Love's Battlefield - Volume 13
Love's Battlefield - Volume Thirteen: Philosophy and Bread
By Joseph Raszagal
Barely aware of the elapsing minutes or the rapidly passing city blocks, Forrest and Danni strode down the sidewalk in stunned silence. They'd done it. They'd taken their lives back into their own paws and they'd done it together, side by side. They wanted to cheer, they wanted to jump up and down with joy, they wanted to let the world know that they'd come through victorious, but the awed feeling of regaining their freedom left them completely speechless, among other things.
"I'm not sure when it's going to happen, but any minute now I'm going to jump out of my skin and start doing backflips and/or touchdown celebrations." Muttered Forrest, still caught in the grips of his victorious daze. "So... uh... you might want to stand back or something."
Nodding, Danni monosyllabically returns, "Right."
Somewhere along the line both boys finally snapped out of their trance-like reverie and, upon closer inspection of their surroundings, found that they were loitering right out in front of a small bakery somewhere in the downtown district. Judging by the stares that they were receiving from the random passerby and the complete lack of light in the sky, they'd been standing there for a good while.
"Jingle, jingle!" Rang the bell attached to the storefront's main door.
Startled, Forrest and Danni span around on the tips of their toes and locked eyes with a familiar but unexpected face. There, with his paws on his hips, wearing a large white apron and one of the friendliest smiles within miles, stood Jay Larraby. The snowshoe hare tilted his head curiously, the words 'What in the world are you two doing out this late?' clearly on the tip of his tongue.
Instead it was Forrest who spoke up first.
"Uh, hi, Jay, I... didn't know that you were a baker."
"Been practicing that ice-breaker all day?" Questioned the grinning rabbit.
Blushing, the silvery lycanthrope brushes a paw through his hair and embarrassedly chuckles, "Sorry, you just kind of caught us in the middle of a space-out session. It's been a pretty hectic day."
Quirking an amused eyebrow, Jay muses, "You do know that it's about five minutes to midnight, right? Not exactly the safest time to go blankly wandering around deep-downtown like a couple of vagrant zombies."
"I suppose not." Agreed Forrest as he looked up at the night sky and spotted a broad yellow disc looming there, mocking him. "After what happened earlier, I guess our minds were elsewhere. Time just escaped us a bit."
"Earlier?" Questioned Jay, his long ears swiveling at the open-ended statement. "What happened earlier?"
Feeling left out, Danni stepped forward, prepared to tell their day's thrilling tale, but got cut off as a loud crack of thunder echoed indignantly throughout the otherwise stagnant night air up above them.
Shrugging, the white rabbit smirks, "Heh, I've never heard of thunder on cue before."
"Meanie." Murmured the interrupted fox, frowning at the sky.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Chuckled Jay as he inclined a forked thumb skyward. "Could be that it's just a warning of things to come. You know, like rain." Holding out a paw, the alabaster hare shook his head ever so slightly as it dampened and added, "Speaking of which, it's starting to drizzle. Alright, I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here and assume that neither of you live in the direction that you were randomly wandering in, right? I've got a little bit more cleaning to do before I close up shop, so why don't the two of you come inside, out of the rain, and tell me your story while I wrap things up? Afterwards I'll give you both a ride home. How does that sound?"
With a big smile, Forrest cheerfully responds, "Well, I do still need to thank you for pointing me in the right direction the other day."
"And it shouldn't be a very long drive, either. You can drop us both off at my house." Giggled Danni as he grabbed one of the wintry canine's large paws and squeezed it.
Forrest and Danni then shared a brief but intimate glance that, judging by Jay's rolling eyes, could best be described as "corny".
"Alright, alright, in you guys go, lest we risk the chance of some doves landing near us or the clouds parting for your own personal ray of sunshine!" Jested the rabbit as he scooted the other boys through the open doors.
Interestingly enough, rather than the sweetly aromatic smell of freshly baked bread or the smörgåsbord of exotic looking pies and cakes that dominated the store's veritable weapons cache of counter tops, what caught the couple's attention as they entered was the sound of someone snoring. Behind the main counter, with his arms folded into a rudimentary cradle on which he rested his sizable head, was a lion with blood red fur and a mane colored an even darker shade of red. Judging by the slumbering beast's sheer size, even when slumped over and napping, he was about as close to seven feet tall as one could get without a pair of platform shoes or giraffe descendants. As the door closed and the bell chimed again, the massive cat's ears twitched, but other than that it seemed unlikely that anything would soon be punching his ticket out of dreamland.
Anything other than Jay.
"Hey, Az, snap out of it and start helping out!" Shouted the bunny with just the widest grin on Earth. "I've been cleaning for two hours without you and I'd like to go home sometime this year!"
With a yawn, the huge feline turned his head and blinked the sleep from his clearly tired eyes, one blue and the other green. After a shake or two, he stood up and adjusted his rumpled apron so that it was, well, less rumpled but still probably not presentable.
"Would mopping the floor appease you, oh great one?" Inquired the lion through a thick but difficult to discern accent. Regardless, it all came out as an enormous yawn.
"You're the worst boss ever, you know that? For all you know I could have been stealing everything in sight this whole time."
"Jay, you're the most honest person on the planet; you couldn't even shoplift a stick of gum without turning yourself in."
"Be that as it may, you really shouldn't just trust everyone, everywhere, 100 percent of the time! Look, while you were asleep I brought in some mysterious strangers after hours. What if they were to hold us a gunpoint and demand the contents of the cash register?"
With a booming laugh, the giant cat takes a quick look back their way and replies, "Then they would leave severely disappointed. Besides, the fox has a look about him that screams 'everyone's little brother'. Honestly, I'm more worried that I'll have to console him if he fails to make the baseball team or gets a poor score on his big History test."
"Har har." Spat Jay in mock frustration as he stuck his tongue out and gave the big lion an even bigger raspberry. "Anyway, Az, these are my friends, Forrest Lionel and Danial Richards. Forrest and Danni, this is my boss, Azazaer Reddmayne."
"Reddmayne?" Echoed Danni, stifling a chuckle.
Sighing, Azazaer nods and agrees, "I know, subtle isn't it? As though I needed yet another way to let the world know that I'm bloody, well, bloody."
"Aha, I knew it!" Exclaimed Forrest, the outburst gaining the momentary attention of the room. "Ever since you first spoke I've been trying to decide whether your accent was more Celtic or more English. I hope my ears haven't failed me. You're an... Englishman?"
Striding across the room in far fewer steps than everyone else present would need, Azazaer outstretched a paw and grinned wide as Forrest shook it.
"I'll admit, my name makes it just a wee bit more confusing as well, but yes, born and raised in England and proud of it!"
Perking his ears, Danni smiles more innocently than likely intended and questions, "I'm a big fan of tea. I'd give my left leg to have a designated time every day, more than once a day, to enjoy it."
"Being a Brit does have its bonuses." Mused the crimson cat, taking a moment between statements to stretch his arms, legs, and tail even. "And I think it's just about time to make a pot before bed. I've been dead to the world ever since starting those college classes a week ago. Running the shop was difficult enough all by itself, but trying to balance that along with these infernal classes and my disintegrating social life; if I had nine lives before, I can't have more than two left!"
Patting his boss on the back, Jay insists, "Hey, I know you've got a lot on your plate, I really do, I just thought I'd razz you a bit and introduce you to my friends. Tell you what, I'll have Mr. Wuff and Mr. Fawks here don some aprons and cover for the rest of your nonexistent shift in exchange for some customer discounts later, that way you can go brew your Sleepy Time tea and get some well deserved sleepy time after that. How does that sound?"
"Well, I am about to pass out where I stand." Admitted Azazaer with a shrug. "But on the other paw, you know full and well how I feel about discounts."
"Customers all pay the same." Recounted the bunny as though he'd said it a thousand times before. "And friends pay nothin~
Clapping his paws together with what had to be his very last ounce of energy, the tuckered lion interjected, "Exactly! So, boys, what do you say? I could really use the help and, well, you are here already. Would you like to give Jay a paw and keep me from falling asleep on the cold, cold linoleum?"
"Well, when you put it like that." Laughed Forrest, rolling his eyes. "I can't say I'd sleep very well tonight knowing that I left a defenseless lion all alone on the floor of an inner-city bakery without even a blanket or cup of tea."
"Wonderful!" Rejoiced Azazaer as he grabbed his keys and started across the room, gathering the small crowd of young men into a brief hug before hustling out and away from the shop in mere seconds.
Danni's left ear twitched.
"It's like he was waiting for you to make that exact offer." Spoke the confused fox.
"He was." Confirmed Jay, waving one paw in dismissal as he stepped behind the counter and fetched a broom. "Now how about we get started? I've got to sweep the floor, then mop the floor, wipe down the counter tops, and move all of the display items into their containers. Tomorrow they'll all be moved over to the 'Day Old' section and in the event that they still don't sell, into the trash after that. Unless their pies. In the event that they're pies I'll take them home and throw them at my sister."
Cocking his head to one side, Forrest queries, "How on Earth do you do all of that and still find the time to both get enough sleep AND tend to your stressed-out peers at school?"
"A combination of concentrated caffeine and diligence." Smirked the white rabbit, the onyx tips of his long ears dancing to and fro behind him whilst he swept. "Heh, probably an uneven split too. But speaking of stress, that does remind me, you two have a tale to tell me. Az is gone, not that he'd really care one way or another anyway, but regardless we've got the proper privacy now. So, care to divulge?"
"Not until you fork over the aprons that we were promised." Stated Danni with crossed arms, pouting dramatically for additional effect. "I do believe Forrest told your boss that we would cover for him while he slept and we intend to."
With a sincere smile, Jay sets down his broom and steps back behind the counter again, the whole time spouting, "Demands, demands! If I would have known that you two were so forcibly kind and considerate, I wouldn't have let you in! What do you think I do during my work time here? This is prime brooding time!"
After settling into their aprons, just as rumpled as Azazaer's own, Forrest and Danni set themselves about to the task of both cleaning the small store and telling their story. They recited it as though it were a speech that they had to deliver before a bustling crowd of people and were even so bold as to detail how it all began, in the school's Nurse's Office and men's shower room. Forrest described their first encounter with Thomas and how the Lucario had so effortlessly worked them into his tangled and twisted web. Danni recounted the very same night, but from his differing perspective. He explained how powerless he'd felt, his future placed squarely between the cobalt canine's vice-like thumb and forefinger, and how he'd gradually come to terms with his own feelings of ineptitude as a result. As he wiped down a glass counter top with a soapy rag, the russet fox compared how cowardly he'd been back then to how strong and sturdy he'd had to be earlier that day.
'I know it's an odd way to look back on all that's happened,' thought Danni, his autumn tail swishing from left to right behind him, 'but in a way I have these experiences, as terrible as they were, to thank for the strength that I have now.'
Already finished spritzing and wiping down another counter top, Forrest sighed and dove into the second part of the story, their meeting at Adam's house; their silent entrance, the tense atmosphere, the near-violent build up, Thomas's monologue, and the non-violent conclusion. Jay listened the whole while, his long, floppy ears catching each and every word of it. By the time the white wolf had finished, the three diligent workers had moved on to dusting and cleaning things that hadn't even been on Jay's list at all.
With his ears twitching, Forrest grumbles, "It's just such a strange feeling. I went in there fully expecting him to be a villain, some kind of nemesis that I could spend my whole life despising, and yet he turned out to be just the opposite, another victim... in what's likely to be a line of victims much longer than any of us, him included, may ever even know."
"Well, while I am sorry to hear that the two of you had to go through all of that, I am happy to hear that your second encounter with him was an unexpectedly peaceful one." Said the snowshoe hare as he plopped his mop down onto the dust-free floor and sterilized it even further, the stinging scent of ammonia steadily dominating the air. "He sounds like an awful character, the worst I've heard of in a long time, but if there's one thing in this wide and wild world of ours that still rings true, it's this. Everyone deserves a second chance. Everyone. As slimy as Thomas may sound, it isn't impossible for him to clean himself up and, from what I gathered from the two of you, he actually intends to do just that. Sure, he'll never be able to make up for the things that he's already done, no one can, but with enough hard work and willpower he can at least TRY to."
"Try?" Questioned Danni, turning his head from the window he'd begun polishing.
Nodding, Jay explains, "Yeah, try. It's as simple as that and it's the key difference that sets the guilt-ridden apart from the guilt-less. The guilt-ridden understand that if they commit a crime, if they severely harm another either physically or emotionally, that they can't just ask for forgiveness. The guilt-less don't. After all, for someone that feels real guilt, forgiveness isn't even what they're after. Forgiveness, at its core, is a selfish concept. The guilt-ridden want to repent for what they've done and if at some point along that rocky and painful path they actually are forgiven, then hey, that's cool too. But, and here's the kicker, even after being forgiven for their misdeeds, the guilt-ridden will continue to repent. They know what they did. They're ashamed of it. They don't want to apologize just once, in words, they want to apologize with their actions for as long as they live. And that's what makes them different from the guilt-less, that's what makes them truly good at heart."
Awed, Danni overcomes his urge to stutter and whispers, "That hyena, Andrew, said something similar to that. He said that, deep down, Thomas was just misguided and had a purer heart than anybody ever gave him credit for."
"Forrest already knows how I feel about Klein, but my own personal feelings aside, even he deserves a second chance." Stated the bunny with a subtle knowing smile. "Whether that second chance should come in the form of attempting to befriend him or simply believing in his judgment, well, that's all up to you."
Again, Danni's ear twitched.
"I'm not entirely sure that he really wants any more friends. He chose his words carefully, to protect his bad image, but I think he's ashamed to be Thomas's friend. While he painted Thomas's picture up to be something pitiable, he did the exact opposite for himself, going as far as to describe himself as 'evil', as a 'demon'. He wouldn't be wrong in this assumption, I'm sure, but he probably considers himself a bad influence upon his one and only friend."
"Okay, then with that option null and void you're left with only one other. I've already placed my own bet on what your answer's going to be, given the way the day played out, but these lop ears would like to hear it from the fox himself. Do you trust Andrew's judgment? Does Thomas truly deserve the second chance that you two were kind enough to give him?"
With closed eyes and a satisfied smile, the russet fox confidently replies, "Honestly, I'd say it was Adam that gave him that chance at redemption, but yes, yes he does."
"Jay are you secretly a psychiatrist in training or something?" Questioned Forrest with an impressed whistle. "Because if so, then you just might have scored a couple customers of your own tonight."
"Heh, think I should start charging?" Smirked the rabbit as he set down his mop and critiqued their work. "Well, I'd say we did more that we set out to do, wouldn't you guys? I'm about ready to clock out and bit this place adieu, so, care for that car ride now?"
Content with their work, Forrest and Danni nodded in unison and stripped off their aprons. Following the trend, Jay did the same, revealing a snazzy black button-up shirt and a matching pair of jet black slacks.
"Well, am I the bee's knees or what?" Joked Jay with a wide and intentionally pompous grin. "Eh?"
"Almost too fabulous for a straight guy." Laughed Forrest as they followed him out and to his car.
Twirling his keys around one padded finger, the snowshoe hare chuckles, "Hey, just because I work in a bakery making cakes all evening with a sexually ambiguous boss doesn't mean that I can't be a straight shooter AND dressed to kill. Now let's be off, the midnight oil's burning and I've got some sleep to catch up on. Buckle up, boys, I might just speed!"
He might just.