FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Arnie hated sitting in the backseat of Patrick’s car. He was cramped up in the corner of the seat with his arms crossed, scowling out a window he couldn’t even roll down if he wanted to. The car itself was puny, one of those old school buggies Arnie usually associated with hippies and stoners. There weren’t any rear doors. His knees scraped against the back of the passenger seat where Lenora, his older sister, sat. He remembered how pissed he had gotten when she told him that she would be sitting up front. “I’m older,” she had said flatly. “Wait three more years and you can sit up front.” It didn’t matter that Arnie was taller than her apparently. It was another sign that this “vacation” was gonna suck.

Patrick and Lenora were both well aware of his gripes and chose to ignore them. Much unlike the balled up piss ant behind her, Lenora was kicked back in her seat with the window down, letting her arm bounce and flow with the wind as it whipped past them. The blonde fur bowed and flittered while her paw made waves like a ship on the ocean. Beyond the steel boundary of the road was the sea itself, separated from her by the beach and the small cliff they rode on. The strap of her tank top sat on her shoulder loosely. Braless, her top pair of breasts were partly exposed through the arm gaps made loose by years of continuous wear. Black sunglasses were perched on her vulpine snout, covering a pair of sleepy eyes that remained glued to the horizon where her paw swayed and danced. Just one lock of her brown hair sat close enough to the open window to flicker in the wind, softening it into something pleasant to touch.

Patrick watched them both sparingly. Between focusing on the mostly empty road ahead he would throw a glance at his two passengers. Much to his dismay, Arnie hadn’t moved since their last stop. He looked like he had just found out his parents were punishing him for something he didn’t do. Patrick didn’t doubt that he probably saw it that way. With no phone or game console to keep him busy back there he would continue to stew in his own anger until the next stop. Upon driving his car up the last crest of the cliff they were on, Patrick knew it wouldn’t be long.

“Y’all hungry?” he asked, breaking the monotony of crackling wind.

Lenora blinked behind her glasses and looked over at him. “We close to someplace?” she asked, holding the roof of the car with her brown colored fingers. Arnie remained silent.

“Oh yeah, and it ain’t much farther to the cabin after that,” he said. “There’s a diner on the roadside here once we get off the mountain. I’d say it’s about lunch time, don’t you think?”

“What time is it?” Lenora asked.

He checked the radio. The car was old, only having just been made after digital clocks started appearing in cars. The age was splattered elsewhere, including a great layer of nicotine that colored the inside of the car yellow and filled it with an acrid stench. Lenore didn’t mind it. Arnie tolerated it just barely. On the radio it read 17:58, a whole five hours and 14 minutes later than it actually was. A combination of not knowing how to fix it and laziness prevented Patrick from ever putting it back on track.

“Noon forty,” he said. “Perfect time for lunch.”

Lenora patted her tummy. “Yeah, that sounds good.” She turned to the side, looking back at her brother. “What do you say? You hungry?”

Arnie shifted in his seat. “Yeah. A little.”

That was code for Yes, hurry the fuck up. Lenora faced forward. “Yeah. Let’s get us something to eat.”

Patrick smiled. “Awesome.”

The diner appeared on their right once they were off the crest of the hill. The cliff peeled off as the beachside rose to meet it. From there the highway slithered through the coast, even and unwinding, cutting apart the subtropical forest and giving birth to the occasional town and resort. Here was a simple diner, copy and pasted from basic 90’s architecture. A maroon facade and slanted roof was the first bit of civilization they had seen for miles. A gas station was right next to it. Arnie looked through the diner windows as Patrick pulled the car into the parking lot. A red and blue neon sign flashed the word OPEN. Beyond it he saw a few people sitting at their booths or the bar, eating lunch. He didn’t see who he was looking for.

Patrick parked the car and killed the engine. He and Lenora filed out before Lenora pulled the folding lever on her seat to let Arnie out. He squeezed himself out through the gap and stepped down on the asphalt. On his feet were a pair of retro basketball sneakers which fed into pale, sinewy legs. Above his shorts was a white t-shirt bearing the simple logo of a fashion brand. The spring sun glowed off of his skin, making his buzzed black hair appear stark. He stretched his arms above his head and twisted his back. “Damn, I swear a fetus has more room in the womb.”

Patrick was walking from around the other side of the car. A fishing themed T-shirt clung to his torso, accompanied by a bleached pair of jeans and heavy boots. The sandy blonde hair on his head fell about his crown in a shaggy mop. More contained was the thin gristle lining his jaw. “Come oooon. It ain’t that tight.”

“It wouldn’t be if I could sit up front,” Arnie said as he shot his sister a playful glare.

Lenora took her sunglasses off and tucked them into the cleavage of her shirt. The tip of her tongue poked through her lips. “Cope, little man.”

“Little? I’m taller than you.”

“Still short for a man.”

Arnie rolled his eyes, grimacing a little. “Yeah, whatever.”

They stepped into the diner. It was in the middle of lunch rush. The interior strongly reflected the time it had been built, featuring bright plastic dining booths and a mini-tiled floor. The bar was wound by a stainless steel edge and topped with false wood. A dozen red-cushioned stools were lined in front of it. On the other side the waitress took orders and delivered them through the kitchen port just behind her. Beyond that was the constant hiss and mist of the kitchen staff putting meals together.

Only one of the window booths was empty. Patrick pointed it out and the three of them sat down with Patrick on one side and Lenora and Arnie on the other, Lenora being closer to the window. From behind the bar a waitress, a deer, spotted them and lifted her finger. “I’ll be right with y’all in just a second.”

Patrick smiled and gave the thumbs up. “Take your time.” He looked at his travel buddies. “Y’all been here before?”

“A few times, I think,” Lenora said. She propped her elbow on the window sill and leaned her head on her fist. “Just about every time I’ve come down this way.”

“I have,” said Arnie, scanning the diner and looking through the kitchen port. “My first job was out here. Came here for lunch a lot. It’s been a while though.”

“Is it good?” Patrick asked. He was looking at the menu above the bar. Sniffing the grease-saturated air made his stomach rumble and his mouth water. The most he’d eaten that day was a breakfast bar. A fat, juicy burger would’ve done him good.

“Yeah,” said Arnie, still looking.

The deer hurried over from behind the bar towards them carrying three wire-binded menus. She wore a green apron with a bronze name tag labeled Tina. “Hi there! My name’s Tina. Welcome to Luna’s. Can I get y’all something to drink?” The three of them ordered a different type of soda. “Alright. I’ll be right back with those. If you need anything else in the meantime, let me know.” Patrick thanked her and she walked away.

As she turned around Patrick saw Arnie’s face light up as if he meant to grab her attention. His jaw started to open before it quickly closed. “You want something?” Patrick asked. “You better say it.”

Tina came to a halt and twisted her shoulders around. “Y’all need something?”

Arnie’s mouth fell shut completely. He shook his head. “No ma’am. I don’t.”

“OK. Anyone else?” The other two shook their heads, so Tina left them.

“Thought you were gonna say something,” Patrick said as he opened his menu.

“Oh, nah,” said Arnie, doing the same and dashing his features with forced apathy. “Nothing to worry about.”

“She was cute,” teased Lenora. “Maybe you wanted to say something.”

Arnie scoffed. “No, not this time.”

“Thought we were gonna hear one of your famous pick up lines.”

Patrick grinned behind his menu.

Arnie just kept his gaze locked on the food selection in front of him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Patrick perused the food selection, getting a small kick out of the stock photos of burgers and fries. He remembered the many tricks restaurants, especially of the fast food variety, pulled to make the food they advertised look better. It included spraying glistening lacquer on their meats and buns. They would use specially trimmed lettuce instead of whatever they pulled out of the bin. He memorized how the burger looked on the menu so that he could compare it to the final product. However it looked, either on the menu or in person, Patrick couldn’t wait to eat it.

Tina came back with a tray of three drinks. “Heeeere you go!” she said cheerily as she handed the drinks out. She tucked the tray into her armpit. “Are y’all ready to order?” The three of them shared a look before nodding. She drew a notepad from her apron and clicked a pen. “Alright, what y’all want?”

Patrick ordered a double cheeseburger, medium rare with no tomatoes and a side of kettle chips. Lenora got the filet-o-fish while Arnie got himself a Swiss burger. Tina jotted it all down and clicked her pen. “Alright! I’ll get that to y’all as soon as it’s ready. Need anything else, just let me know.”

Lenora and Patrick both looked at Arnie, expecting him to say or do something like before. He stayed quiet, instead noticing the two sets of eyes watching him curiously. “What?” he demanded.

“Nothing! Nothing,” Patrick said.

“I see you watching me.”

“Just wondering what you’re thinking, is all. You were awfully quiet on the way here.”

Arnie shrugged. “Nothing to do in that tiny car besides look out the window.”

“You can talk to us, you know,” Lenora said. “We’re your friends, ain’t we?”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not like we can hold a whole-ass conversation for that long.”

“That depends on the subject,” Patrick added.

“Yeah? Like what?”

Patrick looked up thoughtfully, deepening the many lines in his weathered face. “Ah, well. Anything, really. Sports is always a good go-to.”

“I don’t know a lot about sports.”

“We can teach you. You’re a fit guy. Lenora tells me you work out a lot.”

“Don’t gotta tell you!” Lenora pinched Arnie’s bicep. It was hard like rock. “Boy’s shredded like cheese.”

Arnie pulled his arm away and shooed her paw with the empty threat of a punch. “Yeah, doesn’t mean I play sports.”

“I think you should,” Patrick said. “You look like you’d be a good soccer player, maybe tennis.”

“You spend all that money on basketball shoes.” Lenora pointed out. “Why not basketball?”

“Nobody wears these for basketball anymore,” Arnie said. He kicked his right foot up onto his knee, holding it just outside the booth. Patrick leaned over for a closer look. The sneaker was half suede on one side, the color of firehouse red. Its other half was fine, white leather. Cupping the arch was a grill of reflective chrome. It looked expensive. “They’re pretty much designer shoes now. They’re too expensive to actually play with.”

“So they’re just there to make you look cool, basically,” Patrick said.

Arnie put his foot back down. “Pretty much.”

“Do other people wear them?”

Lenora was looking at Patrick from across the table, trying to telepathically beg him to stop feeding into the subject. She went ignored.

“On the streets, yeah. I’ve gotten some compliments on them.” Arnie explained.

“Oh yeah? From girls?”

His boastful smile faded. “No, mostly guys.”

“Ah, that’s still alright! I wish I had the money to spend on fancy stuff like that.” He patted his knee. “All I got are these boots. I ain’t complaining, though. They get me where I need to go.”

“Who said he had the money?” Lenora asked dryly. “Half of his collection are gifts. Any money he makes off them crypto coins goes to his wardrobe.”

“Hey, it works out alright, OK? I’ll land on the right currency soon enough, then I’ll have enough money to buy out our wardrobes and then some.”

Lenora chuckled. “I don’t need no wardrobe. You know that.”

A grimace twitched Arnie’s lips. “Yeah, but you should.”

“Please. Clothes are a prison.”

“You said it!” peeped a voice from behind them. Lenora and Arnie turned around and saw a couple in the booth over. Closest was a petite mouse girl. Across from her was her human boyfriend, or so it seemed. They were sharing a pizza. The man was steeped over his slice, slightly embarrassed. She was twisted in her seat facing them. Her hair was dyed a frilly pink. “We don’t need no clothes, do we?”

“Hell no!” cheered Lenora, offering the mouse girl a high five. It was graciously accepted. The man with the mouse chuckled to himself as he chewed on some pizza. Arnie just rolled his eyes and turned away.

“You guys from around here?” the mouse girl asked.

“Close. My friend has a cabin on a pond where we were going to spend spring break.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right now, isn’t it?” She shook her head. “I barely keep track of the days anymore. What’s your name?”

“Lenora. This is my brother Arnie and my friend Patrick. We’re on a road trip together.”

“Nice! I’m Misty.” She pointed to the man with her. “This is Tim. We’re on a vacation too, I guess. Just taking a break out of downtown. Don’t know how long we’ll be down here.”

“Going anywhere in particular?”

Misty shook her head. “Not yet. Just had to get out of there, at least for a little bit. We’re roommates. Tim’s been saving for a while so we could do something like this.”

“That’s nice.” Lenora rubbed her paw across Arnie’s buzzed scalp. He ducked away, embarrassed. “We’ve been looking for an excuse to get this one out of the house. Figure spring break was as good a time as any.”

Misty flashed Arnie a smile. “Hell, don’t feel bad. I’ve been locked up in our apartment for way longer than I should’ve been. All I did was rot on the couch and play videogames.” Timothy widened his eyes and nodded his head.

“Well, it’s a good thing we all got out here. It’s beautiful out here, isn’t it?”

Misty nodded. “For sure. You don’t realize how much color matters in your life until you see it. Kinda like watching a sunset for the first time in a while.” She looked over at Timothy and shared a smile with him.

“Definitely.”

Breaking their conversation was the arrival of Tina with their food. Cradled on just one arm were three plates that she laid out in front of their respective diner. “Theeeeeere we go! Is everything good here?”

“Yes ma’am,” said an enthused Patrick. He wasted no time peeling the sesame-dotted bun off his burger and loading an extra glob of ketchup on the blanket of cheddar beneath it.

Lenora nodded. “Everything’s great!”

Arnie was waiting on Patrick to finish with the ketchup bottle so that he could dress his fries.

“Fantastic. I’ll leave y’all to it. Need anything, let me know.”

Arnie spoke up. “Um…”

Tina stopped mid-turn. “Yes sir.”

“Um, sorry, but does Morgan still work here?” he asked. “The raccoon?” Both Patrick and Lenora gave him an odd look. Who was Morgan?

Tina’s face lit up. “She sure does! Not today, though. She’s a tanuki, by the way.”

“Oh. OK. Cool.” The faintest hint of smile came across his face, one partially ashamed by getting this Morgan’s species wrong. “Thanks.”

“She works here tomorrow in the morning. I won’t be here but I can leave a message for her.”

“No, no. That’s fine. Thanks. Just wondering.”

“Alright. Y’all enjoy, now.”

“Yeah, we will.”

With that, Tina turned around and sauntered back to the bar.

“Well, I’ll leave you guys to it,” said Misty. “It was nice meeting you guys.”

“You too!” said Lenora through a mouthful of fish. She looked at her brother. “Who’s Morgan? A girl you like?”

“No,” he answered, too quickly for his liking. “Just someone I met when I used to come here. Wanted to say hi.”

“You know, we’re not that far away from the cabin,” Patrick noted, his first bite of burger having been devoured. “We can come here in the morning for breakfast.” The burger he was holding tasted pretty damn good. Presentation wasn’t quite on par with what the menu showed, but he didn’t really give a shit. He wasn’t a food critic. “If their breakfast is any good as their lunch n’ dinner, I’d wanna come back.”

“Yeah, and then you can introduce us to your lady friend,” Lenora teased.

Just the faintest tinge of red hovered to the surface of Arnie’s face. “Nah. We don’t gotta do that.”

“You sure?” Patrick asked.

“Yeah. It’s fine.”

Patrick could very well tell that it wasn’t, but he didn’t press the matter any further. Neither did Lenora. They sat through the rest of their meal in relative silence, distracted by the tasty food in front of them. Driving long distances works up an appetite, one that had even the calorie-counting Arnie clearing his plate. He told himself that he would have to burn it off the following morning, but for now he could slouch in his seat and enjoy the oppressive weight that had settled in his gut. Patrick went up front for the check and paid it plus a substantial tip. Tina thanked them and said she hoped to see them again. They filed into the buggy and buckled up.

“Y’all ready for the rest of the journey? That was our last stop,” Patrick said.

Lenora put her sunglasses back on and shot a finger gun at the windshield. “Let’s go.” She puckered her lips on the word “go”.

Arnie was huddled in his corner, but with a more reflective look on his face than usual. He was looking at the diner. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

Patrick turned the ignition. “Hell yeah.”

***

Only a little more than an hour was spent on the highway from there before Patrick peeled off on an exit leading into the coastal wilderness. The three of them watched as the ocean was blocked off by the forest, one teeming with briars, swamps, and rogue creeks. The refined edges of the road became dull, peppered with gravel older than Patrick. The grass was unhinged and wild, thinning out only when the rare road would intersect with the one they were on, either leading into someone’s property or another trail just as wild.

The buggy left that road for another then found the gravel driveway leading to Patrick’s cabin. “We’re heeeeeere!” he sang as he drove the car into the tunnel of forest ahead of them, popping the many granite pebbles beneath them.

“Whoo!” hooted Lenora. “Can’t wait to see this place.” Arnie snapped awake from a nap brought on by the burden of his lunch. He sat up and looked out the window with a minor sense of awe as the heavy forest peeled past them. They were finally there. Thank God.

The driveway swelled into the front yard of the cabin. It was bigger than either Arnie or Lenora expected; perhaps calling it a lodge would’ve been more appropriate. Similarly styled buildings neighbored it, looping around the pond in the backyard. On the other side was a small dock reaching out into the water. Tied to it was a small fishing boat. Patrick pulled up behind the lodge and parked the car for what would be the last time that day. “Well, what do y’all think?”

“It’s gorgeous!” Lenora said, admiring the rustic facade. The lodge was entirely wooden without a single drop of paint to color or decorate it. A matching mailbox sat in front of it.

“Thanks. Hopefully you’ll like the inside too.”

The three of them piled out and drew their bags from the trunk. They each only had a backpack’s worth of clothing and toiletries. They would have to rely on the washing machine to refill it. That was except for Lenora. The moment she pulled her bag out she set it on the ground and pulled her shirt up and off her head, leaving her topless.

Arnie was right beside her. He whipped his head away and shielded his face with one hand. “Aw, come on! You couldn’t wait until we were inside?”

Lenora casually flipped her shirt over her shoulder. Three rows of breasts descended her torso, growing smaller on the way down. Capping them were rosy pink nipples that hardened in the humid yet cool coastal breeze. She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Oh, hush. I don’t care what these people think.” Adding to her nudity was a casual unbuttoning of her shorts, letting out the great thrush of crotch fur that lay beneath it. “These folk don’t wanna see my titties, they can deal with it.”

Arnie groaned. Patrick just stood aside, smiling with pure disbelief as the half-naked vixen waltzed past him like it was nothing. Well, this week’s gonna be interesting.

They climbed the front porch where Patrick unlocked the front door with a key. He opened it and stepped inside to a mostly empty lodge bereft of a TV and most basic furniture. There was a small kitchen on the opposite wall with just an old white fridge and a gas stove. In front of a cobblestone fireplace was a worn out sofa. An old brass lamp sat next to it on a table. The place was dreadfully hot. Having contained the spring heat poured onto it for the past few weeks, it made the three of them recoil. Every sniff brought with it a smell like dry wood and used tobacco.

“Home sweet home!” Patrick said proudly. “Y’all’s rooms are on the right hallway there. Bathroom’s on the furthest door. My room’s over here next to the kitchen.”

Arnie stepped into the living room, observing the rural atmosphere. He wasn’t sure what to think or what to feel. A week of no electronics seemed doable, maybe. Keeping himself occupied with the wilderness around him would be difficult, he thought. Since the road trip had started he had been absentmindedly groping his pocket for his phone, only to remind himself that it was two hours away at home. He thought about the things he’d miss. His friends would have leveled up on their online games, leaving him behind. His repeated self-assurances that he’d be fine would seem more and more doubtful as the day wore on.

His and Lenora’s bedrooms were across from one another. They were predictably small, featuring nothing more than single beds and a dresser with a mirror on top of it. Arnie at least had a nice view of the pond out back. He laid his backpack on the bed and opened the window. Through the bug screen he heard the gentle slosh of the pond. Maybe if he was lucky he’d hear or see a bird.

Lenora was in her bedroom opening her own window and the screen behind it. She stuck her head out and leaned on the = sill. Pulling her sunglasses up to her forehead gave her a colorful view of the yonder forest and the gravel driveway parting it. A breeze rolled in, cooling the fur on her face and bare chest. A shiver made her fur bristle. Oh yeah, this is gonna be great.

Patrick wasn’t at his window but on the bed, splayed out on his back. Beneath him was a Queen mattress covered with a thick quilt and plush white pillows. Laying out with his heavy boots hanging off the edge he stared at the motionless ceiling fan above him. Every part of him wanted to fall asleep. The drive had been long. The bed beckoned him. A great nostalgia urged him to get up and look around like he used to when he was a kid, spending time with his grandpa, learning about the wilderness and going fishing. That very same nostalgia was trying to knock him unconscious. Memories of his grandpa included being out in the sun all day, getting exhausted and sunburnt. There were few things better after days like that than hitting the sack and just nodding the fuck out.

Ripping him out of his relaxation was Arnie’s voice coming out of the living room. “Hey, Patrick?”

Patrick didn’t move. “Yeah?”

“Can you turn on the AC? I’m burning up.”

“Yeah, I got you. Hold on.” He sat up with a terrific groan and trudged out of the bedroom. Stuck in one of the nearby windows was a fat AC unit. “You didn’t know how to turn it on?” he asked as he went up to it.

“I did, just didn’t wanna touch it without you knowing.”

“Ah, I appreciate it. If it ever gets too hot, which it does and will, just crank this thing on.” The unit came on with the lift of a lever. It was old and dinged up, but sputtered to life as well as it did the first day it was installed. Vrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm. “There we go. Now we won’t fry.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Lenora wandered in, still topless. “So? What are we gonna do now? I’m feelin’ like fishing or canoeing. Maybe go hiking? I dunno.”

“You’re gonna go out like that?” Arnie asked.

“Sure as fuck am. Ain’t no kids out here. God made me this way. I ain’t ashamed of it.”

“Didn’t say you should be, but you could be a bit modest.”

“Modest my ass, Mr. fancy shoes. You know you shouldn’t have brought those here. You’re gonna be walkin’ in rough grass.”

“They’ll be fine. At least I’m not naked.”

“Who’s naked?”

“You.”

“No, not yet. You want me to be?”

Patrick was chuckling to himself when he broke up their miniature squabble. “Hey, it’s alright. I think I got some spare boots for you if you want ‘em, and these are real country folk. They don’t care about a little freebirdin’.”

“My kinda people. I left my fishin’ rod out in the car. I’ll go get it.” She wandered off to the front door.

“Come on out back,” Patrick said to Arnie, pointing his head at the backdoor. “Let me show you around. The two of them headed through the back door and out on the porch. Between them and the pond was a brief jungle of unkempt grass. The neighboring lodges were much better trimmed. “Here’s the pond. You’re welcome to the dock at any time if you feel like fishing. The boat’s up for anybody, just make sure you tie it back where you found it.”

Arnie smiled modestly. “I don’t know how to row a boat, or tie it for that matter.”

“Don’t worry. It’s easy. I’ll show you. There are some life vests in the box on the dock we can put on.”

“Is it safe to swim?”

“Well, I suppose you can. But I wouldn’t recommend it, not if you got a cut or anything. You bring a swimsuit?”

“No.”

“Yeah, then I wouldn’t.”

Arnie chuckled. “Lenora might.”

Patrick laughed too. “Yeah, she might. Your sister’s a wild one.”

“Y’all talkin’ about me?” The two men turned around to see Lenora standing in the back doorway. Her assembled rod was slung over her shoulder, already hung with a string and hook.

“Yeah, talking about how crazy you are,” Arnie said.

“Certifiable.” She walked out on the porch through them. She casually dropped onto the grass and walked towards the dock.

“Don’t you need bait?” Arnie asked.

“Yeah, but I got some.” She gestured out at the great greenery surrounding them. “I can crack open a log and I’ll have what I need.” The two men watched her wander off towards the dock, the hook dangling behind her.

Patrick looked at Arnie. “You wanna go join her?”

“Sure, but…” He looked down at the swathe of grass out in front of him. “You said you had spare boots I could wear?”

“Yeah, I sure do.”

Lenora hummed to herself as she walked the edge of the pond, chopping lips and clicking her tongue to a random tune she had put together in her head. The grass tickled her bare pawpads, occasionally pricking her with the odd twig or seed. It fazed her none. The outdoors was her domain, something she had adapted to with much greater ease than that of any city or suburb. God’s green Earth was the place where his children roamed. Why should people limit themselves to the shelter of civilization? Short of adopting anarcho-primitivist ideology, Lenora thought it’d be better for everyone if they just took some time off from modern life to enjoy what nature had to offer.

That’s what made loving her brother so hard. Adopted into the family when he was 6 and she was nine, he was fortunate enough to escape the urban squalor that scourged the nation after the war. That didn’t mean her family was well off. A skulk of foxes living in the countryside hardly had the means to make it big or live a life of leisure. What it did mean was that they could live off the sweat of their brow better than any folk toiling behind a computer in some office building where seeing the sun was considered a luxury. Lenora’s father worked at a sawmill. Her mother was a nurse. With three children in their family, they saw it their Godly duty to adopt a fourth, less fortunate soul. That soul just so happened to be Arnie.

The stereotype was that humans aren’t fit for life in the wild, them being the ones that built up all the cities and towns, or so they loved to claim. Arnie didn’t do a good job disputing that claim, having fallen into the trap so many other young men do. He fed right into all the many schemers and grifters that plagued the internet during the recession. Charlatans selling pipe dreams, promising instant riches, shilling out digital coins nobody else in his family could really make heads or tails of. That didn’t include all the self-help junk that was being shoved down his throat. Society has it out for men. The war went the way it did because of soft hearted pacifists. Masculinity is dying. Men need to rise up and take back what they lost.

If any good came out of it, it was Arnie’s religious dedication to working out and keeping himself ridiculously fit. The bad that came out of it was, well, just about everything else. A person doesn’t adopt an attitude of “take back what’s ours” without developing some serious hostility. His rural upbringing was suddenly something to be ashamed of. While there was big money to be made in stocks and on fancy tech money he was out here toiling in the boonies. Growing up with two older sisters (the eldest brother having moved out already) was a detriment to his testosterone, something he kindly reminded everyone that there was a dearth of in society.

Lenora, conversely, was always there to remind him that she was a harder worker than him, one who spent way more time outdoors. She was already in college, trying to get good grades and solidify a real future for herself like so many other women. Didn’t seem to matter. Women became status symbols for him to collect. A different girl from his school would come over almost every month, a result of his “skills”, or so he claimed. Ignoring the behavior didn’t help. Calling it out only made things worse.

Thus getting him out here became Lenora’s ultimate priority. A week at Patrick’s cabin with no internet or TV, just him and the outdoors. It took the help of her parents and sister to convince him, that and a tad bit of shaming, just a tad. Bowing him was a promise from Patrick that he’d have fun, or at least would come to enjoy the outdoors. “Some time outside always does me some good, especially when I’m feeling stressed,” he told Arnie. “Why don’t you come out here and just relax?”

Lenora appreciated the input, but she wanted Arnie to do more than just relax. She wanted a total and complete detox of all that internet junk, to cleanse his addiction and spend some quality time with a man who had his shit together. Walking out towards the edge of the forest just behind the dock, she was hoping to turn around and see her brother following her. She didn't, instead seeing only the empty back porch of the lodge. She sneered. He’ll be out here. Patrick’ll tell him.

What she didn’t see was Patrick and Arnie back inside, opening a closet and seeing if the spare boots in it would fit Arnie’s feet. They did, if loosely. It was a better option than fucking up his expensive shoes, Arnie reasoned. Patrick agreed. Lenora had resumed her hunt for a log to turn over when the two men exited the lodge to come after her. Arnie was a bit awkward in his boots, feeling the gap between the inside of it and the top of his foot every time he lifted it. He walked beside Patrick with an odd gait, trying his best to look natural while secretly being annoyed by the itchy flick of tall grass against his bare calves.

There was Lenora, prowling the edge of the forest, unaware of their approach. The fishing rod was still resting across her bare shoulder, swinging that shiny hook every which way she turned. Arnie had seen her use it plenty of times in the past, but had never used it himself, nor any other rod. He’d always thought the activity boring, but recalled the many pictures of his family, from his siblings to his father, holding up caught fish with a big ol’ smile on their faces. He and his mother were the only ones not included.

“Do you ever fish here?” he asked Patrick.

“Oh yeah! All the time when I was little. Still do. My grandpa’d drag me out here and have me sit on that dock or on a boat for… shit, the whole damn day. Sometimes we wouldn’t catch shit for a whole week. Didn’t stop him from making me try every day.” Patrick smiled. “Ornery old man. I miss him.”

Arnie found himself smiling too. “Do you have any other rods?”

“No. Lenora said she was bringing hers, so I didn’t bother buying one.”

“You don’t have one?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I guess… I guess I just gave up on fishing for a while.”

“Oh.”

Patrick reignited his smile. “But it’s nice to pick it back up, that’s for sure.”

“Yeah,” Arnie said, imagining the picture of him holding up a big bass. “I think so too.”

Lenora had just found a fallen log to inspect when she heard their approaching footfalls. She turned and saw them. A big smile lit up behind her sunglasses. “Oh hey! Nice of you to join me.”

“Hey,” Patrick said. “Arnie wants to learn how to fish.”

“Oh? Do you now?”

“I didn’t say that,” Arnie said, frowning at Patrick

“No, but I thought you did because you asked about fishing. Do you not?”

“Well, I mean yeah. I guess.”

“‘I guess’ my ass,” said Lenora. “Come on. Let me show you a thing or two. Look, I even found us a log. Pretty sure there’s a whole world of critters under there.” She pointed her foot at the nearby tree that had toppled over into a log. It was dark and moist, broken along several places. The bark had melted away in spots, giving birth to white mushrooms like semicircular platforms. It had toppled over 40 days prior, killing several other shrubs in the process but providing refuge for, as Lenora had put it, “a world of critters.”

Arnie stared at the log curiously. “They’re under there?”

“Sure are. C’mere.” Lenora stepped up to the log, carefully overstepping the severed twigs that were scattered around it. She laid her foot on the wooden carcass. “Mind helping me?”

“Oh. OK.” Arnie walked over, awkwardly stepping over the same twigs and branches. He seemingly forgot about the big pair of boots he had recently acquired. He plopped his boot on the log, precariously balanced on his other foot.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

“OK. On three we push. One.” She rocked the log forward. “Two.” She rocked the log back. “Three!” The two of them heaved forward, rolling that section of wood off its foundation and sending it into the brush behind it. Below was a landing strip of black humus, soft and moist. Writhing in it was a regiment of worms, larvae, pill bugs, and termites, all living together in chaotic harmony. Arnie stumbled back while Lenora bent over the row of crawlies. “See? Look at that. Enough to catch the whole pond if we wanted to.” Then, to Arnies’ disgust, she clawed out an entire fistful of wet soil, bringing with it a pawful of worms and grubs. She plucked a few more worms with her other paw and added them to the collection. “Yeah, this’ll do for now.” She faced Arnie and held out the earthy clot at him. “Give you 50 bucks if you eat one.”

Arnie blanched, but with a grin. “Yeah, no.”

“Suit yourself.” She opened her maw and feinted her fist towards it, stopping right before she received a mouthful of dirt. She laughed at Arnie’s expression, then made her way towards the dock.

Arnie shook his head and followed. “Weirdo.”

The dock was short, coming out only just ahead of where the water became too deep to see the bottom. The metal fishing boat bobbed and swayed on its rope, gently bumping into the pole it was tied to. In it were two white booster seats. The oars were in a box on the dock near the shore. Lenora opted to sit on the very end of the dock, dangling her legs over the side and splishing the tips of her toes in the water. She unloaded the clump of dirt right next to her and formed it into a semi-neat pile.

She wiped her paw clean and patted the space next to her. “Come have a seat. Let me show you something.” Arnie came over and sat next to her with the dirt pile between them. He dangled his legs over the edge but retracted them after the soles dipped into the water. “You can take them off and put them on, you know.”

“Yeah, right.” He pulled his boots and socks off. His feet were paler than the hairy shins rising from them. He wiggled his toes before lowering them back to the water. The ripples lapped at his feet. “It’s a little cold.”

“Dip ‘em in deeper. You’ll warm up to it.”

He did so. The surface slowly crept up the tops of his feet, just short of the ankle. Tendrils of golden light flickered through the jade water, across his skin. The cold made the hairs on his legs stand before gradually they adjusted to the chill. He kicked the water around. “Yeah, that feels nice.”

“Doesn’t it?” Patrick said. He pulled his boots off and sat next to them, putting Arnie in the middle. His much bonier feet fell into the water, flattening the great many hairs around his ankle to his skin. “Beats the hell out of the fancy sneakers doesn’t it?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that.”

“Yeah, well I do.”

“Hey.” Lenora nudged Arnie with her elbow. “Watch this.” She plucked a worm from the pile. It bent and flicked between her fingers. The pole was lying next to her where she grabbed the hook and brought it up to the worm. “Now, you don’t just wanna stick the guy on all willy-nilly ‘cause he’s gonna wiggle right off. Even if you stick him three times through he’ll still find a way. You wanna jab him lengthwise with a little hanging off the end, that way he can’t leave but can wiggle just a little to get the fish’s attention.”

“Show me,” Arnie said.

She pinched the very tail of the worm and brought it to the hook tip. The point pierced the worm’s knobby flesh. She then slid the body over the curve of the hook like putting panty hose on a leg. When the last of the hook’s curve was covered in worm she ripped the tip through the body, leaving the last half to dangle off and continue writhing. “There we go. Next one you’re putting on. Oh and uh…” She pointed at the dirt pile. “Do me a favor and don’t let any of those guys escape.” Arnie looked at the pile and noticed a couple refugees rooting their way out of the dirt, onto the dock. He brushed them both back in with a few timid flicks of his finger. “Thanks. Just keep an eye on them.”

Patrick sat next to them without a word, merrily listening to Lenora’s instructions and watching Arnie’s rapt focus on her. Inevitably he thought about his grandpa again, the many spring and summer days they spent on the old dock, the one that had been replaced by the one they currently sat on. Lenora had gone through the same motions his grandpa had, demonstrating how to find and hook worms. She moved on to flipping the bail and getting ready to cast a line. She arced the rod over her right shoulder with her finger on the line. The hook dangled over her back before she careened it forwards.

Whiiiizzzzzzzzzzz!

The hook soared like a comet, trailing a tail of thin line that zipped through the rod loops and unwound from the reel. It plopped into the water several meters away, followed closely by the bobber. Lenora flipped the bail and reeled the line taut. “There we go!” she said.

“Now we just wait?”

“Now we just wait. Gotta watch that bobber for any twitches. If something yanks it under, then the fun starts.”

“And how long until that happens?”

Lenora shrugged. “Sometimes in a matter of minutes, sometimes never. Depends on how hungry the fish are.”

“OK.” Arnie leaned back on his arms and yawned.

“You’re not bored already, I hope,” Patrick joked.

“No, not yet.”

“What do you guys wanna do after this?”

“What is there to do?”

“There’s a nice trail we can walk. Hope it hasn’t been too grown over since I last used it.”

“When was the last time you were on it?”

Patrick thought for a moment. “Six years, I think?”

“Oh. Yeah, then maybe it has.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Patrick looked over and spotted the boat. “Wanna go boating a little? Oars are in the box back there.”

Anything to stay busy. “Sure.”

The two of them put their boots back on and retrieved two oars from the box. With them were some orange type II life vests. Patrick gave Arnie one. “Put this on.”

“Really? I think I’ll be fine.”

“Can you swim?”

“I mean, yeah, kinda.”

“‘Kinda’ ain’t good enough. I ain’t gonna let you drown in front of your sister.”

“Put it on, Arnie,” Lenora said without looking away from the pond.

Arnie sighed and took it. “Alright.” It went over his head like a big, stiff medallion. It smelled like moss and fetid water. Aside from looking ridiculous, he was worried that it would stain his shirt.

“Here, put the straps on.” Patrick made to help him clip the straps around his back, but was brushed away.

“I got it.” Arnie tried clipping them together behind him, only to blindly knock the buckles together.

Finally Patrick came around, took them from him, then clicked them together. “There we go! Now you’re all safe.”

Arnie just grimaced and headed over to the boat. He felt like a child. It didn’t help when Patrick had to hold on to the boat to keep it still while Arnie stepped inside. It shifted on the water beneath his feet, nearly making him topple. He unfolded one of the booster seats and sat down on it with his fingers desperately clung to the cushion. Patrick stepped into the boat and untied the rope off the dock. After dropping it on the floor he sat down and handed Arnie an oar.

“Y’all have fun now!” Lenora chirped.

“We will!” said Patrick. He shoved his hand on the dock, propelling the boat into the water.

“Y’all watch my line, too.”

“We will, we will.” Patrick settled down in his seat and faced aft. “Alright! Here we go. Let’s just scoot to the middle of the pond. You row right, I’ll row left. Try and row at the same time as me.”

Arnie peered over the starboard side. There was his reflection, peering back at him curiously. He stuck the white plastic oar into the water and made the first stroke. His image warped away. The resistance dug the oar’s aluminum shaft into his palm. Bringing his attention to Patrick, he timed his strokes with his. Before long they were at the pond’s center, idly floating with their oars across their laps.

“Alright. Let’s just chill here for a while,” Patrick said. He twisted his seat around to face Arnie. “Having fun yet?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“If you wanna keep rowing we can. We can do a few laps around the pond.”

“We can stay here for now, I guess.”

“Cool.” Patrick looked out towards the dock where Lenora remained behind her rod. She saw them and waved. Patrick waved back. “Wave at your sister.” Arnie looked over his shoulder and waved too. “You know your sister’s really happy you came out here with us.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmhmm.” Patrick tapped his oar, wondering if it was appropriate to say anything more. Making him speak was what he had been drilled into him in the past: if there’s something wrong, you mention it. “She’s worried about you, you know.”

Arnie frowned. “She is?”

“Yeah. Says you’ve been gettin’ into some bad stuff on the internet.

Arnie grimaced and groaned. “Yeah, I bet she did.”

“Tell me about it.”

Arnie went from annoyed to surprised. “What. The stuff I listen to?”

“Yeah! If you’re so into it, I wanna know why. You said you were into crypto? How does that work?”

“Well, that’s one thing I’m into. It’s really complicated. I don’t even know how it works all the way yet.”

“Explain it to me like I’m five.”

“OK.” What followed was a winding explanation on how crypto worked, or at least the very basics of it. Patrick nodded along, barely comprehending half of what he said. It hardly made sense to Arnie himself as he said it out loud, often requiring backtracking and random tangents.

“I see,” said Patrick, lying. “And this stuff makes you money?”

“If you get there early and people buy into it, yeah.”

“Sounds like any other investment scheme.”

“Yeah, everyone says that.”

“Maybe everyone says it because it’s true.”

Arnie just scoffed. “Yeah, OK.”

Time to change the subject. “I can tell you work out a lot. What’s your regimen?”

Arnie’s face lit up. “I try to run a mile every day. I blast my abs and do calisthenics for my arms and legs.”

“Nice. You look good.”

“Thanks.”

“You get lots of girls?”

He played it modestly. “Yeah. Here and there. You know. I know how to flatter a girl.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what she’s worried about. I’m doing just fine. I’ll have enough money for college and stuff like that. I’ll be fine.”

“Well, I gotta be honest with you. I think it’s because you think that is why she’s worried.”

“Oh yeah? Did she tell you that?”

“No, but I’m pretty sure that’s why.” He paused. “I’m worried about you too.”

Arnie frowned. He remained quiet for several moments before he spoke again. “Why?”

“Well, you might not believe it, but I was 18 too, once. I read into the same stuff you do. Maybe not all that crypto stuff, but I was a real knucklehead. Got into trouble.” He shook his head sadly. “If I could be 18 again… Shit, I’d do so many things differently.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Thought joining the army in the middle of a freakin’ war would make me cool.”

Arnie’s mien softened into something much more somber. “Yeah. Lenora told me you were in the army.”

“Mmhmm. I didn’t get the worst of it… But I got some of it. I only got a whiff of the jungle, not a full taste.”

Arnie chuckled. “Yeah, that’s good, I guess.”

“I was a gym rat like you going into it. All I did was run and do push ups. Hell, that’s all they made us do. Doesn’t do me good now. My back’s fucked up, I smoke like a chimney, and I drink liquor like it’s water.” He pulled his shirt up to his chest and grabbed a fistful of hairy white gut. “Yeah, I need to work out more. Do something, at least.” He dropped his shirt. “Can’t do what you do, though, not anymore. You’re in good shape. Just gotta keep it up.”

“Yeah, I think I can do that.”

Speaking of smoking, Patrick fished a pack out of his pocket and snagged a butt. He lit it with a lighter and took a steep drag. It was the first cigarette he’d smoked in a while out of respect to the passengers he had in his car. A building neurosis finally had a chance to relax now that he could pollute his body. After exhaling he gestured with the cigarette. “Whatever you do, stay off this shit.”

“Yeah. No problem.”

“You know, the real stuff that bothers Lenora is that pick-up artist stuff you’ve gotten into.”

“Yeah, figures.”

Patrick shook his head. “You know it might seem cool and rad to be able to pick up girls all you want and fuck ‘em silly, but that’s not how you stay satisfied. I think those guys who glorify that shit are just idiots shilling out stuff boys want to hear.”

“I mean, it’s true isn’t it? Half the reason shit’s gone so badly is ‘cause people are fucking sissified these days.”

“Sissified? Is that what they call it?”

“That’s what I call it.”

Patrick sighed a gust of smoke. “I don’t think it’s that. I think people are just tired. They were tired of fighting and they were tired of the lying and the stalling. That’s how I felt, at least. Seen it everywhere. Don’t you?”

Arnie shifted his eyes elsewhere, a bitter look narrowing them. “I guess.”

“Aren’t you tired?”

“Tired? Of what?”

“I don’t know. Just in general. I’d be tired too if I had to juggle all the shit you’re doing. School, that crypto shit, working out, girls. Fuck, that’s way too much for an 18 year old. It’s too much for anyone.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you?”

“Yeah,” he said sharply. “I am.”

Patrick backed off. “OK. OK. Sorry.”

They floated in silence for several moments. Patrick took a few more drags on his cigarette. He looked over at Lenora, still on the dock, holding her fishing pole. “What about that girl?”

“Hmm?”

“That girl you asked about, back at the diner. You said you knew her when you worked out there. What was her name?”

“Oh. That was Morgan.”

“Morgan. What was she, a tanuki?”

Arnie nodded with a noted level of enthusiasm. “Mmhmm.”

Patrick grinned. “She pretty?”

“I mean…” He shrugged dramatically. “Kinda. She’s cute, I guess.”

“Awwwwwwww, you like herrrrrrrrr.”

An embarrassed smile split Arnie’s face as he looked away. “No. Not like that.”

“Sure, sure. OK. You know, I’d like to meet her tomorrow morning. We can go say hi.”

Arnie’s smile quickly vanished. “Yeah, but isn’t it like an hour away?”

Patrick shrugged. “We did four yesterday. What’s another? I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you.”

“I don’t know if she remembers me.”

“Hell. I’d remember a kid like you, especially if you showed up as often as you said you did. I’m sure she’d be flattered. You don’t gotta ask her out or anything. Just say ‘hi’.”

“Seems kinda lame to drive an hour just to say ‘hi’.”

“OK, but you can do more than that. Start a chat or something. If we get there early enough we can talk to her when it isn’t busy.”

Arnie was quiet. His excuses were running short. “What about Lenora?”

“What about her?”

“I mean, she might not want to go.”

“Oh please,” Patrick scoffed. “She’ll want nothing more than to see you with a girl. I mean a real girl who you stay with, not a girl you just picked up from school.”

“Whoa,” Arnie laughed nervously. “I didn’t say all that.”

“No, but you were thinking it. Don’t lie to me.”

Arnie’s smile was back, even redder this time.

“Lenora thinks about you a lot. Way more than you think. Don’t think just because she’s in college that she doesn’t. I think one of the main reasons she worries about you trying to pick up so many girls is that she can’t protect you from them if one of them turns out to be nasty.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup. She just wants what’s best for you. She wants you to be happy. Her and I both know how much better it is to appreciate things and people in life. All this get rich quick stuff you’re trying to pull,” Patrick shook his head. “It ain’t gonna do it. Not in the long run. You’re 18. You’re at the beginning of your prime. Don’t waste it burning yourself out. That’s what I did. Graduated highschool and joined the army because that’s what the cool thing to do was at the time.” A moment’s pause. He remembered how he had been before Lenora came to him and asked if he could bring her and Arnie out here for a week. The bottle had him. He was blacking out every other day. He was pondering what the muzzle of his revolver tasted like. All that because of the dumbass shit he did, didn’t do, and failed to do when he was younger. “I wish I knew better.”

Arnie was quiet. “I don’t know if I want to be like everyone else,” he said finally. “But sometimes I feel like I’m in the middle of a competition that everyone’s good at but me. It’s like… I don’t know.” Another pause. Patrick waited patiently. “It’s like I gotta work ten times harder than everyone else. I probably don’t have to, really, but it feels that way. Yeah, I wanna get a girlfriend for the long term, but it’s like I’m afraid of that somehow. I can talk to a girl and get a date, but doing anything else beyond that is…” Arnie shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess I’m not ready.”

“And you don’t have to be. I know I wasn’t, but hindsight is 20/20. All you gotta do is know this: your sister and the rest of your family loves you. That’s why they worry about you.”

“Yeah,” Arnie said. “That makes sense.”

“Hey!”

A shout from the dock. They looked to see Lenora standing on the dock. The rod was bent at its tip. Both paws were on the reel. “I got something!”

“Alright!” Patrick cheered. “Come on. Let’s go watch.”

Arnie’s face lit up. He hoisted his oar. “Yeah!”

The boat did an awkward about face and made a beeline for the dock. They came to a drift a few feet outside of it. Lenora was gripping the rod. The line was perfectly straight, jerking at the tip. The bobber was nowhere to be seen. “Come on, Arnie,” Lenora shouted.

“What?” he called out.

“I said come on! I want you to reel him in!”

“Me?”

“Yeah you! Come on! He’s a big one! I don’t want the line to break! I only got one hook! Hurry!”

“Come on then!” Patrick hooted. “Let’s go!”

They zoomed the rest of the way to the dock. Patrick stopped them by grabbing one of the support poles. Arnie climbed up and ran to his sister. She passed him the rod. “There you go. Just reel. Don’t gotta jerk or nothing. Just reel.”

Arnie gripped the rod for dear life. He watched in awe as the tip continued to jerk and bend. “OK! Uhhh…” He grabbed the reel knob and spun it. The curve on the pole steepened. The line knifed through the surface, zipping closer. Arnie’s jaw was clenched tight. It wasn’t hard, but it felt like the line would snap at any moment. Patrick and Lenora were right at his side, cheering him on, watching the line draw nearer and nearer until finally they saw the glimmer of scales spinning up to the surface.

The line went vertical. Arnie reeled in his prize: a bluegill barely bigger than his hand, not even two pounds. It flopped and thrashed as Arnie pulled it up over the dock, stopping when the bobber reached the tip of the pole. “Look at that!” Lenora hollered. “You got it!”

“Yeah!” Arnie said. “Now what?”

“Give it here.” She took the rod and stood it up on its handle. She grabbed the fish and carefully unhooked its lip. “Here hold your hands out together, palms up.” Arnie did so. She laid the fish on his palms belly first. He closed his fingers around it. The slimy scales made him shiver. “Hold him tight. He’ll try and flop out.” On cue, the fish thrashed his tail, nearly escaping Arnie’s grasp. “See! Hold him.”

“I got him! What is he?”

“That’s a bluegill,” Patrick said.

“Cool.” Arnie marveled at the fish’s unblinking eye and his gaped mouth. He’d never held a fish like this before. “We’re gonna let him go?”

“Well, I was gonna get my knife and gut him,” Lenora said.

“Oh…”

Lenora smiled. “I’m fucking with ya. He’s good.”

Arnie looked at Patrick. “Do you have a camera?”

“Ah shit, I left it in my bag.” Patrick dashed down the dock and jogged back to the lodge. By the time he got there his lungs were burning and his muscles ached. Damn. I really do need to work out. He ran inside and fetched his camera out of his bag. After taking a few seconds to catch his breath, he went back out and ran to the dock. Arnie was still holding the fish. “Got it! Y’all two get together. Act like y’all like each other.”

“I’ll let him be in it,” Lenora said. “He don’t want my titties in his fish pic.”

“No. Wait.” Arnie said, stopping her. “I don’t care. You caught the fish, really. I just reeled it in.”

Lenora looked surprised. “You don’t have to.”

“No, but I want to.” He nodded her over. “Come on. I want you to be in it.”

“Oh. Alright.” She came back over and stood next to her brother.

Patrick was trying not to smile too hard. “Alright. Y’all smile!” They both flashed their teeth. He aimed down the viewfinder and took a picture. Click!

“Did it come out good?” Arnie asked.

Patrick looked at the image on the camera’s screen. “Perfect.”

“Good.” Without any more hesitation, Arnie turned to the water and got on his knees. He leaned down and put the fish in the water. He let go, letting his first catch scurry away until he couldn’t see it any more. Standing up, he flicked his hands dry and came over to where Lenora was leaning next to Patrick and looking at the picture.

“Awww, it’s so cute!”

Arnie looked at it. “Yeah,” he said. “Think we’ll put it on the wall back home?”

“Uh, probably not on account of my boobies.”

“Oh yeah. Crap.”

“Don’t worry,” said Patrick. “I’ll make copies for the both of you that you can keep.” He looked at Lenora in the picture. “And I think I’ll make a third that I can keep for myself.”

“Oh!” She punched him in the arm. “Shut up, perv.”

“Ow!” Patrick rubbed his upper arm and laughed.

Arnie, in spite of himself, was laughing too.

***

Patrick’s buggy pulled up into Luna’s the next morning. The parking lot was mostly empty. The store had only been open for half an hour. They woke up early, around the same time the sun had risen. Arnie was exhausted after a full day of fishing and rowing. Patrick had taught him how to tie a cleat hitch. After a few hours Arnie caught two more fish, both times without outside help. Patrick captured the moments on camera and took portraits of him holding the fish. Lenora kept her nudity out of them, giving him something to frame and put up at home. All of that meant he was exhausted the following morning. The only thing keeping him from going back down was the reminder that Morgan would be at the diner. Once he heard that, he was up and at ‘em.

He kept staring at the windows like he had the day before, looking inside for any sign of her. There was none, but hope lingered. Inside the diner was mostly empty except for one fellow at the bar sipping on some coffee. The kitchen was quiet.

She came out through the kitchen door right next to the port. She had on a similar green apron to what Tina wore, one that came to just above her ankles. She was stocky, built with hips and shoulders that thinned the fabric of the clothes she wore. Soft brown hair fell down her shoulders, illuminating a pair of stunning amber marbles. Her fur was light except for the brown on her paws and around her eyes. An enormously bushy tail followed her as she stepped up to the cash register.

“Hi there!” Morgan said. “Welcome to Luna’s! Have a seat anywhere.”

Patrick and Lenora said nothing. Smiling, they stepped aside for Arnie, who was trying to smile without making himself look like an ass. “Hey,” was all he said.

Morgan’s eyes lit up. “Oh hey! It’s been a while! How’ve you been?”

His smile broadened. “Good. I had to quit my job ‘cause of school.”

She tutted. “Ah, I was wondering why I didn’t see you around. We missed you.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Mmhmm.” She gestured around at the diner. “Have a seat wherever. I can’t wait to catch up with you.”

Patrick leaned into his ear and whispered. “Lenora and I are gonna sit at a booth. You take up a stool and chat with her.”

“You sure?”

“Oh yeah.” Patrick winked. “Take all the time you need, partner.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem.” He and Lenora sat down at a booth while Arnie climbed onto the stool. Morgan came over to ask them what they wanted, and the both of them asked for coffee. “This’ll be good for a while,” Patrick said. “Our friend wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh! OK.” She looked over her shoulder at Arnie. He was facing forward, away from them. Morgan leaned towards Patrick. “I am so sorry, but what’s his name again?”

“Arnie,” Lenora said.

“Arnie!” Morgan bopped her forehead. “I was close. I almost said Andrew. Sorry.”

“You’re fine. I don’t think you’ll forget it again.”

“I won’t. I’ll bring y’all those coffees shortly.”

“Take your time.”

Morgan brought them their drinks before walking around the bar and striking up a conversation with Arnie. Neither Patrick nor Lenora could make out everything they said, but they heard a lot of laughter. Even with his back to them, they could see the sliver of a very bright smile, one Lenora had not seen on him with any of his other girls. There was no forced wit or charm between either of them, just kind banter and reminiscing.

“Think he’ll ask her out?” Lenora asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Patrick said. “Maybe, maybe not. I told him it was alright if he just talked to her. It seems like he’s enjoying it.”

“Yeah, so is she.”

Another round of laughter from the two friends. Even the gentleman on the other end of the bar found their joy infectious.

“You know, I’m just glad he’s enjoying himself.” Lenora said.

As Patrick watched, he felt the urge to excuse himself for a smoke building. He didn’t, though. He was busy listening to Arnie laugh. “Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”

THE END