I didn’t put its seatbelt on,
but it sat there like a good friend
staring ahead,
not worried about where we were going.
I drove slowly, hoping
passersby would see the fox,
and think perhaps it was real.

I thought about Ted Hughes who thought about
taking a fox-cub home when he met a man
walking over Chalk Farm Bridge
with one buttoned inside his jacket
who offered it for a pound.

I was not as adventurous,
but wanted the idea of something wild
close to me.

I put the fox in our living room
and left the garden door open.
I wanted my husband to come home
to see the fox and think it had snuck in –
to think it was real.

The trick worked. He jumped and I laughed.

We got rid of our car and I put the fox outside.
Our children stub cigarettes out on its head.