A perfect moment

There are moments, situations of rare perfection.
They happen suddenly, when you least expect them and they often last only moments, but you recognize them immediately even if they catch you off guard, with your mind distracted by completely different thoughts.
That day I was climbing slowly into the beech forest buried by a thick mantle of snow. The trunks of the beech trees contrasted with all that whiteness, they seemed to be made of steel, bare gray columns straight and begging to the sky. Looking at them in that suspended light heightened the feeling of frost.
She came out from nowhere, not a noise, a rustle, nothing.
I looked up and saw her sitting a few meters away: a fox – unexpected sight – perfectly at ease in its thick winter fur. Surprise, gratitude, joy inside me while she is imperturbable, perhaps just slightly intrigued.
The only warm note in that algid environment is its ocher yellow coat, soft and smooth, perfect. Like the memory I have of that apparition.