Pax

Peter takes in the devastation of the land and the toll the war has taken on the place he remembers so well: “What hurt most to look at was the water. The last time he’d been here… he might have been swimming through liquid diamonds. Now muddy boulders clogged the river… caking to dry clay, (and) smelled of death” (259). Peter remembers Vola asking him which side of the war his father fought on. He remembers saying “the right side” indignantly. Vola responded by saying, “Boy. Do you think anyone in the history of this world ever set out to fight for the wrong side?” (259).

Peter sees vultures and a fox carcass, but it’s not red. He’s relieved, believing that Pax is still alive. He continues up a mountain pass and then sees something that takes his breath away: a slim hind leg with a white paw. He knows it belongs to a fox, but it seems small, he can’t be sure it’s Pax’s: “What did it matter anyway? A fox had been going about its life here, and some humans had obliterated that life—wasn’t that enough of an outrage?” (262). He examines the leg and then he sees something that shakes him to his foundation. “And his hand brushed something that turned the breath in his lungs to ash.” He sees the toy solider; Peter screams “Pax” with all his might.

The coyote sinks his teeth into Pax’s shoulder. Pax, still alive, runs toward the clearing, hoping to lead the coyote away from the tree and away from Runt and Bristle. All of a sudden, he hears his boy’s voice. A second coyote comes out to attack the foxes and then Pax hears Peter again. He runs from the clearing and from his high perch looks at the scene down below: “War-sick men streamed down from the walls, sticks raised, converging on a figure down on the field” (264).

Pax sees a black-haired youth curled up on the ground, but the boy looks different than Pax remembers: “Stranger still, this boy held his head high, not canted downward. He faced the men in defiance, something Pax had never seen Peter do,” 264). A man rushes forward into the field, Pax recognizes him as Peter’s father. The father runs and embraces Peter, something Pax also realizes he’d never seen Peter’s father do.

Peter lets his father hug him but looks on at him in outrage. He yells at his father—he said he was only going to be laying wire: “And then he understood everything at once. Why the men had not advanced. How the grasses had been burned and the trees uprooted, and the river strangled with rocks” (266). Peter yells that his father knew, he picks up the fox leg. “You knew! And you did this! Pax!” (267).

To everyone’s surprise, Pax barks from the high ground when Peter calls his name.

Peter holds what’s left of the fox’s leg high above his head and calls Pax’s name. He hears an answering bark and can’t believe it at first. He looks at the ridgeline and sees a flash of red. A fox stares straight at him. Peter gives his father the leg, commanding him to bury it, and starts up the hill to the fox. “Wait, Peter, you have to understand it is my duty!” His father says. Peter points at Pax “That’s mine” (271). His father shouts to him about wires, but Peter charges ahead, not listening. He gets to the top of the hill and apologizes to Pax. Pax takes Peter’s wrist in his jaws in a sign of true love, to claim Peter, but then drops Peter’s wrist and runs away towards a tree in the clearing.

Peter sees a pair of coyotes circling the tree with the injured Bristle in it. Peter sees Pax attack one of the coyotes and realizes that the two foxes are a team. One of the coyotes bites Pax’s neck, and Peter roars in fury. One of the coyotes bares his fangs. Peter bares his teeth back and swings the crutches above his head to make himself appear bigger and scares the coyotes away.

Pax runs up to Peter and starts licking his face, and Peter embraces his fox. Bristle goes into the brush and emerges with Runt. Peter spies the missing leg and puts everything together. Runt allows Peter to pet him for a moment and then heads back beside Bristle. Peter understands the connection between Pax and the other foxes. Pax starts off and then turns to take one last look at Peter. Peter cries, Pax runs back to lick the tears off his boy’s face. He tells Pax “No. I don’t want you to stay. I’ll always leave the porch door open, but you have to go” (276). Peter takes out the toy soldier and throws it as far away he can, away from all the war and suffering, so Pax can be safe.