The Vitamin Waterfox

The fox appeared at exactly 7:15 AM, just as Elena's vitamin D supplement dissolved into her morning orange juice. She watched it from the kitchen window—mangy coat patchy with mange, one ear permanently flopped, navigating the suburban dawn like it owned the place.

"You're still taking those?" Mark called from the bedroom, voice thick with sleep and resentment. "They didn't help last time."

"They're not for depression this time," Elena lied. They were absolutely for depression, but admitting it meant admitting the padel league wasn't fixing their marriage.

The fox snapped up something from the lawn—a mouse, maybe, or just enlightenment.

Corporate had assigned Mark to mentorship duty. His mentee, twenty-three and shamelessly competent, had accidentally forwarded Elena an email: "Thanks for the padel invitation! My girlfriend loves that court near your place."

Elena had researched court reservation times. Friday evenings. The same evenings Mark claimed "work drinks."

The dog came later—a golden retriever mix Mark brought home "for the kids" even though their children were away at college. It stared at Elena with judgmental eyes, like it knew she'd stopped sleeping in their bedroom.

"His name is Buster," Mark said, avoiding her gaze. "He's good for us."

Buster threw up on the Persian rug that night. Elena cleaned it while Mark showered, wondering if Buster's stomach had rejected their home's emotional ecosystem.

The vitamin bottle sat on her nightstand, seventy capsules remaining. The prescription read: "Take daily with food. May take 4-6 weeks to notice improvement."

Elena noticed improvement in three days—but not from vitamins. From the WhatsApp message from Mark's mentee: "I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm gay. I thought you knew."

The fox returned that evening, sitting on the back porch like it was waiting for applause. Buster pressed his nose to the glass, tail wagging furiously.

"You two would get along," Elena told them. "Both scavenging for survival in someone else's territory."

Mark came downstairs. "What are you looking at?"

She poured the remaining vitamins into the trash. "Just the future," she said. "It looks different from out here."