Chapter Two
When a Fox is Not a Cat
The boy scooped the fox into his arms. “Here you are! I’ve been so worried.” He looked about the room again with wonder in his eyes before settling his gaze on Evan. “Thank you for taking care of my fox for me. I’ve been very worried about him.”
“Was he lost?” Evan asked. “I found him while my Dad and I were on a walk.”
Kogane stroked the fox’s head as it curled up in his arms. “This is a magical fox. When he sneezes, he sometimes jumps into alternative dimensions. And sometimes he can’t get back. Luckily, he sneezed again and brought me here.” He looked about the bedroom again. “What a strange place you live in. I’ve certainly never been to your world before.”
“Oh.” Evan tried to imagine his world as being strange. “What is it like where you come from?”
“Well, I live in a small village. Many live in huts with dirt floors. Your home looks like a fortress.”
Evan laughed. “This is just my room. There’s a lot more to the house than this.”
Kogane’s eyes went wide. “Really?”
“Sure.” Evan opened his door and stepped into the hall. “See, we have four bedrooms just on this floor. Then there’s the main floor and the basement, which is mostly full of boxes and stuff.”
The boy peeked into Kenny’s room, which wasn’t quite shut. “What’s all this mess?” [Names have been changed and messiness exaggerated. Any similarity to any actual persons or messy bedrooms is purely coincidental.]
“Oh, that’s my brother’s room.”
The fox jumped from Kogane’s arms and disappeared inside the room. After Evan followed Kogane in, he found the fox circling on top of a massive heap of dirty laundry.
“What’s he doing?” Evan asked.
“Oh, he’s tired. Foxes like to burrow.”
“Burrow?”
Kogane looked at him. “Yeah. See, watch.”
The fox stopped spinning, then dug its way into the pile of dirty clothes until it was buried with only a small opening they could see him through.
“Will your brother mind?”
Evan frowned. “It might be a couple weeks before he runs out of clean clothes and decides to wash these. Does your fox nap that long?”
“Never.” Kogane looked around the room. “I suppose I could sleep in here. It shouldn’t be too hard to hide in here.”
“Oh, he’d mind. But we have a spare bedroom you can use.”
Evan started to leave, but then he decided they shouldn’t leave the fox behind. With some careful digging at the edges of the laundry pile, he found the edges of the overflowing basket and lifted it gently. Kogane held the door opened, then after a bit of motioning from Evan, he opened the spare bedroom door as well.
Evan set the heavy basket down and sighed with relief. “Peaches will be safe in here, Kogane. This room is the smallest, but I think you’ll like it.”
Kogane looked up from the basket, then around the room in confusion. “You have a peach tree?”
Now Evan was confused. “No. We have a couple of apple trees, though. Outside. Are you hungry?”
“No, I just ate. Why would your peaches that you don’t have be safe in this room?”
Evan laughed. “Kogane, you are so funny sometimes. Peaches is the fox.”
Kogane raised his eyebrows. “Kogane is the fox. Kogane Senshi. It means Golden Warrior.”
“What? You named the fox after yourself? Doesn’t that get confusing?”
“The fox is Kogane Senshi. My name is Haruto Watanabe. Sorry, I should have introduced myself. What is your name?”
Evan realized he hadn’t mentioned his name yet. “Oh, sorry. I forgot that too. I’m Evan Jones.” What had the boy called himself? “Hitaru What-a-maybe?”
The boy laughed. “You can call me Kogane, if you want. But I’m not sure if my fox will like being called Peaches. Maybe I’ll just call him Senshi when I’m around you.”
Dad’s voice came from the hallway. “Evan, who are you talking to?”
Evan hadn’t thought about his Dad being home. How was he going to explain visitors from an alternate dimension? He glanced around the room for options. He waved at Kogane to get his attention, then pointed at the closet.
Kogane raised his eyebrows.
“Evan?” Dad was close.
Evan made a sweeping gesture with his hand, but Kogane just looked at him like he had writhing tentacles instead of hair.
The door opened and it was too late. Dad stopped, his eyes fixed on Kogane. “Who is this?”
“Uh…” Evan’s mind raced to find the answer. “This is my twin brother. You probably don’t remember him because of that cursed . . .” That was the wrong word. There weren’t any wizards in real life to go around cursing things. “. . . Pokemon you caught last week. Lots of people don’t remember Kogane now. If you try really hard, it usually comes back to you.”
Dad frowned and tapped one finger against his leg. “Bringing a strange fox home is one thing, but, as a parent, I need to know who your friends are.”
“That wasn’t a fox,” Evan said, glancing down at the basket to make sure Peaches/Senshi had stayed put. “That was Rosie, our cat.”
Dad kneeled by the laundry basket and part the small opening at the top just enough to see the fox inside. “This is Rosie? All yellow, white, etc.”
Kogane was giving Evan some kind of look, but Evan was sure what. He looked at his Dad and put on his best innocent smile. “Uh, yeah.”
Dad stood up and pointed at the bed. “Then who’s that.”
Rosie lay curled up on the bed, fast asleep.
Evan stifled a groan.
Kogane held out a hand to Dad. “Hello, my name is Kogane Senshi, but my friends in your world . . .” He gave Evan a wink. “. . . call me Kogane.”
Evan slapped his hand to his forehead. Now what were they going to do. Pretend they’re playing make-believe.
Dad shook Kogane’s hand. “Thank you. I appreciate a straight answer. What world do you say you’re from?”
Evan stared in disbelief. Would Dad actually believe the truth?
“I come from an alternate dimension. We don’t really have a name for it. I suppose we could call it Apples.” Kogane gave Evan another wink. “My fox sneezed and brought us here. I”m afraid I don’t have a way to get back. May I use your spare bedroom for a while. I could be a couple days or maybe a few months.”
Evan held his breath. Dad put a hand behind his head and stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then he shrugged. “I can’t see any reason why not. Except, we will need to get you official.”
“Official?” Evan couldn’t imagine what that meant.
“Yeah,” Dad replied. “You can’t just wander into the United States from an alternate dimension whenever you want to. They have paperwork for that kind of thing. We’ll have to visit the local office.”
“What office?” Now Evan was getting worried.
“Why, the Immigration Office, of course.”
Next: 3 – The PIZZA Office
[My son wrote an edited version of this chapter, with extra silliness.]