FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 19

Better, not perfect but definitely better, Sophia sniffed her freshly dried work shirt and wrinkled her nose. Still a little citrusy.

She had cut it close with the laundry, but the dryer had finished ten minutes before she had to walk out the door. Quickly, she stripped out of her makeshift outfit and slipped on her still-warm pants and shirt. Grabbing a hair tie, she fashioned her hair into a ponytail before looking herself over in the mirror. As far as she could tell, no one would be able to tell she was any different or just how unusual her night had been.

No one could tell last time, she took a breath to steady her nerves. But I am different now.

Leaving her room, she headed to the front door. Her dad was still sitting in the living room, and she could smell the beer he was drinking even though she couldn't see it.

"Headed to work?" her dad asked, looking up from the TV. "Will you be home for dinner?"

As though I have anywhere else to be.

"Yep, it's just a five-hour shift today," Sophia replied casually, turning towards the closet.

"I'll be sure to get something ready," her dad said, his glazed eyes not matching his smile. "Maybe my chili."

That sounds good actually.

"I look forward to it," Sophia replied flatly as she slid the closet open.

Body odor, leather, dust, alcohol and a dozen other scents greeted her and she reflexively took a step back. Regaining her composure, she did her best to block out her nose as she scanned for her coat.

"Crap."

"You okay?" her father asked, although he sounded like he was only half paying attention.

Oops, Sophia's mind raced as a pit formed in her stomach.

"Oh, I had forgotten I had spilled juice all over my winter coat and I still need to wash it," she fibbed, spying a long dried stain on a coat that she had long outgrew, but couldn't bare to get rid of.

I'm getting way too comfortable with lying.

"That sucks," her dad replied sympathetically. "Do you have something else?"

I had a fur one last night.

"No, just the one," Sophia replied sourly. "I'll grab a sweatshirt and my windbreaker."

"Okay," apparently deciding the problem was resolved, he went back to watching the TV.

Shit, I didn't wash any of my sweatshirts; I'll just have to suck it up.

Frustrated, Sophia rushed back to her room and quickly dug through the clothes pile, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her nose from the fragrance. Her two favorite sweatshirts had been washed recently and were intolerable, leaving her with a slightly stained, light-red garment with fading lettering as her only option. Alas, her only other sweatshirt had become a casualty of the previous night's hijinks.

Holding her breath, she slipped it on over her work shirt. The sweatshirt was a bit embarrassing, but at least she wasn't gagging. She felt a pang of conscience as she left the clothes in disarray on the floor, but a quick glance at the clock confirmed she was cutting it very close.

Nearly sprinting back to the front door, she found her lime-green polyester spring coat half hanging off its hanger in the back of the closet. After slipping it on, she slid on and laced up her shoes.

Damn it, my gloves and hat are in my backpack, and I don't have time to look for any others, Sophia looked miserably at the empty spot on the coat rack. It's not that far, I'll be okay.

Without a word, she rushed out of the house, only pausing long enough to close the door. Her brain barely had time to register the cold or the faint smell of gasoline from her neighbor's car before she was at the bottom of the driveway and rushing down the sidewalk.

Despite the cold now settling into her bones and the anxiety over running late, being back outside lifted Sophia's spirits. The air was crisp and pure, a welcome change from the suffocating air of her house. Even the mountain wind penetrating her coat and chilling her skin felt like the touch of freedom. Reluctant to be back inside, she couldn't help slowing her pace.

It would be better without the car smells, every time a car passed her, exhaust and gasoline fumes lingered long after. And, oh no, cigarette smoke!

She caught the faint whiff of cigarette smoke from somewhere down the block she was on. Scanning, she spied a middle aged woman smoking on her porch a few houses ahead. The acrid stench grew increasingly intolerable as Sophia approached. Pinching her nose, she hastily checked for traffic before jogging across the street. She was relieved to find the smoke seemed to be absent on the other side of the street. The smoking woman didn't seem to have noticed Sophia had even done anything. She glanced at Sophia before going back to her cigarette.

So glad mom got dad to quit when I was little, a wave of grief crashed through Sophia. She really knew how to talk sense into him.

"Yip! Yip!" Sophia stopped just in time to avoid tripping over a very excited small dog.

The dog danced around her feet, sniffing and barking. Its tail was going a mile a minute and its ears were standing straight up. Sophia had seen the little terrier on numerous occasions, but the pup usually contented itself to yapping its head off at her or anyone else passing by from its porch. Forgetting that she was supposed to be headed to work, she watched the small dog intently.

Hmm, I would be able to read her scent better down there, Sophia cautiously knelt down on the sidewalk.

What had gotten Sophia's attention was indeed much stronger down here. She felt like she could detect something (or was it somethings?) in the air associated with the dog. The dog stopped prancing around and stared at her, its nose wiggling.

This is weird, but getting to know this dog's smell feels really important, her brow furrowed as she concentrated. Still not strong enough. Maybe if I get closer.

Putting her hands on the cold pavement, Sophia leaned in towards the dog with her nose. The dog tilted its head, its ears rotating as it examined her. As Sophia got closer, it took a step back and stiffened, one paw up. After staring for another second, it curled its lip, showing its teeth before giving a low growl and backing up a few more steps.

The nerve! Sophia straightened her arms and lifted her head up high. Who does this tiny dog think she is?

"Muffin!" someone yelled loudly nearby. "Muffin! Come here now!"

Startled, Sophia scrambled to her feet, her cheeks warming. Muffin took a few steps back, her eyes not leaving Sophia. Glancing in the direction of the voice, she saw a graying woman standing on her porch. The woman's eyes met Sophia's, and the woman chuckled.

"I've never seen Muffin act this way before," the woman admitted, her tone apologetic. "She's usually quite playful and you seem like a dog person."

Uncertain of how to respond, Sophia simply shrugged sheepishly and tried not to look back at the terrier.

"Muffin!" the woman called again, more sharply this time. "Come here!"

The small dog finally noticed her owner and gave a single, low-pitched whine. In a sudden burst, the dog turned and raced to the porch where the woman was standing. Reaching her owner, the dog ducked behind the woman's legs before peering at Sophia from the other side, ears straight and eyes wide.

Giving a weak smile, Sophia waved and forced her legs to start moving.

"What's gotten into you today?" Sophia overheard the woman chide Muffin. "You've seen the nice young lady before. She was just trying to play with you!"

I wasn't though, Sophia shivered and hastened her steps. That wasn't me.

Even at that moment, something within Sophia was upset she had been interrupted before she could let that dog know how rude it was behaving.

There's a wolf inside me now, she forced down the urge to return to the dog. I just have to ignore it. Crap, now I'm really late.

Judging by how cold her hands and ears felt, the incident had taken some time. In an attempt to distract herself, she focused on the icy pain in her fingertips and ears. Wrapping her arms around herself, she stuck her hands into her armpits. As if to mock her feeble effort, a cold blast of wind stung her face, setting her teeth chattering.

Just a little further, she tried to encourage herself as she reached the field separating her neighborhood from downtown. This is where I first saw Shadow.

Briefly, she scanned for any sign of the wolf in the now snow-covered field. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't so much as a pawprint that she could see in the white expanse. There was little chance he would risk getting close to town in the daytime. Still, she couldn't help feeling vaguely disappointed and a bit lonely.

Not today, she tore her gaze away from the mountains on the eastern horizon. Gah, that's a lot worse than I remember.

The wind had stilled and was no longer carrying the fumes from the gas station on the corner ahead away from her. Despite the cold, she cupped her hand over nose and mouth before breaking into a run. A man standing by the pump gave her a puzzled look as she rushed by, but she ignored him. Not stopping to look for cars at the intersection, she continued to run until she had reached the grocery store's parking lot.

Unfortunately, the parking lot's air wasn't much of an improvement. The presence of lubricants, oil and exhaust greeted her as she made her way across the parking lot. The stench was especially bad where the plow had piled up snow - and concentrated a year's worth of grime. Senses overwhelmed by the unexpected onslaught, she broke into a sprint again.

"What the hell are you doing?" a bearded man yelled after his truck stopped mere inches from her, the screech of brakes loud in her ears. "I almost hit you!"

Sophia recoiled away from the truck, her foot skidding on the salt.

"I didn't see you," she managed after regaining her balance. "Sorry!"

The man sharply gestured for her to get out of the way and scowled. Sophia managed to stagger onto the sidewalk and nearly got hit by a cart being pushed by someone leaving the store. Heart thudding and legs feeling like rubber, she stumbled forward as the automatic doors squeaked open. Warm air engulfed her and she shivered reflexively.

Oh no, the scents of fruit, vegetables, grains, spices and - above all - meat swept away every other sensation or thought. How am I going to get through this?

"Excuse me!" Someone said from behind her, and she attempted to drag her attention away from her olfactory senses.

Sophia looked over her shoulder to see several people with carts staring at her. Sheepishly, she forced herself to move out of the entrance.

"Sophia, there you are!" Sophia looked up to see Linda walking towards her. "Where have you been? You were supposed to be here more than fifteen minutes ago and you know how busy we get on Sunday mornings!"

Fifteen minutes..? Sophia's mind reeled. Surely I didn't lose track of that much time!

"Go clock in and get on a register!" Linda insisted.

"I'm sor..." Sophia began.

"We'll talk about it later," Linda cut her off with a wave of her hand and then hurried away, clutching a clipboard tightly.

Swallowing, Sophia let her legs carry her toward the employee room. Sandy was working the other register and she rolled her eyes when she saw Sophia. A long line had formed in the girl's lane and she was frantically scanning items. It looked like all of Woodbury was shopping at the same time. Picking her way through the customers, Sophia headed towards the back of the store.

That smells good, her mouth watered as she eyed a fresh rotisserie chicken in one cart. Woah, what's that?

She slowed while passing the next cart. A strong, almost sickly-sweet odor emanated from inside the cart. It took her a moment to realize the offending odor was cinnamon.

Hmm, do spices go bad? she scanned for the source in the hopes of warning the customer, but the cart was too full. Right, I need to clock in.

Quickening her pace before the customer noticed, she slipped into an aisle. Luckily, the cans and boxes in the aisle appeared to have been sealed properly, because there were few aromas coming from the shelves. The carts and customers were a different matter and she collided with one shopper while trying to identify several fruit smells in another shopper's cart.

"Pardon..." her nose wrinkled at the strong scent of perfume surrounding the woman. "Uh, pardon me."

"Excuse me," the woman responded, not seeming to notice Sophia's fumbled speech as she resumed staring at the shelves.

Stepping around, Sophia reached the end of the aisle and headed towards the small hall with the employee break room. A strong, tangy odor and the sound of a microwave greeted her as she entered the hallway. Inside, one of the stockers was sitting at the employee table, hunched over his phone. As she stepped up to the time clock, she caught a strong waft of the stocker's deodorant and reflexively coughed. Judging by the stick next to him, he had evidently just applied it.

Uhg! I think I'd prefer his body odor... to that, she scrunched her nose futilely as she punched in. Does he really think that's attractive?

The microwave beeped and the stocker stood up, sending a strong wave of fragrance through the room. Sophia coughed again, drawing a glance from the boy. Pretending not to notice, she practically ripped off her coat and sweatshirt and hung them haphazardly. Fighting the urge to gag, she hightailed it out of the room and towards the front of the store.

She made it partway down the aisle she had gone down earlier, when the overwhelming smell of cigarette smoke struck her. Eyes darting around for someone smoking in the store, she realized the source was a bearded man wearing a camo coat a few yards down the aisle. A pack of cigarettes bulged out of his breast pocket. Sophia immediately spun around and retraced her steps.

After finding an aisle with relatively few shoppers, she finally reached the front of the store. The lines had noticeably slackened and she could see Linda had taken the other register. Sandy noticed her first and gave an exaggerated scowl. Cringing, Sophia slipped through the lines and came up behind Linda. The woman finished checking out a customer before acknowledging Sophia was there.

"Ready to work?" Linda asked with a hint of sarcasm as she signed out of the register. "All yours."

Exchanging places, Sophia quickly signed in and forced a smile at the waiting customer.

"Find everything... okay?" her smile faltered as the scent of cigarettes flooded her nostrils once again.

Two customers back was the camo-coated man leaning on a loaded cart.

How am I going to get through this? Sophia mentally groaned and started scanning items.

"Young lady, what are you doing?"

Sophia jumped, nearly dropping the box of baked chicken she had been sniffing at. She quickly scanned it and moved it to the belt. Heat rose in her face as she met the frowning elderly woman's eyes.

"I... thought it smelled strange," Sophia tried to smile. "It was nothing."

"Hmmph," the woman uttered dismissively.

As quickly as she could, Sophia finished checking the woman out. To her relief, there was no one else in line.

I almost made it to the end of my shift, Sophia tried to distract herself by cleaning off the scanner. How did I not notice that smell before?

For the first time in hours she let her face contort at the smell of ammonia in the cleaner. Earlier, it had been a struggle not to visibly react to every odor or fragrance that made its way through her lane. Somehow, she'd even kept her composure when people reeking of cigarette smoke or using heavy perfume were standing across from her.

I just had to keep it together for fifteen more minutes, she berated herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Linda coming towards her. The manager gave her a wary smile. Sophia glanced at Karen, who had replaced Sandy forty-five minutes earlier. The woman was in the middle of a large order and wasn't paying attention.

"You were almost twenty minutes late today," Linda told Sophia disapprovingly as she leaned against the register. "What happened?"

Sophia hesitated; the woman's floral-scented deodorant couldn't quite cover up her vaguely salty body odor. It made for a weird combination.

"I'm really sorry, I had some issues with the laundry," Sophia answered, a lump forming in her throat. "Some of my clothes had to be rewashed."

Well, that's half true.

"I'll let it go this time, but if it happens again I'll have to write you up," Linda said, sighing. "With Christmas coming, we're going to be very busy here and I can't be doing your job and mine."

"It won't happen again," Sophia replied, relieved.

"There aren't many people in the store," Linda switched topics, setting down her clipboard. "Let's get your till counted and you can go home. Have any tests coming up this week?"

Crap, I have a history test tomorrow!

"Oh, uh, yes actually," Sophia responded as Linda started counting. "History and math later this week."

"I certainly don't miss tests, boys were more my thing," Linda responded conversationally after a pause. "You're two dollars and a quarter short. Not great, not terrible."

"I can go?" Sophia asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, better go crack open that text or you'll end up like me," Linda pushed her glasses up and chuckled. "Stuck in Woodbury for your entire life. Anyway, good luck on your test."