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"They don't have a great home life, and nobody really cares about them," David said around a mouthful of sub sandwich. "And so they don't really care about themselves. I met them at a party, and they were..." David's ears fell backward, and his eyes darted up to Arden.

After an awkward pause, Arden looked pointedly at his friend. "Look, I don't care about all that. It's not my business, y'know? That's not what I'm concerned about."

David put down his sandwich and waited for the wolf to continue.

"What concerns me is that nobody told me what was going on. I think it's kinda important to know if somebody on the crew is likely to go into a diabetic coma, out in the blazing sun. Especially if they're not likely to keep a good watch on it themselves -"

David opened his muzzle to interrupt, and Arden continued, slightly louder.

"And you are too busy to be their surrogate dad, or whatever you are to each other." Arden's ears splayed as soon as the words left his muzzle.

"You're right. I'm sorry," David said quietly after a moment. "They're really self-conscious about the diabetic thing. They won't even give themselves insulin in front of me, and I've seen them na -"

"Again, not the point." Arden said quickly. "Look David, I said I would help you in any way you needed. I just want you to know that that includes something like this, y'know? It scared me. And by the way, Chester did his insulin in front of me, so I think it's OK that you told me all of this. Side by side in the trenches, right?"

David smiled shyly. "I guess so. Really. Thanks Arden."

"Well, if you're through making goo-goo eyes at each other, there's lights to program." Tim. Of course.

"Ugh," the fennec said under his breath as he grabbed the sandwich and made his way to the middle of the dance floor. "Can you get me a chair?"

Arden had never felt so uncomfortable in his own fur in all his life.

The event was an amazing success. Over $500,000 raised, 3000 furs entertained and fed. Arden not only did his voiceover for the start of the disco, which included a rousing light show set to "Relax," by Fangzy Goes to Howlywood, he got to hear his voice over the entire backlot sound system as he called for everyone's final bids at the silent auction. All in all, it was a glorious night.

"So, um, in a couple of weeks, we're gonna be doing Fourth of July. We're doing Backyard Fangtasmic. If you don't have any plans, you wanna come play with us?" David, looking more tired than usual, asked.

"I don't even know what any of that means, and yes, I'd love to!" Arden chuckled.

David smiled, and they turned their attention back to the various goings-on as the party began to break up, the backlot emptied out, and the volunteers began striking the set.

Strange how long it takes to build things up, and how quickly they come down, Arden thought. To the casual observer, everything happens as if by magic. Presto! Only those doing the work know what it really takes and how hard change really is.

As it turned out, Backyard Fangtasmic was David's recreation of the popular spectacular at Grisleyland - the very one he helped to build, and which Arden had seen when they had visited several months prior. The twins, who worked part-time at the park, smuggled out a costume, the villainous skunk sorceress, Malodorous. Standing on the top of the pool house, one of the pair, hidden beneath the huge suit, pantomimed in time with the narration and music, which Arden's keen ears realized was the actual soundtrack, with a couple of custom modifications by the original narrator - doubtless another thing smuggled out of the park by the ferret brothers.

"And legend tells of a tiny sprite..."

In sync with the narration, David trained a powerful flashlight beam on a small Clarabell doll, the tiny, winged, bovine fairy who flew over the moon in the famous cartoon. She was attached to a wire stretching across the yard from the pool house roof, where the other twin had launched it, after having lit a firecracker pushed unceremoniously in its south end.

"...who would fly every night, and light up the sky - what? Oh no!"

Halfway through the doll's "flight" down the wire, the firecracker exploded, completely shredding poor Clarabell in the process, her flaming remains falling to a watery grave in the pool below.

The soundtrack erupted with the screaming of anguished crowds.

The entire crowd assembled erupted in hoots and hollers. David and Tim scurried around the darkened backyard, lighting firework after firework, as the anthemic music continued on those giant speakers Arden had first seen so long ago. How different he felt now than then, looking around at his friends, feeling connected, feeling at home. For the first time, Arden thought he might have found a place to belong, somewhere that he would be accepted. It could even be a place where he might be able to be...himself.

John Lemming once said, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

Arden would come to know that phrase very, very well.