*Chapter Thirteen*

*The end of the honeymoon and how trouble broke out among the armed foxes*

Loony’s fears were justified. The unity among the armed foxes of Smiling
Forest was short-lived. The foxes, who had always been rather invisible
during the reign of Talkmuch Dolittle, now woke up every morning not
believing that they had become the unquestioned wielders of power in
Smiling Forest. Some of the more powerful foxes like Smaller Longtail got
literally power drunk and staggered everywhere shouting “power! Yeah,
power! we got power!” He soon grew notorious on account of his tendency to
throw his weight around. When he drove around Smiling Forest, all oncoming
traffic had to get off the road to let him pass. Those drivers who failed
to do so were given the beating of their lives. His convoy of armed foxes
would promptly stop the offending vehicles, drag their occupants out, and
slap, punch and kick the hell out of them. Similar treatment was meted to
drivers who dared overtake his convoy or to any animal that wittingly or
unwittingly offended Smaller Longtail. He particularly enjoyed slapping
offending folks and shooting at the tires of offending vehicles.

In addition to Smaller Longtail, some junior armed foxes conducted a reign
of terror in Smiling Forest. Each armed fox soon became a king unto
himself. There were frequent reports of fox brutality against innocent
unarmed animals and a few cases of foxes shooting or stabbing other animals
to death. Smiling Forest became a state of fear where armed foxes, feeling
that they now owned the land, broke the law with impunity and went
unpunished for their crimes. The fox uniform and the gun became the most
feared symbols of power as the foxes swaggered and bragged that Smiling
Forest now belonged to them. One armed fox was overheard saying, “when I
wear this uniform, I feel like God.”

Soon, however, serious infighting started among the armed foxes. Though
they tried hard to hide it, reports filtered out to the animals that there
existed a bitter power struggle within the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting
Cabal. General Loony’s authority was being challenged and the Armed Foxes
Potential Roasting Cabal had broken up into two rival factions – one
pro-Loony and one anti-Loony. Before long, it became general public
knowledge that trouble was indeed brewing within the ranks of the armed
foxes.

The trouble erupted into the open one dark night when gunshots started
ringing from one of the armed foxes camps. Intense shooting continued into
the early hours of the morning and then died down. Later that morning,
Smaller Longtail went on national Smiling radio to say that a group of
treacherous foxes had, under cover of darkness, attempted to overthrow the
Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal. He said their ignoble plan had failed
and that the Armed Foxes Potential Roasting Cabal was firmly in control of
the situation. The details emerging from the bloody incident revealed that
a large number of the foxes involved in the alleged plot had been killed
and buried in mass unmarked graves. Some of them had fled under cover of
darkness and a search had been launched for them. That was the last that
was heard of the bloody incident, at thoughts of which the other animals of
Smiling Forest still shudder.

One fine morning a few months after that bloody incident, an announcer on
national radio informed the animals in a shocking bombshell that Smaller
Longtail and Sadface Slowy, two senior members of the Armed Foxes Potential
Roasting Cabal had been arrested. The announcer said the duo had made an
attempt to kill General Loony. Several months later, Smaller Longtail and
Sadface Slowy were arraigned before a kangaroo court, found guilty of
treason and sentenced to long prison terms. Sadface Slowy died in jail a
few months later under mysterious circumstances. Official reports said he
had died of high blood pressure but that could never be verified. Smaller
Longtail languished in jail for many, many years. Local lore had it that
the once all-powerful fox became a philosopher during the long period of
his incarceration. No one ever knew what exactly happened.

Smaller Longtail’s arrest and detention elicited an audible sigh of relief
from many of the animals on account of his brutality. Rumor had it that
less than a week before his arrest, the arrogant fox had insulted a group
of religious elders over a dispute involving a prayer house in a remote
part of Smiling Forest. He was reported to have publicly called the elders
kaffirs and asked them to go dumb their religious books in the river. The
story goes that one of the elders had said to him, “you insult us, but go,
you will soon see.

The two incidents involving the aborted uprising, Smaller Longtail and
Sadface Slowy were ample evidence that unity among the armed foxes had
become a thing of the past. From now on, Loony knew that some of the armed
foxes would try to remove him from power. And he was not ready to get out
of power, not just yet, not as long as he was alive! He knew that some of
his fellow armed foxes were extremely mad at him for giving all the power
to himself. There were at least three more attempts at removing him from
power by members of the armed foxes. Some of the foxes that had fled after
the first mutiny slipped back into Smiling Forest and attacked one of the
fox camps, killing one loyal fox. They seized a jeep and headed for the
capital. But they were only five in number and poorly armed. So when they
met the general’s reinforcements, they were easily routed. One of the
invading foxes was killed, one fled and three were captured alive. Those
captured alive were paraded before national Smiling TV, sent to court and
sentenced to death.

On yet another occasion, a group of six angry animals attacked an armed
foxes camp. They killed at least three foxes and captured the commander of
the camp whom they held hostage for several days before they were hunted
down by the general’s reinforcements and routed. The commander escaped with
his life. The tragedy for the animals was that the more threatened he felt,
the more brutal General Loony became. His armed foxes grew increasingly
repressive and the once peaceful Smiling Forest was turned into a state of
terror. From then on, the animals lived in mortal fear of civil war. They
had seen it happen in other forests. They knew it could happen in Smiling
Forest. The scary red writings had started forming on the wall. Some of the
animals started missing the good old days of Talkmuch Dolittle.


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