CaNOX

It was midnight. Everyone was asleep when a group of small animals scurried across the grounds of the forest. "Is everyone here...?" asked the biggest animal of the group quietly. "Yes" whispered the second largest animal. Before the group of animals knew it, dawn broke through the trees and they stood in their tracks to admire the enchanted view that stretched across their vary eyes. "This is it!...this is where we will call home" exclaimed the biggest of the lot in a triumphant tone.


The group of small animals were a family of skunks who traveled far and arrived at the very middle of Lution forest, a forest teeming with life and food. They would never become hungry again. The group consisted of a papa skunk, mama skunk and among them was a small baby name Canox barely a few months old.

The skunk family thus settled into Lution forest and quickly established their home. Everything was perfect whereby there was a nice little river for them if they were thirsty, fruit trees nearby in case they were hungry, and a wide space for little Canox to run around.

Everything was going smoothly for the skunk family when the inevitable seemed to fall upon them. Mama skunk went missing. Baby Canox who was still small didn’t know what happened that day and took upon himself to ask papa skunk “Papa where’s mama? It’s getting late and mama still isn’t home yet”. Papa skunk at that moment in time could only looked at little Canox; rubbed with his sad face, turned around and walked away.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years.

Mama skunk did not return and Canox grew into a very quiet shy and withdrawn skunk. He never knew what happen to mama skunk and thus blamed himself and everything around him for causing mama skunk to run away.

In school, Canox kept to himself. Also, because he was a skunk, most students would keep their distance due to stories told by their parents that skunks were smelly creatures and they originated from a smelly place. All these rumours did not go down well with Canox and only made him more withdrawn and reserved. The only friends he had were a squirrel named Qwert and a mouse named Poiuy.

The three of them would always be together before school and after school. If there was any gathering among students, the three friends would always be seen together. “Oh, look it’s those three again” students would say when they passed by. It did not help the situation as Canox, Qwert and Poiuy were extremely shy and kept to themselves when separated.

One day the school bully Weasel along with his gang approached the three friends after school. Weasel and gang cornered them at the school gate; “Hey there Canox, Qwert, Poiuy...” said Weasel in a sly tone. “Where you of too?” asked a member of the gang. The three friends stammered and said they were going home to do a school project together. Weasel then said “ok, well I think you need some protection from us and you Canox will have to give us 5 berries, you Qwert and Poiuy 5 nuts each... You better pay up or else...!” Weasel said aloud to the three friends and left.

The three friends did not know what to do and were afraid of what would happen if they didn’t pay up. Thus, from that day onwards, Weasel and gang would collect 5 berries from Canox and 5 nuts each from Qwert and Poiuy every morning before school starts at the gate.

This situation went on for months without anyone knowing. Weasel knew that extorting from this particular group would be beneficial because they were timid and would not tell anyone of their ordeal.
This was true because one afternoon, papa skunk noticed that Canox lost some weight. Papa skunk asked “Canox, is anything wrong? You seem to be thinner, eating well in school?” and all Canox could reply was “yes pa, everything is ok” and this situation also applied to Poiuy and Qwert.

One particular day after school, Canox was walking slowly back home because he was hungry and had no energy to run. He was walking through a patch of tall grass when he heard some commotion going on. He peeped through the long grass and saw that Weasel and gang were beating up Poiuy and Qwert. Apparently, Poiuy was having trouble giving 5 nuts to Weasel and it was going on for 3 days. Thus Weasel decided to show them he meant business. Qwert was beaten up because he tried to stop Weasel and gang from beating Poiuy.


Canox watched in horror as his friends got beaten up and suddenly one member of the gang spotted Canox. The gang members turned to face Canox and rushed to catch him too. Canox was now cornered and Weasel the head of them said “oh... you saw... well we’ll teach you a lesson so that you’ll keep your mouth shut!” thus the whole gang started to beat Canox.

Canox screamed in pain and anger built inside of him. Suddenly canox could not control anymore and screamed loud with anger!! For a few moments there was silence and everything seemed blurry. After regaining focus, Canox saw that Weasel and gang were on the ground choking and pinching their noses. After a few seconds they realized Canox was looking at them and suddenly the whole gang ran like the wind and soon enough they disappeared from sight.


Canox did not know what happened and when he went up to see his friends, he noticed that their jaws were opened and that they were staring at him. Poiuy exclaimed “you saved us, you’re our hero Canox”. Canox was confused because from his friends explanation, he was said to have let out a spray of gas that choked the entire gang causing them to run away.
The three friends walked home fearing no more of Weasel. When Canox reached home, papa skunk saw him in bruises and asked immediately “Canox what happened to you?!” Canox then started explaining to papa skunk exactly what happened and also how his friends told him that he saved their lives.

After hearing Canox’s ordeal papa skunk told him in a quiet manner “son, follow me... I want to show you something”. Papa shunk then lead Canox on a small pathway. After a while they reached a garden where beautiful flowers were growing from a mound on the ground. There was a little wooden plate with the words: May peace be with you My Love...and that was when papa skunk explained to Canox what happened to his mama.

Apparently on that unfortunate day, a snake was slithering around and spotted baby Canox playing. Before the snake could prey on Canox, mama skunk came in between Canox and sprayed the snake. The snake out of anger used its tail to hit mama skunk because of the putrid smell. Mama skunk was thrown off the ground and its head hit on a rock and she died...

Finally Canox came to know on that dreadful day mama skunk gave her life to save him. Canox now knew that he was given a special weapon within; that is the ability to secrete a putrid smelling gas at predators.
Papa skunk then went on to say “Son, because you now know you have a special weapon, you cannot use it always... with great power comes great responsibility”

From that day onwards, Canox was a different skunk all together. He was sociable, more outgoing, and not withdrawn like how he used to be. Canox knew what happened to his mama and it was not his fault that she died. Also, he found his true purpose in life which is to protect his friends and himself from danger.


The moral of the story is to be able to stand up for oneself and not react when it is too late. One must know how to be assertive at the right time yet practice kindness and compassion for all.

~ the end ~