63. "We Belong to Each Other Tonight"
Mari had hit the wall. She never had it all. She never made a play; an outlaw fiancé. Her dreams went out the door, when he went to help the poor. Only (really) been with one man; what happened to her plan?
She was gonna be an actress; she was gonna be a star. She was gonna shake her tail, on the hood of Andrew Lloyd Webber's car. Her empty stage CV, is now the enemy. Looks at her average life, and nothing… has been… alright.
Since Oasis, older Madonna, right after Nirvana; there was Tupac, and Green Day, and music sometimes still on MTV. Her sheep friend, from art school, she tells her that she's uncool, 'cause she's still preoccupied, with 19-COUGH, 19-ACK, 1995.
But extended contemporary pop culture references aside, she did frequently wonder where her life had gone wrong when ten years prior, all indications were that her future - their future - was bright with abundant sunshine. They had each other's love to make one another feel whole, and each other's encouragement with their careers so that they could actually afford and achieve their happy ending. And while there were their rough patches in the years following their graduation, it was hard not to see the day he left her there as the precise moment that her life fell apart.
He'd warned her in the coded message yesterday that he'd probably be tired today from an inability to sleep brought upon by excitement about seeing her; she wasn't going to be much more well-rested herself. Falling asleep had been a challenge in itself, but staying asleep proved tougher. She'd pass out from exhaustion, have a dream (faintly remembering when she woke that they involved him, but struggling to recall more than that), wake up, wonder what time it was and whether she'd been asleep for long enough to get out of bed now, realize she'd only been asleep for one more REM cycle, try to fall back asleep but wind up laying there thinking about him for twenty minutes or more until she passed out again, rinse and repeat.
We find her now laying in bed, staring straight up at the ceiling with her tired eyes half-open, having decided that seeking more sleep would be a hopeless endeavor. She was half-awake, but she was half-asleep, too, and perhaps for this reason, her brain was struggling to accept that this day had actually come. After so long of him seeming like a figment of her imagination, to say it was hard to believe she'd actually be seeing him again today would be an understatement. The lack of sleep certainly couldn't have been helping the fact that this morning just felt like the beginning of another dream. That was a contributing factor to her still not getting out of bed: just in case this wasn't real, she didn't want to wake up and risk confronting reality.
And even if this was real… would it be him she'd be seeing, or someone new with the same name in the same body? Oh, as badly as she wanted to see the Robin she remembered again, she didn't want to wish that he hadn't grown as a person in the last seven years as she (thought she) had. So what would be worse, that he'd become someone she wouldn't recognize… or that he hadn't? She didn't know what should worry her more, the possibility that the person she'd become would alienate him, or that the person he'd become wouldn't be the person she'd remembered - yeah, many would say today was supposed to be a happy day and that she shouldn't worry about those questions, but… no, they'd seem each other once in seven years, there was valid reason to fret about these things. There was certainly at least one person in her life strongly encouraging her to move on from him.
Oh, who was she kidding? Of course he'd be different, who lives in the woods for seven years and spends every single day of those seven years risking their lives for strangers without it having some effect on their personality? She'd felt at home in his presence, but as they say, time changes the places that we once called home and makes them unrecognizable, and in that way we can never go home again; well, so also the people who made those places home. She could only hope that however he'd change, he would still be in there somewhere. He had to be, right? His fundamental core surely must have still been intact, yes?
And if you're wondering if he already seemed different that night four summers ago when they briefly had the chance to meet… she was pondering the same thing. That too just felt like a fever dream at this point and the memory had become a bit of a blur - it didn't help that the drink was good and plentiful that night at the party in Sherwood.
But what she knew for certain wasn't a false memory was the fact that she had just turned thirty-one earlier that month, and as her youth continued to slip through her fingers like the sands of time, she could look around and see everyone else her age enter a new stage of life with something going right for them, something to look forward to - if not a career, a family; if not a family, a career; if neither, something else to give them personal fulfillment, be it globe-trekking travels or a fully-booked social calendar or simply a hobby for which they were passionate; some lucky few even had several of these things. She had none; the rest of Generation X was putting their famously wayward ways of their younger days behind them and making peace with growing older as it came in exchange for other, more rewarding things, but Marian was getting older without receiving any of the perks, no comfortable income, no sense of accomplishment, and (in essence) no partner and children. This much she knew for certain.
She heard the door open. Well, time to face the day whether it was real or not.
"Mari," an unmistakable moderately-Americanized Anglo-Scottish accent said sharply, "are ye up yet?"
"Ah, I suppose I am now," the vixen murmured in reply as she made herself sit up in bed.
Now in sight, Annie could be seen carrying in a cup of tea for her fox friend. "Well if ye plan on seeing ye beloved tod tonight, I suggest ye get out of here sooner than later."
"And why is that, Klucky?" Marian asked playfully, as she saw no reason to make haste. And to confirm, she glanced at the clock. "It's… not even seven in the morning yet? Believe me, Annie, I won't be dragging my feet to see him, but he distinctly said to meet him at night; at the very least, I have twelve hours until he'll be ready for me."
The ewe rolled her eyes as she handed her friend the cup. "Of course he couldn't give ye an exact time, lazy lad like him can't be bothered to keep a schedule. But tell me, Mari - do ye remember Johnny and the wee one comin' home last night?"
"I can't say I did," Marian answered after swallowing a sip, "I supposed they were still out wandering aimlessly about town; they weren't back at the end of my shift, so I went to bed, they couldn't tell me not to."
Annie gave one firm nod and pointed to the teacup as Marian took another sip. "Get some caffeine in ye and get yerself to the suburbs while ye have the chance," said the sheep, "Johnny's not home, he got himself arrested."
The vixen did not do that thing where she'd spit her drink out in surprise - she almost did, but she was halfway through swallowing when the hammer dropped, so she just started coughing and choking on the liquid instead, which was probably worse.
The ewe leaned in and grabbed the tea and put it on the end table before giving Marian some firm pats on the back to clear her throat (and if it seemed callous for her to grab the teacup before helping her friend, well, recall that it would wind up being her responsibility to clean it if the drink spilled, and she trusted Marian could handle a little something going down the wrong pipe). Indeed, the situation wasn't too dire, and after a moment, Marian was able to take a breath and look up at Annie for clarification.
"He got arrested!?"
"Woke up this morning, he wasn't here. Didn't think much of it. But I just got a call from Rocky - ol' Johnny ran afoul o' the Rehoboth municipals, didn't explain how, but those cops knew they needn't answer to him. Charlie's been there all night with him trying to get the daft kitty out of prison, Rocky was there too, but called to tell me he was on his way here under Johnny's orders, the man himself probably following shortly after. That's what I mean - make a break for it while ye can, Mari."
Marian simply stared off into space as she processed this very strange news; this was not helping her feel confident in saying this wasn't a dream. Deciding Kluck was right and that she ought to caffeinate herself, she took the cup of tea once more and took a swig while still not looking at her friend.
"Ye seem in no hurry," Annie observed.
"And I'm sure it seems ridiculous from your perspective that I'd be dragging my feet," the fox replied, "but…" She was still staring into space, and after a moment of silence she let out a heavy sigh and turned to face her. "Before I go, I need to clear my head. I feel like I need a clear goal with this - my brain wants to see that he's changed as anybody should after seven years, but my heart… my heart just wants to see the man I fell in love with exactly as he was. And you know me, Klucky, I don't usually let my foolish heart tell my brain what to do, but in a matter of love… what's the point of seeing him again if not to seek what my heart wants?"
There were a million scathing remarks about Robin that the sheep could have dropped at that moment, but she decided this was not the time for it. Rather, she sat herself down on the bed and put an arm around the sister she never had.
"Mari, lass… I understand," she said softly with an air of melancholy wisdom. "Ye're right, logic has no place in love. But recall, dear: we're also looking for him to arrange for a mutually-beneficial arrangement. We help him and his lads stay alive, he helps us get out from under Johnny's thumb - we help each other out. So perhaps what I'd recommend is…" She turned away to stare into space herself as she tapped her hoof to her chin and pondered how to say what she was thinking. "...Maybe try to have ye brain sell ye heart on hopin' he's someone better!"
The vixen was confused. "And how do you mean this?"
"Think of it this way," Annie explained calmly: "It would be best that he's not quite exactly the same as he was, no?"
"I agree…"
"So maybe get ye'self feelin' hopeful that he's better than ye remember! Aye, we're talkin' about love, ain't we? Well, wouldn't it be lovely if all those years made him grow up into someone ye wouldn't immediately recognize - because he's someone better than what ye recognize?"
Marian thought about that. "I… see what you're saying-"
"Maybe now he's someone who can actually cook!"
"Heh… well, that might be nice-"
"And someone who'll actually apologize for not even attemptin' to write ya!"
"Erm, yeah, that's… that's something I'll certainly be hoping for-"
"A real man who's finally learnt the importance of work and wouldn't waste away his days pacin' about the house gettin' in-character for roles he's not even auditionin' for instead a' lookin' fer a job!"
"Okay, well, that's a given-"
"Och, I swear, if that tod's first instinct after meetin' up with ya is to take ye back to Sherwood and shag ye-"
"Oh, Klucky, please, don't be so crass," Marian cut in, actually a little annoyed at her friend for disparaging her boyfriend once again, "even before he left, he was more mature than that. He was a gentleman and that's what I loved the most about him."
Annie shrugged. "I don't mean to ruin the day for ye already, Mari, but ah canny help but think it's not very gentlemanly for him to make ye come find him while he stands about and waits for ye!" Yeah, her desire to hold back on the quips was gone now that the floodgates had been opened.
Marian shook her head a little to dismiss the criticism. "He knows it's not safe to come seek me out, so I need to find him. You know that." Rather than wait for a retort, however, she decided this was as good a time as any to get her arse in gear. "But you know what? You make a good point, Klucky. It hasn't magically changed my heart on the spot, but…" she was silent for a second as she dug some clothes out of her drawer. "...I have a long journey ahead, I'll have plenty of time to convince myself that him being someone new would be the preferable option. In fact…" And one more pause as she turned to look at the morning sun peeking in through the window. "...when I think of it as… 'look at how much of a heroic man he's grown into'… I'll be damned if that's not a bit of an attractive thought, Annie."
The ewe simply smiled and gave one firm nod. "Always here to help, lass. Would ye like me to come with ye to meet him?"
"No, no, you'd best stay behind and keep Johnny occupied - and if it's just Robin waiting for me, I don't know that there'll be a different Johnny there to keep you occupied! Or an Alan-"
"Och, but what if both his friends are there!? Wouldn't want them to be lonely, now would ye? Come now, Mari, I'm woman enough to handle the both o' them at once!"
The vixen was trying not to laugh. "Oh, Klucky, Klucky, Klucky… accusing Robin of wanting to see me just so he could lay me down somewhere while you say something incredibly suggestive like that! It's telling that you're calling him immature while you're lusting after men too old for you-"
"Because their maturity is attractive!" Annie replied, smiling but completely serious. "And if anything, lass… let's both hope you find Robin more attractive than he used to be for that very reason!"
Marian chuckled through her nose but didn't otherwise say anything, and they looked at one another in silence for a moment before the ewe decided there was one more nice thing she could say about her best friend's boy:
"...I'll give him this, Mari… he may take foolish risks, but he does have the guts to take 'em. Maybe I shouldn't, but the wild woman inside of me would love to find a man that stupidly brave."
"He's a gambler…" Marian said dreamily, looking past Kluck into space, "...that's one thing I certainly hope hasn't changed about him."
"And me, too, Mari. We'll need to keep gambling to get us all out o' this mess."
And with that, the two women gave each other a heartfelt sororal hug and didn't let go for a good few moments, eyes closed and breathing slow.
"Good luck, Mari."
"Thank you, Annie."
They pulled back from one another, and the sheep gave the fox a quick peck on the cheek before they let go.
Marian quickly began getting dressed and collecting all the things she'd need to be carrying that day into her purse. "If the bear or the coyote are there, I'll tell them you said hi!"
Annie gave her friend a playful smack on the bum for that remark, but refrained from telling her not to do such a thing. Before long, Marian was ready for her date with destiny, and Kluck performed the honor of opening up their bedroom door. The vixen walked out and turned down the hallway, looking forward to seeing a face she hadn't seen in a while.
"Ah, there you ladies are!"
…Not the rhino's face, however. No disrespect to him, just…
"Ah, bloody hell," Marian mumbled to herself.
-IllI-
This time riding in the back of a police squad car was much more preferable to the time from the previous night; for starters, he wasn't wearing handcuffs, and his assistant was now by his side.
"Thank you again for the escort, Officer, er… Zee-"
"The X makes an S-H sound," the panda corrected, "Xiong, Captain Xiong." That would be Police Captain Daniel Xiong, who would let you call him Danny if he liked you, but he didn't very much like the lion and weasel in his back seat. "And you're welcome, Mayor."
The mayor had already thanked Captain Xiong twice before during the ride; it was all a concerted effort to butter the bear up. It had been a long night, and Mayor Norman had had a lot of time to think. After being arrested by Officer Buckley of the Rehoboth Beach PD and taken to the town's holding cell to be booked for trespassing (during which the deer cop decided to spare Hess from incarceration but also refused to take him to the station, leaving the poor weasel to wander around town that night trying to find someone who was awake and sober enough to get him to the headquarters or at least get him a cab or help him use a payphone which he had the money for but couldn't physically operate with his feet), Prince John had had to wait until morning for the City and County police to figure out what was going on and come down there to bail him out (with public taxpayer money, of course), at which point they escorted him through the crowd of journalists gathered at the entrance awaiting his release (perhaps it goes without saying that he said nothing to them) and one of those cops was now taking him back to the mayoral mansion.
Throughout this entire ordeal, the one thing the lion couldn't stop thinking about was the idea that none of this embarrassment and disgrace would have happened had his two foremost officers simply been willing and able to fulfill their duty in doing their jobs and serving him. Now, in fairness, Woodland wasn't necessarily unwilling, he was simply genuinely unable after getting plastered at the worst possible time, not having any reason to expect such a turn of events as that fateful letter winding up in Marian's paws. As for Nutzinger, however? One may be cynical about how much a rodent could realistically do to catch and apprehend a fox by himself, let alone a fox and a brown bear, and all of that would be assuming that he'd actually have found the outlaws there at the shore. But the deputy hadn't even tried, he just gave his superior lip and dared him to do something about it.
And with all this time to reflect on that, the mayor decided that he might just do something about it.
"I must say, Officer Zeeong-"
"Xiong," the bear corrected, trying not to be too curt. "And for reference, sir, my title is Captain."
"Oh, yesyesyes, you're right, you're correct, my apologies, forgive me. But tell me, Officer Zeeong… do you know that you strike me as far more professional and dutiful than many others in your profession? Even more-so than those higher up the proverbial ladder than yourself?"
The panda had no idea where this was going. "...I suppose I know now."
"Very well then! With this established, I must say, I would be derelict of my own duty not to do what I could to remedy the fact that those most fit for the highest positions are not in such positions and that those unfit for them are occupying all these positions of power. Perhaps you see where I'm going with this?"
"...Perhaps I do."
"Very well then. So let me waste no more of your time: Deputy Nutzinger has been getting on my nerves recently. I've not known you for long, Officer Zeeong, but I can already tell that you would be much more suited to serve your community in a role like his than that squirrel is himself. Please tell me: if I were to sack him, would you be willing to accept a promotion to Sheriff's Deputy?"
The lion was leaning forward in his seat towards his driver, anticipating that the panda would spin his head around and look at his mayor with shock and awe written all over his face, chuffed to bits that he would be granted such an honor.
But the captain just kept his eyes on the road, driving silently for a second, during which the mayor could kind of see that the bear's face looked almost scrunched up in confusion. Soon, however, the driver did speak:
"Well… I'm honored that you'd consider me for it. I'd really have to think about it-"
"Ah, but it is a promotion, Officer!" the lion insisted. "Are you not excited for the opportunity?"
"Yeah, but you know, with all big decisions, you'd best think it over first-"
"Nonsense! This is a big offer, Officer! Don't while away pondering a question with an obvious answer!" Prince John was trying to present himself as smiley and jovial and encouraging, but with his raging anti-charisma, anybody could tell that he was transparently annoyed that Captain Xiong wasn't giving him an immediate affirmative response. "Come now, don't leave me waiting! Make your decision and make it confidently!"
Another moment of silence, and then the panda shrugged. "Alright, well right now, I'm not interested.
And if Mayor Norman was doing a bad job of hiding his frustration with Xiong's refusal to answer, he was doing an even worse job of hiding his sheer confusion at the captain's actual answer. "B-but Officer Zeeong… this would be putting you only one step away from the highest position of any constable in the land! And in the condition our sheriff is in, it wouldn't surprise me if he were to, ahem, vacate his position soon in one way or another."
"I'm pretty sure the State Police still overrule us-"
"So tell me again, Officer… won't you be my new deputy?"
Another moment of silence. "...No. No, I'm not- I don't have any interest in working under Woodland."
Prince John tilted his head. "And may I ask why not?"
"That guy's an assho- he's a jerk."
"Ah, he can be a strong personality, but good leaders often are-!"
"I wouldn't call him a strong leader," Danny said flatly. "He's callous, he's slobbish, he's lazy, he doesn't strike me as booksmart or streetsmart, he doesn't inspire others to do their best and be better, and quite frankly, he's a blatantly racist redneck who's said faux-Chinese gibberish to my face and had the nerve to ask me why I didn't find it hilarious. I… simply refuse to work directly under him, and I know a lot of other officers in this department feel the same way."
Now the lion was quiet as he pondered this. "Is that so?"
"Yeah, and if you wanna know what's really up, we all think between the two of them, George would be the better chief of police or… sheriff or whatever we're calling that position these days."
"Well removing Sheriff Woodland from his post is not an offer on the table, sir." Indeed, Mayor Norman had no intention of disposing of his useful idiot. "How on earth does one draw the conclusion that an insolent little bugger like George is a superior leader than a man like Eddward?"
"Well It's not even that George exudes inspiring leadership himself, just… nobody has any beef with him, everyone's just sort of okay with him, you can tell he at least has a good head on his shoulders while Ward doesn't, and George usually isn't an asshole to someone who doesn't deserve it."
What a curious statement to end on. "Would you say he's justified when he's behaving like an arsehole to me, Officer?"
Captain Xiong took a second to come up with a good answer: "Well, Mister Mayor, I'm not around for your interactions with him, so I wouldn't know. I can only judge a man from what I've seen about him myself."
The mayor crossed his arms and pouted. "Nevertheless, Officer Zeeong, a promotion is a promotion, and I don't respect a man who doesn't challenge himself!"
"Fine. Don't respect me then."
"...That sounds like something Nutzinger would say."
Captain Xiong did not say another word to the lion until they got back to the mansion.
Once again, Prince John was left alone with his thoughts as he sat fuming at this rejection. So the blasted squirrel was right, people would actively refuse the opportunity to be promoted to a lofty position with all the power that came with it because apparently the idea of working under the lion and the wolf was just that unappealing. Ah, if he had been raised better, perhaps instead of sitting there wondering why everyone was against him, John might have had the maturity to reflect upon the fact that everyone was against him, and maybe he might actually have had the epiphany that he needed to in some way better himself if he wanted people to stop hating him. Alas, this was not meant to be, and he just sat there stewing in his victim complex for the remainder of the ride.
And you didn't misread that earlier, Dear Reader, Charles was indeed in the vehicle with them, sitting right next to his boss. But we didn't write him out of the scene here, he was simply exhausted after being up all night trying to arrange for the lion's freedom. But as he sat there drifting in and out of consciousness, he was feeling most tranquil, content to know that there were now legal records showing that he had not only refused to participate in the mayor's shenanigans but had tried his best to reel his boss in. Having a paper trail to show that he had been the better half of the leader he was tasked with serving ought to have boosted his resume when he finally got the chance to prove to the world that he was the one between them that truly deserved to be in power.
-IllI-
"And you're such a gentleman for that, Ra'Quan, but you needn't escort me around town all day!"
"And you're an intelligent woman, Miss Marian, which is why I'm sure you can understand that I'm out of a job if I don't follow Mayor Norman's orders."
Marian had been wandering aimlessly around the house for about five minutes now as Rocky followed her around, clearly not wanting to invade on her privacy but obviously feeling sorely obligated to do so. They'd been bantering back and forth as Marian tried to convince the rhino bodyguard to lapse in his conscientiousness, Rocky not giving her an inch.
"Och, Rocky!" Kluck cut in as she intercepted their two-person parade to nowhere, "perhaps ye can help me! I seem to have forgotten how to use a teapot!"
"And you're also an intelligent woman, Miss Anne, so I trust it'll come back to you before too long. Besides, I'm not a tea drinker, I wouldn't know how to use one myself."
The sheep just threw her hooves up and rolled her eyes.
Okay, something had to give here, this was going nowhere. Marian therefore decided that she could roll with this and maybe lose him later.
"Okay then, Ra'Quan, if you insist on keeping me safe during my exploits, I can make use of you!" said Marian. "A lady can always use a gentleman to carry her items when she goes on a shopping spree!"
-IllI-
"Man, Bobby, they really made you load up everything yourself and made you take the bus here?"
Little John just smirked before he took a drag off his cigarette. "Well, after shoveling all our shit in there, there wasn't any room for a guy like me at that point!"
That part was true, but Johnny hadn't taken any bus. He'd loaded all of the Merry Men's stuff into Otto's pickup and walked straight on over while Otto and Robin stopped at a Walmart to pick up some other items that might make their collection of possessions seem more normal and less homeless-y and vagrant-y, hence how Johnny still beat them to the foxes' house on foot. If Terry had stopped to think about how long it would take to get here from any part of the city by bus versus by car, he'd probably have realized it didn't make any sense that the bear had gotten here first.
But Terry wasn't thinking of transportation logistics. Terry was still flabbergasted by the perceived rudeness "Bobby" had received. "Yeah, but that seems so… shitty to you that you had to do all that work and they didn't even give you a ride."
The grizzly shrugged, maintaining his smile. "Comes with the territory of being my size. Being the beast of burden stops feeling unfair and starts feeling honorable when you realize you're the only one who can lift all that stuff!"
"Yeah, but they couldn't, y'know… drop everything off here, then go back and get you?"
"What can I say? I wanted to be here for when they got here."
Terry took a drag off his own smoke. "...You know you're gonna be the guy I'm calling on every time I need a lightbulb changed, right?"
"Oh, I saw that coming a mile away," the big guy answered with a playful scoff. "...And speaking of something coming…"
The old pale-blue Dodge Ram pickup truck rounded the corner onto Rethink Avenue and came to a stop squarely in front of the two gentlemen waiting on the lawn. Terry and Johnny put their cigarettes out on the sidewalk as they went to greet the two gentlemen stepping out of the car.
"Jackie boy! Good to see you!" Terry said as he shook the bigger fox's hand - doing so a bit gently to respect the broken arm, but not too gently to the point of disrespecting Jack's manhood (and maybe just a little aggressively to assert vulpine dominance).
"And to you, Terry," said Robin. "Thank you so much for giving us a place to stay."
"Aw, you two are good guys, the pleasure is mine." Terry moved on to Otto. "Terry. Nice to meet ya."
"Otto Smith. A friend of the boys is a friend of mine." (Had he forgotten the Merry Men's aliases already? It's possible.)
"Welp! Seeing as I'm… somehow the smallest one here, I think it's fair that I'm exempt from carrying the big stuff in," said Terry cheekily.
"Oh, but I'm exempt as well," the other fox noted as he held up his healing arm.
"And I'm old!" said the dog with a chuckle.
So from several feet above the others, the big bear rolled his eyes and started undoing the tarp covering the stuff in the bed of Otto's truck. "Alright, alright…"
Terry was still kind enough to position himself in such a way to give both of his new tenants simultaneous pats on the back. "Welcome home, boys. It'll be great to have ya."
-IllI-
And props to Rocky for being more secure than a lot of guys would be, but it had been several hours and Marian's strategy of getting the rhino off her tail by embarrassing him wasn't working.
She'd probably walked past every store in the mall at least once, and with this being the Nottingham Forum shopping center in the lower five levels of a twenty-five-story building downtown, that meant a lot of going up and down in addition to all around. But Rocky wasn't tiring, not even as she kept buying things that were specifically physically and/or culturally awkward and giving him the classic male task of carrying an increasing quantity of crap around. There was just no stopping this guy.
He wasn't embarrassed when she stopped in Victoria's Secret and bought herself some lingerie. He wasn't overwhelmed when she went to the FAO Schwartz to buy a bunch of big rubber balls that she said she intended to give away to the children of Nottingham, nor was he overwhelmed when she stopped at Waldenbooks and picked up a bunch of toddlers' literature (teaching youngins how to do things like go to the bathroom or stop wetting the bed at night) for purportedly a similar charitable purpose - both times telling the cashiers that she didn't want a bag for her items as she had a man to carry them for her. Hell, when she stopped at the Eckerd pharmacy on the ground floor and bought some feminine products, she was probably more embarrassed than he was, as she was when she went back to Victoria's Secret to return the lingerie when she'd realized she'd been spending way too much of her own money just to get this rhino off her tail. And when she ran out of ideas, she went right back to FAO Schwartz, musing absentmindedly about what it would be like to have a kit of her own, and bought a giant novelty teddy bear dressed in a sailor's outfit that she hoped would seal the deal and make Rocky concede when he just couldn't carry the damned thing without it impeding his ability to follow and keep an eye on her (hey, at least this thing could serve a practical purpose, Marian told herself that once she and Robin got back together she could give Annie the eight-foot plush sailor bear so the sheep could pretend she had a boyfriend too - my god, these women could be raunchy when they wanted to be); alas, Rocky did not find the gigantic pile of stuff held precariously in his arms to be any type of insurmountable inconvenience.
But if there was one good thing about all that time spent wandering in circles in the Forum, Rocky knowing exactly what Marian was seeking to do and refusing to allow it so easily lest he tangibly suffer for it, it was that it increased the chances that Marian would eventually come up with an idea for how to get rid of him.
"...Ah, excuse me, Ra'Quan, I need to use the ladies' room."
"Of course, Miss Marian."
The plan didn't come to her altogether at once, though. She had successfully gotten away from him for a moment, but there was only one way in or out of there, and he'd be waiting for her when she came out. Well, at least she'd bought herself more time to think.
A few ideas crossed her mind. Maybe she could look for an air vent or something to escape out of? No, no, the vents were too high off the ceiling, this busy mall had too many women passing through the ladies' restroom at any given time for her to ever have a moment alone, and who knows if she'd even be able to get the grates open without any tools. Could she somehow disguise herself and throw him off? Maybe wrap herself in paper towels and toilet tissue, maybe be eccentric and find a woman her size who'd be open to swapping clothes? No, God no, far too weird, far too high a risk for such a low chance of success. Should she just wait there forever and hope he eventually got bored of waiting and walked off? Maybe even trick him into thinking she'd already slipped past his gaze without him realizing it and sending him on a wild goose chase trying to find her? Argh, not the worst idea, but Rocky was smart, he'd probably just ask a janitor or something to go into the washroom to see if there was a very large vixen in there somewhere.
But therein lay a good idea: these strangers could be her resources.
Her first thought was that she could go up to any single one of these women, tell them there was a strange rhino man following her around, and… there was a good chance they'd agree to scream and make a scene as soon as they walked out the door to get mall security in there and escort him away for questioning. But no, that struck her as an incredibly fucked-up thing to do to, Rocky was too nice of a guy who just happened to be financially beholden to a monster, he didn't deserve to have a heinous accusation lobbed at him that would publicly mortify him - and maybe even worse depending on how the cops at the scene decided to treat a rhino.
So instead she formulated a plot to appeal to his good nature. Now all she needed was a stranger who'd be on board.
Looking around the lavatory, she was reminded that this downtown mall was rather upscale, so she would probably have no luck in explaining her situation truthfully to any of her fellow patrons and expecting them to help her out. And asking someone to do what she was thinking without an explanation? Well, there's your issue, they'd have no incentive to do something so odd. But then…
…A miracle happened.
"Custodial," said the cleaning lady boredly as she walked in with a mop and bucket on wheels. Marian thinks she was a… guanaco? Something like that. In any case, if anyone would get it… it just might be this woman.
"Pardon me," the vixen said, bravely pushing through her embarrassment to approach the janitor.
"Hm? Yes?" The guanaco didn't seem immediately interested.
"Hello, yes, er… I'm sorry, this is terribly awkward, but… I may need your help with something…" Marian gestured to the large-mammal stall at the far end of the restroom. "May I speak with you in private?"
"Why in there?" Naturally, this stranger was a little weirded out by this.
"Er- it's a bit of a personal issue-"
"What could it be?" She wasn't budging.
"Erm…" Marian looked around. They weren't alone. But how much were these strange women really listening? "Do you… know who I am?" she asked quietly.
The guanaco winced. "You famous or something? You asking for special service?"
But Marian had to forgive this woman's attitude, this was all very strange after all. "No, erm… let me put it this way…" She really hoped she wasn't being racist by doing this - and that she remembered how to say the words correctly. "...Do you know who… my novia is?"
The cleaning lady seemed like she was starting to get it. "...You mean novio?"
"Er, yes, my apologies, erm…" Another look around. These rich women probably couldn't care less about a conversation involving the working-class janitor even if they did understand. "¿...El zorro inglés? En la, erm… ¿en el bosque?"
…The cleaning lady got it.
Outside, Rocky waited patiently, a pyramid of picture books and bouncy balls built in his arms with a box of tampons hidden discreetly in the middle while the life-size mariner teddy was tucked into the crook of his elbow. He had bills to pay, he could stand here forever if that's what he had to do to not get in trouble with his boss. He knew his sense of duty and he wasn't going to abandon it unless he had a damn good reason to-
"Ughhhhh!" came a loud moan, followed by a thud and many people gasping. The rhino hadn't thought much of the guanaco custodian when she'd walked out past him with her mop and bucket, but now that she'd just fainted a few feet past him in the middle of the mall corridor, she had his full attention.
"MA'AM!" Rocky hollered as he dropped all of Marian's items and jumped over to assist the woman, who lay on the floor groaning, conscious but groggy.
As part of his training as a bodyguard, the rhino had to know first aid, and fortunately, as much as this town might seem like a hellhole full of miserable people, a few others around the cleaning lady also stopped to assist her. In a few minutes they'd determined that she was probably okay, likely just dehydrated, and she stood up under her own power as she insisted she didn't require an ambulance. But while the scene had a happy ending, Rocky did eventually remember why he was even in the Nottingham Forum in the first place, and when he did, the thought crossed his mind that maybe, just maybe, he'd been bamboozled.
-IllI-
"...WHYYYYYYY-YYYYYYY?"
Knock knock knock.
"Whyyy you alllllways kiiick me whennn I'm…"
"George?"
"HIIIIIII-IIIIIIIGH?"
"...George?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
"Knoccck me dowwwn till weee see eyyye to…"
"Can you hear me?"
"EYYYYYYYE-EYYYYYYYE!"
"GEORGE?"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Fiiiguuured her ouuut-"
"GEORGE!"
"-I know she MAYYYYY nottt BEEEEE Miiiss RIIIIIGHT, sheee'll DOOOOO riiight NOW!"
"GEORGE EDWIN NUTZINGER!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
"Sheee'll DOOOOO riiight NOWWWWW! Nyehhh, nyehhh, nyehhh nyehhh…"
"George."
Her son took his headphones off. "Well thanks for knocking."
"I did. Several times. Didn't you hear me!?"
"Naw, Mom, I'm listening to stuff. You're gonna have to stop taking it personally when I don't hear you."
"Well tell me this, did you hear that the mayor just got arrested?"
George turned away from his computer to fully face his mom. "I beg your pardon?"
"You haven't heard?"
"I think I'm about to."
Rebekah raised an eyebrow, having trouble believing that her high-ranking police officer son hadn't been privy to this important news, but decided he really had no motivation to be feigning ignorance about this.
"So… don't quote me on this, but my understanding of it is… he got arrested in Rehoboth Beach for trespassing on the beach after-hours and refusing to leave? I think?"
George winced just a little. "Aaand… why was he… what was he doing there?"
Rebekah gave him a blank stare for a second before she shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I came here to ask you if you knew."
"Well… I don't…"
"Apparently."
"...So… is that legit though? Is it official he got arrested by the RBPD?"
"As far as I can tell."
George turned to stare at the wall and process this for a moment. After this moment, he promptly started laughing hysterically, and while he didn't cartoonishly fall straight out of his chair, he did lean so far back into it that his butt slid off the seat and he soon found himself sitting on the ground with his arm propped up on said chair.
"George, this is serious! Yeah, the guy's a jerk, but a city needs leadership and if the mayor's out getting arrested, we could fall into chaos like a third-world country!"
"That's fucking hilarious!"
"George, do you even care at all about your boss!?"
Nutsy's laughing had petered out into a light tongue-chuckle. "You've been spending too much time with that rabbit lady if you think I'm a bad person for not caring about him. But no, I don't. I really don't. Maybe Chinese or Greek or Swahili have words to describe how little I care, but English doesn't."
But his mother's tone went suddenly from angry to simply disappointed. "Well, what about the community you've sworn to serve and protect as part of your job? Do you not care about them either?"
It worked like a charm and her son's smile evaporated immediately. Not to say he completely backed down, however: "I mean… these two things aren't… I can care about my community and still say 'fuck its leader,' I do care about my community and honestly I'd say that saying 'fuck this community's shitty leader' is proof I care about this city and want it in better hands than his. Is… is this not making sense? Am I making sense?"
Rebekah looked unsure. "I understand what you're saying, but how exactly do your actions lead to a better city?"
"We make the mayor realize he's unwanted and unwelcome and get him to get the fuck outta here and set the precedent that the people of this city won't tolerate bullshit like his from any future politicians."
The mama squirrel huffed. "Sounds like you ought to join those bandits living in the woods."
"Maybe I will. I'm an adult, it's my prerogative-"
"Don't you dare!" Rebekah barked with a pointed finger.
Her son gave her a dirty look. "Do you want me to criticize you for assuming what was clearly sarcasm was genuine or for skipping straight to responding to that assumption with anger?"
"Neither, I want you to listen to your mother!"
"Not an option."
She rolled her eyes. "Well if you hate the mayor that much and want him gone, there's this thing called voting-"
"Which is only something we get to do every couple of years and it's rigged against us anyway."
"Oh, how is it rigged!?"
"Name anybody who ran against him this last election cycle."
She glared at him.
"Anyone at all," he clarified.
"George," she said sternly.
"There are multiple possible correct answers."
"Can you name any of them!?"
"Doug Seelye, Kim Dyer, John Barker, Jim Wheeler, Patricia Wagner, Clete Cunningham, Bill Karhunen-"
"Fine!" Rebekah said as she threw her hands up in frustrated defeat. "If you know so much about these people and think they'd be a better fit for our city than Norman, go out and run their campaigns for them instead of sitting around doing… what are you doing?"
"I fail to see how that's any of your business."
"I'm your mother."
"And I'm an adult."
"Just tell me."
"Remember how when I was a kid you wouldn't let me hang out in my room with the door closed because you always wanted to know what I was doing? I've looked into that, apparently that isn't normal."
"George!" At this point, she just walked closer and looked at her son's computer. "You're trying to buy a guitar!?"
"Please explain to me how this can be construed as anything but an invasion of my privacy."
"Why do you want to buy a guitar!? Can you even play a guitar!?"
George's expression went from mildly disgusted to intensely disgusted. "And how exactly does one learn how to play a guitar without actually having one to practice on?"
But Rebekah wasn't relenting. "Why do you want to learn how to play a guitar!?"
"Because people who don't suck at life constantly learn new things, so I wanna try this."
And to this, Rebekah put her hands on her hips and leaned over to get her face very close to his. "Music isn't in this family's genes."
Her son's expression went blank as he processed what he'd just heard. "Did you just… discourage your son from trying to achieve a goal?"
"I'm trying to help my son by saving him from wasting his time and money on something that's not going to work out-"
"No, you just literally told me to my face that I shouldn't strive to better myself. And why are you fucking angry about that? You're acting like I just said I'm taking classes on how to date-rape a woman."
"Because it worries me that you don't understand that this would be a waste of your time."
"It worries me that you're this defeatist when you're always accusing me of being a Negative Nancy! What, are you still traumatized about music from when you were in Catholic school and the bitch nuns would tell you you were tarnishing God's grace by singing badly!?"
"Enough," Rebekah said as she took a deep breath with her eyes closed and her paws up. "I'm not gonna argue with you."
"Because you don't wanna accept that you're wrong-"
"When's the Sheriff coming?"
"...Huh?"
"To pick you up to go to that show you guys are going to, when's he coming?"
"Oh, hell if I know, he's just picking me up whenever he feels like it. He knows we have reserved seats so he probably doesn't feel any urgency to show up early."
"Hm," was all Rebekah said as she turned to leave. "Alright, tell me when you're leaving, then."
"You'll probably find out the same time as I do when he rings the buzzer." And then he felt compelled to add, "You realize that we haven't resolved our argument, right? Mature adults don't behave this way, I had to learn that from people other than you."
But she just walked out without answering, leaving the door wide open.
-IllI-
"Ma'am?"
"Hrmmm?"
"Ma'am." More sternly this time.
Marian awoke to a wolverine shaking her awake; she was startled at first before she remembered where she was and realized this was an employee stirring her.
"Ma'am, you're not allowed to sleep in the library," the strange woman said in a hushed voice befitting of the setting.
Still half-asleep, Marian struggled to get her mouth moving. "Oh, er, I'm, I'm dreadfully sorry-"
"It's okay, we just ask that you don't do it again."
"Oh, but I never meant to, it was genuinely an accident that I fell asleep-"
The librarian raised her paws. "Ma'am, it's alright. We understand that these things happen, but we ask that you be more vigilant about not falling asleep in here. As librarians, we seek to provide free resources to the public, but if we let people sleep in here, we'd quickly become a homeless shelter, and we aren't equipped for that."
"Alright, yes, yes, er… I'm sorry, what time is it?"
The wolverine checked her watch. "About five-thirty."
Jeez, how long had she been out for? After taking three different buses to get to the Peach Creek Public Library (each one slower and a longer wait than the last, God bless the nonexistent American public transportation infrastructure), she'd arrived here sometime around 2 o'clock, and while she did wander around for a few hours as she waited till nightfall, she didn't remember it getting anywhere close to five-thirty.
"Are you actually using the resources of the library?" the wolverine asked, softly but firmly. "If not, ma'am, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Er… actually, if you could help me find something?"
The librarian seemed cautiously open to hearing the vixen out. "Yes?" She may have been a cold old lady, but this wolverine was dedicated to her job.
"Do you have any… street atlases of the local area?"
-IllI-
There were plenty of people in Nottingham who would probably kill to be at the housewarming party for two legends like Robin and Johnny, but it simply seemed in every way to be the wise decision to keep it low-key. Not to mention, their new hosts were a married couple who were excited to finally have some people to have fun with on a Friday night without requiring them to leave the house.
So, a few beers and basement karaoke that just entailed them singing over songs played on a CD player? A few beers and basement karaoke that just entailed them singing over songs played on a CD player. And mildly-intoxicated Terry was having such a blast singing to his wife that he didn't even mind that his two new backup vocalists were completely getting the lyrics to one of his favorite songs wrong:
"(Thehhhhhre sheeeee gohhhhhs aaagaaaaain!)"
"Whennn sheeeee's daaancin' 'neeeath the staaaaarryyyyy skyyyyy, yeah… I'll maaake you fliiip!"
"(Thehhhhhre sheeeee gohhhhhs aaagaaaaain!)"
"Whennn sheeeee's daaancin' 'neeeath the staaaaarryyyyy skyyyyy-!"
"(Thehhhhhre sheeeee gohhhhhs aaagaaaaain!)"
"III kiiinda liiike the wayyy, I liiike the wayyy she diiips! 'Cauuuse…"
"SHEEE'S MYYY BESSSSST FRIEEEEEND'S GIIIRL!"
"(Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh…")
"...SHEEE'S MYYYY BESSST FRIEEEEEND'S GIRRRL, giiiiirl…"
"...giiirl…"
"BUUUT SHEEE UUUSED TOOO BEEE MIIIIIINE!"
"(Nyeh nyeh-nyeh-nyeh, nyeh-nyeh nyeh-nyeh, nyeh-nyeh-nyeh-nyeh…)"
"Sheee's sooo… fiiine!"
Perhaps lyrically a strange song to sing while dancing suggestively around your blushing wife, but fuck it, they were having fun and Rhode Island Red wanted to share one of his favorite bands out of Boston with his new cohabitors. Man, good thing that the following year PixArt decided to title its feature film about anthropomorphic transportation machines "Vehicles", otherwise referring to this band by name in modern day might confuse people into thinking you were talking about a children's movie, we really dodged a bullet there.
Classy Terry took Toni by each of her hands and danced goofily with her while their guests pantomimed the instruments as the song closed itself out. These four were probably going to coexist happily.
"Bobby, Jackie, my boys," Terry said as the song ended and he paused the CD player before the next track started, "good work on the background singing, but I gotta say… it's here she comes again, not there she goes again!
"Aw, hell," the bear grumbled through a smile. "Y'know, I thought I heard it say that, but I figured I just woulda made it weird if I switched it up in the middle of the song."
"And I confess, I didn't know the lyrics either and was simply following Bobby's lead," said the Englishman.
"I guess I'm just not somebody who's lead to follow, now am I?" 'Bobby' remarked snidely, warranting an elbow to the side from his fox friend.
"I suppose I got this song mixed up with the one about heroin!"
"Boys, have some more drinks!" Toni urged. "Let us show you how to make merry!"
Oh, we know plenty about making merry… "Thank you for the offer, ma'am, but I know I'll be taking it easy on the alcohol tonight," said 'Jack'. "As much as Bobby and I would love to drink to the mayor getting arrested, I want to be in a good state of mind when my guest arrives - thank you two again for allowing me to have someone over."
"Hey, that's basically your apartment now," said Terry, "you're free to have whoever you want over - as long as, you know, it's within reason. No worshiping Satan or hosting an orgy with sex-moans leaking through the walls-"
"Terry!" his wife protested, embarrassed by her husband's vocabulary.
"Aw, mellow out, I'm tipsy! Alright, what's up next on the playlist!?"
"Move over, Terry, Mama wants to sing some Grace Slick! FIIIIIND youuur wayyy BAAAAACK, tooo youuur HEAAAAAAART…!"
"Hey, lady, give our new friends a turn!" Terry turned to the Merry Men. "You boys said you brought your music collection?"
"That we did!" the tallest fox in the room beamed as he started digging through a pile of CDs he and Johnny had left on the table.
Yeah, the homeless heroes actually did have a physical music collection, go figure. They'd had their battery-powered mini-boomboxes in Sherwood Forest, one for discs and one for cassettes, and now those appliances and the music itself were within this house they found themselves in. The music collection wasn't the biggest, but they had a pretty decent variety, and the CDs greatly outweighed the tapes by virtue of Thor burning a bunch of illegally-downloaded songs for them (Robin, an artist himself, was understandably wary about pirating music, but the Merry Men couldn't live without some tunes, so they went with it.) One such disc was now being extracted from its case that bore a plain lined white paper cover with a track listing handwritten in blue ink.
"Now, to my understanding, this band hasn't seen much in the way of mainstream recognition over here," said Robin, "but Terry, knowing how much you're into Irish nationalism, you might like this one: it's a Celtic rock band playing Irish-inspired music!"
"Really?" Sure enough, Terry's eyes lit up, and if the Englishman's statement was true, any of Terry's ethnic animosity towards the Anglo would be forgiven. "Like the Dropkick Murphys?"
"Except these blokes are actually from Ireland!"
"Oooooh!" Terry cooed while Toni rolled her eyes with a smirk.
Of course, Robin was leaving out the part where many of this band's members were actually born and/or raised under the Union Jack and that the question of the band's national identity was actually an extremely contentious topic with many in the Republic refusing to accept them as theirs, but he assumed that Terry wouldn't be looking too deep into this and Robin could probably just feign ignorance on the off chance that Terry did. But for now, Robin was content to pop the disc in the slot and press some buttons to skip to the desired track.
"Now you sir," Robin said, pointing at Johnny, "I need someone to sing backing vocals at a certain part. I've played this song for you before, you'll recognize it if you don't already." He showed the bear the jewel case so he could read the sleeve.
"I think I remember that one," Johnny said with a smile.
"You two," Robin said to the married couple as he arrived at the desired track number, "simply allow us to entertain you."
Toni and Terry nodded as the music began.
And I wouldn't blame you if you didn't believe this, but… Robin was actually kind of nervous to hear this music and sing this song. Here he was, about to perform one of the many pieces of music that made him think of her, all in anticipation of finally, finally getting to see her once again… a little bit of it was that this all felt so cheesy, but more-so that this simply felt like he was jinxing himself. Was this really happening? Was he really going to finally see her tonight? Was singing this song going to will it into existence - or just make it sting a thousand times more if things once again fell apart?
In any case, the opening instrumental was hardly four seconds long, so Robin didn't have much time to chicken out. He'd manage. He could gamble that this would all one day be a pleasant memory. As the accordion played him in, he knew it was time to belt it out:
…One summer evening, drunk to hell, I sat there nearly lifeless,
An old man in the corner sang "Where the Water Lilies Grow"…
And on the jukebox, Johnny sang, about a thing called love…
And it's "how are ya, kid?" and "what's your name?" and "how would you bloody know?"…
A strict music teacher might ridicule his performance; his singing was clearly untrained, not unmelodic but a little wobbly and not at all in the right key as his voice just didn't match the singer's. For this reason, this narrator will not seek to embarrass him by writing out the lyrics as he'd have sung them.
…In blood and death, 'neath a screaming sky, I lay down on the ground,
And the arms and legs of other men were scattered all around,
Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed, then cursed,
Then prayed and bled some more…
But good goddamn, if you heard that fox sing and weren't moved by the abundant heart and soul in his voice…
…And the only thing that I could see,
Was a pair of brown eyes that was looking at me,
But when we got back, labeled parts one to three,
There was no pair of brown eyes waiting for me…
…then sweetheart, you might not have a heart and soul yourself.
Johnny jumped in briefly for one line of the chorus:
…And a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin' I'll go…
For a pair of brown eyes…
Robin had started out this performance singing pretty much standing still, but as the stanzas went on, he started feeling the rhythm and began letting his body sway with the music. Now he was waltzing about the room with the tempo, taking a swig of (what else?) Guinness during the instrumental. And ever a trend-setter, he got the other foxes and his bear friend to start swinging themselves with him.
…I looked at him, he looked at me, all I could do was hate him,
While Ray and Philomena sang, of my elusive dreams…
I saw the streams, the rolling hills, where his brown eyes were waiting,
And I thought about a pair of brown eyes that waited once for me…
Robin would not claim to know precisely what the song was about, but all our favorite pieces of art have meaning to us that wasn't necessarily what the artist intended. This song meant something to him, and certainly more than it did when he'd first heard it that same summer that he decided it was his destiny to be a hero. He saw the song as a juxtaposition: young versus old, love lost and love found, love of man and love of woman. There were most assuredly two pairs of the titular brown eyes. He was fairly certain that the canonical explanation was that the perspective flipped between that of an old man and his younger self, the old man in the present seeing a past version of himself in another young man and feeling bitter as he remembered his lost youth.
Robin could relate to both of them. In his mind, he felt like a man who'd been through a war that never ended, a war to save this city from corruption, a war that had robbed him of his youth and of the love of his life, just like the lyrics alluded to. And yet he still held onto the hope and ideals that made him feel young - perhaps admirably, perhaps foolishly. The "him" he'd once looked at and hated, the "his" brown eyes awaiting him… those were his brother's, watching from the great hereafter, and five years prior to this moment, Robin lay there nearly lifeless on the ground when the toll of the endless war and the unbearable, unforgivable, unrelenting weight of his conscience led him to believe he couldn't go on. But the other pair of brown eyes? The ones that came to him in a vision as he lay there on the grass of Sherwood Forest, the ones that waited once for him? The ones that not only pushed him to continue on but made him realize that he could soldier on when nothing else could have convinced him that he was capable of pushing onward? The pair of brown eyes that saved him?
Dear Reader… surely I don't need to tell you who those eyes belonged to.
…So drunk to hell, I left the place, sometimes crawling, sometimes walking,
A hungry sound came across the breeze, so I gave the walls a talking,
And I heard the sounds of long ago, from the old canal…
And the birds were whistling in the trees, where the wind was gently laughing…
Were the birds' plumages red, perhaps?
Eddy's parents were low-dancing lovingly again, blissfully unaware that there were a handful of tears running down the smiling face of their singer. And Little John put an arm around the back of his favorite fox's shoulders as they swayed side-by-side together to finish off the song:
…And a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin' I'll go!
A-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin I'll go!
And a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin' I'll go…
For a pair of brown eyes…
For a pair of brown eyes.
And a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin' I'll go!
A-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin I'll go!
And a-rovin', a-rovin', a-rovin' I'll go…
-IllI-
This suburb was safe enough, and it was a beautiful evening outside, so right before the library closed, she set out walking towards her destination just as the sun was setting behind the homes and forests to the west, her journey scored by an orchestra of cicadas.
She took her time getting there. In part she wanted to give it time for it to get darker, just to ensure he'd be there. But there was also the matter of her nerves simply refusing to relent.
If she showed up and he wasn't there, she'd worry herself to death wondering whether she'd simply arrived early… or if he wasn't coming. A lot could have happened since he'd sent that letter - assuming it was even him, not sure why someone pretending to be him would make up that detail about having an arm in a cast, but maybe that's just what some ne'er-do-well wanted her to think. And for all she knew, her Uncle John's twatting about in Rehoboth Beach might have been him doing something to somehow someway put her man away and now she was the last to know - unlikely, yes, but hey, stranger things have happened, such as her boyfriend running off to go play Adam Bell in a city he'd never even lived in. She didn't want to be rude and keep him waiting in the event that he was already there, but she most certainly didn't want to be the one kept waiting while left alone with her thoughts.
She must have circled the same block five times in an effort to burn the last of the daylight. A chamois sitting on his porch even asked if she was lost after passing his house again and again; he wasn't trying to be unfriendly, he simply didn't recognize her as somebody from the neighborhood and found her circular walking path odd. Of course, once she mustered up the courage to stop literally walking in circles and confront her destiny, she really was kind of lost and could have used some directions, but could no longer find the chamois's house.
Nevertheless, she was a smart and resourceful gal, eventually finding her way back to the main drag and using that baseline to recalibrate. This time, she didn't screw around. She went straight for where he promised he'd be. Still, she walked slowly, though the rate of her heartbeat would suggest she was getting a serious cardio workout.
She came upon the intersection where Grove Street turned into Rethink Avenue at Harris. She saw no playground to her left, but she did see one half a block away to her right, separated from the house on the corner by a small alleyway. She only allowed herself to pause as long as it took her to look both ways before crossing the street, as much as she wanted to wait there for so much longer.
She approached the lane with a deep breath, shut her eyes as she rounded the corner, and opened them.
Her heart stopped.
She couldn't breathe.
He wasn't there.
But she didn't have long to panic, as there was someone else she didn't see. She didn't notice the same young kit she'd seen yesterday looking down the alley from a second-story window of his house, seeing her arrive and giving a signal to someone in his backyard.
And then a gate opened from a wooden fence, and a figure closed it gently behind himself before stepping forward into a circle of light coming down from the post above and standing there as it bathed him in its brilliant luminosity.
Smiling warmly at her. Smiling longingly, but patiently. And smiling ever so handsomely.
She'd spent years wondering how she would react when - if - this moment would ever come. And every time she envisioned it, she saw herself running. Running like her life depended on it, throwing herself into his arms, and kissing him until her lips no longer tasted like her own. Every single time she predicted how she'd act, she always thought of herself making haste to be reunited with him in every sense of the word.
But now that it was actually happening, she found herself taking her time. She approached slowly, at some points barely even moving forward. Because as much as she wanted to be with him, so too did she want to witness him from this distance where she could see all of him, every last bit of him, head to toe: every follicle of fur on his body, every thread on his every article of his clothes, every shadow cast by every part of his being blocking out the light above and proving indisputably that he was physically there before her. And when she found herself standing under the next streetlight down, she stopped and stood there still just as he did, taking in every last inch of him, and giving him the chance to do the same to her.
He couldn't be real. This had to be a dream. There was simply no way that after all they'd been through, they were finally once again looking right at one another. The man she saw in front of her simply could not have been real, for there was no way someone so perfect could exist.
He was exactly as she remembered him.
On the other side of the fence to her left, music began playing softly off a CD player, and in the lane there could soon be heard a slow guitar instrumental making its way in. It seems Bob and Bobby agreed with her assessment.
Finally, he spoke:
"Good evening, my darling."
Hearing his voice again sent shockwaves through her veins. But she welcomed them; go, let her feel his presence in every cell of her body.
"...Good evening, Robin," was all she could say, and the words were choked out at that. But what she lacked in eloquence in that moment, she made up for in courage as she stepped out of the light and made her way across the dark passage towards the man she loved.
As the recording played quietly, the singer made his presence known:
You always won, every time you placed a bet…
You're still damn good, no one's gotten to you yet…
Her tod simply stood there, hands folded gentlemanly behind his back, glistening eyes locked on hers and never letting go.
"You look absolutely marvelous tonight."
Every time they were sure they had you caught…
You were quicker than they thought…
You'd just turn your back and walk…
"...As do you, sir." Her steps became just the teeniest bit quicker. This was it. This was happening.
You always said the cards would never do you wrong…
The trick, you said, was never play the game too long…
He'd sacrificed everything in the hopes of helping those who could not help themselves and, with any luck, becoming someone she could be proud of.
A gambler's share, the only risk that you would take…
Her pace quickened still again. He had risked a great deal but his gamble had paid off, and now, after all these years, he was right there waiting for her. He'd made it back safe. He'd survived his war. He'd pulled through.
The only loss you could forsake…
He'd won.
The only bluff you couldn't fake…
Her hero.
There were only a few feet left separating them, but she ran the rest of the way. She didn't want to wait any longer to grasp him and bury her face in his chest and smell his scent that she thought she'd never have the chance to smell again and cry tears of joy she never thought she'd have reason to cry. And when his own beautiful tears did drip down his nose and cheek and fall upon her, she welcomed the storm as its rains gave their lifewaters and turned the dust that surrounded her into a lush, green garden once again.
And you're still the same…
"Marian, my love, stay with me and I will never leave you again."
"I won't!" she spat between sobs. "I- I won't!"
(Still the same… still the same…)
They stood there for a time, simply hugging one another tightly, squeezing each other's bodies to make sure they were really there, letting all the pent-up tears drain to make room for happiness, and though darkness surrounded them in every direction, there they were, together in the light, finally feeling at home again in each other's arms.
Moving game to game, no one standing in your way…
"I… was beginning to think I'd never see you again…" she confessed.
"Marian, I would travel to the ends of the earth if it meant making sure you never felt alone again."
Turning on the charm, long enough to get you by…
"I… I just didn't know whether you… whether you could survive this long living as a-"
"My dear, I would never have given myself the option to die when I knew you were out there awaiting me. I'd never allow myself to be so rude."
(Still the same… still the same…)
She regained enough of her composure to pull her face off his shirt and look up at him, deep into his misty hazelnut eyes smiling back at her, and she reflected on how he was perhaps the bravest, kindest, noblest, handsomest man she'd ever met, and how fortunate she was that she and she alone had the privilege of saying that she was the one he loved.
You're still the same…
You still aim high…
Robin took her by the hands and held them up to their shoulders. "Marian, please forgive me for ever making you feel so worried for me… so frightened for my well-being… so lost and abandoned-"
"I forgive you…!" she coughed between residual sobs, having to pause to turn and blink away the tears so she could see him clearly. "I forgive you…"
Her tod just smiled wider. "My belovèd, I want nothing more than to stand here forever and experience you with all five of my senses. But we cannot stay here out in the open. Come; I can take us somewhere nobody can disturb us."
"Yes…" she sniffled as she followed him, "yes…" And as much as her eyes stung from crying, her cheeks were beginning to ache from smiling.
Her gentleman opened the gate and welcomed her to walk in first to the house's backyard, holding her hand all the way. They each gave a quick wave to the bear sitting on the porch manning the CD player and to the kit in the upstairs window watching them head for what had once been his bedroom, and the tod slid open the door to the new apartment for his vixen to make her way in to a place where they could finally be safe together, and as the star-crossed couple closed the door behind them, this narrator thinks it might be nice to give these two long-lost lovers a moment alone.