The Day After the Red Fox

Alan Rose

It started as just a fairly ordinary day. I woke up in the caravan we'd rented for a few days in a place called Cannich, near Glen Affric. Nice wee site surrounded by ancient Scots pine and midges and not much else. The previous day we'd spent walking in the glen, some very ancient Scots pine (still have a bit on the mantelpiece at home), a wood ant colony and an encounter with a red fox. We'd woken late-ish, made love and were sitting up in bed having a coffee and lazily discussing what to do with the coming day.

I have a vague memory of a sudden blinding headache but the next thing I really remember is waking up alone in bed and wondering where Mary had gone. Its funny but almost the clearest memory I have of the whole day is getting out of bed and getting dressed and just assuming that Mary had got up and gone out for some unknown but perfectly logical reason. ... (continues)