Summer Heat
Chapter One: Excursions
As the sun pierced through the darkness of the final spring evening, the first hot rays of light of summer scattered through the tops of the high trees above the lone island sanctuary amidst the sea of white-washed, artificial, wood and steel structures. The light first bathed the trees in soft, iridescent yellow, refracting on the drops of rain from the flash storm the night before, shining down onto the cool ground below.
These soft lights found their focus on a solitary object, a slightly worn but comfortable booster seat, which was also a bed for one sleeping raccoon. The morning was peaceful, almost idyllic, as the sounds of the chirping insects of the night fell into silence to be replaced by the sharp tweeting of the dawn birds. It only added to perfect the image of the paradise.
However, RJ would not be awakened by such noise. He was lazy, he will be the first to admit it, and he loved to sleep the morning away, a love second only to his love for delicious, fattening, and artificially flavored food. He could sleep hours into the afternoon, waking up only when his stomach grumbled, calling him to fill his tummy with sweets and fatty delights. However, it would not be his hunger that wakes him from his sleep this morning. No, it would be something quite different…
♫ I'M SO EXCITED! AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! I'M ABOUT TO LOSE CONTROL AND I THINK I LIKE IT! ♪
"Mmph…" RJ grumbled, twisting and turning on his booster seat bed, trying to find a comfortable position to allow him slip back into the blissful calm of slumber.
♫ I'M SO EXCITED! AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! AND I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I WANT YOU! ♪
That is, if the Pointer Sisters would only shut up.
"Hmmm?" He cocked one eye to the sky above, taking note of the sun's position, which was barely creeping over the horizon. Probably no more than 7 o'clock in the morning, maybe 8 o'clock? Still too early for him to get up, and yet he was, though he wasn't happy about it. In fact, he was in his right mind to maul whatever idiot woke him up so early in the morning. RJ blinked the remaining sleep from his eyes before rolling over towards the direction of the source of the loud, blaring music, ready to bite someone's head off, figuratively and maybe even literally.
However, his anger quickly subsided once he saw what the cause of the music was.
♫ I WANT TO LOVE YOU! FEEL YOU! WRAP MYSELF AROUND YOU! ♪
"God, he looks so cute." RJ placed his hand up to his face, smiling to himself while contently watching his partner, Hammy, exercise to a DVD workout video, though really, it seemed more like dancing. The young squirrel seemed to take the workout so seriously, following the thin female human and her "heavier" co-stars on screen, pumping his slender arms and legs to every beat of the song.
RJ had to refrain from laughing out loud, wondering where in the world Hammy got the pink sweatbands around his head, wrists, and ankles, as he looked so adorable while wearing them.
RJ pulled his hand away from his face and just enjoyed watching Hammy exercise to the obnoxious video. Granted, he did feel a little guilty just watching him exercise instead of actually joining him, as he was sure Hammy would encourage him to, but he found some sort of odd, slightly voyeuristic thrill in just watching the young red squirrel enjoy himself and exercise his heart out, once again tracing the lines and curves of Hammy's body with his azure eyes, just like yesterday.
♫ I WANT TO SQUEEZE YOU! PLEASE YOU! I JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH! ♪
He bit into his lower lip as he continued to stare, nearly drawing blood with his teeth. His mouth had become desert dry, and he was undeniably growing warmer, feeling sweat beginning to form on his brow, and now matter how he tried, RJ couldn't avert his gaze from Hammy, especially his tail. Though his body pumped and swayed with the rhythm of the song, his tail was a lot less dynamic. Deciding that Hammy was using it to maintain balance, RJ found himself engrossed in admiring the red-orange and white fur of his fluffy appendage, watching the soft bounce and sway of the curl at the end, the subtle movements entrancing him in its hypnotic dance, tracing his path from the curl down to the very base where…
♫ AND IF YOU MOVE REAL SLOW, I'LL LET IT GO! ♪
"AAAH!" RJ pushed himself up from his position lying on the seat, closing his eyes and trying to clear his mind. He had snapped himself out of whatever trance he was in, calming his breathing and blinking a few times as he tried to gain his bearings. Coming to his senses, his gaze fell on Hammy again, the young squirrel's dance seeming to have slowed with the dying music, his movements now more out of play acting than actual exercise.
♫ I'M SO EXCITED! AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! I'M ABOUT TO LOSE CONTROL AND I THINK I LIKE IT! I'M SO EXCITED! AND I JUST CAN'T HIDE IT! AND I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW, I WANT YOU! ♪
Hammy raised his hands and waved them wildly, then pulling them back to hug himself, swaying his body down to his hips with the lyrics. With a final little flair, in time with the last line of the song, he spun around to point at RJ, as if to point out whom he wanted.
"RJ! You're up!" Hammy, expecting to find RJ still asleep, but instead found him sitting up and wide awake. Seeing that RJ was up and about, he promptly ran to his partner and smothered him in a big, happy hug.
"Hey, Hammy." RJ smiled wide and returned the embrace. Hammy turned up to give him a quick and simple kiss, but RJ quickly took charge and locked him into a longer, more passionate kiss, holding him firmly, but comfortably.
"Good morning to you too, RJ!" Hammy quickly wrapped his arms around RJ's neck once the kiss was broken, blushing a little, but feeling absolutely giddy from the affectionate kiss. "I really liked that!" Hammy told him unabashedly, deeply proud with what he believed to be one of RJ's unprecedented and unrestrained shows of affection for him.
"Hey, Hammy? Why were you dancing to that DVD program?" RJ asked ever so softly into Hammy's ears, happy with his friend's encouragement toward him.
"Oh, I borrowed some DVD's that Stella still had from that time we all did aerobics together so that I could do some early morning aerobics work. It's really fun! You should try it!" Hammy explained quickly to him, nuzzling and nibbling his neck fur affectionately.
"I thought so." RJ chucked upon hearing Hammy's suggestion, just as he knew he would. "Nah, I'm not built for that." RJ moved Hammy aside from atop him and jokingly poked at his own pudgy belly. "I thought that I was going to die the last time we did that aerobics stuff, remember?" RJ pointed out.
"Yeah, you were on the ground for a long time, along with everyone else. I thought that aerobics was so fun, and I was surprised that you guys were so tired after that one workout." Hammy recalled that one incident. "But then I remembered from somewhere that you guys needed to be… hydrated? Is that it? So I thought that maybe some water would get you guys up and that's why…"
"You splashed all of us with that freezing cold water, right?" RJ added, remembering the chilly shower that he'd given him, shivering slightly at the thought, but he laughed inside, remembering how everyone else reacted, especially…
"Verne really didn't like it very much. He was running around everywhere with his shell off, probably because some of the cold water got stuck inside. Kinda weird, considering that he always says that the cold makes him really slow. But he was really moving very fast, almost as fast as me!" Hammy smiled at the memory. RJ, on the other hand, was laughing his head off, remembering Verne running around naked, screaming incoherently.
"HAHA… HA… Ah… Oh..." RJ held his sides, aching from his laughing fit, trying to calm himself and catch his breath. Hammy wiped the tears of laughter from RJ's eyes and grabbed his hand, pulling the raccoon up from his place on the chair.
"Come on, we should go meet the others at the log now! I'm hungry!" Hammy pulled his partner harder, trying to get him up on his feet. "And we still have to go searching for another house we're going to raid, remember? You promised that you and I would check out those nice, new houses at the west side!" Hammy continued to drag him.
"Okay, okay. I remember, I remember." RJ gripped Hammy's hand and pulled himself up from the seat. However, the sudden movement caught Hammy off guard, causing him to lose his balance and fall forward. RJ noted what was happening and reacted quickly, catching Hammy with his free arm and pulling the squirrel to himself.
"RJ, now's not the time to dance!" Hammy giggled, feeling odd being held like this, especially with RJ's hand now resting at his side.
"Oh, yeah, okay." RJ nodded and backed away from Hammy, but still kept a firm hold on his hand. He was stunned for a few moments, having Hammy pressed against him like that, and though it felt strange and somewhat foreign, it also felt very comfortable, and in that brief moment, despite his distaste for exercise, he felt a pressing desire to dance with Hammy.
"Come on already! Let's go!" Hammy began to run with RJ in tow, slowly coming out of his thoughts on the events that had passed moments ago.
"Yeah, let's not have Verne screaming at us again!" RJ added, laughing. Still, in the back of his mind, as he ran behind Hammy, he couldn't help but admire once more how nice and fluffy Hammy's tail was.
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"BBBBBUUUUURRRRRPPPPP!!!!!"
"Whoa! Good one, Ozzie!" RJ had to complement the burp the opossum made, surprised by the strength of his unexpected belch.
"Dad! That's so disgusting! Heather grimaced at her father for his rude gesture.
"Hey, come on, you have to admit, that was an impressive burp, Heather." RJ tried to sway her opinion. "Even I've never been able to…"
"It's alright RJ." Ozzie stopped RJ. "Heather's right, and it was very rude of me to do that in front of everyone." Ozzie apologized to the family. Heather smiled, seeing her father regretting his actions saving her from the growing embarrassment she was feeling. "Though you have to admit, that was pretty good, huh?" Ozzie smiled.
"Yeah! That was great!" Spike cheered.
"Hey, watch us, watch us!" Quillo pulled everyone's attention to himself and his siblings, who were passing a can of super fizzy soda amongst one another.
"What are you guys going to do this time?" Verne asked, observing them swallow down full mouthfuls of the sweetened carbonated beverage.
"♪ A ♫ B ♪ C ♫ D ♪ E ♫ F ♪ G ♫! ..." Quillo, Bucky and Spike began to sing, much to the amusement of most of the family. "…♪H ♫ I ♪ J ♫ K ♪ L ♫ M ♪ N ♫ … Aw, we ran out of burps!" Bucky snapped his fingers, upset.
"...♪ O ♫ P ♪ Q ♫ R ♪ S ♫ T ♪ U ♫ V ♪ W ♫ X ♪ Y ♫ Z ♪!" Hammy continued where the brothers had left off. "♪ NOW I KNOW MY A B C 'S, WON'T YOU COME AND SING WITH ME ♫!" Hammy finished off with a flourish before bowing down to the family, who were laughing and applauding hysterically.
"Bravo Hammy, bravo!" Ozzie clapped and whistled. Granted, it wasn't much of a performance, but they did have to admit that it was a very funny start to their day.
"I didn't know you had it in you!" RJ smiled as he wrapped his arm around Hammy.
"BURP! I still have it in me!" Hammy giggled coyly.
RJ playfully pulled him closer, giving Hammy a gentle noogie to the head.
"NO! NO! STOP!" Hammy continued to giggle, struggling until he successfully pulled away from RJ's grip.
"Aw, come on Hammy, I'm just playing with you!" RJ declared apologetically, now slightly regretting the noogie he'd given his friend.
"One of these days RJ, I'm going to get you for that!" Hammy quipped, though in a tone with a clarity of being more playful than threatening. RJ just stuck out his tongue teasingly at Hammy, causing him to pout, but allowing RJ to catch the young squirrel by surprise and close the distance between them, bringing their lips together in a quick kiss to lighten him up. "I'm serious, you know." Hammy added, still sulking and trying to look upset, though the smile on his face betrayed his attempted look of displeasure.
"Yeah, I know." RJ replied with a sly grin, knowing that Hammy was just saying that out of principle rather than meaning.
"You two have become so sappy, you know that?" Stella spoke to the two of them, noting the rather frequent feelings and gestures of affection that they shared.
"Hey, I can say the same for you two!" RJ retorted, pointing past Stella, and toward Tiger, who had remained silent throughout the conversation, wearing a content smile as he carefully groomed his love's fine ebony hair with his rough feline tongue.
"What? You mean Tiger? He's just helping me practice some decent hygiene!" Stella shot back to RJ with a glare.
RJ just smirked and replied, "Oh really? So when was the last time you helped Tiger practice some 'proper hygiene techniques'?"
Tiger halted his grooming. "That is none of your business, you inconsiderate, nosy and dirty raccoon." He stated to RJ calmly but bitingly, a small smirk appearing on his own face before returning his tongue to its prior duties.
Stella struggled not to let lose the laughter building up in her.
"Hey, I'm not dirty!" RJ shot back angrily. However, he quickly raised his arm and sniffed. After immediately convincing himself that he didn't smell too bad, chalking it up to his 'natural' scent, he returned to his former stance, glaring back at Stella.
Everyone else just stared back at him. RJ now suddenly felt very self-conscious.
"RJ, you do…" Verne raised his voice to point out that very fact but…
"So, what are we doing today?" Hammy quickly interjected, jumping right into the middle of the group, interrupting Verne and immediately turning everyone's attention to himself.
"Thanks for the save, Hammy." RJ breathed a sigh of relief now that everyone was now distracted. "I owe you." He smiled.
"Aren't we supposed to check out the new developments on the west side of the development?" Hammy asked, taking a quick look back to RJ, noting the smile on his face, before adding, "I heard that they should have some really good stuff, like some new toys and food, and devices, like this one really shiny wall thing that looks like a TV, but is so much more flatter, and the colors are really pretty, and…"
"Yeah, we're going to check it out Hamster!" RJ moved in behind his partner, wrapping his arm around him. "We've got so much more stuff to get and so little time! After all, there's only…" RJ folded his arms, furrowing his brow as he tried to recall how many more days until the winter season was upon them.
"One-hundred and eighty-one days before winter." Verne had whipped out his little Raspberry personal digital assistant and quickly read off the numbers from his schedule. It was the one human invention that he had actually taken a liking to, as it had been completely user-friendly with the tentative turtle, what with its many organizational functions and large, easily operatable buttons. "And fourteen hours, forty two minutes, and twelve… eleven… ten…" Verne counted down his little programmed clock.
"Right…" RJ, Hammy, and the rest of the family just raised an eyebrow at Verne. "So let's get going already." RJ declared to the Hedgies commandingly. "Come on Verne, drop that thing. We've gotta go find a house to hit for tonight." RJ reminded him.
"Come on! Let's go already!" The porcupine triplets sounded off together. "This is going to be so cool! We're gonna get tons of new stuff to play with!"
"Sorry kids, but you're not going with RJ and Hammy this time." Lou stated firmly, restraining his three children before they went rushing out to who knows where. He trusted RJ, Hammy, and Verne, without a doubt, but he didn't trust whatever may lie on the other side of the hedge, even after living next to it for over the span of a year.
"AW! COME ON, POPS!" Quillo whined. "We'll behave, we promise!"
"RJ, Hammy, and Verne will be keeping an eye out for us!" Bucky and Spike argued.
"I think it'll be fun if they come with us, Lou." Heather spoke up for the three.
"Sorry Heather, I think it will be best if only RJ, Hammy, and I go this time." Verne replied, settling the matter for everyone, much to the triplets and Heather's displeasure.
"What? Why? I'm capable of taking care of myself!" Heather protested angrily, her defiant streak rearing itself.
"Hey, come on, Heather, it's just a scouting mission." RJ calmly stated. "It won't take us maybe more than, what, two, maybe three hours, tops. Besides, all we're looking for are some houses to hit for tonight." RJ explained. "It's nothing to get all upset about, understand?" He added.
Heather gave him a shocked expression before she turned away, upset with the arrangement. "Fine, okay." Heather sighed dejectedly. "I'll stay here."
She hated being treated like a kid, as if she had never grown out of her younger image.
"We'll bring back something if we find anything good, alright? Maybe some snacks, or some new stuff, or…" Hammy rambled on as Heather just moved away from them, obviously not wanting to hear anything more from him, or anybody else for that matter.
"Don't be sad, Heather." Hammy tried to sympathize with her, figuring that in spite of her age, she was greatly bothered by how she was constantly treated as if she were a child. He remembered the feeling of being endlessly treated as a kid while growing up, especially under the mindful gaze of Verne. "They just want you to be safe." He understood that the family was only acting this way out of good intent, and hoped that she would come to understand that they are simply concerned for her well-being.
"So if you find new games or some new toys, you'll bring them back for us, right?" Bucky spoke up, breaking that odd silence.
"Sure, then we can play more, and maybe we can all snack on some of the foods we find, especially if I find some cookies that…" Hammy started to babble on again.
"Hey, hey, calm down already." RJ chuckled and placed his hand on Hammy's shoulder, calming him before he flew off into another tangent.
"Yeah, we should get going already!" Verne spoke up again and started to pull RJ backwards.
"Wait a second, let me grab my stuff first!" RJ argued, nearly falling over as Hammy giggled, watching happily as his adoptive father dragged his protesting partner away, who eventually managed to break away from Verne's grasp and sling his gadget laden golf bag over his shoulder. "Come on, Hammy." RJ gently took his friend by the hand, leading him along.
"We'll be back soon!" Verne told the rest of the family. "We'll hurry, we only have one hundred eighty one days, fourteen hours, nineteen minutes, and forty-one… Forty… Thirty-nine…"
"WE GET IT, VERNE!" The family yelled back.
"Okay, okay, yeesh!" Verne exclaimed, hurrying away in the direction of their destination.
"We'll bring back anything we can… Well, anything that we don't end up eating anyways!" RJ joked as he and Hammy ran after Verne, hand in hand.
The two had quickly caught up with the slightly disgruntled turtle, slowing to a brisk walk alongside him.
"So Verne, you think you're ready for this?" RJ asked, adjusting the strap of his golf bag into a more comfortable position.
"RJ, I still don't think this is a good idea." Verne voiced his concerns about this excursion into the suburbs. "I mean, it's right in the middle of the day, and the humans are most likely going to be outside or something. They would see us coming a mile away, and who knows what they'll do to us!"
"Oh come on Verne, we're just scouting out some of the other houses, especially the new ones that popped up since the last time we were there. If memory serves, we haven't been to the west side of the hedge since last year! Besides, we have to scope out our old hits, as few as they were, as well as determine if there are any new homes we should plan on raiding soon." RJ reasoned with Verne. "Besides, we'll stay close to the hedge, it's not like we're going to try swiping some food or anything." RJ swore to Verne, running his fingers in a cross over his heart… While his other fingers were crossed behind his back.
Hammy jumped in "Yeah Verne, we haven't been to the west side in a long time, and we still have to find new places to get more food, especially some of those new snacks and drinks that have been showing up lately on TV, like the new Super Chocolate Chip Twinkies, and that drink, Crash! From the makers of Rush! When you just have to keep going…" Hammy babbled the product slogan.
"Hammy, Hammy." RJ placed his hand on the squirrel's shoulder, breaking Hammy from his recitation of the oddly catchy jingle. "Come on, save your energy for when we raid the houses later on." RJ chuckled.
"HEY, WAIT A SECOND!" Verne exclaimed, catching RJ as the he let his tongue slip, causing the raccoon to cringe as soon as he realized his mistake. "You told me that this was just a scouting mission!" He reminded him sternly.
"Of course it is!" RJ raised his hands up in reassurance, faking the best genuine smile that he could. "Come on, come on… Just buy it already!" RJ thought, feeling the sweat forming on his brow. "We're not going to steal any food today, I already swore to you that we wouldn't." RJ repeated his promise, though without crossing his fingers of his exposed hands.
"Hmm…" Verne moved close and scrutinized him, inspecting RJ's face for any sign of deception.
"Come on Verne, RJ already gave you his word!" Hammy ran to RJ and clung to his side, trying to form his most adorable facial expression to soften Verne's heart.
"Well…" Verne sighed in exasperation. He never could resist complying whenever Hammy used his 'puppy dog eyes' trick. "Alright, alright. Let's just keep going." Verne trudged past the two, shaking his head to himself as he continued the trek to the western side of the hedge boundary.
"Thanks for the save, Hammy." RJ whispered softly into his partner's ear.
"No problem, RJ." Hammy smiled and placed a quick peck on RJ's cheek before darting off to join Verne. RJ took a few seconds to recover from the quick kiss before he looked forward to Hammy and Verne walking ahead of him, then smiling.
"I've really got to hand it to him." RJ smirked, jogging toward the two and watching as Hammy unfolded his crossed fingers from behind his back… Just for him.
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I would like to give out a much deserved THANK YOU to Brian Godspeed for his assistance and proofreading skills, not to mention "encouraging" me to get up off my ass to finish this chapter.
Once again, THANK YOU, Brian! I don't know what I would do without you.
As always, if you have any advice or suggestions, please feel free to review me. And of course, all flames will be ignored.
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