FSE

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Seven Years Ago

Mommy and Daddy have been dragging me around town all day. Going from garage sale to garage sale to garage sale. Yep. Guess it's because it's that time of year when everyone in town sets up a sale to sell some old junk. I say junk because I'm not old enough to say "shit" yet.

I haven't really been paying attention to anything we've seen so far. Mostly because nothing is catching my eye. I was mostly looking at old comic books and magazines. One that usually catches my eye is MAD magazine, but every time I look at one, mom says it's not appropriate for 9-year-olds.

"What's so wrong with it?" I used to ask.

"It's not made for furs your age." she'd say back.

This morning, my parents told me they were going yard saleing (I guess that's what they call it) and I had to go with them. I lazily put on my brown t-shirt with Pac-Man on it (it's a bit small but it's my favorite shirt) and my only pair of jean shorts.

We went through four or five houses before I ever found anything interesting. They look like old computer speakers. This'll be useful to use for my iPad since the speaker on there is kinda weak. Plus, I've always had a thing for electronics.

They're on a high table, so I have to reach up to get a closer look at them. Suddenly, I feel another paw against mine. I look at who it is. It's another kid. He looks about my age. He's got grey fur. I quickly bring my paw back.

"Sorry," I say nervously.

"No it's fine." he says. "I didn't see you here."

"No, if you want them, go ahead." I take a step back.

"I'm serious, go ahead." the grey (I think he's a wolf) fur says. We just sit there in silence for a moment.

"What's your name?" I ask. I don't know why though.

"Wendell." he says, "What's your's?"

"Todd, with two d's."

"Nice to meet you... Todd." he holds a paw out. I shake it.

"Nice to meet you too... Wendell." I looked at him and I want to turn away, but can't. He's pretty nice. Kinda cute too. Very cute.

"So... you going around looking at stuff like this?" Wendell asks.

"Yeah, my mom and dad usually do this alot. Do yours?"

"Sometimes, but I don't really enjoy it. Usually if I'm with my parents at a time like this, I just stay in the car and play on my phone."

"I wish I could do that." It was silence for another minute. Wendell seems like a nice kid.

"Can I ask you something?" I say.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Do you go to the elementary school?"

"Yes. I'm about to go into the fourth grade."

"Me too," I smile.

"Cool," he says, "Looks like I might be seeing you there too." I look around the yard, seeing if there's anything else that might catch my eye. There's mostly just old furniture and adult books here. There's an older looking box at the end of the driveway. I walk up to it and look inside. Wendell is close behind me. There's not much in here, but there's something I've always wanted: a hat with a propeller on the top.

"Woah," I say, "I've always wanted something like this." The hat is red, blue, green, and yellow, all topped off with a silver propeller. I've been asking for this since I was eight.

"How much is it?" Wendell asks. I take a look on the inside, where there's a price tag. $1.00.

"A buck," I say.

"Here, I'll pay for it." Wendell takes the hat out of my paws and walks up do some fur who's running the place.

"Gee, I don't know Wendell." I trail behind him. I couldn't ask this much from him. "You don't have to..."

"It's okay." Wendell takes out four quarters from his pocket and hands it to the owner of this yard sale (pretty sure it's a dalmatian). He then turns around and puts the hat on my head. Perfect fit.

"Thanks Wendell, but you didn't have to do this." I say, blushing.

"It's okay. Besides, it looks awesome on ya." he says. This is one of the nicest thing that anyone has ever done for me. I can tell that we were gonna be friends.

Me and Wendell said goodbye to each other and I headed back to the car, where my parents were waiting for me.

"Todd McCarthy, were have you been!?" mom asks, a little loudly.

"Sorry mom, I was just talking to someone."

"You know you shouldn't be talking to strangers!"

"I know but this fur is my age and he seems nice." And very good-looking I added in my mind.

"Where'd you get that hat?" my dad asked.

"He got me this hat." I give the propeller a little spin. Now I truly feel like a kid.

"It wasn't much was it?"

"For Pete's sake dad, it was only a dollar!" I open the car door and got inside. If I were my dad, I would've been happy I made a friend. I'm usually a shy fox since I don't really talk much. When my parents get in the car and start driving again, I notice that the speakers were still there, but Wendell was gone. Guess he decided not to get them.

The next two weeks flew by fast for me. The last few weeks of summer usually are gone by the time you realize it. Before I knew it, I started the fourth grade. Wendell mentioned he was starting the same grade too, and was going to the same school as me. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever noticed Wendell in this school.

When my parents dropped me off on the first day of school, they gave me a kiss on the forehead, wished me good luck, and they were on their way. I sat in the cafeteria with all the other kids before the first bell. The table I sat at last year was empty. I took a seat there, almost like nothing has changed.

After a moment of being here, I notice a grey wolf walk in, with a purple tank top, and nice-looking basketball shorts. Wendell. I wave him over to where I am. He quickly notices and sits down next to me.

"Hey," Wendell says, "Todd, right?"

"Yes." I smile, "Wendell, right?" I couldn't forget his name after I met him. Let's face it, I've never met someone who was this sweet and cute at the same time.

"Yep. I see you wore that hat I got you." Wendell spins my hat a bit.

"Yeah. Like I've said, I've always wanted one of these hats." I say.

"So, who's your teacher this year?" he asks.

I pull the paper out of my pocket that has my room assignment. "Ms. Rina." I say.

"Me too." Wendell says.

"Awesome." I love this! Now I can see my new friends every day! Inside, I'm doing backflips and going crazy. But outside, I just smile and hug Wendell. I hope it didn't last too long, otherwise other furs might figure out that I'm gay.

"So what have you been up to the last couple weeks?" Wendell asks.

"Nothing. Comic books. Television. Sleeping. Video Games. Pretty much normal 9-year-old stuff. What about you?"

"Well, last weekend, I went camping out in the woods with my dad. And during the week, I went riding on a motorcycle with my uncle."

"Nice. Sounds like you're family's pretty close, huh?"

"Yep. What about your folks?"

"I barely talk to my parents. I guess you can say that I'm not really social."

"Well, I think I can help with that." Wendell says, "Hey! Bruno!"

Suddenly a black dog comes over. He's a bit bigger than us, but maybe by a few inches. "What's up Wendell?"

"I want you to meet a friend of mine. This is Todd." he points at me. "Todd, this is Bruno, one of my good friends." I shake paws with Bruno.

"Nice to meet you." I say, shyly.

"Likewise." he says.

"Todd says he's not really 'social' around here." Wendell explains.

"Really? Why say that?" Bruno asks.

"I don't know, I just feel like I'm... really shy." I nervously reply.

"Well, you seem like a cool guy."

"Thanks. You too." Soon after, the bell rang.

"See you later guys!" Bruno goes off to his class.

"Want to hang out at my place later?" I ask Wendell.

"Ok. What did you want to do?"

Hug you, cuddle with you. "I thought we could just play video games or something." That was a close one, I almost let the word "cuddle" out of my mouth.

"Oh. Alright. Sure, I'll come over." Wendell walks with me to class. The day was very slow at first, but then again, all first days and all last days are always the slowest. Bruno hung out with us at lunch (since all grades have lunch at the same time) and we invited for him to play video games with us later, but he said he had plans.

By the time the last bell ended, it was almost 3 in the afternoon and I can barely keep my eyes open. Wendell met up with me at the front door. From there, we started walking towards my house.

"Where do you live?" I ask.

"I live on the other side of town." Wendell says.

"Do your parents know you're coming to my house?"

"I'll call them when we get there."

"Ok." We mostly walked in silence. I've always hated when someone wouldn't talk to me, even though we've had great conversations before.

"What do you normally do when school lets out?" I ask.

"Play video games, sometimes read or watch movies. What about you?"

"I like to watch movies," sometimes romance ones that make me cry, "read comic books," I frequently read a book about two gay furs, "play video games," every second I get a chance, "and sleep," I sleep with a stuffed toy and cuddle with it.

"Sounds awesome." he says. I sure as hell hope that I didn't say that secret stuff out loud.

"Do you have any siblings?" I ask.

"No. You?"

"Me neither." Although sometimes I wish I had an older sister.

"What games do you play?"

"Well, I only have the Wii, so I mostly play Mario. But, I think it's a pretty cool game. Even though I had a tough time getting through World 7."

"I've never played it before."

"You've seriously never played Mario before?" I'm pretty shocked about that.

"No. I have not."

"In that case, you definitely have to come over." I say a little too excitedly.

"Ok. Ok. So, where's your house?" he asks.

"It's over there." I point to the old looking house a few doors up the road. When we get there, I open the door (my parents leave the door open knowing that I walk in at this time) and we go into the living room. The Wii is hooked up to the TV in here. I tried to convince my mom and dad to give me my own TV to put in my room so that I can play my games up in there.

"Where's your parents?" Wendell asks.

"We're right here." Mom appears out of nowhere. I'll never understand how she does that.

"Hi mom." I say.

"Todd, who's this?" mom usually tries to hide her concerned face, but every time she tries to, it fails.

"Wendell. The guy who bought me the hat a couple weeks back." I spin my propeller hat a bit.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you, Wendell." my mom reaches out a paw and Wendell shakes it.

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. McCarthy." Wendell stop shaking her paw and sits down on the couch next to me. Mother doesn't bother us for the rest of the afternoon.

I turn on the Wii and put in the Mario game. "You sure you've never played this game before?"

"No. I've heard of it before but, never played it before." Wendell admits.

"Well, let's play anyway." I hand Wendell a Wii remote and the game starts up. I select a new game, even though I still have one that's on World Seven. The inros at the beginning take a while to play. When the game actually does turn up, I select World 1 (my only option) and then select level 1.

At first, Wendell doesn't understand the game, but he does start to get the hang of it. "I thought you said you never played this before." I say.

"I did and I never did. This is my first time playing." Wendell says.

"Are you sure? You're kicking my butt like you've been playing this for ages."

"Well, maybe it's beginner's luck?" Wendell shrugs his shoulders. The only thing worse than losing at a video game to someone you've only met not long ago is losing at a video game to someone who not only met you two weeks ago, but has also never played this game before.

After a few more hours, Wendell has more lives than me after we both played the same amount of levels."Wow," I say, "You're pretty good at this."

"Thanks." Damn: Looks! And a secret video game prowess? This guy is already impressing me too much.

"When are your parents expecting you, again?"

Wendell's face changes from happiness to concern in a millisecond. "Crap! My parents! I forgot to call them and tell them I was here!"

"Do you know how to get to your house from here?"

"Yes. I do. But, I'll need to get there quickly."

"Don't worry, my parents will drive you."

"Ok."

"Mom!" I yell. In a second, she's in the room.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Wendell needs a ride home. Is it ok if you give us a ride?"

"Sure. Give me a minute." she walks back into the kitchen. In a minute, she's back out with her car keys. Me and Wendell hurry up out the door.

"By the way, where do you live?" I ask.

"Sharonn Boulevard." Wendell says. Yikes! That is across town! We hop in the backseat of Mom's car and in no time, we're heading towards Wendell's house.

"Do you want me to just drop you off at your house?" My mom asks.

"Yes. That'll be fine."

"You sure you don't want us to come in and explain everything?" I ask.

"No it's fine." Wendell says, then yawns.

"You gettin' tired?"

"Yeah. Usually I'm getting ready for sleep right now."

"But it's only like 7 right now. Even I don't have to go to bed until 8:30."

"I know, but if I go to bed now, by the time I wake up, I'll have time for myself in the morning."

"Good point." I say. I've never thought of doing something like that. When we reach Wendell's house (he had to point it out for us), Mom stops the car in the front.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Todd." Wendell says.

"I'll see you too." I say.