I went to the Mansion Monday afternoon with Red, we sat out on the back porch with some of the residents. Art was there, and he thanked me for helping him to get in touch with people of faith and also for getting him CD recordings of the Bible and a CD player.

He was watching Red – he liked Red but does not want to touch him – and he told me he had a story to tell me. I could tell it was important to him, it was the story of how took in a little red fox he found alone in a nest when he lived in upstate New York before moving to Montana.

He kept the fox inside of his house in his room for several years, the fox trusted him, he fed him dog food, and he reluctantly admitted that he loved him. One day, the fox escaped and left him, and went to live in the wild. The story had a twist, and something of a surprise ending.

I left the Mansion and went home, and as I pulled into the driveway, I thought, I want to get that story on video and record it on video, so I turned around and went right back to the Mansion, the gathering on the old back porch had broken up and I caught up with Art as he was returning to his room.

Art and I are far apart in our religious beliefs but connected in a spiritual way. He loves to get mail. He likes to send the people who write him religious literature, and he considers this his ministry. If you don’t wish to receive any messages from him, you can leave your address off of the letters, as some people have done.

The story of his friend the little red fox touched me, it was one of those stories that reveals a great deal about the story-teller, sometimes more than he realizes.

Otherwise, he has books and pamphlets he likes to mail back.

You can write him at The Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.