Three Furs, One House
#8 of Three Furs, One House
Three Furs, One House- Chapter 8
Reks and Swiff laughed loudly at the TV. The air around them was foggy, a remnant of their smoke a few minutes earlier. A large glass pipe and a cheapo bic lighter lay on the coffee table in front of them. The top side of the pipe was a bright orange, and on the bottom of it was the Confederate flag. Next to it was a miniature Ziploc baggie that had little flecks of green inside.
The air was hazy with pungent purple smoke. The scent of Pineapple Express flowed through the house, filling every room with the high-inducing aroma.
"I'm hungry as fuck."
Swiff glanced over at the pandalot and grinned. "Wanna go make something?"
"Fuuuuuck yeeeeeah!"
"To the kitchen!" Swiff cried, pointing the way.
The two furs somehow managed to reach their paws and make it into the kitchen. Swiff immediately buried his head in the freezer, steam billowing around his furry frame.
"Want a Totinos?" he asked, a flat square box appearing in his paws.
"Nah. I was thinking something a bit more substantial," Reks said.
Swiff emerged from the icebox and shut the door with a thunk. Reks opened the refrigerator and his electric blue eyes lit on a package of partially thawed steak.
He grabbed it and held it to his chest like it was a baby kitten. "Eep!"
Swiff looked over his shoulder at the pandalot. "Have at it, man."
Reks 'eep'd again and quickly set about dragging out other ingredients and cooking utensils. Suddenly, an onion, some bell peppers, and a clove of garlic appeared on the counter, along with a bottle of extra-virgin olive oil and bread. His paws spun the temperature dial on the stove-top burner to the appropriate setting and he set about chopping and mincing the other ingredients.
Swiff, meanwhile, had set the timer on the microwave and tossed his pizza into the oven, fortunately remembering to remove the box and plastic wrap.
"Okay, now we wait..." said Reks, who was still waiting for the meat to thaw fully.
Since Swiff was still waiting for his pizza to cook, he was of the same opinion.
The two of them retreated back to the living room, where Swiff switched on the Xbox 360 game system that was hooked up to the one hundred and ten inch projector. He put in the Black Ops 2 disc and grabbed a pair of controllers. Reks took one of the controllers while Swiff set up the Zombies game that they were about to play.
About twenty minutes later, the house was filled with the sounds of attacking zombies, explosions, and gunfire.
"Too many zombies!" Reks shouted, who had just completely run out of ammo for both his Voice of Justice and EPC WN. "I'm out of bullets!"
"Run for the box! I'll cover you!" Swiff cried, who backed up into the room to provide a wall of suppressing fire.
Reks jumped through the hole in the wall and fell to the street outside. Zombies grabbed for him, but he managed to evade them all and reach the mystery box, where he received monkey bombs.
"Yeah!" he shouted, instantly throwing one to buy him some time to hit the box again.
"Damn, these games get more realistic every time. It's like I can smell it!" Swiff commented, thumbs continuing to fly over the controls as he mowed down a horde of the undead.
They continued to play for several minutes before Reks paused the game. "Wait a minute..." he said slowly. "Games don't smell."
The two furs looked at each other for a minute.
"SHIT!" they both shouted at the same time, each scrambling to reach the kitchen. Reks reached the stove first and yanked open the door to reveal the flaming Totinos pizza. He stopped and stared, entranced by the dancing flames. Swiff reached his side seconds later and he too was enthralled by the fire.
Only a minute later, the back door opened and me and Alex stepped through. My nose instantly crinkled at the smell of burning pizza. I stepped into the kitchen to see the two of them watching the fire in the oven.
"What the hell are you two doing?" I shouted angrily.
Swiff pointed at the fire with a single claw. "Pretty fire..."
* * *
An hour later, two cars snaked their way through Harbor City. A tan 2012 Toyota Camry had the lead with Swiff's little Mazda3 right behind.
I was caught in the middle of the railroad tracks
And I knew there was no turning back!
My mind raced and I thought, what could I do?
And I knew there was no... No help from you.
_ _
The sound of the drums
Beating in my heart
The thunder again
Tear me apart
_ _
I sang along to the old-school rock song, my voice cracking slightly on the high notes.
Charlie could handle this, I thought. Hell, that shepherd can sing anything. I made a mental note to ask the band to play it at their next show and turned up the volume on the radio. The light, fast-paced guitar spoke volumes about the skill required to play it. If I knew Cory and Charlie, they would have no trouble playing it.
The Camry hummed along at the legal speed limit of seventy miles per hour, suspension absorbing all the imperfections in the pavement.
Only a dozen yards off our rear bumper, Swiff's little Mazda hatchback drafted us. The dual exhaust pipes emitted a ricer-sounding warble, but coming out of that car, it was actually pretty sweet.
Our destination was Charlie and James's apartment that they shared with Jake. They'd come back from their tour for two nights to celebrate their adopted son's birthday.
I glanced at my watch and noted that it was twelve to seven, the time that the party was supposed to kick off.
In another few minutes, the two cars were slotting into parking spaces in front of the apartment building where Charlie, James, and Jake lived. The four of us slipped out of the vehicles and securely locked them.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Charlie.
"Charlie speaking."
"Hey, Char, it's Ricky. We're downstairs."
"Okay, bud, come on up. We're on ten. I'll be waiting at the elevator."
"Coolio."
I hung the phone up and slipped it into my back pocket.
The four of us went into the building and waited for the elevator, which Charlie had told me was a deathtrap waiting to happen.
When it arrived, we stepped in and I pushed the ten button. My eyes roved over the vast array of carvings into the wall. One of them in particular catches my eye and I look closer to read it.
The words 'Your loss has filled my heart and mind, with pain I thought I'd never find. --CHARLIE' were inscribed under the two halves of a broken heart with Charlie and James's initials in it.
I smiled. Charlie had put that there the day after James had been taken away from him. The mere sight of it sent pangs of sadness through my heart.
The rusty steel doors of the elevator grind shut and the elevator begins its slow, jerky ascent up to the tenth floor.
Eventually, the elevator grinds to a halt and the doors open slowly, revealing the smiling face of Charlie. The shepherd grins wider at the sight of us.
"Hey guys," he said.
"Hey yourself," replied Swiff, who was leaning against the rear wall.
"Jake inside?" I asked.
"Yeah, come on."
The four of us followed Charlie down the hall and into his apartment. Jake was there, with a few other young-looking furs. James, Chaos Theory, and a skunk I'd never met before were there as well.
"I believe you know everyone here," James said, standing up to greet us. "Except this one." He pointed to the skunk, who stood and came over to us. "Guys, this is my old friend CJ. He's spent the last several years in jail, which is why you've never met him."
CJ's fur was a deep glossy black. He had a sturdy frame, hard muscles covering his body. There was a white stripe that started at his muzzle and worked its way over his back, down to the tip of his fluffy tail. His eyes were that one shade of brown that always made me think of tea, I think.
"It's nice to meet you, CJ," I said, extending my paw. "I'm Ricky, and this is Swiff, Reks, and Alex." I pointed out each of the others with my free paw.
CJ took my paw and gave it a firm shake.
"CJ's where we got the Chevelle," Charlie chimed in from the kitchen, where he seemed to be cooking something.
"Speaking of the Chevelle, have you guys shown him what we did to it?"
"Yeah, I did. I gotta say, that's sick, man. I love what you did to it," CJ said, grinning.
"I'm glad you approve," I said, laughing.
"Anyway, I think this is everyone," James said, going to the door and looking out. I checked my watch and saw that it was two minutes til seven.
"Let's get the party started!" called Jake to a chorus of laughter.
* * *
An hour later, every occupant of the apartment was either stoned, drunk, or some combination of both.
I'd shared three bowls of pot with Jake, Charlie, and Swiff, and downed three beers that James had been handing around like they were bottles of water.
The others were no better, and, like me, they were waiting for James to finish what Charlie had started cooking. The air was filled with the succulent aroma of frying chicken, and I could hear the soft bubbling sound of a fryer at work.
I was telling a story from my past, one in which Swiff made a prominent part. It was the story of when he'd brought a girl home to the house, only to find out at the last second that it wasn't a girl. The story made a killing every time I told it, and I always enjoyed the reactions from Swiff when I did.
"Dinner's ready!" James called from the kitchen. I heard him pull something out of the fryer and dump it onto a plate.
I slowly got up, taking it easy from the pair of intoxicators coursing through my veins.
James had prepared a wide variety of fried foods, including chicken wings, popcorn shrimp, and okra, among other things.
All of us loaded our plates and settled down on various surfaces to eat. Me, Alex, Jake, and CJ had the couch, Charlie and James had the window ledge, and Swiff and Reks had the dining room table that had been dragged closer to the living room specifically for the party.
The room filled with idle chit-chat for the next half hour or so as we ate the food. I particularly enjoyed the okra, crunchy and juicy all at once.
Once the dishes were in the sink, James broke out a new stack of plates. Charlie dipped into the fridge and tugged out a cake, a big monstrous thing that looked like a pot leaf. I chuckled, trying to imagine how Charlie had gotten his paws on the thing.
Jake's dads cut up the cake and started handing around slices, reserving a big chunk of it for Jake.
The cake was vanilla with some kind of lemon sauce in the middle, and it was delicious. I wound up getting a second piece of it and sat contentedly on the sofa to eat it.
Once the cake was done, I sat back to watch Jake start opening the presents that people had brought him.
The big stack next to him steadily disappeared as he unwrapped a quarter of a pound of pot from Swiff and Reks, a couple of CD's from his friends, a new cell phone from his parents, and a guitar from me; a Fender Stratocaster with a whammy bar. The guitar had set me back a few thousand bucks, but I figured only the best for the son of a rockstar.
The last box next to him was a small one, and it had Alex's name on it. I watched him open it, revealing a small card. Jake's eyes flicked across it, smiling. He turned the card upside down and a small rectangle of plastic dropped into his paw.
"Thanks, Alex," he said. "Thanks guys, it means a lot." He got up and came around to all of us, giving us hugs.
Everyone in the room chimed in with their acknowledgements and soon the party disbanded. Reks, Swiff, Alex, and I piled into the two cars and drove home, wondering about the next few days and what they would hold...