Work, play and chores

Instructions

Work, Play, and Chores It really was a beautiful day, Lin thought. The sun was shining, the air was crisp, which was a welcome surprise as it was the beginning of a sweltering August, and for all the world she wanted to get on with her plans. All of her sorrows were because of her little fight with Dorthy. And she didn't even start it! Lin had done better on their hunting test. And Dorthy had Ragefully pounced on her tail. Lin had only retaliated by kicking the other fox in the face, nothing unreasonable. Yet her mother didn't see it that way. So here she was, stuck cleaning the nests on such a beautiful day that there surely wouldn't be another like it for many years; if ever again. Suddenly, Lin had a brilliant idea. So brilliant was it that if all the philosophers in the whole wild world worked together, they would only get one half as good. As if by magic, her brother strutted into the cave. “Ha! You're stuck doing chores? Wouldn't you rather climb a tree with me?” he pretended to ponder a moment then stated “naw, you would rather work wouldn't you.” he laughed at his own lousy joke. Lin ignored him, grabbing a few clumps of moss out, then stepping back to admire her work. He bemusedly stared at her “you are working?” “You call this work, Xinc?” He stared at her wide eyed “hey i wanna try!” Lin looked thoughtful for a moment. “No, no. Mama told me to do this, because she knows I have an eye for these things. She said that there might not be a fox in the whole colony who can do it properly.” This statement caused Xinc, who had been happy just moments before to stumble out of the cave dejectedly. Just before he left she loudly stated how hungry she was. She saw him perk up before he burst out. A few minutes later, Xinc hurried in, a bundle of leaves in his jaw. “Ill give you eight black berries, just please sissy, give me a turn!” he begged Lin gave in with a morose look on her face, but pleasurably giddy to be free of her burden. As she sat down to munch on her berries, she watched Xinc, who was entranced by the process. She mused at what she could get from this, and thus started to plan on how to execute it. Kits would come to laugh but stay to clean. Billy offered two shiny rocks, Trix offered a mushroom, Joe a piece of two-leg trash, and even Dorothy came and offered an apology, because she hadn't before. Lin could have cleaned the colony out if the nests didn't run out of stuff to clean out. A wiser fox would have noted that this was a good lesson on the difference between work and play, but all Lin thought was that she now had a good way to get out of chores.