BLUE-YELLOW, YELLOW-BLUE

Every fox’s face in the village of Foxytrot was filled with shock as little Gerald walked through the main street for the first time. They had heard that the Finleys had had a rather unusual looking baby fox recently, but what they saw before their eyes was something unbelievable. Nobody had seen Gerald before as the Finleys had kept him in the house and only taken him for walks around their garden. Their house was situated at the outskirts of the village where not many villagers went. But now it was time for Gerald to go to school and the school was situated at the center of the village. As he walked down the street with his mother he couldn’t help but notice every other fox staring at him.

A little while later, they arrived at the school. Gerald looked up at his mother and said “Why were all the village people staring at me mama?’.

“Oh they were all just fascinated to see you for the first time”said Mrs Finley as she rubbed her paw lovingly across Gerald’s tiny head.”Fash-eee-naded, what does that mean mama?”said Gerald looking confused.” They were just happy to see you Gerald that’s all, now you must go to school as the gates are about to close”said Mrs Finley.”But I am scared mamma,, I don’t like this place and I don’t like people staring at me” said Gerald with a worried look on his face.”You will be alright, you are strong and brave. Do not worry so much and go now, trust me when I say school is going to be a lot of fun” said Mrs Finley and before Gerald could say anything else she held his paw and took him to the school gate. “Off you go now.”she said. Many teachers were receiving the newcomers at the gate and as soon as they saw Gerald for the first time they all froze. One of them said” How did this happen Mrs Finley, this is not possible”.“Please mind your words Miss Jefoxy, his name is Gerald and I would like it if one you showed him to his classroom”said Mrs Finley sternly. One of the teachers, Ms Roxylove took Geralds hand reluctantly and started walking him to his classroom as he looked back at his mother and waved goodbye.

Whatever made the elders stare at Gerald all morning certainly did not concern any of his classmates. All of them were scared as it was their first day but by the time it was lunch break they were all playing and having fun, including Gerald. After eating all the snacks and candies his mother had packed for him he went over to the washroom which was just outside his classroom. Once he had finished washing his hands and was about to exit two older looking students walked inside. They looked at Gerald and stopped . “He is the little fox my mum warned me in the morning about”said one of them to the other while both of them eyed Gerald. “Eshcooz me, I have to go to class” said Gerald and started walking towards the door but both of the senior foxes stood in his way.”I think we should teach this cursed fox a lesson” said one of them and then moved his arm forward to grab Gerald by his collar. But just before he could do so a voice came from behind them. “What is going on here?”said professor Longtail as he entered the washroom. “Nothing sir just welcoming this little one to our school” said one of the senior foxes as he patted Gerald on his shoulder instead of grabbing his collar and then both of them walked past Gerald and went into the stalls. Gerald, confused and scared by what was happening ran past the professor to his classroom. He sat at one place for a while as he was very sad but as the day went on he played and laughed a lot with his classmates and he soon had forgotten about this incident.

In the coming weeks Gerald had fun at school, mostly. There were times similar incidents with seniors took place and one such time he told his mother about it. His mother was furious and shouted at the school staff for not taking proper care of its students and for allowing bullying to occur in school. After that no senior troubled Gerald but most villagers still stared at him wherever he went. Sometimes he thought they didn’t like him.

School went on and soon sports day arrived. Gerald was part of the tiny tots fox march and was supposed to march with his classmates during the sports day parade. The march began and Gerald was having a good time. As Gerald marched he felt something hit his head, and then felt something else hit his neck. He looked up at the stands and saw that some of the elders sitting there were throwing things at him, things like used plastic cups and bottles. Many were saying things like” Look at his color, he is not one of us!”. Soon the items that were being thrown were so many that Gerald’s classmates and parents had to surround him so that he didn’t get hurt. The parade continued but Gerald’s mother made him sit with her now. Once sports day was over Gerald went home with his parents not knowing why he had been attacked like this, he wondered how someone could hate him so much without even knowing him.

Years passed and little Gerald grew up. He finished his school years and opted to become a foxovist. A foxovist fought for the rights of foxes. All his life he had been discriminated against by many people. The reason for this was that Gerald had a blue body with a yellow spot, while all the other village foxes had yellow bodies with a blue spot. The color of Gerald’s body was considered to be cursed as the village elders used to say that the foxes of the Foxylove clan from the north who were believed to practice witchcraft and dark magic had the similar color. There was no evidence to support this and even if there was Gerald was still a good person and his friends and family knew this. His having a different color than the villagers was a natural thing and not something he could choose. But the villagers, especially the village elders who had influenced their kids too into hating him did not seem to understand this and continued to make Gerald’s life hell. So Gerald finally decided to take action. He decided that he wanted to be a foxovist and fight for his rights. There were many others like him who were oppressed because of how god made them such as Johnny Foxbeer who had no legs since birth and was discriminated against and was believed to be cursed too.

Gerald was going to be a father one day and his children would probably inherit his color so he had to try and bring change to society. Gerald grew old trying to bring change and eventually died of fox fever. He did end up having children during his lifetime and they carried on his fight against injustice. He had started a movement, and many other foxes who were oppressed not just in his village but around other fox colonies also started rising up and demanding change.

What Gerald had wondered all his life was that how could one fox hate another fox without even getting to know that fox.

He died believing in two things. A fox, or rather any animal do not choose how they look like so it is not right to hate anyone just based on their appearance. Love should be spread, not hate. Everyone is equal and everyone is beautiful. Till today, foxes are fighting for their rights and demanding change. No matter how many times society refuses to corporate these foxes keep fighting as they believe that one day in the future, there will be equality and no foxes will be oppressed.