The Midnight Fox

Petie is Tom’s nine-year-old best friend. He wants to be a reporter when he grows up. Tom and Petie spend lots of time together in the city, making up stories and chatting. Spending time with Petie is what Tom looks forward to the most for the summer, and Petie’s feelings toward Tom are just as strong. At the end of the novel, Petie joins Tom’s parents when they pick Tom up from the farm, and after a few awkward moments, Petie starts telling Tom about all the new TV commercials he missed and asking where the “worst smell” is on the farm. Despite their long separation, the two boys slide right back into their old, comfortable friendship. Tom and Petie’s friendship is strong and enduring, but Tom never tells anyone at home—not even Petie—about his experience with the black fox.

Tom lives with his mother, Fran, and his father, who is a basketball coach. Tom has a good relationship with them both but is more like his mother, who is gentle and emotional. She cries easily when she is happy or sad. Tom’s father is stricter and does not tolerate displays of emotion from Tom. As Tom admits, “Sometimes my dad would get real disgusted with me because I didn’t control myself too well. I used to cry pretty easily if I got hurt or if something was worrying me” (21). However, Tom’s father is correct when he tells Tom that a few months on the farm can “make a world of difference in you both mentally and physically” (7).

Millie is not really Tom’s aunt; she is his second cousin, but he has always called her “Aunt Millie.” Millie and her husband Fred live on a farm with their teenage daughter, Hazeline. Their older sons have already left home. Millie is warm, welcoming, and chatty, but the humidity and heat of the Southern summers bother her, fueling the irritation she feels when the fox kills her turkey. Fred, who is a farmer and a hunter, is “a large man, very powerfully built” (57) who towers over Tom. Fred swims in the pond every night before supper, and Tom, who is intimidated by Fred, dreads being asked to join him. Tom finds it challenging to talk to Fred, who is a quiet man and is often content to walk in silence. Tom comments, “It was an awful feeling not to be able to think of one single thing worth saying” (57) as he struggles to make conversation with Fred. Fred enjoys hunting, and Tom believes him to be enthusiastic about catching and killing the black fox. However, when Tom releases the cub, thereby freeing the black fox, Fred is not angry. He is understanding and kind, and Tom realizes that although Fred respects and loves wildlife, he must also contend with the reality of living on a farm, which involves keeping livestock safe from predators. In that moment, Tom sees that Fred is “the one person in the world who understood me […] this man who had seemed such a stranger” (124). Throughout his stay, Tom grows to love Millie and Fred, and because they never mention the fox incident again, Tom leaves the farm feeling that “they were probably the nicest people I would ever meet” (131).

Hazeline is Fred and Millie’s daughter. She has graduated from high school two months before Tom’s visit. Hazeline makes Tom feel welcome and shares everything with him, including her annoyance that bridal magazines do not feature plus-sized models. Hazeline has a healthy appetite, and Tom comments that he “never saw anyone who liked to eat as much as Hazeline” (37). She also worries about her weight, claiming that she is “too fat for everything” (37) featured in the bridal magazine. Tom goes to Hazeline for help with the fox, but Hazeline explains the harsh realities of rural life for wild animals in clear and straightforward terms. She wants to help Tom, but she explains that because the fox will kill their chickens, it has to go.

Hazeline’s boyfriend, Mikey Galter, comes over every evening to pick her up for a ride. Everyone, including Hazeline, is expecting him to propose soon. However, Mikey tells Hazeline that she is “too fat” and must lose 20 pounds before he will marry her. This insult breaks Hazeline’s heart, but she is quick to forgive Mikey when he shows up again two days later and proposes soon after that. Hazeline is self-depreciating, kind, and fun-loving; she introduces Tom to the joys of floating on tubes in the river and has him doubled over laughing at the water fight she has with Mikey.