TP 12/2/10: Migration-Not There Yet
Thursday Prompt-Migration
Reian
Not There Yet
The old wolfess with the color of pepper in her hair, a striking contrast to the red, black and white fur that covered the rest of her body, tapped her finger on the table. It has only been a month since Rei had retired and she was already bored out of her mind. She had finished all her crosswords, patched all the clothes, and had finally kept the house clean for more than two days. In the absence of children(her husband included in that category) being around on a daily basis, keeping things straight was easy. A little to easy for her liking.
Rei hadn't really been ready to retire, but the company was trying to phase out the old ways, like they had been doing when she was hired some thirty years ago. Now she sat at home, waiting for her husband to get home from his job, so she might have some company.
She sighed and opened her laptop, pulling up the web and exploring the activities that so called old folks did. Her ears flattened at most of the suggestions. Dancing lessons? Art classes? Why would she want to do these things? The option that really baffled her was the idea of moving south for the winter.
That was awesome for birds, but as a wolf she rather loved the snow and cold weather. In fact, moving north was more of an possibility than moving farther south. The webpage listed retirement community after retirement community, promising freedom from life's little worries and a return to your younger years. That seemed like a large contradiction to her since most of her pup and whelp years had been filled with worry.
Rei pushed out from the table and stood up, paws balled into fists. She was determined not to fall into the same category of grey muzzle migration as the rest. She wasn't that old after all! The wolfess headed to the bedroom, foot paws stomping out her anger as she went. Rei opened her closet door and started throwing clothes out on to the bed, mumbling under her breath about damn young people making her seem older than she was. She was so upset that she didn't hear the door open and Rex calling her name.
"Pup?" the raccoon said, head poking around the door frame. He watched the flurry of clothes streaming on to the bed with a certain tail appearing out of the closet. He walked closer, a shirt landing on his head and a pair of jeans hitting him in the gut.
"OOF!" Rex exclaimed making Rei stop and exit from the closet.
"Oh...sorry hunny," the wolfess said, eyes watering up. "I don't know what I'm doing."
The raccoon looked around at the room and chuckled. "I would say you are making a mess for yourself to clean up tomorrow."
Rei raised a brow, confused until she looked around at the remnants of tornado strewn clothes. The wolfess whimpered and slumped down against the wall and her pepper grey hair bunched up. The raccoon crouched down in front of his wife, his paw pushing some of the hair down.
"Taking this hard?"
"Yeah," she said with a nod.
"Don't know what to do with yourself, eh?" he said, hand moving down under her muzzle and picking her up to look into her deep brown eyes.
"Pretty much. Then everywhere I turn says I need to do these things that I have no interest in at all. Like moving to Florida."
The raccoon bust out laughing, falling backwards on to his ass, tears forming in his eyes. It was funny to hear the independent wolf say such things. He understood though, even on the five-o'clock news they had commercials telling grey muzzles like themselves where they should go to enjoy their last years.
"Well, instead, let's go backpacking across Europe like we always wanted."
"What?" she said, tail twitching.
"Give me a few months and we will just pack up and go. The kids can stop by and check the house. It will be fun!"
Rei smiled brightly and pounced up, wrapping her arms around his neck. Rex scratched her ear and wrapped his other arm around her, happy to have his happy puppy back.
"I just don't want to give in yet," she said in a soft tone.
"There is no need for us to give in, yet. You are still my puppy after all."