A&B Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Sitting at the desk in his office, the buck was delving into the materials he needed to understand the work. His company designed and manufactured fluid machinery, including water pumps, air compressors, and hydraulic turbines. The deer was in the department that designed the air compressors.
He received high grades in the subject of engineering fluid mechanics, but when he started working in the company he found that almost none of what he had learned could be practically used here. The pragmatic issues were either far too intricate to be solvable using analytical solutions, or they required tons of basic arithmetics that could be done by anyone with infinite time and patience. Alex thought he could be constructive and useful immediately after graduating, but it appeared to need to take time before he could actually devise something. For now, he should be learning how to estimate the performance of a particular device, the pressure drop, the velocity uniformity or the likes.
"Don't worry, Alex." Mr. Lee, the goat, assured Alex with a smile when the new worker realized and expressed he almost knew nothing, "You are young and diligent. You will eventually be proficient in this field. Actually, you learn faster than anyone I know."
That was enough to keep Alex devoted to his study and work.
The buck made a detailed plan for the day. He always did that to keep himself busy at work, and to improve his efficiency.
*
"Alex."
Alex lifted his head up to look at the one calling him. It turned out to be Selina, a chubby rabbit who was a clerk managing almost everything in the department except the engineering work itself.
"Hi, Selina."
"Here's your business cards. They are finally printed." She handled the stack of cards that with the company name and Alex's contact. "Annnnnd, your payroll. You can receive your money at the accounting department on the 2nd floor."
"Yay. Thanks, Selina."
"You're welcome." With that, the female rabbit left.
Selina was the first fur Alex knew in the company. He kept having the impression that the rabbit was energetic with a good temper, until the day she brought her two 5 years old boys to the company. Her two boys were naughty and loud, so she had to be louder when she crankily shouted at the boys to stop making a mass. That drew everyone's attention to her and her boys many times. Since then, Selina never brought the two boys to the company again.
Alex looked at his business cards, finding nothing interesting. He doubted if he would ever give one of them out. Putting the cards aside, he read the amount written on his payroll.
Not bad. Alex thought with a smirk he couldn't hold back. It was his first salary of full-time work, and it was sure enough to feed him and allow him to have a great dinner with the bear tonight. Without hesitating, he got up from the chair and went to receive his payment.
*
After work, Alex got back home and took a shower leaving his short fur appearing more fluffy. He put on a leisure T-shirt and a pair of jeans and sat on his sofa to wait for the time when he should go to pick up Blake.
While waiting, he continued reading a history book that talked about the past world with the lost forever magic.
*
Alex drove the pickup to the cement plant where Blake was working. He arrived at 5 minutes past 8 pm, when the sky was almost dark. He saw the bear waiting for him alone at the front gate.
"Good to see you, Blake." He greeted with the window rolled down.
"Good to see you, too, Alex." Blake replied getting into the car.
"Are you hungry?"
"Yes."
"Good! That's what I hoped for." Alex turned to see the grinning sheepishly bear. "Have you decided where to go?"
"Yes. It's a bar in the town center. It's called Norm's Deli. Have you heard it before?"
"Nope. You lead the way, then."
Both the furs in car were in a fairly good mood.
"You drive good, much better than me." Blake said.
"Thanks. You're not bad yourself. I drove a lot when I was in college. You have driven this pickup before, right? I mean when it was still James' car."
"Yes. He was generous to let me touch this car. I may have smashed it on a tree or driven it into a river."
The deer laughed heartily, "No, you won't. By the way, you can drive this car whenever you want."
"Thanks. You are just as generous as him. And now you are going to treat me to dinner." Blake blushed, though Alex didn't see it.
"I owe you. I told you to think it as you show me around the town." Alex put his paw on the bear's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.
"Hehe. Still, thanks."
*
They reached the bar when most furs finished dinner and left, and the bar was relatively quiet in weekdays. The ewe waitress gave them the menu after they sat down at the seats near a window.
Alex found there weren't many cuisines specially for vegetarians, so he ordered a fruit salad which couldn't be cooked wrong, and a glass of milk. Blake, Alex noticed, took the price of cuisines into serious consideration, clearly not wanting to cost the deer too much. After a while, he decided to have a meal of sauced chicken legs with bread, and a glass of water.
After ordering their food, Alex started their conversation, and he was greatly surprised when his first question was answered.
"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking." Alex asked.
"No, I don't mind. But I don't know exactly how old I am. I guess I'm 17, more of less."
Staring at the bear, Alex blinked a few time, confused by the answer.
"What do you mean? Why don't you know your age?"
"I'm an orphan." Blake said matter-of-factly.
"Oh..." Alex suddenly lost his words, and there was a hint of sour feeling in his snout as he heard such a sad fact of the bear, "I... I'm sorry to hear that."
The bear smiled weakly, "You don't have to. I'm familiar with having no parents or any relatives."
"So, do you know what happened?"
"My mother was killed when I was a cub. That is what the people in the orphanage told me. They were not sure about my father, but they said he was also killed before that."
"Oh, that's terrible. I'm so sorry." The deer didn't know Blake had such a sorrow background.
Blake forced a brave smile, "Hey. Forget about it, okay? I'm not worried about it anymore. Let's talk about something fun." In fact, the bear was worried. He was afraid of if the deer minded him being an orphan.
Alex nodded, and then realized something, "Wait! You are around 17? So you can be 18, or even 16? No wonder James always calls you a 'big boy'."
"Hehe, yes, I may be 16."
"I didn't realize you could be this young. You look big, indeed. Is there anyway to determine your exact age?" Alex asked, not ever knowing anyone with the question of his/her age. It must be strange to not know it.
"Hmm... I guess no."
"There might be." Alex pondered the features of being 16 or 17, and soon blushed and dismissed it. It was not like that he would ask the question 'are your genitals fully grown?'
Instead, he said, "I'm 22. I came here after I graduated from a college."
"James told me you were in a college. What's it like to study in a college? Is every fur super clever there?"
"No. It is more like every fur thinks themselves clever."
"Hehe, I see. What were the classes like? What did you learn?"
...
*
The two furs talked about Alex's college life for a while, and their conversation was interrupted by the waitress with Blake's meal and a bowl of fruit salad. There were three large chicken legs in Blake's dish.
Seeing that the amount of food was kind of huge, Alex said, "I see why you like this bar."
"Yeah." Blake laughed lightly, and got ready to dig into the dish "So, lets eat?"
"Sure."
Then the two became silent. Alex, again, found the bear eating like a wild animal who consumed each leg in only two bites.
Watching at the voraciously eating bear, Alex was about to chuckle but his face turned serious when it came to him that it might be a habit developed in the orphanage, where the food provided was likely insufficient. A deep sympathy was evoked in Alex's heart, and he now understood why James said Blake was the fur the gorilla cared about the most. Blake needed someone's care.
Alex only half-mindedly consumed less than half of his serve, when he saw the bear was trying to pick off any meat on the bones.
"Want more?" Alex asked.
Blake said modestly, "No. Thanks. This is enough."
"Come on! I know you want more." Alex grinned in a friendly way.
"But... I don't want to eat too much from you."
"No worries. I like to treat you good. Besides, you are still in the time of physical growth, so you need to eat more."
"Okay. Thanks."
Blake called the waitress and ordered another meal of sausages.
"Let's talk about you. What do you do at the plant?" Alex said, and then put a piece of apple with forks.
"I'm a gatekeeper. I work regularly on weekdays, from 1 pm to 8 pm. Though sometimes I'll need to work from 6:30 am to 8 pm if the other one is off."
Alex gulped down the apple, and gave a nod, "The house you are living in is quite near to the plant."
"Yeah. It's owned by a worker there, and he wants more money so he rents out the other rooms of the house."
"How long have you been working at here?"
"A year and a couple months I think. This's my first job."
"So you started working early, when you were about 16 or even 15."
"Yeah. Back then, the life in the orphanage was boring, and I was eager to earn my own living so I got out from that place as soon as I found the job."
"Good to live on yourself, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"You are way more advanced than me on that. Look at me! I'm twenty-two, and I just got my first salary TODAY." Alex chuckled.
"Oh, yes! That's huge! Sorry I forgot about that. Let's cheer for that." The bear raised his glass of water, which was still full.
"Cheer! Cheer!"
They clinked the glasses and both took a drink from them. Alex got some milk on his muzzle, so he sticked his long, dark-purple tongue out and licked it off. He was sure the bear was staring at his tongue when he did that.
"What was the life like in the orphanage? Did you hate it much? It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." asked Alex.
"It's okay. I don't mind. The life back there was... very depressing for me. I was really lonely, and other kids avoided me. It's not that now I have many friends. I am still mostly living alone, but I'm not feeling depressed anymore."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But... why did other kids avoid you?" Alex, although knowing such questions would raise uneasy and bad memories to the bear, was just too curious.
"You can't tell?"
Alex shook his head.
"I am ugly, with the scar. The other kids didn't even want to look at me." Blake said matter-of-factly, though there was a hint of sorrow that he couldn't hide.
"You are not ugly." Alex assured him.
"Thanks." the bear said with a dry smile, knowing Alex was saying it because he wanted to be polite.
"I mean it! You are not ugly. And I think you are a nice fur. Anyone will like you if they got to know you deeper." Alex said honestly.
"Thanks." the bear smiled. This time the smile was more genuine. "You know what. There's one thing the orphanage was good for me. I met James there."
"James???" Alex was greatly surprised, who briefly assumed James was also an orphan, but the idea was soon denied. "Oh, yeah. He mentioned he often does charitable things like helping in an orphanage. But he did it 6 years ago?"
"Yes! Isn't he the kindest fur in the world? He would often come to the place, helping there, and talking and playing with us. He also brought stuff and food for us. And he was the only one liked to talk with me. James... was like a big brother to me." Blake was deep into his own memories.
Their talking was interrupted briefly when Blake's sausages were served.
Before Blake started to eat, Alex held his glass and said, "Let's toast to James, who is the best and nicest guy in the world."
"To James!"
*
They didn't chat anymore as Blake started to enjoy his food. Alex paid for the dinner and the check after they finished and left the bar.
When they got back into the pickup, Alex, looking at the bear, said, "I had a nice dinner. Did you?"
Rubbing his bulging stomach, the bear said with a satisfied smile, "Yes! I'm so full. Thank you, Alex."
Alex liked to see the bear content. It made the deer warm inside. "You're welcome. Thank you for bringing me here. It's a great place to eat."
"Owww! Don't thank me, please. I already feel like I owe you a lot." The bear groaned jokingly.
"No worries. Now should I take you back home, okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Too many thanks."
"Sorry."
The deer was amused by the bear's shyness, and he laughed lightly.
When they were about to reach the bear's place, Blake asked, "Are you busy Friday night?"
"No. Why?"
They stopped at the house of Blake's colleague.
"How about we and James have a dinner like this again on Friday? This time it will be on my treat."
"Sure, I'd love to." Alex looked at bear, who cracked a huge grin to the deer.
"That's a deal! So, I'm leaving now. I'll see you on Friday!" The black ursine opened the door of the truck.
"Yeah. See you then! Bye."
Blake got off of the vehicle. Alex drove away, and through the mirror he saw the bear waving goodbye at his truck.
The deer would give a quick kiss on Blake's cheek if he didn't know Blake was 16 years old, who might be too innocent and shy to refute if he didn't like it. Alex couldn't let himself take advantage of the adolescent boy.
He went to sleep after a quick wash up. He felt sorrow for Blake's background, and it only made him wanting to be close to the bear and taking care of him more.