Shorts: The Furry Years (2 page)

"And we both look like we could use twenty or thirty more," she said thoughtfully. "Just how much meat did we polish off this morning?"

"
One fifty
or so."

"And what did we weigh before?"

"I was one ninety, and you were
three forty five
," I quickly figured out were she was going. "That's six ninety or so. We total six seventy now. Where'd the rest go?"

"When has mass ever changed state without releasing energy?" she said looking at me matter-of-factly.

"Uhh...." I looked at her rather shocked.

"What?"

"It's going to take a little getting used to your being as smart as me, that's all."

"How do you think I feel?" she said.

I thought about that hard a second.

"You love it, but you're a little scared?"

"How'd you guess?" She said curious again.

"'Cause that's how I feel."

"Well, at least we’ve got each other!" she said smiling, the ends her fangs showing as she did.

I could see where we might have to be careful around others. "Well let's get some of this inside, okay?"

"Sure." She picked up a hundred pounds like it was nothing and walked back to the house.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised; after all, yesterday she could pick me up in her paws and toss me ten feet in the air. So I picked up another hundred and followed.

We couldn't wait for the meat to thaw, so we raided the fridge again, cleaning it out pretty well. Afterwards we used the bathroom and took a shower.

The shower was fun, so was the shampoo. Blow drying was a pain in the ass though, and the bearings in the hair dryer made a hell of an annoying whine.

"Now I know why you always hated that thing." I winced, my ears laid flat. "I'll have to rig something up that's quieter."

"Quicker too," She mused. "An hour drying your fur is way too long."

We went to bed finally and crashed. It was late and it had been a tiring day.

I awoke the next morning to the gentle ministrations of Rasha's tongue.

"Where'd you learn that!" I gasped.

"Watching you and one of your girlfriends," she rumbled, "That one I used to like. What ever happened to her anyway?"

"When you sat on her last fall, you scared the hell out of her and she won't come out here again."

"Oh!" she looked embarrassed, "I guess I'll have to apologize for that. I was only playing."

"Sure." I grinned and looked at the clock. It was early; I normally didn't get up till 7. I had two hours yet and what we did to pass it was nobody's business but ours. I settled back down to find out just how well she had watched.

"Damn, what am I going to wear?"

It was much later and I was feeling quite exasperated. It was a quarter to and I realized that I wasn't going to fit into any of my dress slacks anymore. Or my dress shirts, blue jeans, shoes, or underwear. My tee-shirts still fit, if a little tight, and with the fur pressed flat it was pretty obvious I was solid muscle.

"Why wear anything?" Rasha said smiling, "You look good to me just like you are!"

"And you to me love," I smiled back and brumped at her. "But its bad enough I look so radically different. I figure some clothes might ease the shock."

"Try this." She tossed something at me.

I grabbed it and looked, it was my old karate gi. I slipped into it, and it actually fit! Of course the pants only came just past my knees and now fit snugly instead of loose. I grabbed a tee-shirt and stuck my cardkey and other stuff in my fanny pack. At least it had an adjustable belt.

"Don’t you think you should call in first, Hon?"

"You think so?" I hesitated.

"Yes I do. I'd hate for anything bad to happen to you because you scared the hell out of them."

"I guess you're right." I went to the den to use the phone.

"Look at this," I mumbled. The light on the answering machine was blinking. "Two calls; hmmm, I wonder who called?" I pushed the button.

The first was from an old friend on the east coast, "Hey Johnman you there? Hello? I tried the office but it was closed. Listen, Michael just called. One of his friends who's with the weather service told him a nuke of some sort went off in the Key's this morning.

"I called George down in
Miami
and he confirmed that there was some bright flash around five-thirty in the morning. It's eight here and there's been nothin' on the news yet. Call me, okay?"

"Hmm, now that's strange," I remarked.

The second was work, "Hello John? This is Kurt, be prepared for some strange things at work tomorrow, okay? Bye."

"You should be prepared!" Rasha said laughing. Who was that first call from anyway?"

"Oh, that was Nick. We went to college together; he's got a lot of friends in the strangest places. Nothing happens that he doesn't seem to hear about."

"Strange? Like raising tigers and such?" she smiled.

"Yup," I purred then grinned at her, "that's it."

I picked up the phone and dialed work.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is John Bayellis, is Kurt in?"

"Not yet, it's pretty quiet here so far."

"Well, could you tell him I'll be in around eight, with a bit of a surprise?"

"Oh, I don't think you'll surprise him. Not after yesterday." She sounded rather bemused.

"Oh? What happened yesterday?" I asked curiously.

"You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it." She paused "I've got another call. Gotta go, bye!" and hung up.

"Well, if that wasn't odd."

"Sure was."

"You heard?"

"Of course, silly. Didn't you notice that the receiver wasn't even near your ear?"

"This is going to take some getting used to," I sighed.

"Yeah, walking, talking, thinking are all pretty new to me."

"And the scents, smells and sounds are new to me." I thought a second. "But how come you seem to be doing better than I am?"

"Because tigers don't worry about things they don't understand. But it seems Engineers do!"

"Lucky you," I smiled. "But I'm not complaining. Well I have to get going, I guess."

"Just a sec!" She ran out of the room. A minute later she was back, dressed much like I was, tight short black pants, but with the black jacket of the gi as well. The jacket gave her a rather nice cleavage since she had it tied closed with one of my old black belts.

"Nice," I commented, 'drooling' a little too, I might add. With clothes on she looked a hell of a lot sexier than before. "What's that for?"

"I'm going with you, what else!"

"No you're not! I'm going to be enough of a shock to these people as it is!"

"I'm going, that's all there is to it," she growled.

"Want to bet?" I growled back.

It was a tight fit. I was going to have to trade in my little sports car for something bigger now.

"How's your wrist John?" Rasha asked, grinning.

"The bleeding stopped," I sighed. "That wasn't very nice, you know."

"Yes, I know. Don't ever argue with me again." She smiled.

"Next time I won't hold back Rasha. So you better watch it yourself." I warned.

"Oh, you wouldn't hurt me!" She smiled again and chuffed at me.

Damn if I didn't chuff right back, too.

"Pecking rights I believe it's called," she said looking thoughtful. "And I've got them on you, kiddo!"

"You seem to have a better memory of what I've studied then I do," I grumbled, still upset. Her little 'pecking rights' comment really bothered me.

"It's just fresher that's all. In thirty years I'll bet I'll have forgotten as much of it as you have," she teased.

"You know, I think I've figured out something else I got from you," I said steaming.

"Oh what?"

"Your TEMPER!" I nearly roared it out. I was feeling pretty pissed and was fairly shocked by it. I never lost my temper.

"Oh shit," she said quietly, and carefully reached over and started to scratch my chin. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to piss you off, Love."

"What are you worried about?" I growled, "you think I want to get bit again?"

"Calm down, Hon, calm down. If you go off in a blind rage, I've no doubts at all what'll happen. You outweigh me by about a hundred pounds now and I remember what happened when I lost my temper last year."

I remembered that too. She was only half grown and it was her only real tantrum. I still hadn't replaced the TV, much less the sofabed, just the couch, the two bookshelves and the hole in the wall. So I got a grip on my emotions then and let her calm me down. It didn't take long for me to relax. At least my anger went as fast as it came.

Getting out of the car was tough, I was going to have to get something else and soon too. My tail was killing me!

We walked up to the door and I slid my card through the reader. On the second try the door unlocked and I stepped inside with Rasha standing behind me.

I looked at the startled faces staring at me.

"It's John," I said quietly. "The guy with the tiger, remember?"

"We kind of guessed that already," replied Susan, one of the team developers. "Who's that hiding behind you?"

"Rasha, who else?" I laughed.

Rasha stepped out from behind me. "Hello," she said rather timidly.

"Got both of you huh?" Was all she said.

"I don't mind... " We both started off together, then stopped and looked at each other.

"Well, things are definitely happening in sets around here I guess." Kurt said walking up to take a look at the two of us.

"What do you mean?" I asked, perplexed.

"Derek had a little 'accident' yesterday morning."

"What happened? How is he?"

"Where is he, you mean." Kurt said with a smile.

"Okay then, where is he?" I growled.

Kurt paled a little.

"Opps, sorry, just ignore that, okay?"

"Suuuure," he said slowly, then started back up. "Well we were talking about that thing in
Florida
and all the strange reports that were coming in on the news. Then Derek gets this strange idea that he can write a computer program that will take him there."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, he disappeared from right in front of our faces. We were all shocked to say the least. Then about five minutes later we get a phone call. It's Derek, he's in the Keys and could somebody help him get back please?"

"Unnn," was all I could say.

"So then Howard figures if Derek could do it, he sure as hell could reverse it. So he sits down at Derek's computer, looks at the program, makes some changes and voila."

"Derek’s back?" Rasha filled in for my open mouth.

"Nope, some drop dead gorgeous blond in a bikini is standing there. Turns out she was using the phone while Derek was waiting."

"So what happened next." I said finding my tongue.

"Well, the blond threw herself at Howard, of all people, and he changed the program again and split. Taking the blond as well as the computer with him, no less. Derek is flying back on a plane, and should be here by
noon
."

"Were did Howard go?" I asked.