FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was a Friday, the day was January 25, and it was snowing. I woke up with him sitting up on the headboard looking at me with a slight smile on his face and says to me,

"Good morning sleepy head."

"Morning honey how's Kate?"

"Kateland's still asleep." As I sit up I look at the time, its 7:13.

"Can you go fix breakfast? I'll get Kate up and get her ready for school."

"All right." When Ian gets up I see that he is already wearing his work pants. When I get up I slipped into Kateland's room, she is still sound asleep with one leg hanging off the side of the bed and half covered. I bend over and give her a little shove.

"Come on baby, it's time to get ready for school, you need to get dressed." She rolls over onto her back making a quiet grown trying to sit up. I help her out of bed then grab her school clothes that I picked out last night.

While I help Kate into clothes I begin to smell a faint hint of maple over the smell of flowers that overwhelm Kate's room.

"Come on baby, breakfast is almost done."

She looks at me with sleep glazed eyes and says,

"Ok mommy."

After I finished helping her get dressed I notice the bliss in her eyes letting me know that she to smells breakfast.

I head down the stairs with Katie resting in my arms and stop in the doorway looking into the kitchen to see Ian standing front of the stove holding a pan with both hands as he flips the last pancake in the air and onto the stack on the counter, and hear him say to himself,

"Oh, I did it."

Kate is looking at her father as he does the trick holding his hands in the air. She smiles and lets out a little giggle, Ian then turned around to see me and Kate staring at him, he then starts to smile the way that only Kateland can get him to.

To bad this would be the last time I got to see him smile like that.

I put Kate down and she ran to him with a big grin on her face.

"Morning Katie, you ready for school?" he asks as he scoops her up and sits her down in a chair.

"Yeah, and after school were going to grandma and grandpa's house, right?"

"Of course honey, we have all the stuff in the car ready to go. Now, how many pancakes do you want?"

"I want three."

"Alright, how much syrup does want on them?"

"Lots!" Ian looks at Kate with a smirk on his face and lets out a soft chuckle.

"O-Ok, one sec."

We all sit at the table eating and playing around till it was time for us to leave, then I decided to ask,

"I'm going to drop Katie off at school, so you want me to give you a ride to work?"

"No I'll walk, it seems nice outside today."

"Are you sure, it's snowing out there."

"Yeah I'm good; it won't take to long to get there."

"But Ian, your job is three miles away, you might get sick or slip on some ice and get hurt or even..." he stopped me mid-sentence by putting his hands on my shoulders, then he looked in my eyes and said,

"It's going to be ok, I'll be fine honey. Don't worry so much. I'm only walking to work." What he said did little to calm me, but the reassuring look in his face seemed to tell me that me that everything is going to be alright.

"Ok, but be safe out there."

"I will baby, don't worry."

*saying to myself* "I can't help but worry."

We go outside and Ian starts walking down the street waving goodbye.

I help Kate, who is already full of anxiety to go to her grandparents, into her car seat to take her to school. As we drive past Ian Katie waves to him.

2 hours later...

I had just finished making the food for the long ride to my parents when the house phone rang. When I answered a slightly deep and clearly grief struck voice was on the other end and asked,

"Hello, is this Mrs.Moone?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is sergeant Smecker, of the local police department. I regret to inform you that... um, your husband has been killed in an armed robbery around half an hour ago."

"Oh my god, no. are... are you sure?"

"Yes, we have a... a positive I.D. of him."

"No... oh god pleases no, no, no, no..." I slump to the floor crying silently while the sergeant continues talking, possibly aware of my reaction.

"We were unable to find the shooter, and so far it looks like he got away with your husbands wallet and his wedding band. Um... I'm sorry to ask you this but, we need you to come over to the county hospital and a... confirm that the diseased is in fact your husband."

What he had asked me to do had surprised my so much that I almost began yelling at him.

"WHY? If you already know that it's Ian why do you need me to come down there just to say that it's him?"

His voice changed to an almost defensive tone.

"I'm sorry but it's for legal issues and paperwork that we need you to fill out."

"It's always for legal issues." I said to him mockingly.

"Ok, I'll come."

After I hang up my mind begins racing with questions of what to do next.

"How am I going to pay for the house? How will I get a job and still able to take care of Kate? Oh god, how am I tell Kate what has happened?"

While I drive to the hospital thinking of what I'm going to do next I see a young boy, about the same age as Katie, in an ally trying to keep warm using an old torn blanket. All he was wearing was a pair of worn out gym shoes, some old jeans, and a stained jacket. Looking at him I see that he holds a small resemblance to Ian, and as I sit there watching him trying to keep warm he looks up at me and once again I start to cry. He's got the same eyes that Ian had. After we look at each other for a moment I park the car at the side of the road then reach into the back to grab one of the blankets on the seat and a sandwich out of the cooler, I get out the car and begin to walk toward him but as I approach he begins to slowly move away, it reminded me of how shy Ian was when we first met.

"It's ok."

I hold out the food and blanket.

"Here. You look cold."

The boy reached out to grab it and I saw a cut on his arm below the wrist. After he wrapped himself up in the new cover and started eating I sat by him and asked,

"What happened to your arm?"

At first he didn't respond.

"It's ok; I'm not going to hurt you."

He looked at me.

"There was a piece of glass stuck in that other blanket." He said motioning toward it with his head.

"What's your name?"

Once again he looks away.

"Nickolas Kanewell, my friends called me Nic."

"Were are your parents?"

He stopped chewing on the sandwich and stared at the wall ahead of him as if were a hundred yards away.

"My mom, she left when I was a baby so I don't really remember her. Me and my dad had lived in a trailer park for as long as I've known, but last year he was laid off and was forced to go on welfare."

He paused for a second and I noticed that he had begun to cry and before he continued he used his new blanket to wipe away the tears.

"Then he started to stay at home and drink, some times he would just sit in his chair looking at a picture of all three of use at a park when I was a few months old. I don't know why, but soon after he started to yell at me, telling me that it was all my fault. So I... I ran away."

Nic and I sat there quietly for a few minutes. I don't know why, but I felt that I needed to ask if he wanted to come with me and Kate. Maybe it was to fill the now gaping hole in my chest, or maybe I just wanted someone else that I can take care of and love. But while I was asking him he cut me off mid-sentence and said,

"No... um, sorry. No, no thank you."

It put me in shock how fast he answered me despite the fact that I hadn't finished asking him.

"Well, a... ok, I hope you'll be alright out here."

I stand up and walk toward my car, while I get in I look back as the boy yell out to me,

"Thank you Mrs., for the blanket and for something to eat."

"Your welcome, any time."

It was nice to meet Nic, but while I continued to drive to the hospital I once again felt the weight of the situation I was in and thought back to the story Nic had told me and said to myself,

"That's it, I... I need to run away."