The scents of spring's rebirth were carried to Alex's white muzzle on a gentle breeze. Taking another deep invigorating breath, he cast his line into the cold winter water of the sea. He held the fishing rod tightly as he dangled his paws off the ice shelf he was seated on. Melting water dripped from the ice as he felt a gentle tug. His eyes lit up and he gave the rod a quick jerk. There was no response in the line.

"Another lost fish", he sighed to no-one in particular. "I wish grandfather was using this old rod and reel instead of me. It was like magic when he had it."

He reeled his line back in, thinking about how his grandfather used to take him fishing when he was just a young pup. The sounds of cracking ice echoed in the background.

The fox looked intently at his line for a moment and a smile played across his muzzle. "At least the line didn't break this time" He cast again.

The warm springtime sun beat down on the melting ice. His line bobbed gently in the water. He pulled and tugged keeping the lure in constant motion. A solid tug pulled on his line.

"I got one" he yells.

The white fox huffed and panted, pulling hard on the line as the primordial beast fought at the other end. Alex grit his teeth - grunting and pulling almost in time with the breaking of the ice shelf. With a sharp tug, the beast pulled hard on the line.

Alex's grip of the pole slipped as the ice shelf that he was standing on broke off and splashing into the water. Alex tumbled down onto the small ice berg with an OOF. He watched in despare as his favorite fishing pole sank slowly into Davie Jones' icy locker.

Alex stared around his floating ice platform in disbelief. His melting prison was already too far away from land. He had heard that the flow that left from here wouldn't get close to land for thousands of miles... and many days.

"Help!" he screamed. His mind raced. He knew that if help didn't arrive soon, he was done for. As he screamed "HELP!" again the ice barge shuttered and shook, sending the poor arctic fox onto his frozen rump.

A geyser of cold arctic water and shaggy fur burst from the icy depths. A smile appeared on the creature's dripping face. "Alex! How did you get all the way out here?"

Alex was stunned by this sudden rescue. "GREG!" He touched in his dear friend to make sure that he was real, "I can't believe that you are here! I wish fishing and..."

The polar bear's kindly patient eyes calmed him. Their deep friendship was shared without the need for words. Greg moved his paw to Alex's shoulder and patted him reassuringly. After a moment, Greg reached down and pulled out from under the ice shelf... his prized fishing pole... rescued from the cold wasteland.

Greg grinned. "I think you dropped this."

Before he could even finish the sentence, the fox had hugged him tightly. Greg could feel the warm tears of joy mixing with his cold damn fur.

"You are a friend indeed", Alex sobbed happily into his friend's ear.

And with that, there was no more that needed to be told.

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This picture used characters from two previous pictures done.

The two pictures (Arctic Friends and Arctic Naptime) were painted in water color in 2000. This picture is painted in mixed media - mainly acrylics and other mediums for effects.