly humor

As loving as a wolf.

As smart as a human.

As ferocious as a wolverine.

As agile as a cougar.

As bear-like as...a bear?

I guess they make sense, I thought, re-reading the worksheet's directions to confirm that this was really what we were being assigned. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't wrong: The worksheet was asking us to describe each species in a positive way with three "descriptive" adjectives and explain why we made those choices. I made my way down the list, filling in the blank with the first word that popped into my head besides dumb-asses or lonely bastards, until I came to my species at the very bottom, like always.

My species - more so than any of the others - was utterly despised. For reasons beyond my comprehension, we were faced with mistreatment and hatred every day we stepped outside and this worksheet was no different: Asking us to assign a characteristic to each of the species. It would be a cold day in hell before whoever wrote this to admit their own specism in expecting high school students to understand the nuances of species relations well enough to not be specist with this "critical thinking" exercise.

I could only imagine what the idiots around me wrote down for my species: Cunning, deceitful, tricky, maybe even mysterious. But I knew the most likely adjective would be "sly". I was aware that the words I used for the species were stereotypical for them too, but being described as "smart" versus "sly" were on completely different levels because of their implications in the real world outside of a stupid high school classroom.

Feeling myself growing tense, I threw my pencil aside. Logically, I knew that a high school assignment shouldn't have gotten me as worked up as it did, but I had to deal with specist crap like this and worse every day. I couldn't stand to finish the worksheet and I started to pack up my things when the bell rang. The kids around me carelessly threw their items into their own bags and hurried out of the classroom like it was suddenly on fire.

I walked up to the instructor and handed it to him. His massive hand reached out for it and I leaned up against the wall as I said, "You know, I'm surprised you would even hand out a worksheet like that." I watched his facial features for a reaction.

Mr. Gamert looked up at me over the frames of his glasses that barely clung to the end of his nose, "And why is that?"

I snorted and rolled my eyes while throwing up my hand in frustration. "Because it's clearly specist! Asking us to put characteristics to the species does nothing more than keep everyone in their own boxes and implies that we can never be anything more than what we are already perceived as!" Another student awkwardly ducked in between us to hand his paper in and left just as quickly, trying not to get caught in the cross-fire of our exchange.