A short story of a supernatural appearance that changes a family’s fortune – published in 2014 by the Los Angeles Little Tokyo Historical Society in their First Annual Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest.
As the light danced through the trees it moved toward her with apparent purpose and direction. Suddenly Miraku heard another burst of barks which roused the kit puppy. Pushing a snout through the pine branches, there appeared a snow white fox, a kitsune. Miraku counted five fluffy white tails arched over the vixen’s back and another four carried closer to the ground. Her eyes expressed quickness beyond the cunning of an ordinary fox. Miraku knew she was face-to-face with a vixen of great age and wisdom, capable of wondrous, magical feats. As the fox gazed cautiously at her, Miraku sensed a delicate sensitivity in the kitsune which gave the aspect of a lovely human courtesan. The fox bared her teeth when she spoke and the guard hairs around her nostrils moved together as a field of poppies traced by the wind.
AVRIL ADAMS 