Chapter 5: Why Hasn't He Called?

Disappointment and anger set in for Marie because she thinks that Jake is avoiding her. When he finally does call, she sends him on an impossible task.

She was disappointed that he didn't call later that day and was dejected when he didn't call on Sunday. By Monday, Marie had decided he was just a jerk and tried to convince herself that he wasn't worth her time. Slipping off her mint green button-down sweater and tucking her light pink blouse into her blue slacks, she looked around her small drab grey office cubical and took time to water the potted ivy plant. She walked to the break room and poured some coffee into her favorite mug, the one that her brother John had given her which had G.R.I.T.S. and Girls Raised In The South printed on it next to a painted magnolia blossom. She thought that it was witty, being that grits are also ground-up hominy corn and are a popular breakfast dish where she grew up. Returning to her cube, she logged into the network and began to work. Her job was far from glamorous being that she was a low-level accountant working for one of the city's major accounting firms.

"Morning, sweetheart!" a cheery voice called out to her from the neighboring cube. "Did you do anything exciting this weekend?"

"Not really, just played the lil' old homemaker," she lied. "You know, I had to do all those chores I had been putting off."

"Lord, I'd love to have time for chores," the ewe sighed. "Sammy was in a butting tournament this weekend, one head bump after another and he came in second for his division. I know it's a ram thing but as his mommy, I'm the one who gets the headaches."

"Thank the Holy Lamb that raccoon kits don't have to prove themselves like that!" Marie giggled. "Elouise, I don't know how you can keep up with everything?"

"It takes a lot of love and I keep plenty of bourbon in the cabinet. Did I ever thank you for the mint julep recipe?"

"All the time, dear!"

Marie settled into her work, not really getting as much done as she wished because her mind kept going back to thoughts of that male raccoon. With a long sigh, she pulled the gold-colored medal out of her purse and laid it on her desk. He had called it a silly undeserved honor but she knew that wasn't true and he had really saved the city's felines, he was a hero of sorts.

With another sigh, she tossed the medal back into her purse and gave a little sniffle.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Elouise called out.

"Just feeling sorry for myself," she answered. "I met another male and he turned out to be a jerk."

"I'm sorry to hear that! Don't tell me he got all pawsy like the last one?"

"No, we didn't even have a date, he's that coon that I met while jogging in the park. I ran into him again at a downtown bar and I thought he was nice," she answered. Then she told the ewe all about what happened that night and about going to his office.

"Sweetheart, a guy like that probably has an ego that got bruised and doesn't care to give you a minute more," Elouise scoffed. "Move on, he's not worth your time."

She spent the morning picking at the keyboard, still not really accomplishing as much as she wanted. Finally, it was lunchtime and she and Elouise found a seat at a nearby café. While they were eating, her phone rang. She didn't recognize the phone number and assuming it might be a spammer, she left it unanswered. Whoever it was had left a message and hesitantly she listened to it. "Hi, this is Jake and we met Friday night. I was wondering if you still have the medal? My business partner wants to see it. Please call me back."

So all he wants is to get this damned medal back? She thought to herself. She looked down at her phone. He made me wait, so I going to let him wait."

Fifteen minutes later the phone rang again and he left another message, "Look the truth is that I don't care about the medal, but I would like to apologize to you about running out on you Friday…call me, please?"

She was tempted to call back, but she once again hesitated. He sounded upset about the way he acted, almost as if he was desperate. Still, she held back, pondering why he waited so long before calling. She had, after all, left her phone number on Saturday with that weird rat.

Ten minutes later, the phone rang yet again but she still didn't answer. The message this time was a jumbled mess. "Please call me! Look I would have called you earlier, but my phone was being repaired and then the message that Tails left on it got partially deleted. I had to dig through the trash looking for the paper he wrote your phone number on and then I met a guy named Tony who gave me your number. Anyways, I was hoping to take you out for dinner to apologize for all of this. Look, you can name the place and time, but please call me! Please!"

"He does sound desperate," Elouise chuckled after she heard the message.

"Yeah and that's what scares me," Marie sighed. "I mean I hope he isn't going to turn out to be a stalker class-level jerk. Maybe I should call and turn him down?"

"I don't know if I'd do that. Let's think about this, you met him in the park and he could have chased after you then. I mean you were jogging all by yourself and if he was a pervert he could have attacked you that morning. Later at the bar, he was really nice up until your roomie pulled that stunt. I think he got embarrassed and left, his male pride got bruised."

Her phone vibrated with a text and she read it. It was my fault, not Jake's that he did not call you. I lost your number and Jake tried to find it in the trash. Tails.

The phone vibrated once again and she opened a picture of a raccoon wearing a pair of nice suit pants and a white dress shirt digging in a dumpster. "Oh my!" Elouise exclaimed. "He really was looking for that phone number."

"So what do you think, I should call him?"

"Sure, at least you can wrangle a good meal from him! after all, he did tell you to pick the place, so aim high. What's that place we were talking about last week?"

"I can't ask him to take me to Le Chat!" Marie exclaimed. "That's the city's most trendy restaurant. They say you have to have reservations months ahead to get in, I couldn't ask him to take me there!"

"He sounded desperate!"

The raccoon held the phone and stared at it for a few moments. "Call him sweetheart," Elouise urged her.

She dialed his phone number and it rang only once before he answered. "Marie, thank you for calling! I was a real jerk can you please forgive me? I know that I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I would really like to make it up to you," he blurted out.

"Slow down, Sugar," she interjected.

"I'm doing it again! Sorry, I'm just glad that you called me back."

"I wasn't going to until your friend sent me the photo of you in the dumpster. How do you know Tony?"

"I don't, I just met him when he tried to take the dumpster away. He gave me your phone number."

"You talked about me with other raccoons?" she huffed out. "What am I, the talk of all you males? Look there's poor little Marie, you take her out and she won't give out!"

"No…no…no!" Jake desperately replied. "It's nothing like that! I wouldn't get out of the dumpster and Tails told them I was looking for your phone number. Tony said he had your number, but wouldn't give it to me. He called you a not-very-nice name, so I made him apologize."

"Wait you two fought over me?" Marie said in an incredulous voice.

"Are you sure he's a raccoon and not a ram?" Elouise snickered from behind her.

"Well he called you nasty name and I couldn't let him do that!" Jake almost whimpered.

"I can defend myself!" she yelled into her phone. "I certainly don't need some testosterone-driven male to uphold my lil' old honor!"

She expected him to argue, but instead, he said, "Of course, you don't and I'm sorry about that too."

There was silence for a few moments and then he asked, "I guess I blew any chance of asking you out on a date, didn't I?"

"Go for the expensive restaurant, tell him Le Chat!" Elouise whispered. She sounded like the little devil on her shoulder. "Friday at seven...he'll never get you in!"

"Dinner…Friday…seven… Le Chat!" Marie found herself rattling off into the phone.

"Okay, let me make a call and I'll see what I can do," he replied in a not-so-confident voice. "I'll call you back."

"Oh Holy Lamb, what have I done!" she groaned before she set her phone down on the table and rubbed her eyes with her paws. "That was mean of me."

"Let's just see what happens?" the ewe shrugged. "Did you not want to go out with him?"

"No…I mean yes…I mean no! I mean...yes, I do want to go out with him!"

"Then when he calls back, give him another choice."

She was startled when her phone rang. "Oh snap, that was fast, I hope he'll forgive me?" she said to the ewe.

Elouise watched when she answered, the raccoon looked puzzled when she hung up. "What's wrong, Marie?"

"I have a date this Friday at seven and we're going to La Chat," she mumbled. "He got us into the restaurant."

Her roommate's words of warning suddenly flooded back into his mind, "Nicer the dinner, more likely he'll want you to pay him back with your legs spread."

"I am so screwed," Marie sighed. "It might be in more ways than one!"

She told the ewe what her roommate had said. "Well you don't need to feel obligated to screw anyone because he takes you somewhere nice," Elouise baaed. "If he gives you a hard time, you just call me and I will come to get you. I'll bring Ricky and he will ram that raccoon's damned penis up his own ass!"

"I can handle myself, I grew up on a farm with three brothers."

"Just in case, I want you to know that we'll be there for you."

Marie just stared at the photo of the lean raccoon in the dumpster and smiled, he did have a cute tail.