As requested by the bear, on Friday afternoon Limon stood in front of Jackson's front door. He was nervous, his hands were sweaty and his tail drearily hung down. Every muscle in his body wanted to run away, but Limon couldn't resist Jackson. The fennec took a deep breath and then knocked at the door with a shaky fist.
It was Jackson who opened him. As the empty driveway suggested, his parents were gone already. Limon swallowed hard as he saw the huge brown bear tower over him. No matter how often Jackson stood in front of him like this, the fox would probably never get used to his sheer size. Limon's eyes always only were at level with his thick bear belly! Today his brown gut peeked out of the stretched shirt he wore.
"Look who's finally made it!" the bear sneered as he stepped out of the door frame to let the fox through. "Get in!"
Limon quickly obeyed and couldn't even turn around fast enough to see the door being shut again. The only thing he could see now was Jackson's devious grin that flashed in the hall's dim light.
"I think, first of all, you should greet your host properly, Limon!" he spoke.
The fox's gaze fell down towards Jackson's bare paws. He knew exactly what was expected of him! Unresistingly Limon lowered himself to his knees and bowed his head to the mighty bear paws. Their enormous size intimidated him time and time again. His long ears folded back in a mix of shame and submission as his muzzle came closer to the paw. With awe he firmly pressed his snout against the shaggy , brown fur and honored Jackson's noble paws with a long, sincere kiss, before he said, "Good day, Sir. It's me a pleasure to see you again!" Once the procedure was repeated on the second paw, he carefully saw up to await Jackson's reaction.
The bear, however, didn't pay any further attention to the fox and returned to the kitchen, from where Limon's keen ears noticed a sizzling noise. With a sharp whistle Jackson called Limon after him like a docile pet.
School wasn't long over yet and thus Jackson prepared his lunch. Limon sniffed the air and could smell fried eggs. The mashed potatoes were probably leftovers from yesterday. A little awkward Limon stood there while the bear filled up a plate, sat down on the table and calmly began to eat as if his guest had vanished. But Limon too just came back from school. He had only brought his backpack home and then came straight here, so his stomach was rumbling as well.
"You want some?" Jackson asked after he'd gorged himself and put the cutlery down.
The fennec suspected a ruse, for Jackson never shared with him. But he couldn't say no! He didn't want to risk angering the bear in his own home, after all. And besides that, Limon's mouth was watering after he had to watch Jackson devour his sizable serving.
"Y-yes..." he said perforce.
With an impudent smile, Jackson took his plate and put it down on the floor. Limon saw that only a meager splotch of the mashed potatoes was left. Next the bear pointed his index finger to the ground and ordered, "Kneel down!"
Limon complied immediately and dropped to his knees. The hope to merely have to lick Jackson's leftovers off the plate, though, was soon destroyed as the mean bear squashed the the potatoes with his right paw. He twisted his foot on the scrunching porcelain left and right to smear Limon's meal over his entire sole until the puree oozed out from between his flexing toes.
"Dinner is served, fox. Just the may you like it best!" Jackson laughed as he lifted his paw again to present its besmeared underside to the cowering fox.
Limon's ears folded back as he saw the yellow mush that stuck to the bear's black sole. He felt deeply humiliated, while he slowly closed the distance between his muzzle and his lunch. With an expression of disgust, Limon stuck out his tongue and pressed it against Jackson's sullied paw. He licked over the crumply skin and noticed immediately that the bear must have been at training this morning. His radiant yellow fur bristled as the bitter taste flooded his muzzle.
With a wide grin Jackson watched Limon do his work. Over time he had reared the wimpy fox quite according to his taste and meanwhile he licked his paws with passion and devotion. Not a single time he dared to complain, while he scraped the trampled meal off of his rank paws with untiring and powerful licks. This was the kind of respect and submission that Jackson truly deserved from such miserable, dumb fox!
"Hope it's spicy enough?" Jackson laughed viciously and spread his toes to indicate that these areas as well had to be cleaned. "I didn't take a shower yet, just to provide you with this peerless flavor!"
Only for a brief moment Limon dared to desist from his work to said, "Th-thank you, Sir..." with a pant before he squeezed his tiny tongue between the thick, fleshy toes to lick the squished leftover potatoes out of the sweaty fur in-between them.
For quite a while Jackson savored the sight of the pathetic fennec at his feet attend to his cleaning duty. Only after all remains of the lunch were long gone, he decided that his guest has had enough. He wriggled his toes and noticed the moistness of his sole with an annoyed rumble. Unceremoniously the bear wiped his wet paw off several times on Limon's face until it was dry again. The fox endured the procedure in silence until Jackson stood up and moved to the living room.
"Follow!" commanded the bear. "Or would you rather have a second serving?"
Limon's tail stood on end. "N-no, Sir... This was more than enough for me," he answered meekly and then followed his host with a lowered head. After this day a dish of mashed potatoes would never be the same again! He hoped imploringly that Jackson would never force him to do something like this again, although Limon really should know better by now.
