More random gender fun
excerpt four
X followed a trail that led to a dead end. Some creature had skilfully covered most traces, but xe knew that there had been woodlanders here. The camouflagers had not been entirely successful in covering everything; there was still scent and the odd broken twig. Xe scratched about in the undergrowth, trying to reveal further clues.
“Lost something?”
Xe was startled by the voice. Xe whirled round, attempting to discover its owner. All xe saw was the silent woodland. Quite suddenly there was another fox standing alongside xim.
excerpt five
On the afternoon following xer brother’s birth, Y stood silently at the window of xer bedroom. Xe was crying, the tears following one another down xer flushed cheeks as xe stared through a smarting film at Gormenghast Mountain. Mrs Slagg, unable to comprehend, made abortive efforts to console xim. This time there had been no mutual hugging and weeping, and Mrs Slagg’s eyes were filled with a querulous, defeated expression. She clasped her little wrinkled hands together.
“What is it, then, my caution dear? What is it, my own ugliness? Tell me! Tell me at once! Tell your old Nannie about your little sorrows. Oh, my poor heart! you must tell me all about it. Come, inkling, come.”
But Y might as well have been carved from dark marble. Only xer tears moved.
