Herdnan- Chapter Fourteen
Cymaenie brought the Chevy to a stop right around four in the morning on the 189th avenue bus depot. He parked the truck and reached behind the seat and grabbed his street clothes that he was wearing. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and slid his shorts on over his spandex ones, then set to changing his shoes.
Once he was done, he looked out the window to see the brown coon coming out of the main office and looking around. Cymaenie took a deep breath, and checked to make sure that his handgun was still on him, holstered to his left hip.
He put the truck into drive and swung around to pick Skreft up from the main office door. He stopped alongside him and leaned over and unlocked the passenger side door for him.
The other raccoon climbed into the truck and sat and looked around at the interior.
"Nice wheels Cy."
"Thanks. So, where are we heading to?"
"I know this great 24 hour restaurant a few blocks from here. Great waffles."
Cymaenie nodded and they motored off towards the waffle dive. They were there in a few very short minutes, at the place which was called "Checkerboard Pancake"
He parked the Chevy out front of the empty restaurant, got out and followed the other coon inside.
"Hey Skreft! Skreft's friend!" a waitress behind the counter said waving to the two coons as they walked in.
"Come here often?" Cymaenie jokingly asked.
"A couple of times."
They took a seat at one of the booths next to the bar and picked up the menus.
"I do love coming here. I live for their breakfasts. I don't even know why I bother with this anymore." He said chuckling and stuffing the menu back in its holder behind the napkins.
Cymaenie smiled at that and continued scanning over the massive laminated menu sheet. "It all looks so good."
Skreft nodded lifting up his coffee mug and pointing to it with a wink to the waitress. "Oh it is... they're hash browns are killer."
The waitress, a plump, jolly beaver slid up to the booth with an urn of coffee and filled Skreft's mug. "Coffee hun?" she asked Cymaenie.
He nodded turning his mug over and smiling. "Thanks love."
She nodded and set the coffee pot on the table and asked, "So, you know what you want?"
Skreft grinned. "You already know what I want."
"Of course. I was asking him." She joked with him.
"Two eggs, hashbrowns with cheese and onions and some waffles."
She nodded. "Bacon okay hun?"
He nodded. "Thank you."
She headed off down the line and started cooking the food on a flat grill behind the counter.
"So, I'm glad that you took up my offer. I felt terrible after you told me what happened."
Cymaenie grunted, taking a drink of his coffee. "Why would you do a thing like that?"
"I'm sorry. I really didn't expect that small sip you took to have that kind of a powerful effect. You seemed a little distant... but I didn't know that you didn't remember anything."
"Well, I sure didn't. There's nothing quite as angering and such as waking up in a gulch with your car wrapped around a concrete support wall in the middle of nowhere."
"I can understand that. Really I am so very sorry Cymaenie. I knew that I shouldn't have let you go on by yourself."
He nodded, taking another sip from his coffee, watching the waitress scrape at the browning hash browns on the griddle.
"Skreft... I appreciate your honesty."
"Think nothing of it... although, there is far more to me than meets the eye."
Cymaenie chuckled. "We're all like that coon."
The waitress brought them their plates and set them in front of the two coons, smiled and walked off.
They were quiet as they hungrily scarfed down the meals before them, the restaurant falling silent as the waitress casually flipped through a newspaper on the counter.
Cymaenie noticed another set of headlights pull into the parking lot and park next to the Blazer. A figure got out and entered the glass door and looked around the restaurant.
Cymaenie really hadn't noticed him entering at first, but when he looked up, he about dropped his fork.
It was a young male dog, a husky at that, standing roughly 5'-9", with a smooth gray and white, sharp, pointed ears and fiercely blue eyes. He looked around at the nearly empty room and his gaze stopped when he saw Cymaenie staring at him.
The raccoon jumped slightly and looked for a bottle of hot sauce, unbelieving that once again, he was caught staring at another male fur. He grabbed up the bottle and splashed some sauce on his half eaten hash browns and looked back at Skreft.
He saw the dog smile a little and walk up and sit at the counter where upon the waitress stepped down to help him.
Skreft chuckled into his cup of coffee after sneaking a peek behind him. "See something you like?"
Cymaenie blushed a little and swirled at his food with the fork. "Maybe..."
The brown coon smiled swallowing his coffee and slid an ashtray over as he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his shirt pocket. He pulled one out with his mouth and fumbled for a pack of matches.
He snapped one into flame and lit the end of his cigarette. "Maybe nothing. You were checking him out you were."
"Maybe..." Cymaenie said. He knew that his face fur had to have gone lush.
Skreft took a drag and chuckled again as he exhaled. "Why don't you go ask him out?"
Cymaenie leaned over in the booth and looked at the dog sitting at the counter looking over the newspaper. He shook his head.
"He's probably straight and I'm not in the mood for a fight."
"He's not going to start anything. He doesn't look like a fighter. Go ask him out. Or did you want me to do it?"
He looked up at Skreft taking another long drag on his smoke. He exhaled slowly, then snuffed out the butt in the ashtray. "Alright. I'll go ask him for you then."
The brown raccoon started to get up. Cymaenie lunged across the table, rattling the dishes and silverware as he grabbed Skreft's arm and pulled him back to a sit. "Don't do that... what if..."
"Come now Cymaenie. I doubt that one dog is stupid enough to take on two raccoons."
"True. True..." Cymaenie trailed off looking over the dog again.
"Tell you what... I'm going to go utilize the pisser in this place... and leave you two alone for a few."
Cymaenie looked at him bewildered as he quickly scooted off down the narrow hallway behind him, leaving the waitress, the cute fur and himself alone.
He scratched his head nervously as the pup looked over at him. He smiled and winked at the coon and turned back to the paper.
Something came over Cymaenie and he found himself sliding out of the booth and wandering over to the counter. The dog looked over at him and smiled.
"Hi there." He said a little shakily. He was clearly nervous.
"Um... hey. I just..." Cymaenie was able to force out.
"Wanna sit down?" he asked gesturing to the stool next to him.
Cymaenie nodded and sat and the waitress brought him over his cup of coffee with a smile and a wink and wandered off herself into a back room.
The two were now alone. "So, um... my name is Cymaenie... I'm hanging out with a friend who got of work... and... um..." He was botching this all up and he knew it. "I really don't do this often... but are you doing anything this weekend?" He slapped his face for such a forward question.
The dog's pointed ears perked and his eyes shined. "I'm Tundra... and... I have no plans for this weekend."
He about fell off the stool when the husky said that. He dug in his pocket and shakily pulled out a scrap of paper. He scribbled down his cell number and gave it to Tundra.
The dog followed suit, and in the same shaky paw, wrote his down. "Give me a call tomorrow and we'll arrange something."
Cymaenie nodded vigorously. "Alright. I'll call you then."
He smiled with a light chuckle and slid off the stool, turning and crashing into someone.
He jumped back and looked over a rather tired looking lizard in a brown suit, holding his hat, a brief case and a pile of papers.
"Pardon me." He said stepping back.
"Not at all." Cymaenie smiled. In the short moment of clearing the way of each other, he noticed a Herdnan Police Investigation badge on his suit coat and a name plate that read, "Cpt. Hugodrax"
The lizard pressed on to a booth at the far end of the restaurant, and sat with two other police officers that must have come in unbeknownst to Cymaenie. He shook this off and turned back to the table. Skreft was back, tossing some money on the table and waving to the waitress.
He nodded his head towards the door. Cymaenie nodded back and turned to Tundra. "I'll see you around."
The dog smiled, waved and winked as they exited the restaurant. Cymaenie walked to the truck and opened the door. He climbed in as did Skreft and he started the engine.
"So, where am I taking you?"
"If you can, I live about three miles from the bus depot on 189th. If you could drop me off there, that would be great."
Cymaenie nodded and backed out of the parking space. He turned out of the lot and motored off down the street to drop off Skreft.