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Double Vision

A car rushed by, its tires sloshing on the wet pavement of Route 146 as it slipped from view over the hill. Thunder rumbled to the east, a morning thunderstorm in its dying throes. Rain sprinkled from swirling, dark, tumultuous clouds that hung low in the sky. At the apex of the hill, the road bore scars of the aftermath of a car accident. Tire skid marks marked the right lane, and the left lane bore scratches scarring the wet pavement. Bits of glass and busted plastic shards littered the shoulder. A semi-truck emerged over the hill and went by, the slipstream buffeting Maverick as he worked on the small hill, beside the apex.

Adorned in his rain suit, the big Russian husky worked to pound a memorial cross into the soft earth. His muscular arms flexed as he smacked the top of the cross with his sledgehammer, driving it further into the mud with each blow. The cross was made out of rough cut cedar, which bore his late wife's name, Amy Golagonoff. It marked the spot where she was killed, at the apex of the hill, by a drunk driver. Maverick put his sledge down and shook the cross, feeling that it was solid. His face was stoic. He turned and stood at the top of the small hill, looking down at the skid marks and scratches. It brought a painful jab of sadness in his heart.

It had been three and a half weeks since she was struck head-on by a pickup truck, driven by an inebriated Zanesville man. The impact was so violent that her car was literally torn apart; what remained of it was driven into her, crushing her into her seat. It took rescuers over an hour to pull her from the wreckage. She was airlifted to Columbus, to OSU's Wexner Medical Center, where an army of doctors and nurses tried in vain to save her life. She lost both her legs below the knee, and was paralyzed from a broken spine. She languished in the hospital ICU for a week before finally dying during surgery to repair her back; her body just gave out from all the trauma. Before she died, Maverick got to marry her, in an abrupt, emergency wedding in the hospital. It was a blissful moment for the two of them, and Maverick got to be her husband again, for one day, before she slipped into a fatal coma and was declared brain dead. Her funeral had just been a few days before.

Picking up his sledge hammer, Maverick gingerly made his way down the hill, where he placed his sledge inside the cab of his idling crew cab truck. He placed it in the backseat, on the floor, and slammed the door shut. He climbed into his blue, one-ton 3500HD, and buckled himself in. He took off and turned around to begin his drive back to Newark. The waning morning July storm fizzled out as he left Muskingum county and returned to Licking county, and the sun began to shine again, which glistened the rain drops on his Silverado's hood. Maverick drove in complete silence, his face remained stoic, a blank unemotional expression. Since Amy's death, the big husky basically "shut down"; his usually bubbly, energetic personality, his penchant for jokes and a good time, was replaced by apathy.

Returning home to Newark, Maverick pulled his truck into the driveway and hopped out. He tossed his sledge into his garage and walked across to enter through the backdoor, into the kitchen. He found his son Robby, sitting on the floor with his next door best friend, Jeffrey O'Sullivan, playing video games together.

"Hey Robby and Jeffrey, how are you two doing?" Maverick asked them as he walked by to go check the mail.

"Good~" Robby responded, followed by Jeffrey. The tan and beige husky looked concerned for his Dad.

Stepping out onto his front porch, Maverick opened the mailbox up to find a neat stack of envelopes inside. He grabbed them and closed the lid. Walking back inside, the husky shuffled through them as he closed the door with his foot. There were hospital bills, and a legal document from Amy's attorney. There was even a letter from Ohio State University's athletic program. A smile crept up on his face, when he saw a letter from Chicago, addressed to him from a Mary Gordon. She was one of the recipients of Amy's organs, having received her heart. He kept it on top of the stack as he walked back towards the kitchen. The husky's pace slowed as he stopped to gaze at a portrait of Amy, framed and hung up on the wall. It was a smiling portrait of Amy, under a canopy of ruby red flowers from a crab apple tree. She was a gray furred wolfess, from Bulgaria. The brilliant sun was just off camera, and it made her brown hair take on a beautiful glow. Her smile was slightly twisted from the damage her face took from being burned in a workplace assault; it had left her partially disabled and reeling from chronic pain. But she was beautiful to him, always. Beside her portrait was a frame that held multiple other photos. Encased behind the glass pane were photos of the eight people who were saved by Amy's organs. Maverick felt honored that he was given those photos; he had reached out to a couple, and the others had contacted him. They helped bring some comfort and closure.

Below the photos was a table that was just packed with sympathy cards. There were hundreds of cards; cards from his family and friends, cards from the hospital, and even cards and letters from the families who received the transplants. Some were from old friends in high school and college who knew him and Amy, people who had drifted away in time, some Maverick hadn't heard from in decades. Their words of support and comfort were soothing to his ravaged soul. He even got a letter from AMP Grocery, who he had made a couple commercials for, offering him sympathy, since Amy had appeared in a few of them. But of all the cards, there was one that meant the most to him, and it sat out in front and center. A black and gold trimmed sympathy card from Amy's parents meant the most to him. It was a card that doubled as an apology card to him. For years, Maverick struggled dealing with Amy's parents, George and Maggie Golagonoff, who were strongly opposed to their daughter dating a Russian. They were indirectly responsible for their divorce in 2015, and were a constant thorn in their relationship when they rekindled it. But George and Maggie, along with their son Anton, had a change of heart after Amy died; they had realized only then how much Maverick loved and cared for her. Since the funeral, they had spoken a few times over the phone, and Maverick gave them emotional support.

Returning to what he was doing, he had just stepped into the kitchen, when his cellphone gone off. He sat his envelopes down on the countertop and pulled his phone out of his pocket. It was the head of Barev One in Virginia, calling him directly. Maverick quickly answered it.

"Maverick speaking~"

"Mav, it's Bolton, hey, we just had a serious accident here."

"Oh boy."

"Jerry got hit by a gamma ray burst from a Klystron during an experiment."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Apparently Narovec wasn't paying attention and didn't realize Jerry didn't clear the shield when he fired it up. Jerry's dosimeter read he got about three-hundred and fifty rem. He was rushed to the hospital and showing signs of radiation poisoning."

"That fucking useless, Whirley lovin' Narovec." Maverick grumbled. The husky closed his eyes and realized that once again, he was overseeing another unmitigated disaster. On top of reeling from his wife's passing, he was still in charge of United Barev, a company that was dealing with financial woes, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. He didn't have his best friend Rob Barion to fall back on; Rob wasn't back as the Head of Barev yet, due to having fallen ill with a bad case of the flu. He was bedridden, at home. Maverick thought about strangling Steve Narovec, who was the incompetent head man for Klystron production at Barev One. Nothing was ever his fault, and when problems came up, he was quick to shift and deflect blame, and throw others under the bus. The company had faced huge problems restarting Klystron production after the spring shutdown, and Maverick attributed a lot of it to the poor management style of Narovec. Now he faced a workplace accident where someone could easily die from radiation sickness.

"I'm gonna fly on out. Assess the situation." Maverick stated.

"Gotcha. We're stable here, and the NRC has been notified of a radiation accident."

"Great."

Maverick put the phone down and leaned against the counter. He knew for certain the feds would fine the hell out of Barev for this level of incompetency. It was the last thing he needed for a company that was already running in the red. He let out a bitter sigh and looked at the time.

---

Enroute to Fairfax, Maverick flew aboard "International", Barev's vintage DC-3A. Flying above the rugged, worn peaks of the Appalachians, the all silver Douglas glistened brilliantly from its polished duralumin skin. At eighty-one years old, the twin-engine DC-3 continued its trade with United Barev, serving transportation duties with the company. It's radial engines burbled along, driving the droning propellers that etched golden circles in the clear skies.

In the tail section that tapered off at the rear, Maverick sat in what was Rob's private quarters. The DC-3 only had two sections; a forward lounge area with seating, and a private section in the tail. It held a small desk, a reclining chair, and a bed. The droning pound of pistons, the "radial song", was quieter in the tail, giving Maverick a chance to catch up on things, as he flew to Virginia, to assess the accident. He frankly felt overwhelmed by everything that was going on.

Taking his mind off the stress, Maverick passed the time flying by going through his mail. He went through and filled out medical bills for OSU; he signed his name on the various blank lines, scribbled out checks and stapled them to the statements and stuffed them back into envelopes. He was glad he finally had wealth to just piss away with a stroke of a pen. He signed a statement for Amy's attorney, on a five by seven, manila colored Barev letterhead, which bore the name "United Barev Industries" across the top. He wrote everything with a blue felt pen, giving his jagged cursive some dark blue "flair". He briefly glanced at the letter from Ohio State University; it was an invitation, inviting him to a alumni charity baseball game, to raise money for healthcare supplies. It was signed by the athletic director and assistant athletic director to the university. It made him think, briefly, about his days as a Buckeye, and how he had played baseball with OSU for three years. It also made him think about how long ago that was, nearly twenty years prior. He put the letter aside and turned his attention to his card from Mary Gordon. He opened it up to reveal another Chicago postcard with a message from her.

"6/29/20

Dear Mav,

I hope you enjoy another Chicago postcard! I really

appreciated and enjoyed the Newark postcard you

had sent me last time we wrote to each other! I've

added it to my scrapbook of postcards!

I feel a heck of a lot better, and I'm back at home now,

recuperating from everything. I feel like I have more

energy now than ever before- I guess that's what

happens when your ticker doesn't want to tick! I will

always be forever grateful for your late wife, who gave

me life after her's was sadly extinguished. I hope you are

hanging in there, Mav. I keep you and your son in my

prayers.

Look forward to hearing from you!

-Mary"

Maverick leaned back in the plush leather seat and smiled. Mary wrote with a very elegant cursive, written in black ballpoint. In their correspondence, he got to know a lot about her; she was sixty-two and was a Chicago native her whole life, working in a five star restaurant, until heart failure forced an early retirement. She was near death when Amy's heart became available to her, and upon waking up from surgery, she felt "like new again". His correspondence with the people his wife saved, brought so much comfort to him. He was particularly fond of writing to Mary.

Grabbing a fresh letterhead from Rob's desk, he popped the cap off his felt pen and wrote the date on the upper right corner.

"7/2/20

Dear Mary,

Salutations!

Thank you for another Chicago postcard! I love it.

I'll be adding this one to my scrapbook~ I'm so

happy to hear that you are back home and feeling

like new again. You got a brand new engine under

that hood!

As for myself- I'd be lying if I told you things were

okay. I'm feeling pretty emotionally run down,

like my life is on autopilot, enshrouded in a mental

fog. I'm trying to juggle my grieving with fatherhood,

and running a business that's currently facing the red,

as they say, and its taking a toll on me. I haven't slept

well for about a week now. But one must pick up the

pieces, and march on. "If you're going through hell,

keeping going~" Churchill once said.

Thank you for keeping me and Robby in your prayers.

I am very much appreciated by your kindness. I am

very happy hearing from you and the others, and I

hope we can continue to be pen pals. Maybe when

all is said and done, we could meet one of these days.

I've been meaning to head back to Chicago- I was there

a few months ago... but it was quite the ride there. Heh~

Wishing you the best in your recovery!

Kindly,

D.A Tokarev

"MAV"

Maverick jotted out his signature. He always wrote his signature as D.A Tokarev; the D and A were combined, with the A's horizontal bar created by the looping "T" he used for his last name. He always wrote "Mav" at the bottom, the nickname he preferred over his birth name of Douglas. He reread his letter, and stowed it into an envelope. He wrote the addresses needed on it, and slapped a stamp in the upper right corner. It sat with his stack of envelopes that he planned to mail once he got into Fairfax.

An hour later, "International" came in for a landing at Fairfax airport. The DC-3 taxied to its usual parking place on the tarmac, where a white Suburban waited for them. It was a company SUV, which bore "Barev" on the door in blue Square Serif font. Standing beside it was a gray wolf, Ryan Bolton, the plant manager. Maverick climbed out of the plane with a backpack bouncing against his backside. He was followed with Marcus and Felix Barion, who had ridden along with him. Marcus wheeled behind him one of Maverick's BVP-3 Betacam's, neatly encased in its rolling luggage suitcase. They all climbed into the Suburban, for the half-hour drive to the industrial park, where Barev One was at. As they drove back, Bolton gave Maverick more information and updates about the accident.

When he arrived to Barev One, Maverick found a sea of confusion and panic amongst all the workers over what had happened. He got the situation under control and rallied everyone around, which brought some stability back to the facility. Maverick made a quick assessment of the accident, and found there was no radiation threat in the test area. He then pulled Narovec into the conference room for a meeting the upper management of Barev One. There was an uncomfortable tension amongst all of them in the room.

"This is not my fault!" Narovec protested. He was a middle aged gray wolf, with a mop of tousled brown hair atop his head. It was a quip Maverick had expected, right from the get go. "Jerry didn't tell me in time that he wasn't clear of the test chamber!"

"So you just flipped the switch?" Bolton asked him. "You just assumed he was clear and you fired it up?"

"Well...no...I assumed."

"That's your first problem." Pointed Ron Napier, the head supervisor for broadcast tube manufacturing. "Assumption is the mother of all fuck ups."

Maverick leaned back in his seat and listened.

"Jerry should have known better than to be standing right next to the damn thing." Narovec exclaimed. He looked visibly frustrated. "He knows very well that high powered Klystrons can emit gamma rays!"

"He was wiring up the harness to power it and the test instrumentation- so he kinda had to stand near it." Bolton stated. "You should have waited to flip the switch after he radioed to you and stated he was clear."

"This is not my fault." Narovec shook his head.

"Well it doesn't matter what you said, accept or refuse, the undeniable fact is, you hit Jerry with a burst of gamma rays through an act of carelessness in safety prep." Napier shook his head.

"I am going to need a statement from you." Bolton concluded. "This will be needed for the NRC investigation."

"That's bullshit!" Narovec shouted.

"You are a party to this accident." Bolton added.

Maverick leaned forward and chuckled, cynically. "Steve, I have known you for three years here...and I can't help but notice that nothing is ever your fault. You're one of these guys that act like Teflon... nothing sticks."

"Well I haven't done anything wrong that would warrant."

"I think this is part of a bigger issue that me and Rob have observed. Especially with the unmitigated disaster in restarting Klystron production, considering you are the lead supervisor over Klystron manufacturing..."

"What, what are you saying, Mav?"

"What I'm saying is you have demonstrated a number of incompetent mistakes, and today's radiation accident is just fuel to the fire."

Narovec looked around the room at the blank faces staring at him. He looked visibly upset at Maverick.

"What the fuck do you know, Mav? You're not here all the time like we are!"

"It's true." Napier glared.

"I don't see the same level of mistakes in the other manufacturing areas~ Who made two bad batches of Klystrons? Who oversaw restart of tetrodes? Not Napier, not Bolton, not Sanders, but you, Narovec. You always deflect blame and responsibility to somebody else, because nothing's ever your fault. You always had Kevin Whirley to fall back on. HECK! You're like the canine centipede- you had your head shoved so far up Whirley's ass, I couldn't tell where he ended and you began!"

Narovec looked agitated as he stood up and pointed right at Maverick. "I fucking refuse to take responsibility because there is no responsibility! Jerry knew very well not to stand near the fucking output flange! It was an accident... okay!? I didn't intend to hit him with gamma rays, and make him sick! All this finger pointing...all this blame game bullshit...it's really making me sad!"

Maverick leaned back and tilted his head a bit. "That's really interesting that you say that Narovec... you know what makes me sad? YOU DO!"

The usually mild mannered Maverick threw himself out of the chair in a fit of rage. He slammed his paws on the table and glared at a startled looking Narovec.

"WHY DON'T WE ALL JUST BE LIKE STEVE HERE AND LIVE IN MAMBY-PAMBY LAND WHERE HE CAN DO NO WRONG, AND NOTHING'S EVER HIS FAULT! HEY I'M STEVE NAROVEC AND I'M PERFECT- I'M THE BEST, BRIGHTEST, SMARTEST, GOOD LOOKING MOTHERFUCKER AROUND! I HAVE ZERO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING! I'M HAPPY, HAPPY IN MY LITTLE WORLD WHERE RIVERS FLOW WITH CHOCOLATE AND CHILDREN DANCE AROUND COTTON CANDY TREES WITH GUMDROP SMILES! D'OHHHHHHH!"

The entire conference room was dead silent at Maverick's rage filled outburst. Bolton stared with pursed lips, and Napier looked shocked. Narovec sat sunken in his chair, looking really hurt at the husky's explosive, insult packed rant. He looked as though he was about to cry.

"Tissue?" Maverick asked. He grabbed the box that sat on the table and threw it at him. "Fucking pussy~"

---

Stirring a cup of coffee at the small, chrome lined galley, Maverick looked emotionally burned out. He stood and watched the froth of his creamer stir around his mug aimlessly. It was late afternoon, and he was flying back home after a stress filled day at Barev One. Between the accident, and handling the "G-men"- government agents from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Maverick also felt burned out from the summary termination of Steve Narovec. It was an unanimous decision. Maverick continued to stare at his mug, lost in his stupor, until a jolt of turbulence brought him back. He blinked and shuddered a bit.

The forward half of the DC-3 was a lounge, made up of a couple swiveling leather chairs on both sides of the narrow fuselage. Here he saw Marcus and Felix resting, chatting with each other while Felix jotted notes on the inner liner of his Betacam cassette jacket. Maverick ventured over to see both of them.

"You doing okay, Mav?" Felix asked curiously.

"Eh." The husky responded as he took a seat. He leaned his head over and propped it up with a paw and rubbed his forehead slowly. "I got a pretty bad tension headache."

Marcus leaned over in his seat towards Maverick. The white and gray Swedish husky knew. "It's been an unprecedented year."

"Don't remind me..." grunted Maverick. "Guys, I can't deal with this much more. Everything's just overwhelming me and I don't know what to do."

Marcus nodded. "I understand. I think you need a break."

"Pfft." Maverick rolled his green eyes. "And what? Leave this company to chaos? I hoped Rob would be fit to come back, but he just had to get the flu. What's next? Coronavirus?"

"Don't say that!" Felix exclaimed with a laugh. "Jesus Christ."

"I can't keep subjecting myself to this chaos. And on top of Amy's death, and trying to process all of that, it's-"

"Look, Mav, I understand fully. So why not this proposal? Why not step aside for a month or two, and, I don't know, let Barev be run by me and Felix, or something. Like set up an emergency committee to run the company in yours and Rob's absence until he's fit enough to return. You can't keep subjecting yourself to this stress. Think of your heart, man~"

Maverick nodded. He emitted a sigh. "We gotta do something."

He discussed the idea with Felix and Marcus for a while, going back and forth over his concerns and thoughts, before he dragged a very sick Rob out of bed for a teleconference on his laptop. Also in the teleconference was Charles Manchester, their accountant back at the BVS building in Newark. Rob didn't say very much, being more of an observer as he sat half asleep in bed listening to Maverick, Felix, Marcus, and Charles. The concept was a three man "committee" to run Barev; Marcus as the interim head, Felix as the interim vice president, and Charles as the executor. Maverick liked the idea, and Rob grumbled a "fuck it" for his approval. They all agreed when it would begin, starting Monday. Maverick would have two months off, and would return in September. Before cutting Rob loose, Maverick explained the accident at Barev with the Klystron irradiating Jerry. Rob simply rolled his eyes and muttered "fucking Steve- why couldn't he get zapped?"

Following the conference, Maverick retreated to the quiet private space in the tail of "International". He recorded a video with Felix on the BVP-3, giving a statement over the accident, and his own stepping down from day to day operations. He cited a focus on his emotional health, and talked a bit about the death of his wife affecting him severely. He encouraged the company's workers, and wished everyone the best for his concluding statement. Felix then left with his Betacam, leaving Maverick alone in Rob's office.

The husky took time to write a statement for the NRC over the accident. He jotted his recollections and assessment on three pieces of cardstock, and signed and dated it. He sat them aside and jotted a short statement on another.

"7/2/20

To Barev,

I hereby announce my temporary step-down from day

to day operations with United Barev Industries until

9/7/20. In the meantime, the emergency committee

of Marcus and Felix Barion, plus Charles Manchester,

will oversee and conduct day to day operations of all

divisions until the return of Rob Barion or myself.

Thank you,

-D.A Tokarev

"MAV"

He scooted his finished note aside and sat for a moment just staring off into space. He exhaled slowly, his eyes scooting to the left to notice something red out of the corner of his eye. He saw the torn open envelope from Ohio State University. He remembered about the letter they had sent him, and it perked his mind as he grabbed it from the corner of the desk to read it more closely.

"Dear Maverick,

You are invited to join us for a charity baseball game

at Ohio State University, on July 11. It's a friendly game

for former alumni members of the baseball team to

raise money for medical supplies to our healthcare

workers who need it now more than ever. We would

love to have you attend this fun and exciting event!

Sincerely,

The Ohio State Baseball Association.

-Greg Howard, Coach

-John Clemens, Asst. Coach to Baseball

-Ryan Newman, Athletic Director, OSU

-Maverick Kennedy, Asst. Athletic Director, OSU"

Maverick recognized that his former coach was now the athletic director. The other names he didn't recognize. He had to stop and realize that he hadn't played baseball since 2005, fifteen years before. Back then he remembered Newman as his coach, and a prick named James Jordan as the assistant coach. Jordan, he never liked. Always full of himself, thought he was better than everyone else. Last Maverick heard, he had resigned from OSU a few years before, which coincided with a sex scandal that erupted at the university in 2015. Dr. Stradley, the university doctor, was arrested for molesting over four hundred students- none of it surprised Maverick. It was an open rumor that Stradley was a pervert, and that Jordan was aware and did nothing when students reported incidents to him, to protect his own career.

Tilting his head as he reread the invitation, the husky felt interested. He thought about all the recent chaos in his life, and decided that maybe a game of baseball would do him some good. A little nostalgia, for a good cause.

---

One Week Later

Saturday morning was bright and sunny, a cloudless blue sky above Columbus. The temperature was a steamy eighty-five degrees already at ten in the morning. At the Bill Davis stadium, a small crowd of onlookers gathered to watch in the bleachers as the current roster of the Buckeyes, met with their past members on the diamond below.

In line, Maverick stood, clutching his championship winning baseball bat. He was dressed in his old uniform that he kept, which amazing, still fit him. He had a red OSU baseball hat, a red shirt that bore "Ohio State" spelled out on the front, and light gray, snug athletic pants, complete with red socks that went to his knees. A black pair of Nike cleats completed his getup. He stood with some of his former players, all of them aged considerably like him at thirty-six. A few guys ahead in line were in their early fifties, and had played with OSU in the late eighties and early nineties. They stood in line for a big money making contest; who could strike the most home runs in succession. Each home run scored, OSU would donate money for medical equipment. Everyone looked enthused, but Maverick looked glum as he fiddled with his wooden bat. His face was sullen as he looked down at the ground. Not far away stood his son Robby, who manhandled Maverick's BVP-3 on his shoulder, recording video of the action. A few members of BVS were milling about, shooting B-roll with their old analog cameras.

As Maverick waited, he was lost in his thoughts. Early in the week, after Mav had "officially" stepped away from Barev, he found out that Jerry Schultz died in the hospital from complications due to radiation sickness. He was a longtime expert on Klystrons; he had started building them when he worked for English Electric Valve, and then with the Whirley Company for twenty-five years before Barev bought them out of bankruptcy. A simple mistake ultimately cost his life. He had grown sicker in the hospital, despite aggressive treatment to save his life. He had suffered extensive internal injuries that lead to organ failure. Another death gripped Maverick hard, and his heart ached in sadness. It also worried him about the expected fallout now that an engineer actually died. Barev was having a bad year; two workers died from coronavirus, and one was so badly mauled by their illness that they were left disabled. Now Jerry added three to their casualties list, compounded by continuing financial instability.

His rambling thoughts were interrupted by his name being called. It was his turn. Clearing his thoughts and taking a deep breath to calm himself, the husky stepped onto the plate and stared down one of the current members of the Buckeyes. Dressed similarly to himself, the black wolf took position on the pitcher's mound. Like the others, the pitchers were lined up to take their turn. Like before, Maverick let instinct take over, his autopilot engaging. He sort of blanked out, as he focused solely on tracking the ball.

The wolf got into position, gave the windup, and threw a fast upperhand shot. Maverick swung and struck the ball with a pleasant sounding "WHACK!" from his bat. The ball went flying to the applause of onlookers. Maverick swung his back and got into position again for the next pitcher, who sent another fast one flying at him. Maverick hit it out of the park again, the ball going towards the stands, as a few people jumped to catch the second homerun. Like a well oiled machine, Maverick hit each ball that was sent his way. His son videotaped the action from a safe distance. Looking like he was in a trance, the stoic looking husky sent ball after ball flying.

"Well that's ten..." mumbled the assistant athletic director to himself. Leaning against the railing and looking out over the field stood a buff gray husky, Maverick Kennedy. He was a tall figure in his mid-thirties, with beefy, hulking arms that were attached to an hourglass like waist of solid muscle. Green eyes peered behind sunglasses. He wore a red baseball cap, and was dressed in snug gym shorts and a tight fitting tanktop that bore the OSU logo on the front and back. He watched Maverick Tokarev with amusement and interest as he hit homerun after homerun. A smirk graced his face. "Now there's thirteen..."

Walking through the arched entrance to the upper level, was a muscular brown wolf, who held two smoothies in his grip. He was dressed in the purple and white uniform of the "Columbus Rainbows", a gay baseball team. He sucked on one of them as he approached Maverick. "Mav, here's your passion fruit smoothie~"

"Thank you!" the big husky grinned. He spoke with a deep, booming voice that carried a slight southern drawl. He accepted his smoothie from his boyfriend, Faust Freyjasson.

"That drink's pretty gay if you ask me~" the wolf teased with a grin. He put his arm around his older boyfriend, who did the same gesture in return.

"You'd know all about that, huh?" grinned the husky as he snuck a kiss at his twenty-two year old lover, who laughed. Faust leaned against the railing and watched with Maverick as another homerun was struck. He called out "seventeen" at that swing.

"Who's that guy?" Faust asked. "That's pretty good!"

"I think that's Maverick Tokarev? I think that's his name." Maverick pointed with a wag of his finger. "Oh wow, twenty~"

"Twenty?"

"Yeah, he's been knocking these balls out of the park." Maverick explained with an amused tone.

"Sounds Russian~" chuckled Faust. "What an interesting first name. Where have I heard that before?"

Maverick grinned at his boyfriend playfully.

"Whoa! HEADS UP!"

Maverick saw out of the corner of his eye a baseball fast approaching. With lighting reflexes, the husky ducked at the last second as a baseball smacked into the seat behind him. He stumbled and fell onto his back, spilling some of his smoothie on the concrete floor, to the derisive laughter of Faust.

"Boy that about took your head off!" Faust exclaimed.

"Wowzers." The husky blinked. He got up and picked up the baseball that was sitting on the seat. He twirled it a bit in his grip and continued on watching with his boyfriend as another homerun was flung skywards.

---

In the shade near the lobby, Maverick sat with some of his former team members, signing autographs. It was a congested area as people came and went to grab refreshments, and get autographs signed. Maverick's performance on the field brought him a long line of people wanting to have a signed autograph, and quite a few clutched baseballs that he had knocked into the stands. He had scored a spectacular forty consecutive homeruns, raising over two thousand dollars for the medical fund. But yet, for his triumph and popularity, Maverick didn't look it. He sat at a folding table, looking down as he signed his name on a photograph from him from college. He looked listless and mentally exhausted as he handed off another photo to a smiling guest who said thanks before walking away.

"Hello~"

"Hey man, may I have an autograph?"

"Yeah, sure."

Maverick grabbed another photo from his stack and quickly scribbled his name onto it. He wrote "Many thanks, D.A Tokarev, Class of 2005." It was promptly handed to another well-wisher. He was then given a baseball that he scribbled his name on with his blue Sharpie. The husky let out a bit of a sigh as the person left looking all excited.

The husky was mentally burned out from everything that had happened. As he signed autograph after autograph, there was a feeling of being overwhelmed. He felt his anxiety teetering on the brink as he worked down his stack of photographs. People were seeing a side of Maverick he had kept hidden from everyone; the bubbly, jokester, slap-happy personality he extruded, was how he coped with his autism, how he masked the social effects. Now that it was stripped away, people were seeing him struggle with keeping up with all the stimuli around him. The more he signed, the shakier his handwriting and signature got. He stopped for a moment to take a drink of water, to calm his shattered thoughts.

As he stowed his water bottle away, he took notice of a brown wolf approaching, a muscular guy in his early twenties, wearing a purple and white baseball jersey that read "Rainbows" on the front. He was carrying and tossing a baseball up and down in his grip. Maverick inhaled through his nose and exhaled through clenched teeth.

"Hey!" the brown wolf greeted. He had a slight southern accent, like he was from the deep south. "You must be Maverick Tokarev~"

"Yep." The husky nodded. "That's me."

"I was amazed at your homeruns! Forty!" he complimented. "Name's Faust~"

"Cool~ Yep. I take it you want that ball signed?"

"Sure~"

Maverick took it and quickly jotted his name on it. He handed it back and looked down at the table.

"I can't help but notice that you look like my boyfriend, Maverick. Heh, you two even share the same name." Faust chuckled.

"Heh~" Maverick responded. He looked tired and cynical.

"Everything okay buddy? You look kinda sad."

"Well...I am." Admitted Maverick. "My wife died a couple weeks ago in a car accident."

"Oh... man...I'm so sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, I know. I say the same thing too~"

The brown wolf looked uncomfortable. He fiddled with the signed ball of his, wished Maverick well and disappeared into the crowd. Maverick took the moment to get up and grab another box of photographs from his truck. He was about out of eight by tens. He walked out to the parking lot, got some fresh air and grabbed a box of photos from the backseat of his Silverado. He carried them back inside the stadium, tucked under his arm.

Seeing the crowd of people wanting autographs. Maverick shivered, closed his eyes, and pursed his lips. He turned instead and found a quiet spot in a corner, where he could sulk at. He sat behind a folding table that had a few flyers on it, and folded his legs close to him. He rested his forehead on his bent up knees and just sat, reflecting on everything. Maverick sat like that for what felt like a long period of time. Lost in his thoughts, the husky was oblivious to the world, until the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder. He sensed someone's presence.

Slowly lifting his head up, Maverick glanced up at a big tall husky standing over him, casting a shadow on him in the corner. He stood with a grin on his face. Maverick was taken aback at just how similar he looked to himself; they both had similar builds, and their fur color was about the same. He even had a goatee like his own! Their fur patterns were just about identical, save for their "face mask"; Maverick's "husky mask" dipped down between the eyes and touched the top of the bridge of his muzzle. His mask bulged up around the eyes to form a rounded point. The husky sat looking at him as though he was staring in the mirror; he apparently had met his doppelganger.

"How's it goin' buddy?" the big husky spoke. He had a much deeper voice than Maverick, with a southern twinge to it. "Faust told me you were looking a bit glum...so I went out to go find you."

"Yeah, I, uhh, needed to just clear my mind for a bit."

"My condolences about your wife's passing." The husky offered as he held out a paw.

"...name's Maverick as well... Maverick~"

"Heh, small world~"

Maverick accepted his paw and was helped back up. The other Maverick stood as tall as him. "Well, aren't you just a spitting image~" he responded with a playful grin.

"Small world." The Russian husky chuckled, a smile briefly emerging. "You must be the assistant athletic director."

"That I am~" he grinned. "Maverick Kennedy, of the Ohio State University! And you must be Maverick Tokarev."

"In the flesh!" the Russian husky laughed lightly. "Thought I'd play some baseball to take my mind off things..."

"Nothing wrong with that buddy. You were a beast on that field. Forty homeruns!"

"Eh, just comes natural."

"Heh, heh, I can see that!" grinned Maverick. "Say buddy, I can tell you're hurtin' deep down- why don't I buy you dinner? Get ya a drink? Get to know ya some~"

"Hmm. That doesn't sound too bad though."

"My treat." He smiled.

"You know what? Sure. Let's do that."

"Heh, sounds like a plan. You, me, and Faust. By the way, since we share the same name...how 'bout, you be Mav, and I'm Maverick?"

"Or I can be Maverick, and you be Mav." The Russian husky chuckled.

"Oh lordy. This is gonna be fun." Grinned Maverick.

---

The sun retreated slowly towards the western sky as early evening approached. Making a turn, Maverick found himself in the Arena District of downtown Columbus. The towering buildings that lined the heart of downtown, glistened in the amber sunlight. He drove down Front Street, looking for the apartment building. It was a six story tall building, of brick and glass that towered over the area. He followed the flow of traffic through congested streets and went through a couple intersections, before he finally spotted it. The Arena Commons Apartment Complex, which towered above him, its windows sparking in the sunlight. Maverick and Faust lived on the sixth floor, room 623. Turning into the parking lot, Mav parked in the back and hopped out, being dressed casually in a tanktop and shorts that clung to his muscular body. As he walked to the entrance, he had to remember- he was Mav, and Maverick would be Maverick, to avoid confusion. The idea of having the same name was funny to the husky, and the joke helped bring him out of his depressed stupor slightly.

Mav entered into the lobby and got into the elevator, to ride up to the sixth floor. He stepped out to find a spacious hallway with walls lined with wood paneling. He made his way down, looking at each door until he finally reached 623. He rang the doorbell and waited. A feeling of excitement of meeting a new friend surged through his veins. The door swung open to reveal Faust, the brown wolf he had met at the stadium. He was dressed casually in an American Fighter tanktop, like Mav, and a backwards turned baseball cap atop his head.

"Hey~" Faust smiled. "Come on in!"

Mav stepped inside to find a very roomy condominium, complete with expansive glass panes that overlooked downtown Columbus. The walls were painted a very light gray color, and were adorned with numerous photos and baseball memorabilia. He spotted some Ole Miss posters, and some Cardinals promotional materials all hung up. There was a big bookshelf that was decorated with a number of trophies that were proudly on display. The living room had a big couch and two recliners, all clad in shiny black leather. On the couch sat a gray mixed breed wolf-hybrid, who lazily watched TV with his feet kicked up on the coffee table. Mav looked over to see a big office desk in the corner, where Maverick did all his work at. The view of downtown Columbus was incredible, and took the husky by surprise.

"Wow. This is so nice." Mav complimented.

"I know right? We lucked out when we came down to Columbus from Slaterville." Faust mentioned as he closed the door. "How does dinner here sound?"

"Hey, I don't mind a bit~ Where's Maverick at?"

"Oh, he's getting ready in the shower. He'll be out in a bit." Faust added as he closed the door. He took a look at Mav and chuckled. "You're such a spitting image of Mavvy~ You guys look almost like clones, but your dark gray goes down between your eyes."

Mav rubbed that spot. "That's how my mask works out!" He glanced over at the wolf sitting on the couch. "So who's this?"

"That's Greyn. That's our token straight roommate. Right Greyn?"

"Fuck off, Faust." He joked. "Sup~"

"Now I don't feel so vulnerable." Mav teased lightheartedly.

"Please." Faust rolled his eyes with a laugh.

The bathroom door opened to reveal Maverick stepping out, in a scarlet and gray tanktop and snug gym shorts. The front bulge left nothing for the imagination as he stepped out with the steam behind him. "Hey! How's it going?"

"Eh, a bit better." Mav mustered a smile. "This is a nice place!"

"Thank you!" grinned the burly husky. He placed his red baseball cap atop his head and adjusted it a bit. "I sure hope it's nice, I'm paying out the kazoo for it~"

"It's definitely luxury compared to the last one." Chuckled Faust.

"Yeah..." Maverick chuckled. "That whole disaster that's behind me."

"Disaster you say?" Mav asked with a chuckle.

"I'll tell ya more over dinner." He grinned. "Sooo, how about I make you dinner?"

"You're gonna make me dinner?" Mav responded with a look of surprise.

"Well yeah! Gotta justify buying my new grill! Plus cooking's in my southern DNA~"

"Steak n' potatoes with a salad sound good?" Faust suggested.

"Sure!"

As Maverick went to go prep his charcoal grill on the balcony, Mav floated around the kitchen, as Faust helped prepare food with Greyn. He got the talking with Faust and got to know about him and his friend; Faust was twenty-two, and was from Mississippi, the same with Maverick. He had come to Ohio to attend college, a place up north called Slaterville. He won a scholarship for a free ride to school to play baseball with the Slaterville Lumberjacks. He mentioned about how he met Maverick, who was the coach to Slaterville's baseball team, but kept a lot of details mum, other than "something stupid happened and our time there came to an end". He deferred the details for Maverick to explain to Mav. Greyn was a wolf-mutt mix; in his own words, "I have no fucking clue". He was from Cleveland and twenty-three years old. He was a fellow member on the baseball team and befriended Faust. He looked to Maverick, his coach, as his father figure, as he had no dad in his life, and Maverick had always cared for him on the team. He too got thrown out over "the incident", and Greyn had brought up James Jordan's name disparagingly.

"You knew James Jordan? He was my assistant coach at OSU." Mav mentioned.

"Pfft. I feel sorry for you!" Faust laughed sardonically.

"So he went up to Slaterville?"

"Yeah... thanks for the warning." Greyn quipped sarcastically as he knelt down to watch the potatoes slowly bake in the oven. "That dude was a fucking asshole, closet homosexual."

"...so the rumors I heard were true then..."

"That he was basically complicit in knowing about hundreds of sexual assaults and did nothing?" Faust shook his head with a very cynical laugh. "He actually just admitted it in his court hearing."

"Wow." Mav shook his head. "I've been completely out of the loop lately with all the shit going on in my life."

"Understandable."

Turning his attention to the big husky stoking the coals to his big red Kamado grill, Mav went out onto the balcony to feel the evening heat, as Maverick got his platter of heavily seasoned steaks ready. The smell of hickory smoke filled Mav's nostrils. He stood and leaned on the balcony, overlooking the Arena District, and just stared in awe at the sight of downtown Columbus.

"I am in love with this view." Mav admitted. "Wow."

"Heh, heh, it's great, especially at night. Me and Faust like to lay in our hammock thingy and just enjoy the night warmth together. Plus you can wear a jockstrap and nobody's gonna notice that."

"I don't know, with what I'm seeing down there, you might get noticed! Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" Mav joked with a grin that curled up on his face. Maverick just grinned in response.

"Oh if only you knew half of it."

"Soooo Faust said that you guys knew my assistant coach from OSU, Jordan."

Maverick paused momentarily and turned around to look at Mav. "Oh you poor thing." A grin emerged on his face again. "The most self-righteous, self-absorbed, megalomaniac, James Ryan Jordan. It was bad enough working under him at Slaterville, but to have him as your assistant coach? Yuck!"

"Yeah, I agree." Laughed the Russian husky. "I didn't like Jim. I don't think anyone did."

"Well, not after what you now know of him." Maverick rolled his eyes.

"So he quickly left OSU to cover his tracks and went up to Cleveland."

"Unfortunately. Me and him started at Slaterville around the same time, and we never got along, because he wanted to be coach, and I beat him to it, and he had to settle as assistant athletic director." Maverick explained. "It was an interesting tenure...but Jordan fucked me over...well...I kinda have myself to blame as well."

"Really?"

"Yeah..." Maverick chuckled hesitantly with an uncomfortable rub of the back of his head. "...Faust, my boyfriend, was my player on the team...and I fucked him..."

"Well at least it was consensual..."

"Yeah, I'm not shoving my fingers in some sixteen year olds butt~" laughed Maverick. He had a very hearty laugh that matched his deep voice. "But I was wrong to do so. I should have known better... but when you're like, the only out gay dude in the entire town of assbackwards idiots, temptation got the best of me- I thought with the wrong head. At least I made something out of it verses just exploiting some young ass!"

Maverick went on to explain his story with Faust. He was candid about it; two years before, he found Faust's Grindr profile and met up with him in the showers after a swim at the school's natatorium. They played around and found a thing for each other and got into a secret relationship, which came crashing down when Jordan caught wind of it and tried to blackmail Maverick by recording video of them having sex. With a shrug, Maverick admitted that he was fired, despite resigning, and Faust was thrown out of the university. Greyn, who had blown the whistle and alerted Maverick to Jordan's plans was also tossed, as collateral damage. The trio had ultimately left Slaterville and moved to Columbus the year before, as Maverick tried to get a job at OSU. He talked about living in the horrible Hilltop area, before landing the gig at Ohio State as the assistant athletic director. It gave him the income needed to get a nice condominium in the Arena District. Mav nodded and thought it was an interesting story.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself?" Maverick asked Mav. The big husky grabbed his platter of steaks and threw a couple of them directly onto the glowing coals, "caveman style".

Mav took a second to recall his own life before telling Maverick. He was born in New York, in January 1984, to a Russian-Ukrainian family that had defected from the Soviet Union the year before. The US government resettled them to Ohio in 1987, where he and his three older brothers all grew up in Newark. He described himself as "eclectic"; he was both a jock and a huge nerd at the same time. He loved baseball, he loved sports in general, but also had an immense interest in broadcasting, which was now his career as the vice-president of a company significantly involved in broadcasting services. He spoke about how he almost got to play in the pros, but turned it down, and even left OSU baseball early, so he could help his best friend, Rob Barion, with his broadcasting ambitions.

"In the pros, you basically get paid a lot of money to smack balls around and smile at the cameras. I also smack balls around for free, but that's not for you." Grinned Maverick with a laugh. "I played about five years in the pros for the Cardinals, but I fucked this shoulder up here when I was twenty-seven, and that was it."

"The Cubs wanted me. They really wanted me. I could have made millions in my twenties, but I turned it down to help my best friend. But I think it's paid off in the end." Mav nodded.

"You did what you felt was right, and I think that's a good thing." Maverick nodded. "I mean, yeah, my professional career got ended prematurely, but I got to go into teaching, and show hundreds of kids how to smack their balls!"

"Now you sound like Doctor Stradley." Grinned Mav as he laughed.

"Oh please~ I can get my boys without needing to use medical exams as a pretense!"

Maverick's grin was ever so playful as he spun around to fetch the first steaks off the coals. "Dinner's about ready! Go get a seat and we'll chat some more about baseball!"

---

Drying himself off with a towel, Mav emerged from the shower room at Club Columbus. He finished up drying the top of his head as he walked. He then threw the white towel over a shoulder as he walked in flip flips down the hallway. The big husky wore only his snug blue jock, and felt quite comfortable about himself in the middle of some gay club place Maverick took him to for a swim. It was a great evening swim with a new friend.

Mav walked into some lobby area where a few guys were sitting around. He was waiting to meet back up with Maverick and Faust, who had momentarily ventured off to do something. There were a few televisions on the monitors; it was a humorous juxtaposition of porn on a couple TV's, and then the evening local news. Mav couldn't help but chuckle at the contrast. His eyes locked onto the monitor with the news as he heard about a court verdict coming out of Zanesville.

"Following a deadly car crash that killed a thirty-six year old Coshocton woman in June, forty-seven year old Troy Woodfield of South Zanesville, has plead guilty to one count of manslaughter, and reckless drunk driving for his eighth OVI."

Mav's face grew sullen as he realized that the news report was about Amy. On the screen stared the mugshot of Troy Woodfield. He was a gray wolf with tousled brown hair atop his head. He didn't look to Mav like a stereotypical drunkard, or ignorant hillbilly. He looked like any other common Joe to the husky. It was just one of many disappointing discoveries he made with the death of his wife and the whole tragedy around it. His heart sank as he saw pictures of the accident scene, as the news narrated over it. He had to brace himself against the wall as his knees buckled to the sight of Amy's car all blown open on the highway. Her Impala had literally exploded on impact. Troy's truck lied on its roof to the side, its front end all smashed up and leaking fluids everywhere. The fact that he was driving well over the speed limit, was drunk, and wasn't even wearing a seatbelt, yet nothing but a gash on his forehead, made Mav upset about how unfair the whole situation was. The pictures broke his heart even more, and he had to look away.

"Hey buddy! I got a sauna all booked for us and-"

Maverick stopped in his tracks when he saw the sad look on Mav's face. Green eyes peered up at the TV screen, showing the carnage on the road. He knew right away. He quickly grabbed Mav and lead him away to the sauna area, to take his mind off things.

The sauna room was small and square shaped. It had walls that were adorned with a bamboo looking material, and seating wrapped around it in the same material. In the middle of the room was a big table that had lava rocks on it. Steam wavered from it. The air was very warm; it felt saturated with humidity. Mav stepped inside and tossed his towel aside as he sat down. Faust followed behind him, with Maverick closing the door after stepping in. The big husky threw his towel next to Mav's and then removed his snug red jockstrap. Mav looked away. The husky revealed himself and his impressive endowment as he proudly walked over to take a seat next to Mav. Faust tossed his purple jock aside and sat on the other side of Mav. The Russian husky looked glum as he stared off into space.

"They shouldn't have shown that on TV..." Maverick said as he patted Mav on the back. "I know you're still grieving buddy~"

"I can't believe she's gone." Mav admitted. "One moment I was sipping coffee with her, and then the next thing you know, I'm burying her. And the terrible part is? I wish that crash would have killed her instantly, instead of the suffering she had to endure in the hospital. What kind of a life was that? Just lying in a hospital bed, one's legs cut off at the knees, not even morphine numbing the pain. All because some guy thought he could drive his truck drunk. And that's what makes me so upset about the whole thing- one man's stupid decision, with such tragic results."

Maverick and Faust nodded with sympathetic faces.

"I feel terrible for thinking that she should have died on impact."

"I get what you're saying, Mav. An instantaneous death- no lingering and pain." Faust responded.

"I know you're hurting and I feel your pain in your words, your tone. You're okay to feel like this. You're okay to grieve. That's natural." Maverick assured.

"I've never faced a death like that before. My grandparents, I never knew, so when they passed, well, you don't mourn who you never knew. Nobody else in my family has died. In thirty-six years of my life, I never experienced a close death like that."

Maverick nodded. "It's not uncommon. I'm thirty-six myself, and I went through a few deaths in the family, a couple friends have passed over the years. It's sad. It hurts, sometimes really bad. But we must pull ourselves up and press on, despite the pain."

"Just one day at a time." Mav nodded.

"Indeed." Smiled Maverick. "I've also found that sometimes...a little tender loving care helps take the pain away."

"That's kind of an interesting way of putting it!" Mav responded in a more happier tone.

A playful grin emerged on the husky's face. He raised his big paw and placed it on Mav's chiseled chest. He rubbed his chest playfully, running his fingers through his gray pelt of moistened fur.

"Whacha doin' there Maverick?"

"God, what a big stud you are~"

"Why thank you! I appreciate it~ I work out a lot."

"Oh I can tell... man...I bet you're a beast in bed."

"Well...not gonna toot my horn on that!"

Maverick caressed Mav's chest and abs and grinned at him. "Do I turn you on, stud? Do I make you sleepy?"

"Well you make me many things! But those two don't really apply to me~"

Maverick's grin faded. He slowly stopped massaging the husky's chest and looked at Faust with a blank stare.

"Dude, aren't you bi?" Faust asked.

"No! My wife was! I'm straight!" Mav responded.

"Oh shit!" Maverick blurted out. He immediately pulled his paw away and looked horribly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, I didn't-"

"Heh, it's okay. I don't mind." Mav chuckled. "My brother's bi, and my best friend is gay, so I'm comfy with who I am~"

"Wait to go Faust. Just like school! Not paying attention!" Maverick teased.

"I misheard!" the brown wolf exclaimed.

"Honestly...if you don't mind...that kinda felt good..." Mav admitted. Maverick grinned and playfully resumed rubbing his chest as Mav relaxed in the steam filled room.

By nightfall, they returned back to Maverick's condo in the Arena District. It was time for Mav to go back home to Newark.

"Guys, I really appreciate your generosity. That helped, a lot." Mav smiled as he gave his new friends a goodbye hug.

"Buddy you're funny as fuck." Maverick complimented as he hugged him, giving him a tight squeeze and a pat on the back. "I'm glad we could help."

"We should hang out again~" Mav suggested in a friendly tone.

"Sure!" Maverick agreed.

"Maybe next weekend?"

"You doing anything Wednesday?"

"Nah~"

"How 'bout Wednesday?"

"Okay! Heh, you should come to Newark, hang out at my place."

"I think that could be something easily arranged."

"Heh, heh." Mav chuckled.

"Come on by again, bud~" Faust waved as Mav said his goodbyes and closed the door behind him. He went down the elevator and exited the apartment complex. The night air was still warm as he climbed aboard his truck and took off for home. He hopped onto I-670 to begin his forty minute trek back to Newark.

His headlights peered into the night as Mav drove in the darkened cab, his face just barely illuminated by the glowing gauges on his dash. The husky looked calm, not depressed as he rode along the empty highway. In fact, he hadn't felt this calm in a couple of weeks. He was happy that he made another set of friends, and thought about what to do next Wednesday. A smile crept up on his face.

---

Surrounded by broadcast gear, Mav worked in his garage workshop, bathed in the morning light through the open garage door. He listened to his son Robby play basketball with his best friend Jeffrey in the driveway. Awaiting Maverick's arrival, Mav worked on some of his old broadcast cameras; his workshop was filled with the antiquated broadcast gear that he loved. He sat on a swivel chair tweaking the bias-light settings on a set of Diode-Gun Plumbicons that resided inside a TK-47EP. A plastic screwdriver very gently turned the pot at the base of the green tube for the LED that made up the bias-light assembly. He watched on a waveform monitor the camera's response to his adjusted setting. It was a simple gimmick pickup tubes used to increase sensitivity and contrast, but it had to be done gently; too little, and the sensitivity was compromised, and too much, it would wash out the picture and ruin the contrast. Behind him, a few more of the "Big Blues" sat idling. Mav had brought two more of the eight TK-47EP's he and Rob had purchased back to operation following restoration and a tube change out. The big 30mm Plumbicons were being "broken in" by idling for an hour, staring off into a dim corner to avoid burning in the image.

Mav found his eclectic hobby calming, especially in such uncertain times. He was enjoying his time off now that he let go of the reigns of Barev. He could take his time decompressing from everything that had happened. The husky spent the week largely to himself and his son. His best friend Rob was still sick, and he kept himself pretty much isolated from everyone over fears of the lurking coronavirus. Mav didn't even want to hear updates from Marcus and his new tenure overseeing all of United Barev. He finished up with his TK-47EP, and secured the cover back onto the camera. It too was wheeled over to the calibration chart, where the husky leaned over and hit "Auto" on the CCU. In forty-five seconds, the camera aligned the new tubes up; it adjusted white and black levels, centered up the registration, and adjusted its gamma and contrast. A green light on the CCU confirmed that it was completed. He closed the iris up and placed the camera with the other two, to break the new tubes in.

Sliding himself across the smooth floor, the husky returned to his workbench to work on a Sharp XC-B20P, Rob's birthday gift. It was a rectangular dark and light gray camera, one of the more obscure tube cameras that Mav got his paws on. It sat completely disassembled, awaiting reassembly. Mav just started to work on putting the logic boards back into the camera when he heard a vehicle pull into his driveway. Getting up, Mav stepped out to find a black Chevy half-ton pull up with Maverick inside. The big husky jumped out dressed casually in a black and gray striped tanktop and black gym shorts that clung to his beefy legs. His trademark red hat clung to the top of his head. He pulled a dark pair of aviators off his face and smiled when his eyes made contact with Mav.

"Mornin'!" he greeted with a wave.

"Morning!" Mav waved back. He quickly ran over to greet his friend. "Hey where's Faust? Greyn?"

"Oh, They work during the week." Maverick explained. "Fausty's the runner truck driver for Eighty-Four up on Hilliard-Rome, and Greyn works EWP there."

"Oh I see."

"So it's just gonna be us today!" he grinned happily. "Hey what kind of mad scientist lair you got here?"

Maverick stepped into Mav's garage, with the Russian husky quickly behind him. He walked around the big studio cameras, minding the video cables lying across the floor as he examined them curiously.

"Yeah, this is kind of my hobby." Chuckled Mav as he followed his friend around.

"A jock and a nerd, wrapped up in one sexy package." Grinned the husky as he turned to look at Mav. "Oh look at this!"

Mav followed him over to the other side of his garage, where his Soviet Jeep, and a East German Trabant sat at. The UAZ-469 was painted dark green, with the red and white "CA" markings of the "Group of Soviet Forces in Germany" on the door. The Trabant was a pale gray color, a tiny little "toy car" as Mav called it.

"So you like cars, huh?" Maverick chuckled. "Me and my Dad used to fix up old muscle cars back home in Biloxi."

"Mississippi boy~"

"Damn straight!" he proudly grinned. "From Biloxi. Lived briefly in Starkville, where my parents live at now~"

"Ahh." Mav nodded. "I was born in New York City, but came to Newark when I was three. This is home! Welcome to Newark! Where your hopes and dreams come to die!"

Maverick chuckled to the quip. "When I took the off ramp from sixteen to twenty-first, there was a dude being treated by paramedics on the side of the road. Some rough looking dude~"

"Ahh yes, another heroin overdose."

"Lovely~"

"You get that a lot in Newark. Or as the locals say, N'ERK! Hillbilly dialect!"

"Heh, there's a world of difference from southern, like me, to hillbilly!" Maverick laughed.

"Hey Dad, I-" came Robby's voice. The young husky and his best friend stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the two towering huskies turn around to look at him. Robby looked surprised at their similar appearance. "Dad? Did you get yourself cloned?"

Maverick chuckled. "They made one mistake, right here~" He pointed to the spot right above the bridge of his muzzle, where the light gray rounded to a point.

Venturing inside, Mav took a moment to deal with his son and his request to go the pool with Jeffrey and his dad. Maverick waited for him in the kitchen as he fiddled with a bottle of water in his grip. Maverick walked slowly as he marveled at how nice Mav's home looked. It had apparently been rebuilt from the ground up after a devastating house fire in November. He walked into the living room to admire the blue walls that were trimmed in white. Like his own home, Mav's walls told of his life in pictures that were hung up. He was an avid photographer, and many of the photos that hung were photographs he had taken himself. Curious, the husky slowly walked around the living room, glancing at them as they told a story of his new friend's life. There were nature photos, photos of downtown Newark, and old photos of him in his Wildcats, and later OSU uniform. A happy grinning photo of Mav, with his late wife, Amy. A portrait of him, Amy, and their adopted son was neatly framed below them. Photos of him and his best friend, Rob Barion, playing around in the studio with their big studio cameras.

Walking over to the other wall, he glanced at the photos of Amy, and the plethora of sympathy cards that sat on display. There was a set of photos, all framed, of the people who were saved by her organ donation. Maverick could understand the hurt and loss Mav faced; he genuinely loved and cared for her with all his heart. She was a beautiful wolfess with a gray pelt of fur, and light brown hair that was straight and cut at a medium length. She had beautiful blue eyes that were full of life. It was a sheer shame that she died so young, in such a tragic death.

"Oh sorry about that~" came Mav through the front door. "Just had to give some money and stuff to Rick and Jose to take Robby to the pool."

"Oh it's fine." Maverick smiled. "You're quite the photographer."

"It's what I do best." The Russian husky chuckled. "Wanna take a car ride around town?"

"Sure!"

---

Rumbling along Main Street, the two Maverick's cruised in Mav's Soviet Jeep. It's four cylinder engine burbled under the hood as they enjoyed the sunshine and warmth in the open-top Jeep. Mav pointed out some features of his hometown, and gave Maverick a running commentary on the history of Newark on their way downtown. He made a morbid quip about how the downtown was "ringed with decay". The homes, the closer they got to downtown Newark, grew older and more dilapidated, and disheveled.

"I remember growing up in the nineties in Newark, when there was more industry, and it was a nice town. After the recession, Newark's just gone way downhill, and it gets worse."

"I notice that everywhere." Nodded Maverick.

"About twelve years ago, there was maybe one shooting a year, if that, in Newark. Now we've just had half a dozen murders this year alone, four shootings, and thirty house fires from arson and squatters. This town's just falling apart."

"Wow."

"It's the poverty, man. The drugs, the lack of opportunity. It's really sad." Mav explained with a shake of his head.

"My neighbor, next door to me, got shot last year." Maverick mentioned. "Hilltop was a fucked up place, and it wasn't my first choice..."

"How the hell did you go from Cuyahoga county, to fucking Hilltop?" Mav asked.

"So after I got fired from Slaterville, and everyone found out, me and Fausty got literally shunned. People would stare and just look at us like we were aliens from another planet! And one day I woke up to gunshots and found that my old Jeep got shot up by someone. That's when I knew it was time to go. Literally. We thought about going back to Mississippi...but then that was going to be an embarrassing fiasco, and we weren't gonna leave Greyn behind...so we went to Columbus and bought this cheap ass rental home to buy time while I got a new job. Oh it was a lost year."

"Sounds terrible."

"Understatement!" Maverick grinned with a laugh. "I had to beg to get this job at OSU. They didn't want to hire me at first, but they gave in after a while. There was a point where me, Fausty, and Greyn all worked at Eighty-Four. Yeah baby, I got to be a real lumberjack for a bit!" The husky flexed his arms for Mav, who laughed at it.

"You got to drive a forklift around and move lumber."

"Yeah. Pretty much~" Maverick agreed. "Doesn't sound as sexy when you put it that way."

"Oh my god." Laughed Mav. "You splitting logs all oiled up."

"I like that!" the husky grinned in response. "I love that idea!"

Mav rolled his eyes and laughed with him.

After a drive around the downtown area, the two stopped to grab food to eat lunch at the courthouse square. Under the shade of a towering oak tree, they sat at a concrete picnic bench, eating hamburgers and listening to the ambience of downtown Newark. The old brick buildings that lined the downtown reflected the ambience around; the rumble of cars, the fain sound of sirens from the police and fire stations a few blocks away, the occasional laugh and yell of a passerby. The two Mav's sat reminiscing about their days in college, and their exploits during their tenure at OSU and Ole Miss.

"When I look back, I do remember playing against you, twice, actually." Maverick recalled with a wag of a finger.

"Oh yeah?" Mav responded. "Was that the oh-three and oh-five game?"

"I think oh-four." The husky recalled. "I remember the first time was at home field in Mississippi, and the second was in Columbus, because I remember taking the bus ride to Ohio."

"The first time, Ole Miss beat us by two points."

"Thanks to me!" grinned Maverick boastfully. "We were neck and neck, final inning, and I scored that homerun that pushed us over the edge."

"Yeah, yeah~ And I remember when we steamrolled your ass the second time." Mav chuckled. "Two homeruns for me."

"Good times." Maverick chuckled. "I'm still surprised you didn't make it to the pros?"

Mav shrugged in response. "I had a chance to play and I turned it down for my friend. The Chicago Cubs wanted me, and I could have been a millionaire in my twenties! I could have had all the fame and fortune, and be set for life, but I had family in Newark, and my best friend really needed me, and I couldn't let him go. Rob means so much to me, and he's been through so much, and I've always been there to love and accept him along the way."

"That's very sweet of you~" smiled Maverick.

"I left OSU baseball after 2005, so I played my last game in June 2005, and focused on school for the remainder of my time at Ohio State since my broadcasting gig was picking up steam."

"I see~"

"What about you? You said you had to leave professional baseball at twenty-seven."

"Yeah, sadly." Grumbled Maverick as he stuffed a few fries into his muzzle. "We were playing the Cubs in Chicago in 2011, getting ready for the world series, and I went up to bat in the eighth inning. It was going to be perfect- and they threw the perfect fast ball! Right as I made contact with that ball and swung that bat, I felt like I got shot- that's how bad it hurt. I had fucked up my right shoulder completely, tore the ligaments and rotator cuff. Got a homerun though! Ran right around the field- when I touched home plate? I collapsed. They wheeled me to a hospital where I had to undergo surgery for it. Doctor said that my career was effectively over. It was a real letdown."

"Wow. That's sad to hear."

"At least I ended it on a high note like that." Chuckled Maverick. "I can still play baseball, but I can't endure nine innings that's for sure!"

"That's 'cause you're gettin' old, old man!" grinned Mav.

"Look who's talking, motherfucker!" laughed Maverick.

"Yeah, we're both thirty-six."

"I'm like a fine wine. I get better as I age." Grinned the husky.

"Pfft!" Mav laughed.

"Ask Fausty- I can still put out."

"Oh boy."

Finishing up lunch, the two returned to Mav's Jeep, where Maverick took the controls to drive it. They drove around the downtown, and ventured around the east end of town, where Maverick stopped to take a few photos of the abandoned Longaberger headquarters, the distinctive picnic basket shaped building that sat just outside of east Newark. Mav continued his running commentary on the history of Newark, and talked in great lengths about "the basket" and its icon status amongst Newark. Maverick even took a self photo of himself with the basket in the background, to send to Faust. From there, Maverick took the jeep for a joy ride around the countryside.

"It's not a bad little thing- where in the world did you get this thing?" Maverick asked with a chuckle.

Mav laughed about it. "This bucket of bolts came from Belarus. It was one of the last built in the Soviet Union, February 1990! I only paid like seven grand for it, and that included the importation costs."

"Huh. That's pretty cheap~"

"I was surprised too. Same with the Trabant."

"You got your windup key for that toy car?" grinned Maverick.

"Ha! I see what you did there."

"What kind of horsepower you got on that thing?"

Mav snorted. "Twenty-six horsepower... and it's a two-stroke that runs on oil and gas mix."

"Oh god. It's a lawnmower engine." The husky laughed.

"That's how I pick my hoes up! That thing is the greatest feat of socialist engineering!" Mav exclaimed, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Try having sex in that thing. Me and Fausty fucked in my old Jeep, and that was a bitch~"

"Did I really need to know that, Mav?"

"Well now you do!" he grinned in response. "And I'm sure you fucked plenty of girls in the back of your car..."

"I will exercise my fifth amendment rights!" Mav laughed.

"YEAH RIGHT!" Maverick laughed as he gave the husky a playful shove to the shoulder.

"Careful, you might break your rotator cuff again."

Winding around the outskirts of town, they returned back to Newark, heading back into the downtown. Maverick slowed to a stop at a red light, instinctively downshifting as he worked the clutch and brake.

"I don't see why you think Newark is such a terrible place. I can think of places that worse... cough, cough, SLATERVILLE, cough, cough, HILLTOP."

"That's oddly specific." Chuckled Mav.

"This place is just a quiet, boring town." Maverick shrugged. "It's like Starkville, or something, just-"

Maverick's voice trailed off as he watched a man bolt by the jeep, buck naked. A brown wolf was pursued by two women in scrubs, and five police officers, yelling and screaming after him.

"RICK STOP!"

"RICK! YOU'RE NAKED!"

"RICK, YOUR DAD'S GONNA BE SO PISSED AT YOU!"

Mav closed his eyes and laughed. "Just another day in N'erk, Maverick."

"Jesus fucking Christ, what was that?"

"A man from Newark~" Mav quipped. "You see what I'm talking about?"

Maverick shook his head and chuckled as the light turned green. "What else you wanna do?"

---

Not far away from home sat Newark High School's baseball diamond. Once the stomping grounds for Mav many years before, the diamond sat empty, awaiting another school year. In the far distance of the field worked the school's groundskeeper, who mowed the massive field with his tractor that rumbled. Its burble set the ambience as Mav squeaked open the fence gate for Maverick. Deciding on a friendly baseball match, they wanted to see each other's prowess. Mav carried his bleached wood, polished bat, while Maverick smacked a ball into a worn leather mitt.

"Let's see what you got~" chuckled Maverick as he looked around at the baseball diamond.

"What you see is what you get!"

"Oh I know." Grinned Maverick playfully. "I like what I see!"

"I'll make sure not to drop the soap~"

"Heh, I ain't Stradley or Jordan, that's for sure." Chuckled Maverick.

Mav swung the bat around and took his spot where the home plate would be at. Its outline was still present on the ruddy colored dirt. Maverick walked to the pitcher's spot and gripped the ball tightly in his right paw.

"Hey don't throw your shoulder out again!" laughed Mav teasingly.

"Yeah! I don't plan on it!"

"Good!"

Taking position, Mav's green eyes locked onto the ball as Maverick stood still, gaining focus as he concentrated. With lightning fast reflexes, he swung and launched the baseball as fast as he could throw. It converged on Maverick in a blink of an eye; the husky swung and with the pleasant THUNK of his bat, he sent the ball flying. The two watched it land on the other side of the diamond after arcing high in the air.

"Not bad~"

Maverick ran after it and picked it up off the ground. He ran back and tossed his mitt to Mav, the two trading places. Mav took aim at the stand and Maverick stood with a tight grip to the bat. The usual smirk on Maverick's face was replaced with a serious gaze of sheer concentration. Mav wound up and threw a fast ball; he knelled as he released the ball. Maverick swung and struck it with a mighty swing. He sent the ball flying in a low, arcing shot across the field. Mav mouthed a "wow" as he watched it land at the fence line.

"How's that?" grinned Maverick. He flexed an arm.

"That's pretty good!"

"Pretty good? More like perfection~"

Taking turns, the two Maverick's spent some time on the field, hitting homeruns and testing each other's ability. They laughed a lot, and told stories in-between of their times playing for their college teams. The two eventually called it quits; Maverick's shoulder started acting up, and Mav sent a homerun into the Wildcat's electronic sign, which busted one of the letters on it. It was the proverbial "pack everything up and run". They returned to the green UAZ-469, and took off for home a few blocks away. Mav pointed out a few other little random details of his neighborhood, the Krebs Edition, and even pointed out a friend of his, Travis Rocha, who was mowing someone's lawn.

"Oh god, that's Travis~" Mav pointed. "The landscaper playboy..."

"Oh! I know him. He goes to the same gay bar me and Fausty go to- he's cute as a button with his boyfriend! Does the landscaping at our apartment."

"CUTE!? That motherfucker has slept with all the girls I wanted to sleep with!" Mav exclaimed. "How am I gonna get laid knowing I got sloppy seconds to a guy in his twenties! Worst of all, he calls me Shirley..."

Maverick looked at Mav with a bewildered smirk. He leaned to the side a bit, looked away momentarily, and turned to look at Mav with a playful smirk curling up on his face again.

"Oh Shirley... you can't be serious? Shirley... SHIRLEY!" the Russian husky yelled. "Do I look like a fucking Shirley to you! If I had a girl's name it'd be Jeanie, Joan, or Billie, with an 'e' at the end!"

Maverick didn't respond, he just grinned and chuckled at it.

Returning back to his house, they cleaned up after getting all sweaty playing an impromptu game of baseball. They had such a fun time talking about baseball that they decide to shower together, so they could continue talking about sports. Crammed into his shower, the two huskies shared a laugh as they shared the hot stream of water.

"This is just like college! Only tighter spaced..."

"Heh, tighter." Grinned Maverick playfully.

"Oh boy." Laughed Mav.

"Yeah, I must say, I always enjoyed those open showers." Chuckled Maverick as he rubbed soap into his chest. "Free soft-core porno show for me!"

"Did anyone know at Ole Miss that you were gay?"

"It was kind of an open secret." Admitted Maverick. "Heh, that's kind of how my whole life's been since I came out! People knew, but it just wasn't something talked about- it wasn't beneficial for me or them to discuss preferences."

"I see~"

"So yeah, I had a great comradely with the guys, but I kinda missed out on some things, you know? There were things I couldn't relate to, and they obviously couldn't relate to me."

"That makes sense, yeah~"

"You seem to understand pretty well for a straight guy." Maverick chuckled as he washed his hard abs down.

"Well, I mean, my brother's bi, my best friend is gay, and most of my friends are gay." Mav admitted casually as he rinsed an armpit under the hot stream.

"Oh really? How'd you luck out like that?"

"I don't know~" Mav laughed. "Just worked out that way! Courtesy of Vlad and Rob. Could you get my backside?"

"Sure~"

Mav let Maverick rub some soap onto his shoulders and upper back. He massaged Mav's shoulders with his mighty grip, which made him emit an "ooh" from the sensation of his muscles momentarily tensing up, then relaxing. Maverick chuckled and rubbed his upper back and lower back to get the soap spread around.

"You're a cool dude, Mav~" complimented Maverick.

"Thanks!" grinned Mav with a laugh at the end. "I thought maybe I was going to bore you to death!"

"Nah, that's just me being cooped up in my apartment all frickin' day because of coronavirus." Maverick laughed in return.

"When I get corona, I usually get mine with lime. Just sayin'~"

"Well you get those fucks who wanted to reopen everything in a hurry."

"Yeah, the stupid lemmings in this state who believe in fairy tales and a guy with cotton candy hair who paints his face burnt tangerine... 'GIMME CORONAVIRUS OR GIVE ME DEATH!' WHELP IF YOU INSIST! PFPFFFFTTTPFFFFTTTFFFFF!"

Maverick chuckled and playfully put his arms around Mav, pulling him against his beefy frame.

"Ohh my." Mav said jokingly. He felt Maverick give him a playful squeeze with a "grr" at the end.

"You're funny." Maverick grinned.

"You're very touchy, feely... your name Joe Biden by chance?"

"HA!" Maverick laughed. "I'm also not Richard Stradley or James Jordan."

"Oh good. My butthole doesn't have to be so tight."

"Well...you're more than welcome to keep it that way for me." Teased Maverick with a playful grin.

"Eh, not my cup of tea!" laughed Mav in return. "Wanna do dinner?"

"Oh, I'd love to, but sadly I can't. I promised Fausty I'd take him out to eat in the Short North tonight."

"Oh~"

"But next time, when we hang out." Smiled Maverick. "It'll just have to be a few weeks- I gotta get stuff ready for the semester...heh, if coronavirus lets us have a semester, or a team!"

"Sure!"

"Well...I think I'm about done here~" Maverick quipped as he let go of Mav and gave himself a final rinse. As they traded places, Mav slipped and fell out of the shower, taking the curtain with it as he landed on the ground with a mighty crash. Maverick turned and just laughed at him as he fought to untangle himself from the curtain.

"Usually when I get out of the shower, I just push the curtain aside~"

"Funny..."

Mav walked his friend out and to his truck, where they gave each other a friendly hug for a goodbye. Maverick hopped in and backed out of the driveway, where he gave a honk-honk of the horn as he pulled away. Mav smiled and waved as he watched his new friend depart around the corner of Leslie and Meadow Drive. As the truck slipped from view, Mav's smile faded. His enthusiasm drifted away, and the feeling of emptiness, of mourning, returned. He turned and walked back into his house, escaping from the afternoon heat.

By nightfall, Mav laid in his bed, listening to the TV talk about all the world's misfortunes. He stared up at the ceiling, watching the ceiling fan above him cast dancing shadows on the blank white surface. He sat with his paws clasped together against his belly. The big husky felt simply lonely. Nighttime was always a lonely time for him, especially with his best friend still seriously ill.

---

Summer phlox swayed in a gentle breeze by the flowing Tuscarawas. Their soft pastel colors were the subject for Maverick and his restored tube camera. Hunched over it, the husky worked the controls on his big Canon lens, as he slowly zoomed out to capture the glistening water of Coshocton's mighty river. The camera's Diode-Gun Plumbicons reacted to the glistening highlights with the typical tube lag, which displayed in his monochrome viewfinder. The pinpricks of light were spread out as ten point, stubby stars, which faintly comet-tailed through the picture. Maverick had been "loose" with the tube's beam reserve. He was testing his XC-B20P, a Sharp brand video camera he had rescued from an electronics recycling facility. It was intended as Rob's birthday present, his thirty-eighth birthday being tomorrow. It was fully cleaned up, complete with the blue and white BVS logo and WHIN-TV tags applied to the sides of the camera. The husky just wanted to make sure everything was operational, before gifting it to him.

Packing up his gear, the husky, saddled down by his camera, tripod, and videotape recorder, continued on at Lake Park. He walked with the white and gray camera bouncing on his shoulder. Strapped around him was his heavy BVU-150 U-Matic deck, which was tethered to the back of the camera via a cable. His entire setup was an anachronistic reminder of how far video had gone; from the bulky and awkward, to video shot right on a smartphone.

Lake Park was lush and green for the near end of July. The sounds of nature intermingled with the laughter of kids playing in the soccer field not far away. People looked content as they walked and rode their bikes around Maverick. But he himself looked detached from the world. The husky walked with a blank expression on his face, his movements taking on the sense of being on autopilot. He thought about all the times he walked with Amy at Lake Park, how they'd sometimes spend hours just marveling at nature, looking at flowers, and getting some fresh air. He felt lonely as he thought about her.

Maverick walked through Lake Park, and made his way to Roscoe Village, Coshocton's restored historic district of brick clad small businesses. He took some time to fiddle around with his camera, and recorded the ambiance to videotape. He took a long take of him walking up the brick sidewalk, a wide-angle, slightly shaking shot. He felt content enough with the camera, that he powered it fully down and packed it away in its padded, foam case. It was stuffed into the backseat of his truck, the same with the recorder and tripod. Maverick clutched the packaged up video cassette and sat it beside him as he climbed into his Silverado. He took a moment to jot some notes down on the label.

Backing up, he departed from Roscoe Village and made a left turn at the intersection to continue into Coshocton. He wanted to go on a little car ride, to reflect on things. Driving up Chestnut Street, he passed through the northern reaches of Coshocton's downtown, made a left turn, and slowed up to gaze at Amy's old apartment complex. A feeling of melancholy flowed through Maverick, as he remembered all the times he pulled into the lot, to go spend time with his ex-wife. All the memories, in that apartment, including them getting back together after a fight with her ex-girlfriend. Now the apartment belonged to a new tenant, who would never know the history. He sat at the curb for a moment, then took off to turn around by the water treatment plant, to head to the cemetery in south Coshocton.

The South Lawn Cemetery was quiet as Maverick pulled into the lot. He drove along the winding roads that lined the cemetery, and parked at the curb. He got out and walked amongst the silent headstones, to where a hedgerow grew at. The red and pink geraniums at a headstone made of pink and black granite gave it away that it was the resting spot of Amy, and her son, Atlas. Maverick silently walked up and stood, alone.

"Xenia 'Amy' Golagonoff 1984-2020", "Atlas Golagonoff 2016" read their names, etched into the dark stone. Maverick covered his muzzle momentarily, and rubbed his weary, green eyes. He remained stoic in the face of emotional turmoil that churned within him.

"Oh Amy, I wish I could go back in time and stop all this from happening." Maverick muttered in a disappointed tone.

The husky took a seat at her graveside and placed his head into his paws.

---

The drive home from Coshocton was quiet, just Maverick and his big Silverado burbling alone on Route 16. He sat with one paw resting on the steering wheel, watching as the scenery of rural Muskingum County drifted by him as he drove back to Newark. The two lane portion of Route 16 exited Coshocton county and passed halfway through Muskingum, before it became a four lane highway again. Maverick was all alone on the desolate road. It was a reminder of the lack of activity in that region of Ohio. Maverick took the long car ride home as a time to be introspective about everything.

The year thus far had been an unprecedented year of back to back bad news, for everyone. A pandemic that continued to loom, an inept government response, weak leadership, tensions around the world- it was, to Maverick, an unmitigated disaster. Add to that his own tragedy with Amy, the constant looming worry of a business teetering in the red, and the stabbing loneliness he suffered from. He wished he could have frankly skipped 2020.

Returning back to Newark, Maverick pulled his truck into the driveway, and placed his camera gear into his garage workshop. He closed the door up and ventured inside, to find his son asleep on the couch after spending the morning riding his bike with his friends around the neighborhood. The husky clutched his videotape, and went down the steps to the basement, where he kept a smaller workshop for his old broadcast gear.

Switching on the light, he sat down at his homemade editing console, which was nothing more than a desk that had a number of components cobbled together. A Sony A/B switcher, a Chyron IV character generator, and a Quantal Paintbox for graphics. A large Sony Trinitron sat in the middle, behind the desk, and two smaller Trinitrons, complete with faux wood paneling, made up his secondary and tertiary monitors. He reached over, turned on the main television, and loaded the big, black plastic, square cassette into one of his U-Matic decks for playback. He hit play and listened to the tape spool up inside the VTR. He leaned back into his desk to watch the playback.

Views of Lake Park played back on his monitor. It was standard definition glory to Maverick as he took mental notes about the picture quality. The Sharp camera gave a relatively clean picture, but Maverick could pick out the chroma noise from the U-Matic tape. The three-quarter inch format was well known for its weak red channel, and the color red was always noisier. A tight shot of the summer phlox swaying in a breeze showcased the pastel colors that Plumbicons gave. The shot zoomed out to get a wide angle view of the Tuscarawas. The water sparkled for the picture, the highlights comet-tailing from oversaturating the tubes. The overload was the typical crimson color for lead-oxide tubes, with a wispy white trail following the red flare. Maverick had been "loose" in setting up the beam reserve for comet-tail suppression; if the scanning electron beam current was set too high, the resolution degraded, and the tube's gun life severely constrained. In all, the husky watched the footage, looking content at it, and earning his approval. He knew Rob would like it.

Maverick had just hit stop and rewind on his recorder, when he heard his phone go off. It rang and vibrated on the table as he glanced over at the screen, to see Maverick Kennedy calling him. A smile crept up on his face; he hadn't seen the other Maverick for almost two weeks. They had talked on and off, briefly, online; he had been busy getting things ready for the fall semester at OSU.

"Maverick, it's Maverick!" greeted the husky with a laugh.

"Hey Mav, sorry to bother you." Came Maverick's deep voice. It didn't sound enthusiastic. It sounded serious, concerned. In the background, there was a bunch of commotion and noise, like police vehicles, something.

"Hey what's up?"

"Remember how you told me about your house fire?"

"Yeah?"

"Well apparently it's my turn... I had to evacuate from my apartment, because the apartment building, caught on fire..."

"Oh my god, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, man. I woke up to the fire alarm going off. It's the other end of the building that burned...but the whole place filled with smoke. Everyone's out here, pondering what the fuck we're gonna do."

"You need a place to stay?"

"Please~"

"You guys come on over. Don't hesitate! Just come on over." Mav offered.

"I gotta figure out what the fuck's going on here...man...all my damn belongings!" Maverick exclaimed. He sounded frustrated.

---

Late in the afternoon, Maverick pulled into Mav's driveway. Stepping out, the Russian husky watched his friend climb out of his truck. He looked a bit tense as he closed the truck door behind him. Maverick was dressed in his usual summer attire of a tanktop and gym shorts. As he approached Mav, he could smell smoke. Maverick reeked of acrid smelling smoke.

"Hey~" he greeted.

"Come on inside~" Mav offered. He held the door open for him.

Offering him a bottle of water from the fridge, Maverick took a seat at the barstool that sat near the kitchen island. "Boy, that was quite a thing to wake up to."

"I can imagine." Mav rolled his eyes. "Exactly what happened to me."

"I did all my computer work, laid down for a nap, and then I woke up to alarms and smoke pouring in. That took me by surprise! I wanted to run and grab some things, but it was too overwhelming, so I had to escape. Real fucking clusterfuck."

"Well at least you didn't have to throw yourself out a window like myself."

"Why would you throw yourself out of a window when you live in a one story home?"

"Well I thought it would be cool~" Mav admitted. "All dramatic, kid in my arms as I eject myself through it. But I landed on my shoulder wrong and hurt it. YOLO!"

Maverick smirked and shook his head as he took a swig of water. "You're special, Mav."

"I know!"

"That made me chuckle on the inside. So there's that."

"They say laughter is the best medicine."

"Well shit, then you're penicillin." Maverick quipped with a chuckle at the end.

"Well...not gonna lie...this year has been an unmitigated disaster." Mav pursed his lips and looked away.

"Agreed."

"It's like 'how can everything possibly go wrong BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!' all the time." Mav exclaimed. "I can't- nobody can't- seem to get a break."

"Oh I know it." Maverick nodded in understanding.

"Sadly there's not much you can do until they let you in to grab your belongings. I don't think they'll let people back in until the building's structurally sound again and repaired."

"Seems like it, heh~" Maverick rolled his eyes.

"You're more than welcome to stay here for the time being~"

"Ya know, I appreciate that, buddy~"

"Why don't you go get yourself cleaned up and get that smoke smell off ya~" Mav suggested.

"Yeah, I like my meats smoked, not me!" laughed Maverick.

"I thought you were a hot piece of meat?"

"Touché~" Maverick chuckled with a wag of his finger.

"By the way, where's everyone else at?"

"Finishing up work~" Maverick responded. "I told them to come over here."

"Good."

Maverick finished the last of his bottle of water and let out a belch as he threw the bottle into the trashcan. He turned around to notice a kind of sad, introspective gaze on Mav's face. He walked over and put an arm around Mav's shoulder. "Buddy you look sad!"

"Well...It's been kind of an introspective day. Was up in Coshocton...visiting Amy."

Maverick nodded in understanding. "Well now you got me and the guys to keep you company!"

"I know, and I appreciate it." Mav smiled. "It's gonna be a big ole sausage party!"

"Only the best!" grinned Maverick.

"Here, I'll show you where everything's at!" Mav offered. "We'll get a spot all picked out for everyone."

---

The stairway to Maverick's apartment complex was dim, with emergency lighting glowing. Cautiously approaching the fire door, Mav walked ahead of the others, a Maglite in his gloved grip. The Russian husky was sealed up in a rubber chemical suit, a Soviet L-1 type. It was made of a greenish-gray rubberized fabric, complete with integral booties and straps on the legs to hold it together. The upper half had a hood that sealed around his similarly colored gas mask with a neck strap. Mav also had a Soviet IP-46 gas mask, which sported a corrugated hose that ran to a rucksack that was strapped to his chest, containing the filter. Gray welding gloves covered his paws as he slowly opened the fire door. Poking his head inside, he found a empty hallway, also lit by emergency lighting.

"Alright! Looks like it's safe! No smoke!"

Maverick just smiled at Mav. "You know they wouldn't have let us back in here had there been any smoke or danger."

Mav turned around to stare at Maverick, Faust, and Greyn through his mask's round goggles. They were all casually dressed in shorts and tanktops. They looked at Mav with amused looks.

"...so you mean to tell me that I put this whole really hot, uncomfortable suit on, got laughed at by people, for nothing?"

"Basically..." Faust replied.

"Why didn't any of you motherfuckers tell me!?"

"We kinda did- when they said there's no danger." Greyn added.

Mav threw his arms up in disbelief. "Unbelievable."

As he turned around to step through the door, he tripped over his own foot and fell onto the ground, which made everyone laugh. "DAMN BOOTIES!" he shouted through his rubber mask.

Returning to his apartment in the morning hour, Maverick had come to gather up what belongings he could. The apartment complex was condemned by the city until the building could be repaired. The fire had erupted in an electrical room, and damaged a few floors until firefighters suppressed the blaze. Residents were ordered to leave until the fire and smoke damage was remediated, which was estimated at about a month or two. People were slowly allowed to come back and gather what they could.

Maverick stepped into his apartment to smell nothing but smoke. It was an acrid, burnt rubber smell. His couch reeked of it. The walls reeked of it. Noses wrinkled in disgust.

"Man, this whole fucking place smells like burnt electronics..." Faust grumbled.

"I don't smell anything." Mav called out.

"You're still wearing a gas mask~"

"Oh!"

Mav laughed and tripped over his own bootie again. He fell over the couch and landed on the coffee table, which he bounced off and landed on the floor. Faust laughed and covered his face as he shook his head. Maverick walked over and picked him up. He undid the neck strap and took the hood and gasmask off Mav.

"You're the clumsiest motherfucker I've seen!" laughed Maverick.

"I feel like one of the guys from the movie K-19!" Mav exclaimed. "I also feel like Chevy Chase with my pratfalls."

"Definitely Chevy Chase~" Faust pointed out with a sly grin.

Removing himself from his suit, Mav helped the others in gathering up belongings, to load into their trucks. Pictures were taken down and packed up in boxes, food was emptied from the fridge and cupboard- some of it was thrown out, and others packed in coolers. Going up the down the steps took time as items were removed and placed in their trucks that waited in the lot. The beds were slowly filled up and strapped down, as clothes and other small items easily moved came with them.

"Hey what's this?" Mav pointed as he entered Maverick's bedroom. It was a surprisingly open room, with windows that spanned the floor to the ceiling on one side, giving a terrific view of Columbus' downtown. The big husky walked over to Maverick's black leather sling, which hung from the ceiling by a set of silver chains. "This some kind of hammock?"

"Oh lord~ Your naivety is so cute." Maverick grinned as he went to fetch his sheets and blankets from the drawer.

"Do you lay in this thing...what do you do?"

"Well you lay in it..."

"And take a nap?"

"No..."

"Rock yourself in it?"

"Oh, there's some rocking and- Oh, oh no, Mav, don't get in it!"

Mav climbed into the sling and struggled to adjust himself as Maverick laughed and rushed over. "Dude, what the fuck is this? I feel like I'm gonna get a colonoscopy!"

"Heh, heh~" Maverick grinned. He stood in front of Mav and his spread out legs.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh~"

"I'm into leather, Mav."

"Neat!"

Maverick helped Mav out of the sling, only for one of the chains to break loose and send Mav falling to the ground in a comical way.

"Oh my god, you are always falling!" laughed Maverick.

Mav rubbed the top of his head. "Owie."

Maverick packed his clothes up and grumbled about them all smelling like smoke. His leather gear and other fetish stuff got stuffed into his red and gray Slaterville duffel bag, and was thrown on his now bare mattress. They packed up the last of the small belongings and said goodbye to the apartment, for now. Maverick took a last glance as he closed the door behind him. Going down the stairs, the group got into their vehicles and, like a convoy, pulled out to begin the hour drive back to Newark, their truck beds completely filled.

---

Swinging his front door open, Mav stepped out carrying his camera suitcase that contained Rob's birthday gift. He was followed by Maverick, Faust, and Greyn, who carried some food with them as they walked to Rob's house, two houses down, across the street.

Mav spun around and walked backwards as he juggled his camera suitcase. "So just a friendly heads-up, I don't know if you're expecting a big, rip-snorting party, but this is gonna be kinda low key."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah... Rob's still kinda sick from pneumonia, and that's not in his nature anyways." Mav explained. "Rob's kind of...reclusive, quiet."

"Nothing wrong with that~" Maverick shrugged with a smile.

"You'll like my group of friends." Mav said, followed with a laugh and a snort. "Bunch of dysfunctional fucks!"

"Here we go~" Faust chuckled.

Rob's home was a single story ranch, adorned with tan siding. Mav waltzed up to the door and rang the doorbell, where he was greeted by Rob's adopted son, Felix Barion. Felix was a twenty-four year old fawn furred Doberman; he had both his arms sleeved up in black and gray tattoos, and wore a gray t-shirt. "Hey! Come on-"Felix paused when his gray eyes laid upon a smiling Maverick.

"Meet my buddy, Maverick!" Mav greeted. "And you got Faust and Greyn here."

"Well come on in!" Felix motioned.

Mav stepped inside to find Rob's home packed with all his friends. Familiar faces greeted Mav as he smiled and waved. As Maverick entered the scene, everyone grew quiet at his presence, and how similar he looked to their friend. The big husky took it in stride with a confident smirk. He put his arm around Mav and pulled him close, giving his side a squeeze.

"Tryin' to help a bud out here~" he said with his deep voice.

"Here! Let me introduce you to my good friends and brothers here!" Mav exclaimed. Around the room, Mav introduced Maverick, Faust, and Greyn to his "dysfunctional entourage". The trio recognized a few faces; Maverick knew Mark Prince and his husband Tanner Rodriguez, and their friend slash leather slave, Russ Drabek. They hung out sometimes at the leather bar in Columbus. Mav introduced Rob and Jake Barion to Maverick. Maverick warmly greeted them, but found both brothers to look really under the weather. Jake Barion was a black and white furred wolf-hybrid, sporting tattoo sleeves and a chestpiece that bore a radiation trefoil. Tousled black hair adorned his head. He sat next to his brother slightly hunched over, clutching his stomach. He was suffering another bout of body aches, the consequence of receiving a high dose of radiation in a workplace accident years before. Rob was a brown and tan wolf-malamute, like his brother, but looking more malamute like than Jake. He had brown, wavy hair that was brushed back atop his head, and blue-green eyes that looked somewhat dead to the world. He sat propping his head up, rubbing his forehead from a bad headache. He looked gaunt in his red and white striped pajamas. Maverick had a look of pity on his face. They both looked rather sad on their birthdays.

"And then you got my brothers and cousin here~" Mav added. He pointed to each one. "Here's Kalash- his real name's Konstantin. We call him Kalash because he's about as loud and as tall as one!"

"Hey fuck you, Mav! You beanpole."

"Better a beanpole than a yard gnome!" Laughed Mav. "Here's Vlad, this lanky motherfucker with the weird hair~"

"It's not weird! I just grew the top out and faded the sides!" Vlad exclaimed. He pushed some of his locks of blonde hair out of his face.

"And then you got this fat, stupid, worthless fuck~ Hi Dmitry!"

Dmitry didn't respond, he just flipped Maverick off with a pouty face.

"What's the matter Dmitry?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"What happened- you drop your pop tart or something on the way here?" Mav teased.

"His fucking girlfriend cheated on him again." Vlad blurted out.

"SHUT UP VLAD!" Dmitry yelled. "So I broke up with her!"

"Dude, that's a fucking upgrade!" Kalash exclaimed.

"I'm sure the support beams to my house will be thanking you later..." Vlad chuckled.

"Oh yeah, keep making fun of my weight!" Dmitry scoffed. "At least I'm not thin like you!"

"At least my blood ain't pancake batter chugging through my veins!" Vlad flipped Dmitry off.

"Well I mean, he's a big, easy target." Mav laughed.

"Dmitry...why fight it...because you know you're just gonna dig yourself into a bigger hole." Rob shook his head. He grumbled with an irritated sounding voice.

Maverick took a step back with his boyfriend and just observed how Mav's friends all interacted. They were a close knit group of people, and he could tell as they all made fun of each other. He was impressed by the jokes.

"What is it that you even do with Barev again, Dmitry?" Mav asked.

"...I'm the graphic designer? I also do all your networking?" Dmitry responded sarcastically.

Mav looked at Rob. "Since when did we- wow. I completely forgot."

"I'm the motherfucker who put your whole network backbone in that building! Multiple times!" Dmitry protested. "I ain't dumb ya fuck!"

"Then how 'bout using that fucking brain inside your head for some common sense!" Mav shouted. "And lose some weight- you smell like ass and clam oil."

"And stop making everything phallus shaped..." Rob stared.

"Heh! It's not phallus shaped, it's dick shaped!" Dmitry laughed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT IS!?" Mav yelled jokingly. "Oh by the way, Maverick, here's our not insane cousin, Sergei!"

"Hey~" the Russian husky waved in the background.

"Hey~" smiled Maverick in return. "Well I must say, you guys are all very lively in your jokes. You're all very close knit I can tell."

"We're a bunch of dysfunctional fucks~" Mav laughed.

"I can see that!" Maverick grinned.

"Alrighty, before we turn Dmitry into our virtual punching bag again, why don't I get the cake ready~" Joey smiled as he got up.

"Oh boy, I can't wait." Dmitry muttered with a grin.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure." Laughed Kalash. "I can feel the diabetes in your veins a'flowing!"

"Shut up, Kalash!"

"It's not your birthday cake!"

"I'm hungry!"

"D'OH LOOK AT ME I'M DMITRY, I'M FAT AND STUPID!" mocked Mav as he did his obnoxious Dmitry impression with his eyes crossed.

"Shut up Mav! At least I can get a girlfriend!"

"Oh hell no!" Mav shouted.

"Oh come on now." Vlad laughed as everyone argued over Dmitry's insult. Maverick stepped back and laughed as he put an arm around Faust. Joey soon returned with a large cake, setting it on the table and lighting the candles with a couple matches. Thirty-eight candles glowed on the white icing cake, which read "Happy 38th to Rob and Jake!" The group got around and sang "Happy Birthday" to Rob and Jake. Even Maverick, Faust, and Greyn chimed in and clapped with them as Rob and Jake finally blew the candles out at the end.

"YEAH! Spread the 'rona!" Mav clapped. "WHOO!"

"Time to social distance that cake into my mouth!" Dmitry exclaimed.

"Yeah, we know." Mav rolled his eyes. It lead into another shouting match between the four brothers as the others laughed.

---

Dusk was dim, with the last light of day fading away. Under the artificial glow of shop lights, Maverick packed away his boxes of goods in Mav's garage. He taped boxes shut and labeled their contents with a fat chisel marker. Looking a bit introspective, Maverick got up and stretched his arms before going to fetch a few more boxes from Faust's truck bed. He walked by Mav, who sat at his workshop bench, servicing one of his "Big Blue" studio cameras. Fetching a few more boxes, Maverick juggled them in his grip as he walked past Mav again, to set them down in his pile.

"Well that's that." Maverick muttered as he brushed the dust off his paws. He walked over to observe what his friend was up to. The big husky took a seat opposite of Mav, observing him working on one of the deflection yokes to his TK-47A, which came from the studio for a tube change out. Maverick took interest, a smirk on his face as he observed. Mav looked serious, almost in a trance as he worked to remove the old tubes from the optical assembly. He gave the base of the tubes a half-turn, and removed from the deflection assembly. In his grip was a big glass cylinder that was colored black with some labels applied on it. At one end were a series of pins, and the other end, an imaging target that was light tan in color.

"Whacha doin' there, Mav-O?"

"Oh doing an unplanned tube change out." Mav responded, without looking up.

"I take it you have to do this often?"

"About every two thousand hours, if the tubes make it that long." Mav explained. "This one didn't quite make seven hundred hours."

"What happened?"

"Blemishes emerged. Sometimes it happens with lead-oxide targets. It's a sort of imperfect art to make Plumbicons, even with strict computer control."

"I see~" Maverick nodded. He leaned back in his chair. "So how does one of those work?"

Mav glanced up and fiddled around with the tube in his grip. "Well it's a charge-storage device, which means that light builds up a charge on the imaging target here, and is scanned by an electron beam produced by the gun at the base of the tube, here. This one's a standard triode gun type, our own ABO design- Automatic Beam Optimizer, which can switch between Anti-Comet Tail, or Dynamic Beam stretch for drop in replacement for cameras that use either or. It's a thirty millimeter Plumbicon, coaxial design, with a variable bias-light here at the base, which is piped up to the target by fiber optics, hidden behind the black metal sheath on the inside."

"I see." Maverick nodded. He didn't really understand the technical jargon, but was amazed by Mav's casual explanation of it. "You know what you're talking about."

"Mhmm~ I've been doing it long enough, heh." He chuckled as he sat the defective tubes aside. "It's an eclectic hobby of mine- it's been good for the soul in these trying times."

"I know the feeling. I use sports to cope." Chuckled Maverick.

"I'm sure there's other coping mechanisms too~" grinned Mav with a hinting wink. Maverick grinned in return with a friendly point of a finger in agreement.

Maverick watched Mav as he changed the tubes out, and got a running commentary as Mav explained about what he was doing. He took a fresh set of Plumbicons out of their packaging and installed each tube into their respected color channel, through the magnetic deflection yokes. It took a half-turn to lock them into place, and the entire assembly was placed back into the camera and secured into place. The tube's wiring harnesses, complete with special preamps on the heads, were attached and checked over. Maverick looked interested at Mav's speed and electronic prowess; he got the camera put together, and checked components over with his oscilloscope. It was powered up, and the tubes aligned, with the help of his calibration chart, which included a morbid photo of a laughing Mav with a gun to his head.

"And that's how you do it." Chuckled Mav as he shut the CCU down. "Well it's getting late, we should probably head back inside~"

Maverick stretched his arms. "Yeah, I got everything I need now in storage." He got up with Mav, who shut the lights off to his garage. He closed the main door up and exited through the small side door.

"I gotta tell ya, you and your friends are funny as hell~" Maverick chuckled as he walked across the driveway. "Close knit."

"You know it." Mav chuckled in return. "A lot of us have been close friends for years."

You guys are just really mean to Dmitry." Maverick grinned.

"Heh, that's standard operating procedure." Mav admitted with a laugh. "If he didn't dig himself a giant hole all the time..."

"I see what you did there~"

"Yeah, subtle fat joke it is!"

Venturing back inside, Mav and Maverick spent the evening with Faust, Greyn, and his son Robby. They laid and sat on his bed watching the big TV bolted to his bedroom wall, with HBO's Chernobyl playing while they snacked on popcorn together. Having houseguests helped Mav with his loneliness; now the nighttime didn't feel so empty. Now it didn't feel like a time to mourn and be introspective. He could laugh and be happy.

Finally the clock struck midnight, and everyone went off to bed. Robby went to his bedroom, and Greyn slept in Mav's spare bedroom, which had a fold out futon. Mav shared his big bed with Faust and Maverick.

Dressed in just his underwear and a black tanktop, Mav got his side of the bed ready. He bent over to pick up a pillow he dropped, when he heard Maverick give him a playful wolf whistle. "Whoa, hey there, baby!" came his deep, masculine voice, with a chuckle at the end. Mav quickly got up and turned around, covering his lower half with the pillow. Maverick just grinned. He wore his red jockstrap and a white tanktop.

"You always sleep with a jock on?"

"I usually sleep naked, but, heh, not with straight guys~" Maverick teased.

"Oh. Whew~" Mav chuckled.

"I mean, if you want..."

"Nah~" Mav laughed.

"Okayyyyyyyy~ Fine." Chuckled the husky.

Mav climbed into bed and just got himself adjusted. Maverick slid beside him as he waited for Faust to finish up in the bathroom. Mav put his head on the pillow and just looked up at the ceiling.

"I have to say, you guys have made the night less lonely." Admitted the Russian husky.

"Oh yeah?"

"After Amy died...night's just... well... lonely. I haven't slept well in a while. It's just my mind gets lost in thoughts, the thoughts of the past with Amy, and what could have been. And you guys have taken my mind off it."

Maverick nodded and smiled. He placed a paw on Mav's chest and rubbed it affectionately.

"I'd be fine during the day if I keep myself busy, and then when night comes, I just lay here...always thinking. Wondering what the future brings."

"Sometimes you just gotta take it a day at a time."

"I try, but it's hard, you know? Especially with the way this year has gone."

"Yeah, that's an understatement..." Maverick rolled his eyes.

"I wanted to get back into a relationship, for my son's sake, because I'm always worried, in the back of my mind about my heart, after having a heart attack at thirty-two. I don't want Robby to come home and find me dead or something and him to have nobody."

"He's not alone- he has your family. But I understand. Fully~"

"Eh, nothing I can do about it now."

"Worrying is gonna give you heart problems." Chuckled Maverick. "Just be like me!"

"Horny?"

Maverick just grinned in response. Mav lifted his head up to watch Maverick caress his chest and arm. "You sure your name isn't Joe Biden?"

"Ha!" Maverick laughed.

"Touchy feely here."

"Can't help it~"

"Oh whatever." Mav laughed. "I hope you enjoyed meeting my friends. They all seemed to take a liking for ya."

"Well, what's not to like?"

"Yeah, exactly."

Faust entered the room, scratching the bulge in his underwear as he yawned. "I think it's time for bed~"

"Come on hot stuff! Let's get some shuteye."

"There better not be any fucking in this bed!" Mav teased as made sure he had his phone plugged in on the nightstand.

"Nooooo, but you're more than welcome to give it a try." Faust grinned.

"I'll pass~ You don't have tits or a vagina."

"I got a tight butthole~ I heard you liked that?"

"A Megan sound familiar?" Maverick chuckled as he watched Mav recoil in disgust.

"Fucking crazy turtle lady... I don't care how tight that ass was... fucking turtles..."

"Turtles?" Faust tilted his head.

"...it's a long story." Mav shook his head. "For another time."

"Well okay then~"

"Night guys!" Mav concluded as he reached over to turn the lamp off. He rolled over onto his side and got himself comfy under the covers, as he felt Maverick put an arm around him and pull him close to his warm frame.

"Oh god! Joe Biden stop molesting me!" laughed Mav.

"Oh come on~"

"Fineeeeeee~" Mav relented with a laugh. He closed his eyes and felt calm as he slowly drifted off to sleep with his friends in bed. For the first time in over a month, he had a full night's rest of deep, genuine sleep.

---

The cool waters of the Licking River provided respite from the immense heat and humidity. The winding Licking River flowed through the southern reaches of Licking County, cutting through the area by Toboso, near Black Hand Gorge. Following others who floated in kayaks and floats, Mav spent the first day of August with his new friends and son, floating slowly down the Licking. He sat squeezed into a conjoined donut float, sharing it with Maverick. The two huskies wore their swim trunks and nothing else as they soaked up the sun. Mav relaxed with his paws placed atop his head, and a dark tinted pair of aviators shielding his eyes. Maverick sat sipping water from his jug.

"So why do they call this place Licking County? Seems like such an awkward name." the husky chuckled as he stowed his water jug away.

"Licking comes from the saltlicks that area in the area." Mav explained. "We were named after all the animals that would come here and lick the salt, hence licking, heh. And yes, there's quite a bit of awkward connotations to the name!"

"Heh, heh~" chuckled Maverick. "I'm glad you suggested this, I like this nice lazy ride down the river~"

"I know right? I've been meaning to do this for a while now!" Mav exclaimed. "We should go walk Black Hand Gorge. It's like my favorite place to go to with Rob."

"We should!" Maverick agreed enthusiastically.

Mav laughed and placed his paws back behind his head as he rested. They began to enter into the wooded area of Black Hand Gorge. There were woods and hills to their right, where the bike path ran, and a towering cliff face made of weathered sandstone. The woods captured the humidity, like a green blanket. The air grew saturated with humidity, it seemingly amplified the heat. The water grew a bit faster, as it was channeled around a few rocks, forming little white water areas, little fast eddies that churned over water smoothed rocks and pebbles. Mav and the others held on as they enjoyed the ride. The Russian husky felt great for once; having houseguests took the loneliness away. He felt he could finally begin to decompress from everything that had happened.

"Hey! Show me your best, Mavvy!" Faust called.

"Which Mavvy?" Mav called.

"My Mav!"

"Oh okay!"

Maverick chuckled and flipped off Faust for the camera.

"Hey where's my photo! My narcissism needs stroked!"

"I'm sure there's other things that need stroked too~"

"Yeah, I agree." Mav laughed.

Maverick grinned and reached for his phone, which was wrapped up in a waterproof pouch. He fiddled around with it for a bit, looking nonchalant, with an arm draped behind his head. "Ohh lookie here, my summer vacation got extended a bit longer thanks to corona..."

"Oh yeah?"

"The university is pushing fall semester back a month, because of the recent Covid spike..."

"Ya know, why couldn't this have happened when I was in school? Shit! I'd be happy bustin' out of that place!" Mav exclaimed. "Back in my day, I had to be in school five days a week!"

"Did you walk fifteen miles too?" Maverick quipped with a grin.

"Nah, I had a piece of shit Honda I drove." Mav laughed. "I had that car for actually, a really long time... I put almost three hundred thousand miles on the fucker before someone stole it!"

"Oh yeah?"

"I get ready to head to work and I come out to find my car's frame just sitting on blocks!"

"The frame?"

"Someone came and took all the fucking parts off it! It was just the bare frame sitting on blocks! It was like the pit crew from Nascar came and stole it! Unbelievable~"

"Only you it seems." Maverick laughed.

"You know I hear that a lot... not sure why..." Mav fumbled his brow as he scratched his goatee. "...weird."

Maverick just closed his eyes and smiled.

"How ya doin' over there, Robby!" called Mav to his son. Robby rode on the large float with Faust and Greyn, who also were relaxing with the stream of water.

"Just fine, Dad!" Robby waved.

"Good to hear! Just making sure you're not dead!"

"Nope, Dad!"

Riding through the gorge, Mav pointed out some features of the place to his friends, including the towering cliff, where a few people were seen peering over the couple hundred foot drop. Mav casually quipped about how he once pissed off the side of it as a joke, and how "a couple people went splat when they accidentally fell off the ledge".

"You have quite the way of combing morbid stories with personal tales~" Faust said, stifling a laugh.

"That's my specialty!" Mav exclaimed.

The group eventually ran aground on a sand bar, after a long trip down the Licking River. Pulling their inner-tubes onto the sand, they stood and stretched, and looked around at the other folks enjoying their time escaping from the heat in the river.

Mav smelled his armpit. "I smell like river water! Or maybe that's just my deodorant wearing off... Don't know!"

"It does have an earthy smell doesn't it..." chuckled Maverick. He covered his face and laughed a bit. "You are definitely, entertaining, Maverick."

"Hey! I'm Mav, and you're Maverick! Remember?"

"Right, forgot. Heat of the moment." Chuckled the big husky. "I'm Maverick, Mavvy, stud muffin, or Coach! And you're Mav, Mav-O, or-"

"Stud service!" Mav blurted out.

"PFFT! Only in your dreams!" teased Greyn with a laugh.

"Alrighty...let's get to the truck and..." Mav started to say. He turned and looked around at his surroundings and realized he was far away from his truck.

"Dad...we're five miles from the truck..."

"We floated that far?"

"Mhmm~"

Mav looked at everyone with a blank, dumbfounded stare. "Uh oh..."

"Way to go~" Faust chuckled cynically.

Mav smacked his paws against his hips. "WELL FUCK ME SILLY!"

---

Juggling a bunch of tasks at once, Mav sat at his dinner table, pouring over bills, and a few letters. He filled out checks and paperwork while talking on the phone with Anton Golagonoff. It was a cordial call, just to see how Mav was holding up on his end. As he talked with his phone propped up by his shoulder, he signed his name on his truck payment, and stuffed it all into an envelope, which he filled out and slapped a stamp on.

"Hey Anton, it was nice to hear from you. Take care buddy! Alrighty~ Bye."

Mav quickly ended the call and sat his phone aside as he went to read a letter from a Cody Crenshaw, the seventeen year old teen who received Amy's cornea's, which restored his vision. Mav enjoyed staying in touch with them, and hearing about their lives. Cody resided in Cincinnati, and in a previous conversation, he talked about a chemistry class accident that blinded him. Mav grabbed some letterhead and wrote a letter in response, congratulating him on being accepted into a vocational school, and talking a bit about his own personal life and what was going on. He signed it and placed it into an envelope, which he addressed and sat it with his stack of mail that needed to get sent out. He had at least a dozen envelops that needed to go.

The phone rang again, and Mav quickly picked it up upon seeing it was Marcus calling him.

"Mav-O!"

"Hey Maverick, how are things?"asked Marcus curiously.

"Things are holding on a-okay here. Just me and Maverick, passing the time~"

"Oh cool~ Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to stop into the station for a bit? Wanted to give you some updates. I just got off the phone with Rob."

"Sure! In fact, I gotta run to the post office, so I can stop in."

"Sweet. See ya then~"

Getting up, Mav stretched his arms and walked through the kitchen and into the living room, where the television played on the wall. The husky looked out the window to watch Robby and Jeffrey play basketball with Alvin and his friends. He nodded and proceeded to rip a pretty loud fart, which initially brought a smirk to his face, until his eyes went wide at the realization that Maverick was in the living room. Spinning around, an embarrassed looking Mav found Maverick sitting on the couch, a blank stare on his face.

"Hey~" Maverick greeted.

"Oh my god!" laughed Mav. "I completely forgot you were here! HA! I fucking just blew it up! I'm so embarrassed!"

Maverick had a grin curl up on his face. "Ya wanna know what I gotta say to that?"

He shifted his pose and followed with a just as loud fart, a sarcastic smirk on his face. "There ya go~"

Mav blinked with a blank stare. "Wow, that was pretty badass~"

"Fuck yeah!"

"I didn't think you gay guys could do that without shitting yourself!" Mav laughed.

"Pfffft~ please." Maverick laughed in return. "So what do you want to do today? It's a boring Monday~"

"Wanna go with me to my station and drop some mail off?"

"Sure!"

---

Throwing the door open abruptly, Mav abruptly rushed through "Kramer style", as he always did. It always startled someone, and this time it was Marcus, who jumped back by Mav's abrupt entrance.

"Hey I'm here~"

"I can see that!" Marcus exclaimed.

"Brought my body double along with me- hope you don't mind." Mav pointed to Maverick, who calmly stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

"Heh, that's fine~" chuckled Marcus.

"How do you do?" Smiled Maverick, who greeted Marcus.

"Fine, thank you! Make yourself at home here!" Marcus happily replied. "It's a bit of a tight, hot mess~"

"That's how I like my girls." Mav nodded. Maverick just smiled at the quip.

"...I'll be right back!" Mav exclaimed as he went with Marcus and Felix. "I won't be long!"

Maverick smiled and nodded as he watched Mav went with his entourage back to their cubby hole. He took a glance around at the cramped confines of what was once a bus depot for the school district. The interior was in various shades of brown, with paint cracking and chipping all over the place. The building had a tired, old look to it, and Mav wasn't kidding when he had told him that it was "a piece of shit". The office area was cramped and full of stacks of paperwork, and a filing cabinet or two jutting out from the wall. Workers sat in cubby holes recessed from the hallway, where workstations and phones were at. Even the windows were tinted in a golden brown color. Apparently it was their fallback option after their first building burned down in an arson attack. Feeling a bit curious, Maverick walked down the hallway, exploring his new setting.

Rounding a bend, Maverick found himself staring into the cramped VTR room. It was a beehive of activity, the room filled with the noise of machinery and television programming. He recognized Borr Eklund, the Swedish husky with his Viking braided ponytail of blonde hair. A smile crept up on Maverick's muzzle. He stepped inside to see what was going on.

"Hey!" greeted Borr. The husky walked over, clutching a large gold colored reel of videotape in his grip. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, just loafing around with Mav-O." Maverick chuckled. "What kind of mad scientist lair is this?"

"Welcome to our cramped videotape room." Borr motioned with a laugh. "Come on in! I'll show ya some things!"

Maverick happily obliged and stepped in, feeling the warmth from all the videotape machines running away. Borr pointed out Ryan McDowd and Corey Wilhelm editing a video together on the editing console, and Shane Phyllis, a sable furred husky, who sat monitoring playback on an old Ampex AVR-3.

"So this is what you guys do all day?"

"Yeah!" Borr nodded. "I'm the head videotape guy- responsible for dubbing and digitization of old Quads, Type C's, U-Matic, Beta, the old formats."

"I see~" Maverick nodded. "What's this?"

Maverick and Borr stood watching another AVR-3 play back an old Quad tape of an episode of The Mike Douglas Show. The Quadruplex hummed with a steady whine of its servos and video heads. The two inch videotape spun at fifteen inches per second.

"This is a two inch Quad- an Ampex AVR-3. This VTR was built in 1974."

"Heh, ten years older than me."

"Heh, yeah~ Forty-six! Still going strong." Borr said as he gave the machine an affectionate tap with his paw. "Love working on these."

"It's funny to see all this old gear here." Maverick acknowledged. "My phone shoots a nicer video than this."

"Oh that's true!" Borr laughed. "HD in your pocket~"

"I watch Mav-O work on this stuff at his house- he's like a kid in a candy store!" grinned Maverick.

"By the way, how are you liking Newark?"

"Well...it's definitely different..." Maverick chuckled teasingly. A smirk graced his face. "It's quiet...and kinda dull and lifeless. It ain't no Arena District."

"Yeah, I agree. This place is a dump." Borr laughed.

"I have been staying at Mav-O's for a week and a half roughly, and in my entire time visiting Newark, I have seen overdoses, baked out of their mind tweakers running around naked, and just people who look like they've crawled out from under a rock."

Borr nodded. "Yep. That's Newark!"

"I see!" grinned the husky. "How'd a stud like you end up in a place like this?"

Borr smirked at Maverick's playful grin. "Oh man, it's such a long story." The Nordic husky responded.

"Heh, heh~" smiled Maverick. "Ya'll are entertaining."

"Thank you!" Borr exclaimed.

There was commotion behind Maverick as he heard someone stumble and fall with a loud thump on the floor. He turned around to see Mav getting up, as Felix and Marcus laughed at him. The husky quickly made his way into the editing room, clutching a folder in his grip.

"Hey!" Mav greeted.

"Have a nice fall?" teased Maverick.

"Try being six foot five..."

"Oh I know, because I'm the same height~" grinned the husky. "Crazy, I know~"

Mav rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Unbelievable." Even the Russian husky had a laugh about it. "So! Wanna be a superstar of Licking County, big Mavvy?"

"Oh boy." Chuckled Maverick. "What is this gonna be?"

"We're tasked with making three commercials to promote social distancing- for that next expected wave of coronavirus to strike our oblivious, ignorant hearts! And you're the perfect hot piece of ass for the cameras!"

"You sure you're not bi?" grinned Maverick.

"Shut up~" Mav fired back.

"Heh~ It sounds interesting... social distancing, huh? Hmm..." Maverick thought with the ever present smirk. "Why don't we talk it over with some lunch?"

"I say, we got ourselves a lunch date!" Mav exclaimed.

---

The prairie grass was dried and golden in color, speckled with color from wildflowers that grew amongst. The tall grass swayed to a dry, hot breeze, under a bright afternoon sun. Maverick knelt down and held his phone out to take a photo of a purple coneflower, which sat with some yellow black-eyed Susans. The husky got up and took another photo, of Mav and his son Robby, fiddling around getting their video gear ready. He sent the photos to his boyfriend, telling him that he was "quite intrigued" by Lobdell Park, in the small village of Alexandria. It was a giant plot of prairie land, with a creek flowing at the bottom of a wooded hill. Maverick adjusted his red baseball cap and turned to admire some more of the scenery around him.

Not far away, Mav worked with Robby to get their anachronistic video gear ready. It was the debut of Mav's newest camera, a Sharp XC-B10. Like the camera he restored for Rob, it was a dark and light gray, slab sided broadcast camera, equipped with mixed-field, diode-gun tubes. But instead of lead-oxide Plumbicons like Rob's B20P, it sported a set of Saticons. The Russian husky fiddled around with installing a fresh battery pack on the rear mount, and unfolding and securing the SRD-52 zoom grip on his big Fujinon lens. He fetched and installed a really large shotgun mic, which was encased in yellow foam. Robby attached the VTR cable to his BVU-150 U-Matic deck, which was encased in a blue fabric Porta Brace brand carrier. He fetched a fresh videotape from the side pouch and fiddled around with the thick, square, cassette. It was loaded into the VTR and the lid shut and flap zipped shut. Robby listened to the tape spool up, before he shut the unit off to save battery power.

"Dad, how did people carry all this stuff back then for the news?" Robby asked curiously.

"Chiropractors, son~ Lot's of them, and Tylenol." Chuckled Mav as he spun the filter wheel position for "5600K + ND".

"Ahh~"

"Well that should do it." Mav quipped as he switched his camera on and waited for the tubes to warm up. It took about five seconds for the guns to heat up and stabilize the scanning beam current. In the viewfinder, he watched as it lit up, and with a burst effect, each channel come online, then back to a dark gray screen. He slowly opened the iris up to get a crisp monochrome view of Lobdell park. Robby ran out in front and held up a plain white sheet of paper, so Mav could white balance the camera.

"That should do it!" Mav called. "Where you at, Maverick?"

Mav turned around to spot Maverick with his back turned to him, while he peed against a tree.

"Oh! One sec!" he responded with a laugh at the end. He fixed his black shorts and OSU tanktop. "Whew~ that felt better."

"Ya ready?" Mav asked.

"Oh yeah!" Maverick confidently grinned. "Time to bullshit something off the top of my head!"

"Only the best way!"

"Heh, how'd you think I made it this far?" smirked the husky.

"I don't know? Sleep with a bunch of guys?"

"PFFT. I'm strategic in that department." Laughed Maverick.

"Hey, I mean, if it'd help my career! I'd make em squeal!"

Maverick just grinned in response.

Getting down to business, the trio began work in the prairie field. Spending a few hours under the beating sun, they shot multiple takes of a PSA project for the Licking County Health Department. It was funny and enjoyable, despite the heat. The idea of the program was to encourage people to socially distance, while still being able to go out and visit parks, and do some recreation, with a bit of encouragement and hope, as everyone and everything reeled from the pandemic gripping the nation. They shot some scenes in the prairie, and venture down into the wooded area by the creek, to get some shots of Maverick wading in the wide, shallow creek, to provide some extra material to work with. It was adlibbed, and full of gaffes that brought a lot of laughter and multiple takes to get it right.

After taping, Mav gave the camera and recorder off to his son, who went to shoot B-roll in the prairie field. Mav and Maverick sat in the shade eating lunch from a large Igloo cooler. Maverick sipped from a bottle of Coke, and Mav bunched on a bag of potato chips, as they talked casually.

"It's been a few months... but I don't know when I should start dating again? Or whether I should date again." Mav admitted as he grabbed his bottle of Fanta to take a drink.

Maverick fumbled his lips as he thought. "Well that's entirely up to you. You're still mourning, remember that. Whether its conscious or not. You are still mourning from a very tragic event."

"Yeah." Nodded Mav. "It seems so surreal, this whole year."

"I know it." Maverick nodded in understanding. "This whole year has been strange with everything going on. It's been a very rough year."

"Tell me about it! Pandemic, social unrest, an incompetent presidential administration? What's next? War of the fucking Worlds!?"

"Don't say it!" laughed Maverick. "It just might happen."

"Pfft. You're telling me." Mav chuckled. "I'll admit... I want to have a nice girlfriend to be my future wife, for my kid's sake. You know, when me and Amy adopted Robby, I wanted him to have a nice life with just normality. His real parents are both dead- his dad died in the Iraq war, and his mom committed suicide when he was four years old. It's not fair to him. And then everything that happened between me and Amy, and then that Oliver creep, and him getting molested...I just wanted to be a good Dad, and some days I feel like I'm not? Also, I have this fear of a second heart attack in the back of my head, and I don't want Robby to come home to find me dead, or find out I died, and then he has nobody... very frightening thought..."

"Being in a relationship for the sake of being in a relationship isn't a very healthy plan of action." Maverick mentioned. He talked while he tore the plastic wrap off his other sandwich. "When I was younger, and I had just come out, I wanted a boyfriend so bad. I wanted a boyfriend just to say I had one because I was newly out of the closet! I wanted to be just like my friends and their girlfriends, and I wanted my own relationship! That mindset blew up in my fucking face."

"Really? You seem quite confident."

"Thank you." Grinned Maverick sarcastically. "Jokes aside... you find yourself with less than desirable people, because you're not being scrupulous. Is this someone you want to wake up to every single day? Does this person always bring you joy? Are you compatible? All these different variables. Hooking up with a guy is one thing, but waking up with them every day? Interweaving your life into theirs?"

"Sounds like don't stick your dick in crazy~"

"Ha! In a nutshell, basically." Maverick chuckled. "In short, Mav-O, don't rush things. If you're meant for another relationship, things'll fall into place."

"Alrighty~"

"There we go. Good Maverick talk!" the husky grinned confidently.

Robby came walking up, looking exhausted from all his heavy camera gear. "Dad, I'm exhausted..."

"Here, have a water, Robby." Mav offered as he handed him a bottle out of the cooler.

"Sit down and eat some lunch young man!" smiled Maverick as he reached in to fish out a sandwich for him.

---

There was frenzy work in the kitchen as the two Mav's worked with Greyn in fixing up dinner. On the couch, in the living room, slept Robby, exhausted after a day at the park and then playing with his friend outside. Mav grabbed vegetables for a salad from his fridge, while Maverick worked at the stove, making his famous chicken-fried steaks in a big cast iron pan that sizzled and popped. The husky alternated between tending to his breaded up steaks, and making creamy peppered gravy for them in a sauce pan. Greyn assisted him as the husky whistled a tune to himself.

"Man, how'd you learn how to cook like this?" Mav asked as he juggled a head lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers in his grip.

"It's in my DNA~" teased a grinning Maverick.

"Dude, I'm like barely functional as a cook. I can't even toss my own salad!"

Maverick had a look of thought on his face as he looked away for a second. "Ya know, Mav-O, I have that same problem too... ...I'm not flexible enough to lick that spot...

Mav just blinked. "Wow..." He turned to walk away. "I'm gonna go toss my salad now..."

"Practice makes perfect!" Maverick chuckled.

"When the fuck is Faust coming home- they send his ass to Cincinnati again?" chuckled Greyn as he stirred the gravy.

Maverick checked his phone. "He's coming back from Milford."

"Ha! Again." Greyn laughed. "Fucking sales guys sending him all over the damn state."

"Oh Fausty's gonna be pissed bringing the work truck home." Chuckled the husky as he flipped the steak in the pan. "Oooh, listen to that sizzle."

"I can listen to my stomach growl at that smell!" Greyn laughed.

Getting the dinner table ready, everyone finished up with the cooking, right as Faust came back in his work truck, a beat up looking single-cab Chevy, with an elaborate top-rack and a tired, worn aluminum bed on the back. The wolf stepped inside, covered in dust and dirt as his dusty work boots stomped on the floor.

"How was your day?" Maverick called.

"Fucking Kentucky, and I come back, and then they send me to damn Cincinnati again!"

"Whoo! Pandemic express!" Mav exclaimed. "Get you some corona!"

"The only corona I want is the one you drink with lime..." Faust grumbled.

"Go get yourself cleaned up and grab a bite to eat." Smiled Maverick.

"Fine~" he mustered a smile for his lover. He ventured off to go take a shower and cool off after a long day at work.

Dinnertime was always enjoyable. The table was packed as they all sat down for Maverick's home cooked meal of chicken-fried steak, complete with his "family secret recipe". Empty stomachs were filled as they joked and talked about their day. Faust took the time to vent about his long driving route as the runner truck driver, delivering engineered wood products to a housing development in Covington Kentucky, and another run of I-joists to a development in Milford, outside of Cincinnati.

"These fucking sales guys- they will wait to the last second, to dump a bunch of shit on us." Greyn explained to Mav. "It never fails! I could spend all day doing nothing but maybe cut four EWP lists, and then three o'clock comes around and I get seven."

"Heh, I'm surprised nobody's taken that chainsaw to them..." chuckled Maverick. "It was a clusterfuck when I worked at Eighty-Four. There was one day last year when I just got done with an eighty thousand pound load, and those motherfuckers dropped another eighty thousand pounder on me... So I ended up working like fourteen hours that day because it just had to go out the next day."

"All the time..." Faust shook his head. "But it's done."

"Think of it this way stud...it's overtime before school starts again..." smiled Maverick. "...if it ever starts at the rate we're going."

"Heh, yeah. This whole year's been a dumpster fire." Greyn rolled his eyes.

"Tell me about it." Mav grumbled. "I'm kinda terrified of what's gonna happen next? The sky gonna fall down?"

"Don't say it!" exclaimed Faust with a laugh. "It just might happen!"

"So what'd you do today, big Maverick?" Greyn asked curiously.

"Apparently I am going to be a superstar, via Mav here." Chuckled the husky.

"Absolute superstar!" Mav exclaimed. "PSA for the health department."

"Oh boy." Chuckled Faust.

"I get to be super gay and talk about how social distancing in a pandemic doesn't mean being cooped up inside your house." Maverick joked. "I stood and walked around a prairie at this park talking about recreation and other shit I pulled out of my ass for the camera...it was fun."

"Masterpiece." Mav grinned.

"Heh, if you say so." Laughed Maverick. "I'm not really an actor, I just happen to have enough confidence to look like I know what I'm doing."

"Hey, if the President of the United States can make it up as he goes, so can you!" Mav exclaimed with a grin. "'MERICA! PFFFPFFTTTTFFFTFFFT!"

Everyone around him laughed at the joke.

---

Unpacking one of the U-Matic cassettes, Mav leaned over and shoved it into the slot of his VTR. The tape was spooled up and readied as he began the tedious process of editing on his home built editor. On the couch behind him sat Faust and Greyn, who wanted to listen and watch. Maverick sat with Mav and his son, as they got the editing console all powered up.

"I hand built this myself. It looks crude, but it's a sharp editing machine!" Mav laughed.

"I see~" Maverick smiled. "Not the appearance, but the functionality they say."

"So this is how one linear edits. You take your shot, you dub it to the edit tape, and find the next shot. Basically it's the same as live television. Now with U-Matic, you have to be a bit careful about how many generations you can go down, as this format has a lot of chroma noise that gets worse with each generation loss." I prefer Betacam, because its component video, not composite, and that brings benefits in dubbing...but eh! I'm a SONY U-MATIC FANATIC! HA! HA! HA!"

"Interesting!" Maverick responded with a laugh. "A bit beyond my knowledge...but very interesting."

"So let's show you guys how it's done~ Right Robby?"

"Right, Dad!"

"Here we go!"

Mav looked euphoric as he graded the shots and took notes marking the time off the time code that ran at the bottom of the big Trinitron. He played back both times, including the shots Robby shot himself, mostly close ups of the wildflowers, swaying grasses, and some wide angles of the park. The Russian husky marveled at the colorimetry his camera gave; it had a warm picture quality with good contrast; it lacked the sometimes cold look that Diode-Guns gave.

"Me and Rob have this long-running huge, battle between our favorite tube types- Rob has a thing for Plumbicons, and I love Saticons."

"Heh, heh~" chuckled Maverick. "They seem to do the same thing."

"True, but they have benefits and drawbacks." Mav explained. "Plumbicons were the industry standard, courtesy of the Eindhoven scientists who were able to make stable targets out of lead-oxide... Plumbicons have very high burn-in resistance, but they're a bit weak on the red channel without mitigation, and target thickness dictates sensitivity, resolution, input-decay lag, and color pickup. Saticons have much better red channel sensitivity, and are not dependent on target thickness to determine resolution because the target is an amorphous crystalline glass target. They're made of selenium, arsenic, and tellurium, the latter for red channel sensitivity, and to stabilize the materials together. They're cheaper to make as well, and their gun life is tremendously longer. But they burn easier, and have higher lag and noise if you're not careful setting them up."

"Huh, that's neat." Faust muttered behind Mav. "How'd you learn this stuff?"

"Oh, just read it here and there." Mav shrugged.

"That's quite an understatement." Chuckled Maverick.

"Just the stuff me and Rob talk about, which I miss."

For the evening, the group talked and laughed together while Mav cut the video with his son. They went through each shot and edited them together, adding in the graphics using the Chyron IV.

"Wow, you can't type!" Faust laughed, who watched Mav butcher his spelling from smashing keys together on the Chyron's keyboard.

"You ever see my fingers!? My big FAT SAUSAGE FINGERS! D'OH!" Mav exclaimed. "I KEEP MASHING ALL THE KEYS TOGETHER- DAMNIT!"

Everyone laughed at Mav's outburst as he tried to type on the old mechanical keyboard.

Finally, three PSA's were completed, dubbed to the same "edit master" tape. They sat back and watched them play, complete with sentimental music as Maverick explained with his deep, baritone voice about social distancing. Maverick sat with his arms crossed, looking amused at his own performance. He walked amongst the prairie, talking about social distancing, and how people can still go out and enjoy scenery with precautions. Maverick was amused by his own fancy title of "Assistant Athletic Director, OSU" under his name, generated by the Chyron in Helvetica.

"Ha~ I even believe myself." Chuckled Maverick. "This is great."

"See! I made you a super star!"

"Heh, make me a porn star~" he grinned in response.

Mav inhaled through his teeth with a grimace. "That might be more of a job to my buddy Xan!" Mav laughed at his own joke. "MASTERPIECE!"

"I am a masterpiece, thank you~" Maverick boasted with a smirk.

By nighttime, everyone wound down for bed. After saying goodnight to his son, Mav stepped into his room to find Maverick getting the bed all ready for them. Faust already was in his spot, and Maverick was climbing into bed, wearing just his snug underwear.

"Another night at the sausage party it seems..." Mav joked as he stretched, wearing just his briefs and a tanktop.

"Yep!" Maverick exclaimed.

"And you love it~" teased Faust.

"Heh~" Mav shook his head. He yawned and climbed into bed, getting into his usual spot and lying on his back to stare up at the ceiling. An introspective look graced his tired face.

Maverick rolled over and propped his head up with his arm as he playfully rubbed Mav's chest fur. "You have that look again on your face~"

"Yeah, just thinking." He acknowledged.

"Whacha thinking?"

"Ohhhh, just how this year's been an unmitigated disaster for everyone and everything." Admitted Mav as he turned to look at Maverick. "It's like there's no good news anywhere? The whole world is tense- you have China flexing its might against its neighbors, with little bully Russia as its sidekick, this global pandemic killing people every day, and right here in our own country too, you have an inept, unprepared, incompetent presidential administration trying to gaslight all of us in a desperate attempt to prop up their reelection campaign because coronavirus doesn't fit their narrative. It's like stories my Dad and uncle have told me about their lives in the Soviet Union, how the narrative doesn't fit the reality presented. And then on my own personal level, I can't seem to find any way to get over Amy's death, because no matter what I do, there's something that just goes wrong! My business with Rob is financially teetering, and I'm worried sick about my best friend because he's so weak and sick right now. I don't want Rob to die. I don't know what I'd do if my best friend died. My heart just couldn't take it."

"You gotta let the chips fall where they land~" Maverick suggested. "It's a terrible year for all of us. I know, and I understand. It's a cheap comment to say 'don't let it get to you' because I get it fully. I don't even know if OSU's gonna have sports this year at the rate the virus keeps resurging and hot spotting all over the place. I might be having a very boring job this year into next..."

"It is what it is, I guess."

"Unfortunately."

"They say its darkest before the dawn. Perhaps this decade is starting off wrong, so it may end on a higher note? Heh, I remember back in 2010, when things started okay, and then the decade just got worse and worse, and now we're here, into 2020. So maybe things are shitty now? But they'll get better, in time."

"Let's hope so." Mav nodded. He let out a yawn and rubbed his tired eyes. "I think I'm heading off to bed now."

"Have a good night stud~"

Mav rolled over and gave a sarcastic wag with his finger. He reached over and turned the lamp off.

"Night guys~"

"Night." Faust and Maverick responded.

Mav just started to drift off to sleep when he felt Maverick snake a paw over him and pull him close to his frame. Mav smirked a bit and let it be as Faust, Maverick, and Mav slept all up against each other. He fell into a deep, spent sleep.

---

The clock struck six o'clock in the morning. The morning sky was still dim as Faust and Greyn got ready to leave for work, to make their hour long drive to Hilliard. The two made their way to the back door, as Maverick handed off their packed lunch bags.

"Here ya go, Greyn."

"Thanks Coach~" Greyn said as he walked by, to get an encouraging pat on the shoulder by husky. Faust accepted his lunch bag and got a kiss from Maverick and a smile.

"Have a good day, stud~" smiled Maverick.

"Hey thanks, you too. See you this evening~"

"Have fun on another Cincinnati run."

Faust just sarcastically grimaced. Maverick chuckled and watched them climb into their vehicles and back up onto Leslie Drive. Faust's beat up Chevy work truck groaned and rattled from its top rack and aluminum bed as it departed down the road. He turned and closed the door behind him, to check on a pot of percolating coffee. He yawned and stretched, only to be interrupted by a sudden crashing sound. Spinning around, he saw Mav lying on the ground and getting up from falling. He had tripped on a shoe that was slightly out of place on the shoe mat in the hall.

Maverick walked over and couldn't help but laugh. "Damn son! I'm gonna get you a life alert for Christmas!"

"Yeah, yeah." Mav chuckled as brushed himself off. "Good thing I drink my milk!"

"Milk makes strong bones." Chuckled Maverick. "Want some coffee?"

"Yes please!"

Maverick made him a mug, and the two took a seat at his dinner table, to savor some caffeine to wake them up. Mav put his usual cream and sugar in, while Maverick drank his black.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Mav asked curiously. "It's a lazy Wednesday."

Maverick smacked his lips together after taking another sip. "Hmm..." was his response. "Well I'd like to ask you for a favor, Mav~"

"Oh yeah?" the Russian husky responded with a curious tone.

"Well, I need to make an introduction video for myself to the university, so they can put it on the OSU website. I didn't get a chance to do it last year, because I was a last second addition to the university- heh, their second pick... And I think you're a camera and editing whiz, and you could make a much better looking video than what I could with an iPhone!"

Mav's eyes lit up. "You got it!"

"Heh, heh, it tickles your fancy." Grinned Maverick.

After discussing a little bit over what Maverick wanted, and a morning shower to get ready, the two huskies hit the road to Columbus, in Mav's light gray Trabant. As the sun began to rise in the eastern horizon, the Trabant hacked and rumbled down the driveway and onto the road. Its two-stroke motor gave a peculiar burble as Maverick drove it out of curiosity.

"Wow...this thing has literally no getup and go..."

"Well...it only has twenty-six horses under the hood!"

Maverick downshifted and slammed his foot on the gas to command maximum power from the diminutive two-cylinder engine. The husky watched the bolted on tachometer red-line, yet the Trabant struggled to even hit sixty. He shifted and continued to slowly accelerate, as annoyed cars passed by, some of them blowing their horns out of annoyance.

"Oh just ignore them- they don't realize what great socialist engineering feat they're seeing!" Mav laughed.

"Oh it's great alright... a great big piece of shit!" Maverick laughed. "My head is smashed into the ceiling..."

"So is mine... Weird..." Mav responded.

"I'm surprised it doesn't have a windup key in the back!" Maverick laughed with a playful grin.

"No, but it does come with a neat dipstick to measure your fuel level!" Mav exclaimed.

"Even better!" the husky grinned sarcastically with a big shit-eating grin.

Getting onto the highway was bad enough, but hopping onto the interstate was pure torture, as the little East German car barely kept up with the pace of traffic. Topping off at just sixty-five miles an hour, the Trabant strained to carry them along as they slowly made their way to Columbus. It was comical, and both of them laughed about it. I-70 took them out of the southern reaches of Licking county, through a brief stretch of Fairfield county, and then into Franklin county. The towering buildings of Columbus slowly emerged from the haze as they made the two bends of I-70 coming into the heart of Columbus. Crossing the southern portion of downtown, Maverick exited the interstate for the Sullivant Avenue exit. He mused about living in the Hilltop as they spiraled down the off ramp and entered into the outskirts of Hilltop. Everything looked dilapidated and worn down, a sea of decaying brick buildings and boarded up, abandoned homes. Maverick and Mav made a left turn and made their way to the Dodge Recreation Park, which straddled the Scioto river.

Hopping out, Mav grabbed his camera gear from the trunk. He wheeled his rolling suitcase, which held a Panasonic AK-30, and had strapped to it, his Schlatter tripod. His right paw clutched the shoulder strap to his BVU-150 U-Matic recorder, protected in its Porta Brace case.

"I used to walk here a lot with Fausty, when we lived in the hood~" chuckled Maverick. "Not a very fun time if you ask me. But a learning experience, nonetheless."

"Indeed." Mav nodded.

"I thought this would be a great place to make one of the videos." Maverick said as the two stopped to just stare at the bright sunlight shining between the glistening buildings of downtown Columbus. The view by the Scioto was the picturesque "perfect view" of Columbus.

"We just gotta be careful about the sun angle, relative to the shot, so we don't burn the tubes." Mav pointed out as they looked for a good angle to work with.

"I like this view- it's a nice morning, and it's a good backdrop for a video to instill hope into students. 'Cause god help us, we need it." Maverick stated with a roll of his eyes.

"What's next this year? Godzilla?"

"Don't say it, Mav!" laughed the husky.

"Chernobyl three-point-oh!" he exclaimed.

"Stop!" laughed Maverick. "Don't jinx us~"

"Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!"

"NYET!" Maverick yelled with a laugh.

"Hey that's pretty good." Mav complimented.

"Well, I learned it from you~"

"Great!"

Having walked around for half an hour, the two huskies finally found an excellent vantage point, which overlooked the walkway of Dodge Park, and the entire backdrop of Columbus. It also provided an adequate safety margin for the camera's delicate pickup tubes.

Maverick checked himself over in his OSU scarlet and gray polo and gray slacks that all formed to his hourglass body. As he fixed his shirt collar, he watched Mav get all his camera gear ready; he fiddled around his AK-30, which was a blocky camera covered in black and slate gray metal. It had a big shotgun microphone attached, adorned in red foam, and a big Canon lens that sported a rubber lens hood. He attached its VTR cable to his tape deck, and fiddled around with a pair of headphones to monitor the audio.

"Ahh, yes, now I look all professional." Chuckled Maverick.

"You went from dudebro to professor!"

"Oh yes! I can pull that off real well can't I?" Maverick laughed with his happy grin. "I somedays even impress myself, you know."

"Hey I know that feeling~ I like to look at myself in the mirror and masturbate to my own reflection. GOTTA PLEASE THE NARCISSISM! HUR, HUR, HUR~"

Maverick closed his eyes for a moment and laughed in silence. "Oh Mav. How I'm so glad I met you..."

"Really?"

"You definitely provide me with an endless source of amusement in a sea of things going wrong in 2020..."

"Glad I could help!"

"Now, why don't we get this show on the road~"

"Okay!"

Mav powered up the camera and waited for its Plumbicons to warm up before opening the iris. It took a few seconds while Maverick walked a short distance away, to give some depth for the picture. He checked over his wireless lapel mic clipped to his polo, getting a thumbs up from Mav, who white balanced his camera. The Russian husky hunched over and viewed the crisp monochrome image in the viewfinder. Maverick stood just off-center in the picture, placed on a third for artistic effect. He worked the zoom to practice his focusing, and watched the highlight lag effect from the overexposed morning sky, and reflections off the glass buildings in the background. The specular highlights off the buildings created a starburst effect in the lens, with ten pointed stars. They created some heavy comet-tailing, which Mav knew was going to be a very bright red color. Working quickly to avoid any serious burn-in, he lined up the shot, hit record, and heard the confirming "pop-click" of his VTR engage. He gave a thumbs up for Maverick to speak.

"It is a beautiful morning here in Columbus Ohio! My adopted home for this ole' Mississippi boy. To familiar faces, welcome back to the Ohio State University! For the incoming freshmen, I welcome you to this great university, in this wonderful town. I'm Maverick Kennedy, the Assistant Athletic Director of Sports, at OSU. I am thirty-six years old, and I come from the town of Biloxi Mississippi. From the time I was a young boy, I loved sports, particularly baseball. I knew I was going to do something with that passion, and here I am today. I won the state baseball championship when I was eighteen years old, and then I went on to play for Ole Miss, and then professionally for the Saint Louis Cardinals. After an injury ended my career, I went back home to Ole Miss to get my teaching degree, and became a coach, to instill this passion into students who were like me. I taught high school baseball, and then moved to Ohio to teach up near Cleveland at a university there for a few years. But things...ehh....didn't quite work out, and I found myself heading south to Columbus, where OSU took me in. It's a long, wild adventure, but it was worth it. That's how it's going to be for a lot of you, taking your first steps into adulthood, here, at Ohio State. You will have good days, you will have bad days, but these experiences will build character, and I hope to see many of your faces come through the athletic program.

...Things are rough right now this year, and I understand completely- fresh out of high school, beginning your first steps on your own in the midst of a pandemic and social unrest. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel- it's always darkest before dawn they say. Don't give up hope! Things will get better! There will be a bright morning for all of us! Thank you!"

Mav gave a thumbs up as he hit pause. Maverick returned the gesture.

---

Framed up in his shot was the giant OSU seal, a giant bronze circle, attached to the wall of one of the classroom buildings on campus. The morning sun glowed off parts of the seal, spread out like starbursts in the camera's lens. Mav stood bracing himself against the tripod; his left paw gripped the lens tightly, his right manning the tripod's large grip. He listened to Maverick's monologue through his headphones as he recorded it to tape, waiting for the right word to do his sweeping pan to his friend. It was a second video, to have some variety to work with. Maverick spoke with a similar monologue, but one more focused on the school campus. At the cue, Mav spun the camera around smoothly. The shot panned down and to the right to show Maverick walking up the tree lined sidewalk. The specular highlights on the seal comet-tailed, leaving four long streaks to fade away after a few seconds. It was a satisfying sight to the husky at the controls of the camera.

Maverick concluded his monologue by standing near the giant bronze seal, neatly framed up for the camera. At the "cut" conclusion, Maverick walked over and took his polo shirt off, to wear his tanktop he had on beneath it. "I'm starting to broil in this!"

"Take it off!" Mav teased as Maverick stripped down to a snug pair of gym shorts.

"There, that's better~" the husky breathed a sigh of relief. He threw his slacks and polo over a shoulder and glanced around at the campus. "Home!"

"Well, if you even have class this year."

"Heh, good point." Maverick chuckled. "If stupid fucks can avoid getting sick."

"Hey- best way to fight corona? Get corona...with lime! Duh!" The Russian husky exclaimed.

"Nothing like watching eighteen year olds who can't hold their liquor get shitfaced drunk, and just litter the place..." Maverick shook his head with a chuckle. "Oh my first year at Slaterville..."

"Hey, I happen to hold my liquor pretty well..."

"Well you're Russian~"

"Da!"

Having finished their video project, Mav and Maverick tore down the gear and walked across the campus, back to their Trabant, reminiscing about Mav's time playing baseball at OSU. They put all the gear into the trunk, and took off with their puttering, little gray car, with Maverick at the controls again. Departing from campus, they hopped onto Route 315, and headed south, back towards I-70, but at a random suggestion from Maverick, they made a detour and exited for Sullivant Avenue, to head into Hilltop, where Maverick had briefly called home. He was curious to see his old home, on Burgundy Street.

Hilltop was one of the blighted parts of Columbus. Once the working class enclave of the metropolis, it had fallen victim to the changing times. Deindustrialization, population decline, and crime, waged a war of attrition on the region. Sullivant Avenue itself was an infamous street on the west side. The entire area looked tired and broken down, a sea of old homes, broken down vehicles, and abandoned shops that lined Sullivant. Maverick and Mav rumbled down Sullivant, taking it all in.

"Yeah...this wasn't my first choice..." Maverick recalled. "But things had gotten bad in Slaterville after we got thrown out of the university...and this was kinda the first thing that popped up."

"I see..." Mav nodded. "Jesus Christ this place looks even worse than the last time I drove down Sullivant! Wow! Check that out! A burned out convenience store!"

"Heh, I think we passed a few of those already, buddy." Chuckled Maverick. "Oh come on! No! Don't take photos of the people standing on the corner!"

"I can't help it!" Mav laughed as he put his phone away. "Silly poor people! Money's for rich people!"

Maverick snorted. "Oh my god..." was all he could muster before laughing at the morbid quip.

"It's sad, you know?" Mav acknowledged in a more serious tone. "This reminds me of the east side of Newark in parts. Everything's blighted, as if it was abandoned to fate."

"Yep. That's the Hilltop~" Maverick nodded. "I heard from a neighbor of mine- heh, the one that got shot... they once told me that people just resign themselves to fate, and instead of trying to better themselves by any means, they just accept it and continue the cycle of abuse."

"Sadly, you can't help people unless they want to be helped." The Russian husky shook his head.

"This is what indifference looks like~" Maverick admitted as he came up to the turn, passing by an elementary school on their left. "Here we are! Burgundy Street!"

Burgundy Street was a tired looking neighborhood, made of homes that were all built in the 1920's. They were close in together and rough looking, with chipping, faded paint, and cramped yards. Towering maples lined the road, providing ample shade. Maverick slowed up and pulled off to the curb. His face looked gobsmacked as he engaged the parking brake and shut the engine off. He stepped out, followed by Mav, the two huskies walking over to a burned-out home that was cordoned off by a fence, with warnings to keep out.

"Wow..." Maverick muttered. "What the fuck happened here?"

Mav walked up and looked at the charred remains of what was a white house with brown shingles. Most of the roof had collapsed in from what appeared to have been a massive inferno. Where windows once sat, were now blackened and empty. The wooden siding was incinerated.

"Wow, you lived in a burned out shack? That's badass!" exclaimed Mav with a laugh.

"Heh, no~" laughed Maverick. "It certainly wasn't gutted by fire when I got it last year! Though honestly it didn't have that far to go..."

Maverick shook his head. "But this was the home I had to buy in a hurry. What a lost year that was..."

"Then you rolled that right into this lost year!"

"Heh! Yeah!" the husky laughed.

Maverick took a photo for Faust and Greyn and sent it to them. "Wanna go bug them at work?"

"Sure! I'm the master of lost productivity! But wanna grab some brunch?"

"Sure, that's fine~"

"Okay! Back to the Trabant-mobile! Before someone steals my tires!"

"HA! And what? Put em' on a lawnmower?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't knock my little Trabant tires!" Mav exclaimed as he walked back to his car. They climbed back in and took off down Burgundy, where an alley allowed them to turn around, back to Sullivant. As they pulled up to the red light, the familiar wail of sirens pierced the calm as Columbus cruisers zipped on by with their lights flashing. Mav drove this time as they exited out of Hilltop, stopping at a McDonald's to grab something to eat and some coffee. It was only nine-fifty in the morning.

Pulling through the drive-thru, Mav placed their order and followed the queue of cars waiting in line. He pulled up to the first window, which sat higher than his very low to the ground car. Coming to a stop, he had to contort his body out of the window to pay the cashier. It was a comical sight as Mav grunted and flexed to traverse the gap between the window and the car. Maverick had a good chuckle at it as he watched Maverick try and slip back in, only to fall on him.

"Oh geesh!" Mav exclaimed. "Jesus Christ!"

"This car's too small!"

"No shit!" the Russian husky exclaimed. This underpowered bucket of East German bolts!" He pulled up to the second window to grab the food. He had to contort himself out the window again. Maverick laughed and laughed as the other Maverick strained to go through the window.

"D'OH! DAMNIT!" he shouted. "I'M TOO BIG D'OH! WHOA!"

His paw slipping, Mav fell and landed with his lower half still in the Trabant, his upper half dangling upside down. People stood and watched as the husky struggled to get himself freed. Maverick just sat back for a moment and laughed his head off, a loud, hearty laugh as he clutched his chest from laughing so hard. "Oh my god, you fucking, loveable, idiot~" He got out to help get Mav unstuck.

---

A rattling, hacking cough of a radial engine pierced the morning calm at Newark-Heath airport. Sputtering blue, oily smoke, the number three engine to "Vanguard" roared to life. Its cuffed Curtiss propellers glistened and shimmered the first rays of the morning sun, which began to poke above the misty hills to the east of Newark and Heath, coloring everything in shades of amber and orange. The process was repeated for the three other engines to the old Constellation. Propellers churned, etching golden circles from their yellow tips.

Standing at a safe distance, Maverick and his boyfriend Faust watched curiously. The old Lockheed propliner was something they had never seen before; it was curvaceous, with a hunch-back like fuselage, and triple-finned tail. According to Mav, it had just come out of a scheduled servicing and had its propellers upgraded. The upper half of the fuselage was painted white, separated from the natural metal lower half by a narrow royal blue cheatline. "UNITED BAREV INDUSTRIES" read the stenciled banner on the upper fuselage in black. It's forward nose was graced with the company's "WHIN Arrow" logo; it was a golden arrow, which sported Barev's logo on it, and read "WHIN" in black. It stood for "We're Here In Newark!" A pointy, thimble shaped, black radome completed its looks.

"So you just jet around in these old birds for business eh?" Maverick chuckled over the propeller noise to Mav.

"Yeah! Jet set lifestyle! Gonna party like its nineteen-fifty-nine!" Mav laughed. "But today's not a trip of pleasure..."

"Gotta talk to the G-men huh?" Faust smirked.

"Yeah.... The NRC reps..." Mav rolled his eyes. "Gonna get fucked in the ass, guys!"

"You should use lube~ It helps." Smiled the husky.

"Duly noted." Mav laughed as he covered his face with a paw before shaking it. "It's gonna be a long day in Virginia..."

"Well we'll keep an eye on your house and kid~ Heh, maybe even go explore some." Faust promised.

"I appreciate it guys~"

"Hey no problem!"

"Whelp, I best get going."

"Have a safe flight buddy~"

"Thanks! Hope I don't die! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Mav went on his way to meet up with Marcus, Felix, and Charles, who walked single file to the airstair propped up to the rear fuselage. They climbed up and slipped from view, just as the ground crew backed the airstair away from the plane. Chocks were released and workmen retreated to safety. The L-749 began to slowly taxi in a wide turn for the runway, its brakes chirping and squealing as it taxied slowly for the access ramp. Maverick and Faust watched with curiosity. It taxied to the end of the runway, made a sharp turn and began takeoff almost immediately. The four engines put out a deep roar as propellers clawed the cool morning air. The lightly loaded "Vanguard" lifted off into the blue sky, initially westbound, but turning slowly, only to disappear behind the hangar. It began its eastbound course to Fairfax.

Maverick and Faust watched until the plane slipped away from view. They were left standing on the sun baked tarmac, as the morning commotion began. Not far away, a gaggle of workers followed a tug, which pulled out a glistening Super Constellation. It was one of Rob Barion's many aviation projects that went on at the airport that he co-owned. Following the first was a second Super Constellation that was still partially disassembled, with its outer wings removed, missing engines, and missing radome. The two were parked on the tarmac, shimmering in the morning sun. Feeling curious, Maverick and Faust walked over to where the commotion was.

Standing and observing everything was Mark Prince, and Rob Barion himself. Maverick was curious to meet Rob, as Mav talked about him a lot. The husky knew Mark, as they went to the same leather bar. Mark was a quiet, observant, but dominant forty year old black wolf, but he was curious about Rob; Mav described his best friend as "complex, the love child of Nixon and Goebbels". It was an amusingly morbid way to describe someone. The two stood with their backs to Maverick and Faust. Mark was taller than Rob, with a well built, muscular body. Rob was a wolf-malamute mix, and had the malamute's built body, but he looked really gaunt and sick.

"Hey guys!" Faust greeted, getting Mark and Rob's attention. The two turned around to reveal themselves wearing surgical masks.

"Morning!" Mark greeted.

"Morning~" Rob responded, his voice having a much drabber tone than Mark's.

"Well I think we gave ole Mav a good sendoff~" chuckled Maverick with a smile. "What an interesting operation you got here!"

"Heh, our very own corrosion corner." Mark teased. "We're getting 'Coneflower' here prepped for a test flight after the last one revealed some minor hydraulic and propeller issues."

"Oh that's an interesting name." Faust quipped.

"It's named for my mother." Rob spoke up. "She liked to garden and planted coneflower everywhere, so its named for her."

"I see." Faust nodded.

"The plane's all back together after it got shot up last year in an attack..." Rob shook his head. "Only one of two flyable L-1049E's left. My husband has the other one."

"Oh cool~ So this is like, your hobby?" Maverick asked.

"You could say~ It's one of many little things I do on the side."

"Master of the understatement as always, Rob~" chuckled Mark.

Rob gave his guests an impromptu tour of his L-1049E. He walked slowly and was clearly in discomfort as he flexed and moved about, pointing out features of the silver airframe. Maverick and Faust got a bit of a history lesson of the propliner; it was built in 1954 and had served with Trans Canada Airlines before being turned into a cargo plane, where it served various smaller and smaller cargo companies before winding up in Puerto Rico where an out of control DC-4 struck it in 1992, ending its flying career. Rob had salvaged the plane and grafted components from two other Connies to get it to fly again. It was his own personal transport, to serve Barev and would remain in natural metal. It had four massive radial engines, driving a set of flat-tipped Curtiss Electric propellers. The flat tipped blades were painted a dark gray for the first five feet, and the remaining length being bare metal polished to a mirrored finish. The tips were yellow. With engine one's cowl opened up, Rob pointed out the workings of the big turbocompound R-3350. He mentioned about it being his favorite radial engine.

Maverick listened with interest; Rob didn't seem to spit fire like he had heard. He was well articulated, but spoke with a gruff sounding voice at times. It sounded as though his vocal cords were damaged. In all, he got to know more about that airplane than his own wildest imagination could fathom.

"Want to see Newark up in the air?" Mark offered.

"You mean take us up in this?" Maverick asked. He had a bewildered smirk on his face.

"Sure~ It's airworthy, and we're just making sure things are all smooth, so come on along!" Mark stated happily.

Maverick looked at Faust, who looks interested. "Sure~" they both agreed. They were curious about the view.

---

Lifting off the runway, "Coneflower" roared into the sky doing a slow climb out. The shadow of the Connie was cast against farmland as the plane was flown by Mark and Rob's personal mechanic, Vlado Horvat. With Vlado's son Ivo as the flight engineer, and Rob deadheading in the radioman's seat, the four man crew piloted the Constellation on its test flight. Mark put the plane into a very slow ascending turn.

Strapped into the middle part of the fuselage, Faust and Maverick felt the vibrations from the four propellers clawing the air outside their windows. They rode with Mav's son, Robby, who Maverick was keeping an eye on for him. The cabin had a muffled, deep roar of the four radial engines, a pounding burble that slowly transformed into a steady rumble as the plane hit cruise power. It was an experience vastly different than his own trips flying on a Southwest 737. The interior of the Constellation was newly redone, and it had all the plush comforts of an executive transport plane. The entire interior was done in warm earth colors; tans, golds, and browns. Bulkheads separating the compartments were faux wood paneling in a walnut color. There was an office and private quarters in the tail, and a conference area with lounge chairs in the forward half of the plane. The middle section resembled more of an airliner, with rows of seating adorned in tan fabric.

"Well this is different!" Maverick exclaimed with a hesitant laugh. "Something new to write home to!"

"Yeah! It's a bit bumpy!" Faust noted. "Lots of vibrations."

"I'll show you vibrations." Grinned the husky teasingly.

"Oh, coach, tell me more." Chuckled Faust.

The two looked out their window as the scenery of Newark and Heath passed by. At two thousand feet, they had a unique view for miles around. From the air, Newark was a mixture; a few industrial landmarks, neighborhoods shaded by trees, and a downtown composed of old brick buildings and crisscrossing streets. "Coneflower" passed over the downtown and flew across the more dilapidated east end, which looked rough and run down, even from the air. The distinctive, abandoned, Longaberger basket passed by below, casting a long shadow to the rising sun. Maverick took a couple photos out of interest, as he and Faust watched from the port side windows.

"What a weird looking building." Chuckled Faust. "I'd like to work in a basket!"

"Heh, I did. It was called Slaterville..." grinned Maverick with a laugh. "Ha!" Faust had a laugh with him.

"Fucking basket cases indeed."

After two laps around Licking County, Rob emerged from the cockpit and slowly made his way to where Maverick, Faust, and Robby sat at.

"What do you think?" Rob asked them.

"Well it's different." Chuckled Maverick.

"Yeah, flying in a propliner is worlds apart from a jet." Rob nodded. "You feel more vibrations, it's a bit louder, but it's an experience few will ever experience."

"It's interesting though!" Faust smiled warmly.

"So you are Rob Barion in the flesh~" grinned Maverick. "I've heard a lot about you."

Rob turned his eyes to gaze at Maverick. They looked perpetually serious, somewhat dead-inside, like empty pools of wet emerald. "What you hear- some of its true, some of its bullshit, and some of it I rather leave to interpretation."

"Your friend speaks very fondly of you."

"Mav's a kind, gentle guy." Rob responded as he adjusted his surgical mask. "We go back a long time."

"I can tell~" Maverick smiled. "He puts up with all my stupid antics~"

"Heh~" Rob chuckled a bit. "I do worry about him...after Amy was killed in that car accident. He's never felt or experienced anything like that. And I feel bad because I haven't been in the best of health this year to help him."

"He's grieving, and I don't think he knows how to process it really...so it comes out in little bursts of sadness here and there, with interludes of mania." Faust reasoned.

"Me and Fausty here have been trying to help him out- since we're living with him currently while our apartment complex is being repaired."

"I see~" Rob nodded. "That's the kind of guy Mav is, willing to help anyone in a time of need. Time heals all wounds they say. Can't say that really has applied to me... but it's not about me in this topic."

Rob motioned for a seat, and sat next to Faust as they sat at the card table, with the window lined up with the table. "Quite a nice view eh?"

"Yeah, I've actually been really content watching the scenery. It's very green up here." Maverick chuckled. "I think maybe we should go out and explore our temporary hometown?"

"Heh, well don't expect much. Newark's a dump. Just another Appalachian town anymore." Rob rolled his eyes.

"Hey I'm from Mississippi, so backwater bullshit's my specialty..." Faust chuckled.

"What's all to do in Newark?" Maverick asked.

"Shopping. Fast food. That's about it. There's a couple shitty bars around the downtown where divorced, fifty-plus alcoholics congregate at...nothing to brag about. This town couldn't bring anything nice in to save its life because the entire city is run by idiots."

"But this is home to you?"

"Oh, absolutely. There's no place like home." Rob concluded.

"Coneflower" did another lap around Newark, then flew west to do a lap or two around greater Columbus, offering a unique viewing of the haze wrapped city. While in flight, Maverick, Faust, and Robby got to step into the cockpit and see the flight crew in action.

"So this is what you were telling me about!" Maverick laughed at Mark.

"Yeah! I told you I fly planes!" Mark chuckled with his deep voice.

"I didn't think this kind!" Maverick laughed.

"More than meets the eye~" grinned the black furred wolf.

Returning back to Newark-Heath, the L-1049E descended in with a slight nose-down droop, before flaring at the last second and touching down perfect on the runway. Engines ran in full reverse as the plane roared down the runway, bleeding off speed. It returned back to its hangar, turned, and backed up to be beside Rob's partially-dismantled "Quimper", an L-1049G. After the engines were finally shut down, an airstair was propped up to allow everyone to disembark. It was a successful test flight.

---

The shade gave respite from the brutal sun. The woodland of the Spring Valley nature preserve trapped the humidity like a blanket; it looked like a misty fog in places, illuminated by rays of light that leaked through the dark green canopy. The park was nestled into a small valley area just outside of Granville, where walking paths crisscrossed with creeks that flowed alongside. Maverick, Faust, and Robby spend the mid-morning exploring the reclusive park.

Robby walked ahead of Maverick and Faust. The tan and beige husky held on to one of his father's BVP-3 Betacam's, which bounced along on his shoulder. His backpack bounced along his back as he made his way down the trail. Maverick and Faust brought up the rear, the two admiring the woodland scenery. The husky climbed down a small hill and knelt to get a shot of one of the many flowing creeks that crisscrossed the valley. The gentle splash of water against rounded pebbles was picked up by the camera's big shotgun microphone. Maverick watched from a distance with his boyfriend, amused at the sight. He knew that young husky would follow in his adopted father's footsteps. Robby took a moment at the creek to capture some video, before climbing back up to continue on their hike.

"It's a music video I'm going to make for my Dad!" Robby exclaimed as they walked slowly on the trail. The heat felt stagnant in the woods.

"Oh he'll love it." Maverick smiled back. He dabbed at his face with a towel that rested around his neck. "Do you see yourself being a cameraman someday?"

"Maybe!" Robby responded. "It is fun~"

"Well if you land a job that's fine, it won't be a job- if you know what I'm saying." Chuckled Maverick. "I've worked 'a job' and then I found my calling in sports being a coach, and now I landed a great gig being in charge of athletics. Do what you love, and that'll help you go a long way."

"Now you teach kids how to grab and smack balls~" laughed Faust.

"Exactly!" Maverick grinned with a wag of a finger to emphasize. "It's what I do best!"

Robby just laughed at the exchange. "Plus I think having a Dad who runs a business dealing with cameras...it'd be easy."

"Well...it's not what you know, it's who you know... and that helps a lot too~" Maverick added with a smirk.

"And who you sleep with..." nudged Faust quietly with a grin. Maverick chuckled and put an arm around his lover.

"Wanna get some ice cream Robby?" Maverick asked curiously.

"Sure!"

"Know any good place around town?"

"I do!"

After hiking a mile back to Maverick's truck, the trio climbed back in and took off to grab some ice cream in Granville. Stopping at a Whit's Frozen Custard shop at the heart of downtown Granville, they sat under the shade of a tree, eating custard at a wrought iron fence. It was a somewhat bustling scene on the sidewalk, as people walked by, some of them wearing various masks due to the looming pandemic.

"Me and Dad always would spend a Saturday afternoon getting ice cream- before everything happened with Amy." Robby recalled as he slowly ate his cup of chocolate custard. "It was our tradition after his divorce and he recovered from his heart attack."

"Your Dad's going through a rough patch." Faust nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. Amy dying was really sad. I had to watch another mom get buried in the ground." Robby frowned. "I'm worried about Dad, because, well, that's all I got?"

Maverick nodded slowly. "Things will get back to normal in due time..."

"Heh, normal. With the way this year's going?" Faust rolled his hazel eyes.

"Yeah~" Maverick sarcastically quipped.

"It's...different." Robby admitted with a sarcastic little "heh" at the end. "I don't really want to go back to school, because of this virus..."

"I can't blame you there~" Maverick agreed. "It's gonna be interesting how they mitigate this... since they're not doing a very good job at mitigating things right now..."

As Faust said something to Robby, Maverick's ears perked up a bit at the sound of an engine revving up. It had an accelerating sound to it, like a vehicle barreling down the road. The husky turned around in his seat to investigate when he suddenly was staring at a teal colored Chrysler van ramping over the landscaped divider on East Broadway. It was coming straight for them, driven by a manic looking woman at the controls. He only had seconds to react.

Maverick grabbed Faust by the collar of his tanktop and yanked him out of his seat. He shoved the wrought iron table and grabbed Robby. He threw all of them to his right and threw himself atop, just as the renegade van plowed into their table and chairs with a terrible crash. Others leapt out of the way as the van smashed into the stone wall of the building. The whole front end practically exploded as the vehicle crushed to a halt. The husky shielded Robby with his body as bits of car parts landed around them.

"Oh my fucking god what happened!?" Faust shouted. Others ran over to see what was going on.

"Just stay here! Stay here!" Maverick yelled at Robby as he went over to investigate. His heart was pounding in his chest; he felt the adrenaline surge. "Is everyone okay?"

"Fine..." Robby quietly said.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Mav."

The husky walked up to the smoking van to find the passenger door opening up. Stumbling out was a badly injured woman. She was a gray wolf whose face was completely soaked red in blood from multiple facial injuries. She gasped and moaned a bit, but stared directly at Maverick. Her eyes were full of rage.

"You took my fucking kid away! You took my fucking job away!" she screamed. She grabbed her purse from her wrecked van and angrily threw it at the husky. "Fuck you Maverick Tokarev! Fuck you for ruining my fucking life you stupid fucking fuck!"

Maverick just blinked in confusion. "I'm not Maverick Tokarev..."

"BULLSHIT!" she screamed. She lunged at him, only to trip and fall onto the ground. The husky just stepped back as she tried to stagger to her feet. She yelled at him and cried, ultimately collapsing from her injuries. Maverick looked dumbfounded as Faust and Robby ran up to be with him. The husky put Robby behind him, to shield him. "Jesus Christ..." he muttered under his breath, just as the first cop came running up to investigate.

---

Watching "Vanguard" descend in, Maverick knew that his friend was in a rush. The old L-749 descended in with a noticeable nose-down droop, which it flared for touchdown in the last seconds of flight. Smoke puffed off the tires and all four radials were commanded for maximum reverse thrust. It very quickly slowed and turned off the first access ramp for the service road. Engines one and four were shut down, and the inboard engines were used to taxi for the remainder of the roll. Maverick, Faust, and Robby stood with the ground crew, who waited with the airstair. It taxied up, turned and parked, its inboard radials shutting down shortly afterward. The airstair was quickly pushed into place and Mav wasted no time in quickly making his way down the steps.

The Russian husky immediately hugged his son, asking him if he was alright. Maverick approached and could see in Mav's green eyes that he was frustrated, upset; there was more anger than just his son almost getting hit by a psychotic woman. Watching Marcus, Felix, and Charles descend, they too looked a bit miffed, their eyes weary and mentally exhausted.

"Well I can say I got my first news assignment..." Robby said in a sardonic way. He held up his Betacam cassette, which was labeled in its sleeve as "Granville Car Crash 8-8-20" in his handwriting on the label.

"Yeah, but I don't want you killed for that shot!" Mav responded. "Oh lord... I'm gonna have to call my attorney... on top of everything else!"

Mav was visibly upset as he walked by Maverick and Faust. He didn't greet them as usual. He grumbled under his breath and walked towards Maverick's black half-ton truck.

"I don't think his meeting in Virginia went well..." Robby said to Maverick.

Getting back into the truck, Maverick drove everyone back home. Once in the vehicle, Mav opened up about his day, and it was an effervescence of frustration coming out. His meeting with the NRC representatives uncovered serious operational deficiencies at Barev concerning Klystron testing. In fact, Mav had been brought to his attention that the entire testing procedure that accidentally killed Jerry Schultz with a burst of X-rays was against regulations for radiological safety. Because of that, and the "lack of safety culture perpetrated by management", legalese for an inexperienced, partially incompetent leadership team at the Fairfax plant, Barev got fined one million dollars by the feds. One million dollars, on top of a million dollar payout to the Schultz family, to avoid any further legal complications. It was a huge blow to a company already reeling from operating in the red due to Coronavirus. Maverick explained what happened and showed him a copy of the police report by the Granville PD. It turned Mav into a sulking, angry mess. He swore he would "sue the fuck out of that bitch, Jennifer Webb". But Maverick just brushed it off; he didn't want any legal troubles, and she was already charged with attempted murder and attempted manslaughter. Plus she was badly injured enough as it was from the crash. She was carried away on a stretcher. Mav just shook his head at the whole thing. He was so embarrassed.

Going back to his home on Karen Parkway, Mav hopped out and dragged himself over to the mailbox to find it filled with the usual post. He walked back to the door shuffling through, when he took note of a particular letter, stamped with the title of the "Southern Ohio Correctional Facility". It was addressed to him, from none other than Troy Woodfield. The husky stopped in his tracks and just stared at the letter. He felt his heart sink. He stood for a moment staring at it, pondering just what it would be about. He forced himself to just shuffle it away and continue on inside, out of the heat. "Oh what a terrible day..."

While Maverick and Faust worked on preparing dinner for everyone, Mav retreated to his basement to examine the tape his son had shot. He popped it into his Betacam VTR and rewound the tape, bracing for what he would see. He hit play and watched as the first image he saw was the van, completely destroyed, resting against the stone wall that made up the Mexican restaurant in Granville. Surrounding it was a sea of destruction. Robby cut to a shot of the knocked over table and chairs, with skid marks on the sidewalk. There were police officers mingling about, some taking photos. Another cut showed a badly injured Jennifer lying on the ground, being treated by paramedics. She was bleeding from numerous facial lacerations. He regretted that Robby zoomed in for a close up of her mangled face. It broke his heart that his son did that. Another cut showed the damage to the landscaping on Broadway's divider. All Mav could do was shake his head in disbelief.

A shaky interview shot cut next, showing Maverick standing for the camera, on a third. The wrecked car was in the background.

"Oh god Robby, you do such a great job at creating a news setting...but not this way!" Mav groaned to himself.

"I was sitting with my boyfriend Faust Freyjasson and Robby Tokarev here outside of Whit's Frozen Custard when I heard this car sound, like a vehicle accelerating, and it was getting louder. I turned and look over my shoulder at this van just coming right for us! I grab Faust and I throw myself on Robby to shield him and this van plowed right through and hit the wall. Car parts everywhere. Apparently this woman is my friend's ex-girlfriend, or something... she thought I was him...since we...well...look similar. She was yelling, and cussing, threw her purse at me, every name in the damn book. She thought I was Maverick Tokarev...and then she collapsed."

Robby also interviewed Faust, who didn't have much more to say. Mav finally just stopped the tape and rewound it, feeling disgusted enough. He began to stuff the tape back into its plastic sleeve, but stopped. He grabbed a marker and added to Robby's label; "MASTER/DO NOT USE". He tossed the tape on his basement desk and turned to look at the letter from Woodfield. He let out an annoyed sigh and grunted. "Time to get the fuck over it..."

He tore the envelope open to find a folded up piece of yellow paper from a junior legal pad. He unfolded it to find just the most beautiful cursive presented to him. It was rounded, neat handwriting that rarely deviated from the lines. It was written in black ink, by a ballpoint pen. Mav couldn't believe it; this was the man who killed his wife! He didn't look like a pathetic alcoholic at the end of his pathetic ropes, he didn't even write like one! It was such a detachment from his own expectations. He didn't even know what to say. So he just read.

"Dear Mr. Tokarev,

My name is Troy Woodfield, and I'm the man who

killed your wife. I made an incredibly stupid

decision that caused you, your family, and her

family, incredible pain. I want to express to you my

regret and sorrow over what I had done, and give

you my apologizes- even if it's too little, too late

now.

You probably know my background, not that it

matters- this is all my fault, and that is why I

pled guilty, to own it- my terrible, terrible

mistake. I'm terribly sorry that I caused you

such suffering and grief, and I wish I could

take that pain away.

Sincerely,

Troy"

Mav held onto the little yellow piece of paper and sat back in his chair, looking in complete disbelief. The Russian husky couldn't believe this was the person who killed Amy. He didn't look like a washed up loser, he had better penmanship, and could form coherent sentences that actually seemed genuinely remorseful? The husky let go of the letter; it fluttered to his desk.

He took a slow inhale and felt his chest tighten up from anxiety. The husky rubbed his chest and didn't know what else to say or think.

---

The morning sun rose slowly above the homes near Newark High School. Shadows were still cast long on the baseball diamond, as Maverick dropped his duffel bag near the stands. The husky adjusted his red baseball cap as he watched Faust roll a cooler behind him. Robby came bouncing along with his Dad's baseball bat. They arrived for a fun morning game of baseball, before the stagnant heat of the midday. Greyn followed, swinging his own metal bat from side to side flexing.

"Come on Dad!" Robby called.

Bringing up the rear was Mav, who seemed to practically drag himself along. After a bad night of sleep over the events the day before, the Russian husky looked tired. He didn't feel all that well. He couldn't quite pinpoint what was ailing him; he just felt tired, run down. He blamed it on stress.

"Nothing like a lil' baseball to get the mood a going!" Maverick chuckled as he tossed a baseball into the air and caught it with his mitt. "Who wants to go up first?"

"I do! I do!" Robby exclaimed.

"Alrighty lil' man~ Get your butt on home!"

Robby ran over to home base and took pose. Greyn, dressed as the catcher, kneeled, waiting as Robby practiced swinging his bat around. He was encouraged by his dad, who watched from the side. Maverick chuckled about throwing a fast ball, but wanted to go easy on the kid. He wound up and threw a rather gentle overhand, which Robby missed on his first swing. Maverick chuckled and caught the ball from Greyn, who called out "strike one!" The husky did another gentle throw and watched as Robby smacked it over his head, the ball flying out for Faust to catch.

"Nice kiddo~" Maverick complimented. He got the ball back from his boyfriend and offered him another chance. Robby took position again, and Maverick threw a faster ball, which Robby managed to hit. Mav smiled from a distance and cheered his son on.

"Is that all you got?" teased Robby.

"Oh you wanna see what I got?" grinned Maverick.

"Don't throw your shoulder out!" laughed Mav.

Maverick just flipped him off in response and laughed about it. He took aim and with a powerful windup, flung a fast overhand at the young husky. Robby watched that ball fly at him like a bullet; he swung, but hit it wrong. With a thunk, the ball bounced off wrong and smacked the ground. Maverick had a laugh about it.

"I hate it when that happens~" he chuckled. "But good eye coordination!"

"Thank you!" Robby smiled.

Everyone took turns on the diamond. Maverick pitched first for Mav, Greyn, and Faust, then Greyn followed on the pitcher's mound. Even Robby got to pitch, which amused Maverick watching him try and throw a fast ball accurately. There were plenty of laughs to go around as everyone traded positions.

Mav was soon on the pitcher's mound, while Maverick stepped aside to go grab a drink from the cooler. The heat was starting to build up as the sun climbed higher in the cyan sky. The Russian husky stared down Faust on home plate, as he took aim and threw a fast overhand. Faust smacked the ball out of the park as it went skyward. Robby chased after it down the field.

"Nice!" Greyn complimented.

"I know a thing or two about smacking balls." Grinned the brown wolf.

"Oh I know~" chuckled Greyn.

Mav had a chuckle about it. He raised his mitt and caught the ball from his son. He was turning around to face Greyn, when he felt his chest tighten up a bit. He winced and froze up as he closed his eyes to the growing tightness. He dropped the baseball and his mitt as he clutched his right arm. Something wasn't right.

"Guys...I think I'm having a..."

Mav didn't even get the words out. He simply just dropped. With a thud and a kick of dust, the Russian husky crumbled to the ground, in front of everyone.

"DAD!" screamed Robby. It got Maverick's attention. The buff husky turned around to see Mav lying on the ground, motionless. He took a couple slow steps forward and watched as Robby rushed towards his father. Dropping his drink, Maverick ran as fast as he could, with the others to tend to Maverick. The husky saw Robby shaking and nudging his father, to no avail.

"Lemme see him! Lemme see him!" Maverick called out. He rolled his friend over to find him glassy eyed, his eyes rolled into his head. He nudged Mav and rubbed his chest and checked to hear any breath sounds.

"He's not breathing! I don't got a pulse!" Maverick yelled. "Greyn! Grab the kiddo, I don't want him to see this, Faust! Get 9-1-1 on the line now!"

Kicking into survival mode, Maverick recalled what he was taught in emergency resuscitation. He didn't have any life saving drugs, no defibrillator. He knew it was very serious. He placed his paws on Mav's chest and began CPR. He spoke to the emergency dispatcher while he did CPR, stopping for Faust to do breathe for Mav by clamping his muzzle against his. He kept them on speakerphone while he did compressions, counting "one and two and three and four and five... breathe... breathe... breathe..." He repeated it multiple times while he waited for an ambulance.

"Come on buddy...don't die in front of your kid..." Maverick pleaded. "One and two and three and four and five... breathe... breathe... breathe..."

Each minute felt like a century as Maverick did CPR on Mav. He pleaded for him to come back; Mav's life lay in his paws as he manually compressed his heart. Robby stood sobbing while Greyn tried to comfort him, to reassure him while Maverick and Faust worked on him.

"Come on man, don't die..." Faust added as he changed places and did chest compressions himself. Maverick breathed for him, as they continued CPR. Very faintly, he could hear sirens in the distance. It gave him some hope as he watched Faust work his chest in a quick rhythm.

"You're doin' good Fausty...keep it up... good..." Maverick assured as he gave Maverick more air. He checked for a pulse but couldn't feel anything. "Still no pulse..."

"One and two and three and four and five... breathe...breathe...breathe..." Faust called out. "One and two and three and four and five... breathe...breathe... breathe..."

The ambulance pulled right up into the diamond. Three paramedics dressed in dark blue jumped out with their life support kit. They rushed up to Maverick and Faust.

"What do we got here?"

"He's had a prior heart attack... didn't feel well today apparently..." Maverick called out as he let the paramedics take over. They slapped the electrodes to his chest to find that he was in ventricular fibrillation; the electrical signal was disorganized in his heart. His heart was just quivering in his chest. It was a shockable rhythm.

"Okay everyone get back~" the husky paramedic called as he rubbed his paddles together and placed them on Mav's chest. "Gimme two-fifty."

"Everyone back up!" the German Shepherd announced.

"CLEAR!"

The husky paramedic sent an electrical pulse through Mav; his body convulsed a bit, and he briefly went into asystole, before his heart restarted. With just one shock, they brought the husky back into normal sinus rhythm. He had on the monitor, 120 beats per minute. Maverick breathed a sigh of relief.

Clamping an Ambu bag to Mav's muzzle, they lifted him up and placed him on a stretcher, where he was quickly loaded aboard and taken to Licking Memorial Hospital. Maverick grabbed Robby and the others and they rushed behind the ambulance. They had saved his life.

---

Stripped to his skibbies, Mav laid in a bed in the emergency room. In his room, the television played something off PBS that he wasn't really paying attention to. He laid with his head turned to the side, staring at the weird green color they chose from the ER rooms. He breathed cold oxygen through a clear plastic mask. The gentle beep, beep of his EKG reminded him that he was alive.

Mav didn't even know what hit him; one minute he wasn't feeling all that well, then a tightening sensation, and the next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance, being rushed across town. He had zero recollection of what had happened. Now he laid in a medical gown, having a suspected heart attack while he waited for the test results to come back. He felt so emotionally beat down. This was at the nadir all over again, just like in 2016. As he laid in his bed, he thought about a weird vision he had, something that only came in bits and pieces in his memory. He remembered being in a solid white room, and he saw Amy. He didn't remember what conversation he had, he only remembered her telling him "it's not your time". He then woke up.

The sliding door opened up and the curtain was pushed aside to reveal Karen Barion, who worked as a trauma nurse in the ER. Dressed in her usual blue scrubs, the husky-wolf looked briefly at his vitals and checked an IV baggie for its saline level.

"How are you feeling big Mav-O?"

"Alive~" he sardonically quipped.

"Heh, good." Karen nodded.

"When am I going to hear back the test results? Am I having a heart attack, Karen?"

"The cardiologist will be with you soon...but I can assure you, you're not having a heart attack."

"Then what the hell happened?"

"The cardiologist will explain." Smiled Karen. "I'll be back with something to drink in a bit~"

"Can it be vodka?"

"...No." glared Karen sarcastically. "If anyone needs vodka it's me!"

"Oh what's it to being a nurse?" teased Mav with a laugh, only to get a glare back from Karen.

"I am gonna take your temperature with a rectal thermometer with no lube!" she exclaimed.

"Man that's really violent...I feel sorry for Jake and- I'M KIDDING! I'M KIDDING!"

"I will sedate you and hook you up to a ventilator! Remember the last time!"

"Oh lord..." Mav rolled his eyes. He appreciated the laugh at least.

The room grew quiet again as Mav just laid in bed, pondering on what just happened. He somewhat breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't having a heart attack. The first one was bad enough. Finally after twenty minutes, the cardiologist appeared. He was a white furred Samoyed, looking all pompous with his puffed up coat of snow white fur. Dressed in a lab coat and wearing a surgical mask, he clutched a folder full of information for Mav as he closed the door behind him. His name was Doctor Banks.

"Good afternoon Mister Tokarev? How are you feeling?"

"Well, alive!"

"Good!" he smiled. "So I got your test results back, and I want to talk to you about this."

"Okay~"

He pulled up a seat close to Mav's bed and sat his folder down on the small rolling table. "So we did a few scans and some blood work- you're not having a heart attack, and your heart looks otherwise good... But I can't help but ask...have you been facing a lot of stress lately?"

"Yeah..." Mav admitted. "I had a really bad yesterday... and I guess I'm still grieving over the death of my wife."

Dr. Banks nodded as he wrote a note on his legal pad. "I see." He continued to write a bit more, before setting his pen down. "From what you're telling me...it makes sense in my conclusion. Mister Tokarev, you are suffering from a case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy... aka... Broken Heart Syndrome." He held up chest scans of Mav's heart. "You see your left ventricle here? That is ballooned out significantly, which is abnormal for a heart. This caused a disruption of blood flow and destabilized your heart significantly enough that it stopped beating. Now there's nothing more that needs to be done, other than rest, and de-stressing."

"It's hard." Mav admitted. "Yesterday, the company I run got slapped a million dollar fine by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over an accident at a factory that killed someone, we paid a million dollars to their family, and this is money we don't have. The business is in the red because of the pandemic. On top of worrying about the pandemic, and grieving over my wife's death... the person who accidentally killed her sent me a letter...and I have no idea what to do. It's such a heavy burden I must hold."

The doctor nodded. "I think you need to see a counselor, because that is a lot of burden to process."

"I know."

"I'm going to recommend you stay here a few more hours, just to make sure things are stable, before we process to release you."

"Okay~"

---

Due to pandemic restrictions at the hospital, Mav was only allowed close family for visitation in the ER. Stepping into his room were his parents, Alexei and Tatiana, and his three older brothers, Kalash, Vlad, and Dmitry. All were dressed in protective gowns and surgical masks. They looked almost like facility members of the hospital.

"Son? How are you doing?" Alexei asked.

"Oh my god, my poor son!" Tatiana cried out. "What happened?"

"Well apparently the stress made my ticker stop ticking..." Mav admitted. "I didn't have a heart attack..."

"Thank god..." Tatiana breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's been a bad year." Mav admitted.

"Yeah, I agree..." Vlad nodded. "So much going on."

"Are they gonna release you tonight?" Alexei asked him.

"I guess? I think they want a few more tests, then I can go."

Alexei nodded in understanding.

Mav covered his face in embarrassment. "I can't believe this happened...Jesus Christ... I almost died!"

"Your friend Maverick saved your life." Alexei added.

"I can't believe this all happened..." Mav muttered. "I almost died! I was legally dead for like five minutes!"

"Well it's not the first time!" laughed Dmitry.

"Hey laugh it up pancake batter for blood over here..." Mav glared. "If anyone's gonna have a heart attack it's your dumbass!"

"You callin' me fat, Maverick?"

"I ain't callin' ya slim there chubbles!" Mav fired back. "This whole year's been an absolute shitshow! From day one! I was placed in charge of a business that has nosedived under my command! Then we're faced with a pandemic that could be somewhat mitigated but we're not because of a bunch of fucking political gobbledygook and people's selfishness, and it's why we have over three million cases and what now? Hundred and fifty thousand deaths!? Then Amy had to die, and the guy who killed her wrote a letter to me, and what I am going to say?"

"They...wrote a letter to you?" Kalash asked.

"Yeah! Troy Woodfield wrote me a letter from prison apologizing- what am I going to say? Oh its fine, you just killed the woman of my life? What the flying fuck am I going to say to him? Now look at me! I hate being poked and prodded by doctors, I hate being poked and prodded in general! Now here I am and-"

Mav suddenly jumped to the feeling of being poked in the arm by Dmitry, who grinned at his stupid antic. The big husky about fell out of his bed as a few alarms went off by sudden movement and uptick in heartbeat. "DMITRY!!!!!" he screamed.

"Boy, your brother about dies in a hospital from a heart attack and you're trying to give him another...stupid fuck." Kalash rolled his eyes.

"Call me a stupid fuck again!" Dmitry yelled.

"What the fuck do you think you are? A genius?"

"Considering I do graphic design for Barev!"

"You make stupid phallus shapes out of everything..." Vlad shook his head.

"They're dick shapes!"

"Oh my god...Jesus Christ!" Kalash exclaimed. "Lord help us all."

"You know for such a little guy, you got a big mouth!" Dmitry fired off at Kalash.

"Oh yeah? You're about as wide as you are tall!" Kalash snapped back.

"You're so short you can use your dick as a tripod!" Dmitry scoffed.

"At least I can see my dick, motherfucker!"

"Boys....not in a hospital..." Tatiana scolded.

"Unbelievable..." Mav sighed. His brothers all went from ripping into each other, back to looking sympathetic to their youngest brother, who looked all melancholy in his hospital bed.

Finally after several hours, Mav signed the release papers, and was discharged from Licking Memorial. He was reunited with his son, who had stayed in the lobby with Maverick and Faust. Due to safety precautions, he was unable to see him while in the ER. With strict orders to rest for a few days, Mav left the hospital at dusk, the sun setting beyond the horizon. He climbed into Maverick's truck and the husky drove him home. Mav didn't say anything the entire time. He stepped back inside his home and retreated away from each other, to escape to his basement, to be alone.

---

For most of the evening, Mav spent his time alone in his basement, talking to Rob on his old Bell telephone that adorned his editing desk. He leaned back in his seat with his feet kicked up, fingers twirling and messing with the line cord while he propped the beige handset up against his head with his shoulder. He sounded and tired and mentally burned out while he talked to Rob, to reassure his friend that he was okay. Both took the time to air their frustrations over their lives, in the midst of a pandemic, and all the bad luck. It was a long period of introspection, and reassurance between them.

"I can't believe that I about died... wow..." Mav concluded. "Maverick saved my life."

"That's the thing about life...it's so fragile. We're so fragile, yet strong at the same time." Rob acknowledged.

"It just reignites my fear about what's gonna happen to my son? Should anything happen to me, you know? I don't want him to be alone."

"He won't be alone."

"I don't want Robby to have to attend another funeral...he's seen too many in his life. He's lost too many people who loved him. I don't want him to have that trauma."

"I know you don't, but that's the thing... nobody knows when we're gonna die..." Rob reasoned with him. "It's just something we have to acknowledge- that each day is a blessing for us, because we made it the previous day. You can't think about these things- it'll drive you nuts, Mav-O."

The husky let out a slow sigh. "Yeah."

"You didn't have a heart attack...so be thankful for that. You had a scare, and they did the tests and said your heart is okay. But you have to get over Amy's death... or it will consume you. Or worse..."

"I keep saying one day at a time... but it's just not happening."

"You have to think deep inside...is this what Amy would want out of you?"

"No."

"She's not in pain anymore, Maverick. What's done is done, and you can't bring her back. And in regards to that letter? If what he wrote is genuine...then it sounds like he is truly remorseful. Repentant. You need to talk to him, don't let your trauma consume you like what happened to me."

"Alrighty...I think I'll let it sit overnight and see how I feel tomorrow~"

"Alright, Maverick. You have a good night." Rob concluded.

"Thanks buddy~ Have a good night Rob. Bye~"

"Bye."

Mav reached over and sat the handset back on the receiver. He sat up and stared off in space for a bit. He got up, switched the light off and went back upstairs, to get ready for bed. Before going to his room, he stopped to check in on his son, who was in his bedroom. He found Robby sitting and playing videogames on his bed.

"Hey Robby~" Mav greeted.

"Hey Dad." Robby replied. He immediately paused his game and sat up.

"Everything okay?"

"Is everything okay with you, Dad?"

"I know, we both had quite a scare... not so much with me...but you can't be scared when you're dead... weird..."

Robby had a look of thought on his young face. "I thought you were going to die today, and I don't know what I'd do if you died. I don't have anyone but you."

Mav frowned as he nodded slowly. "I know, Robby. It was my own worst case scenario happening... I got too stressed out and apparently it affected my heart enough to cause it to stop. When I thought more about it...the more the walls felt like they were closing in on me."

"You were dead on the ground...and Maverick and Faust did CPR on you..." Robby teared up. Sad tears welled up and dripped from his face, which Mav wiped away. He pulled his son into a hug.

"It's gonna be okay Robby. It's gonna be okay." He reassured as he squeezed his adopted son tightly.

"I thought I was going to go to another funeral..." Robby sniffled as he wiped his tears away.

"Not this time... not with me." Mav assured.

After calming Robby down, he stepped out and returned to his room, to find Maverick making out with his boyfriend.

"On come on! Not on my bed!" Mav protested jokingly.

Maverick looked up at him. "Oh my god..." A smile crept up on his face.

"It always starts off like that! Then next thing you know, yer fuckin'! On my bed!"

"You about died today and us having some sexy fun is your biggest concern?" Faust quipped with a smirk.

"Yeah, don't remind me..." Mav grumbled, growing serious rather quickly. "God damnit! I can't believe this happened! I'm like, upset at myself, embarrassed, afraid...I feel like...well...I don't know what I feel like? You know truth isn't truth you guys!"

Maverick got up and fixed the bulge in his underwear.

"Is that a banana in your drawers or are you just happy to see me?"

"Heh~ Always happy to see ya~" grinned Maverick.

"I just...don't know what to make of what happened...and the more I think about it... Well...the more I realize how... I just..."

Mav's words trailed off; he started to choke up as tears welled up in his eyes. He tried to stifle his emotional outburst but failed as he broke down into tears at the realization of how close he came to dying. Maverick looked sympathetic, and walked up and put his burly arms around the husky. He held him close and patted the back of his head gently, trying to calm him down as he vented out his raw emotion.

"It's okay buddy~ I understand." Maverick softly spoke. He took Mav over to his bed and laid him down. He laid right beside him with Faust, and gently petted and stroked him, to calm him down. "Let it all out... everything's gonna be okay."

After a few minutes, Mav calmed down from his emotional meltdown. The sobbing dried up, and bloodshot eyes no longer streamed tears. He felt calm in Maverick's tight embrace around him. The tightness felt reassuring. Slowly, Mav regained his composure, and a look of embarrassment graced his face; embarrassed that he had such a pathetic meltdown, and embarrassed for being embraced up against another guy. He sat up and felt Maverick hold him close, with his arms wrapped around him.

"It's been a very bad year for you." Maverick nodded.

"Yeah." Mav acknowledged, sounding exasperated.

"They say its darkest before dawn...and maybe that's what 2020 has in store for us?" the husky reasoned. "We watched the 2010's go from okay to terrible...perhaps this decade is starting off really, really bad, and then will get better?"

"...or just a cumulation of a number of simmering issues kicked down the road until now?"

"Okay...that too~"

Maverick couldn't help but chuckle. "Anywho. You're hurting on the inside, Mav. You are grieving, you're stressed from your business, the pandemic. You are being crushed on all sides, and then the letter from Troy Woodfield was the straw that just finally broke the camel's back. And you can do two things with it... you can dwell on it, you can hate that man for what he did? And you can give yourself another heart attack. You dodged a speeding bullet today. Or! You can take that letter, and springboard towards a new path to closure. Because I think if he wrote a letter to you, then I think he truly means it. I think that man's repentant to his crime, and knows what he did, and wants to reach out. He's hurting just as bad as you are. He took a life on accident, you lost a precious life you cared for. Take it for what it is...and build on it! What do you have to lose?"

"Do you really think talking to him would help?"

"Only if you go into it with no hate in your heart."

"Oh, I couldn't do that. I'm not Rob." Mav shook his head. "I let hate dictate me after my divorce, and when I look back on it, it scares me. It's why I worry about Rob- he lets that hate drive his anger and resolve."

Maverick nodded. "Then you know what you must do."

"Okay~"

---

Two Weeks Later

The stagnant heat of late August radiated off the sun bleached pavement of Route 23. Heading south, through the hills of southern Ohio, Maverick cruised in his black Silverado with Mav, enroute to Lucasville. It was Mav's day to finally meet Troy Woodfield at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, aka, Lucasville. The radio played some tunes, drowning out the monotonous, muffled whirr of the tires on the tired and worn pavement. Mav didn't say much; he sat and watched the scenery of green hills and small towns that passed by outside his window. He looked introspective as he sat, rubbing his goatee slowly and thinking about all the "what-if's". He had spent two weeks debating and thinking about what he was going to say.

Maverick glanced over at his phone, which was suction cupped to the dashboard. "We're about fifteen minutes out, Mav."

"Okay~"

He briefly glanced at his friend. "You okay, Mav-O?"

"Yeah...just thinking."

"Remember what I told you."

"Calm."

"Exactly~" Maverick nodded. "Go into it with an open mind, and no hate in your heart. Listen to what he has to say, but also let him know how you feel too."

"Gotcha."

"You got this~" the husky smiled warmly. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"Okay~ Yeah, everything will be alright." Mav nodded. He took a deep breath to clear his mind.

Lucasville was a big prison, situated near some hills in the distance. It was an ominous facility of dark red, brick buildings, with gray metal roofs, and an endless sea of barbed wire and electric fences. Guard towers stood taller than the buildings themselves, with guards ever observant. It reminded Mav of images of East Germany's fortified border. Maverick pulled up to the gate and was met by a guard. He showed a printed pass that they had got from their arranged meeting. He was waved through and they came to a parking lot, completely surrounded by shiny barbed wire. Mav gulped a bit. He had never to a prison before.

Getting out, Maverick handed him a surgical mask. It was part of the Covid-19 precautions. Maverick effortlessly put his on, but Mav, as usual, comically just couldn't get it to fit over his face. The Russian husky got the bands all tangled up and the mask crooked and twisted on his face, which made the other husky laugh.

"Here~" he chuckled as he fixed it and got it to fit on Mav's face.

"I fat fingered it~"

"I know all about that! I can make Faust moan with two." Grinned Maverick.

"Wow!" Mav exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Maverick laughed with a pat on Mav's back. "Let's go."

Signing in at the lobby, Mav met with a warden, who took him to the meeting area. Maverick waved and took a seat in the lobby, where he reached over to grab a copy of Sports Illustrated to read. The Russian husky looked a bit tense and nervous as he was led down a long hallway. Everything had an ominous look to it; the floor, walls, and ceiling were all white, a sterile color made even more sterile by the bright daylight colored lamps that glowed above them. It led to a small, square room, where one wall was composed of an inch thick piece of bullet resistant lexan. It had a sort of desk attached to it and a chair. A telephone was mounted on the desk; it looked like a modified, old fashioned, Bell telephone. The warden pushed by Mav, grabbed a can of Lysol from a cabinet, and sprayed the phone and desk for him. Mav nodded in appreciation.

"Please have a seat, Mister Woodfield will be with you shortly." The warden said before leaving, the door closing behind him. Mav took a seat and saw that they even gave him a pen and a junior legal pad. Both were stamped with the prison's name on it. The husky felt uneasy; he had butterflies in his stomach. Each tick tock of the clock on the wall only added to his anxiety. He closed his eyes and breathed slowly, to maintain his composure. He wanted to rest his heart as best he could.

Green eyes opened when he faintly heard a door open. There was a shuffling sound, and Mav watched as Troy Woodfield, escorted by two wardens, appeared. Mav sat up in his seat, his face growing serious as Woodfield accepted getting his handcuffs removed. He was a middle-aged gray wolf, having salt and pepper gray and white fur, and dark blue eyes. Tousled brown hair had streaks of gray in it. He wore an orange jumpsuit that had his prisoner ID stamped on it. His face was reserved; he looked uncertain, just like Mav. Woodfield slowly took a seat, his eyes meeting Mav for the first time. His face had the acknowledgement that he was looking at someone his actions directly hurt. A remorseful gaze replaced the uncertainty. They sat and looked at each other for what felt like forever. Both sides were unsure of who to make the first move.

Taking a very slow inhale, then exhale, Mav reached over and picked up the telephone. Woodfield did the same. Yet, they didn't immediately speak to each other. Mav had to force himself to start the conversation.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. Thank you. I hope things are well on your end."

"I'm managing, but I'm okay." Mav nodded.

"May I call you Mister Tokarev? I don't know your first name, or-"

"You can just call me Maverick, err, or Mav~ I don't mind. I don't like formalities anyways." The husky explained. "Can I call you Troy?"

"Sure~ Thanks, Mav." Troy nodded. "I'm appreciative that you responded to my letter, and that you came here today."

"I had to. I'm still on the road to finding peace over what happened. Why couldn't you have taken an Uber or a taxi instead of driving your truck drunk?"

"I was fucking stupid, and didn't think about it one bit."

"You've had several prior OVI's, and you didn't learn from those?"

"I thought I had my shit under control...and I didn't. And I was wrong."

Mav nodded slowly.

"If I could go back in time...I would... but I can't."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty, they say~"

"Heh, there's a lot of things I would fix. But I won't share because this isn't about me."

"Please do~ Because I'm not upset at you, Troy. Because I can't bring myself."

"I have a serious drinking problem. I've had for a long time. I have tried to get sober. And then I fall to temptation."

"It happens. Addiction is hard."

"I started drinkin' when I was nineteen, after a breakup... got cleaned up, then I got divorced...drank again...remarried...my son died...divorced again...drank again...and it goes right back to where I started from. But it's not about me. No...it's about your wife, because I killed her."

"You didn't do it on purpose. You did it out of stupid recklessness-"

"That's why I plead guilty." Troy blurted out. "I own my shit. And I royally fucked up killing her. Against my own lawyer...I plead guilty...it was the right thing to do, Mav. It was the only thing I could do to make it right. I'm so sorry...and even saying that...it feels so empty- 'cause I can't bring her back."

"Amy was driving to work. She was going to cover a shift at Bloomfield's in Zanesville."

"The restaurant?"

"Yeah. She worked at the one in Coshocton."

"Oh my god..." Troy groaned in despair. "I can't believe it."

"Sadly..."

"Please tell me about your wife. I want to know, if you're fine with it."

"I'm okay- Her name was Amy Golagonoff, or that's what all of us called her. Her real name was Xenia, and she was born in Bulgaria. Her family came to the US in 1990, and she grew up in Newark. She was my high school sweetheart, and we were together for about thirteen years when we divorced. But we got back together, and were just starting our relationship again, when...the accident happened."

"Lord..."

"I wish she died on impact, honestly. Because I watched her suffer in the ICU for a week. She lost both her legs, and was paralyzed."Mav explained. He watched Troy wipe some tears away. Mav held his emotions back. "She'd tell me, 'oh Mavvy, I'm in so much pain...please help me take the pain away', and I'd tell her I couldn't...and it killed me on the inside. We got married in a hurry, the day before her surgery...where she died. And...I made the decision to donate her organs, where she saved several people."

"Bless her heart..." Troy muttered.

"She was such a bright and cheerful person. And her whole life got cut down. But I can breathe easy knowing she's not suffering anymore.

"I'm such a god damn idiot...I can't believe..." Troy muttered as he started to cry. Mav held back and let Troy regain his composure.

"I'm not here to berate you, or attack you...I'm here to find healing." Mav reassured. "And I think you need to find healing too from your pain."

"I'm at rock bottom...I've lost everything."

"I know that feeling. That's why I'm here to talk."

For the next two hours, Mav and Troy spoke one on one, separated by the lexan. They were calm, and cordial, even over the touchy, painful subjects. In their conversations, they found a mutual understanding of each other, and the pain started to subside. Mav felt the burden lift off his shoulders- as if twenty thousand pounds came off him slowly. Troy talked about being in an alcoholic recovery program at the prison, and how he wanted to clean himself up for good for when he gets released in the future. They talked about their futures and where they saw themselves, and ultimately, they forgave each other. By the time Mav put the phone down, they smiled at each other, as the wardens awaited the two of them. They planned to meet again in the future.

In the lobby, Maverick sat with his arms crossed, asleep. He was the only person in the lobby. The sound of the metal door opening woke him up, as he saw Mav emerge, looking a lot better. The husky got up from his seat and stretched, as Mav approached him.

"How ya doin' buddy?"

"A thousand times better." Mav smiled.

"Good~" smiled Maverick. "See? What did I tell you?"

"You were right."

"Come on pal, let's get you home."

Hopping back on Route 23, Maverick and Mav began the hour and a half drive back to Newark in his truck. Mav was more lively as they made their way back.

"Sorry that took so long."

"No, it's fine." Maverick assured. "You need time to vent."

"It was...intense at times emotionally."

"Mhmm."

"But it was good. And I think I did the right thing by forgiving him." Mav nodded.

"I think you did the right thing as well. You could dwell on it for years, and watch that hatred just warp your whole set of thinking...or you could just let it be and move on from it. And you did the right thing, Mav-O."

"Yeah, I agree. That's at least what the little voice inside my head tells me!"

"I'm a little scared to think what your little voice is like~" grinned Maverick.

"Think Gilbert Gottfried~ 'HOLY FUCK!'" Mav exclaimed in his mock Gottfried voice.

"We're just gonna leave it right there." Laughed a grinning Maverick, as he continued on for home.

---

Returning to the Arena District, Maverick went to go see his apartment again. Under a bright morning sun, the sound of construction work echoed off the neighboring buildings as the complex was now well under repair following its fire. Some residents were allowed to begin returning in the undamaged portion, and soon Maverick, Faust, and Greyn could go back home.

Opening the door, Maverick stepped inside with his cohorts and followed by Mav. His apartment was a sea of things wrapped in plastic and tarps, from the smoke damage mitigation. It no longer smelled like acrid, burning electronics. Maverick walked around with his boyfriend, mumbling here and there about his furniture. His insurance agent wrote off all his furniture, as the cleaners could not get the smell of smoke out.

"We'll have to get a new couch, love seat, recliner..." Maverick pointed out.

"How bad's the smoke smell?" Mav asked as he knelt down to smell the couch. "Eww! This couch smells like shit!"

"Yeah, 'cause I just ripped ass on it." Laughed Faust with a grin.

Mav turned his head and looked at him dumbfounded. He responded with a plain "Ah".

"Oh well...gives me an excuse to get new furniture." Chuckled Maverick as he emerged from his bedroom. "Insurance payout!"

"Silly poor people! Money's for rich people!" Mav joked with a silly tone.

Faust covered his head with his paw and shook it as he chuckled. "Some days, Mav, I just don't know what to say."

"Perhaps it's for the better..." chuckled the husky.

"Let's hit the furniture store, guys~" Maverick suggested.

"Sure!" Mav responded.

Everyone soon piled into Mav's blue one-ton, and they drove across Columbus to the west side to go hit up a couple furniture stores. They spent a few hours just glancing over at what options they had. There were plenty of jokes to be made as Mav finally felt better. His head didn't feel cluttered with thoughts, and the occasional stab of depression. He felt genuinely better after his meeting with Woodfield, a few days prior.

After Maverick had ordered all his new furniture, the gaggle went to go for a hike at Big Walnut park, and play a few rounds of baseball together. Mav wanted to enjoy the last couple days with his friend, before they returned home, before Maverick went back to work, where he'd be occupied for some time. In the stagnant heat of late August, he was jubilant. Life was getting back on track for him.

---

The last box was placed in the bed of Maverick's truck, and the tailgate slammed shut. Mav reached over and made sure all the boxes were snug together, for the ride back home to Columbus. His driveway was packed with Maverick, and Faust's pickup trucks, both of which had their beds packed with their boxed belongings. It all sat in the shadow of his house; it was evening time, and the sky was ablaze with color, for the fifth of September. It was time for his guests to go home.

Well that's everything." Mav concluded as he smacked his paws together to brush off the dust. He saw his friend tightening down a strap on Faust's pickup truck.

"Yep. I got everything, and it's all good to go!" Maverick smiled as he patted the side of Faust's older Silverado.

"It's always hard to say goodbye." Mav chuckled, with a bit of a melancholy tone hidden in his voice.

"It's been a lot of fun. You're a lot of fun." Maverick smiled as they stood together on the driveway. "I can't thank you enough for your kindness."

"That's what friends do." Mav nodded. "I believe it's always safe to do what's right."

"That's right~"

"I appreciate you for helping me grieve... I feel a lot better." Mav admitted. "And thank you again for saving my life on the baseball field."

"Not a problem." Chuckled a smiling Maverick.

"Like I said...it's always hard to say goodbye..."

"We'll hang out again...I just have to take a rain check for a while because of job duties at OSU."

"Well until the second wave of coronavirus hits..."

"God help us all..." laughed Maverick with a shake of his head. "But we'll definitely hang out again! I promise you that. And we'll keep in touch on Telegram, and Facebook."

"Yay giving up our personal data for corporate profit! 'MERICA!" Mav exclaimed.

"The only way and best way~" grinned Maverick teasingly.

"Exactly!" Mav laughed. "It's been quite a year..."

"Preachin' to the choir, Mavvy."

"I know~"

Emerging through the back door was Robby, who made his way over to Mav and Maverick.

"Hey Maverick, hope you have a safe trip home!" Robby smiled.

Maverick chuckled and put an arm around the young husky and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Thank you so much buddy! It was a pleasure meeting you! And you take good care of your dad okay?"

"Okay!" Robby smiled back.

"Heh, heh, good~" smiled Maverick.

Faust and Greyn gave Mav a tight hug goodbye. It was a genuine love amongst friends as they said their goodbyes. Faust and Greyn departed first, as Maverick gave Mav a final hug. It was a tight bear hug as they embraced each other, with a friendly back pat and rub that lasted for a few seconds.

"I'll see you next time around, Maverick~"

"Same to ya, Maverick~"

Maverick walked back to his truck, opened the door and smiled at him for one final time. He climbed in and slammed his door shut as Mav and Robby watched from the driveway. He started the engine up and sat for just a moment, before slowly pulling out of the driveway for Leslie Drive. Mav and Robby walked to the end of the driveway to watch.

"Well...it's just us again, Dad."

"Yep." Nodded Maverick. "Just the two of us for the long haul ahead."

"I wouldn't have it anyway else~" smiled Robby.

"Same here." Maverick smiled as he put an arm around his son.

Maverick and Robby watched as Maverick Kennedy continued on down the street, to make the left turn at Meadow Drive. His black truck glistened amber from the setting sun as he finally slipped from view. With his arm around his son, Maverick and Robby stood gazing at the amber sky, reflecting on everything that had happened. The Russian husky felt calm, and knew things would be okay; the year was a hectic mess, a raging pandemic, a business teetering on the brink, and still, some lingering wounds that needed healed over Amy's passing, but he felt optimistic. He knew he could rely on his family and friends for support. He had his new friends in Columbus. Maverick knew everything would be okay in the end.

---

In Memoriam: E. Masters (1989-2020)

A special thanks to Windcatcher and RrowdyBeast.