Down In The Dumps
by Alex Reynard


  ***
     Author's Introduction:

Were you ever fascinated by trash as a kid? I definitely was. When I was little, I'd always wander around with my head down, checking out anything lying on the sidewalk. I'd peek in trash cans. I'd pass by dumpsters and wonder what was inside. Every now and then, I'd get lucky and find something truly interesting, some little toy that someone had either lost forever or just tossed away. I'd clean it up and cherish it. Oftentimes just the fact of finding the thing lying there for me to discover was what made it so special for me.

I've also always loved flea markets, trade centers, resale shops and things like that. It's for largely the same reason. There's just something about rooting around in other people's junk that captivates me. I love used stuff. I love going to the flea market and finding some wonderful thing that catches my eye instantly and practically begs me to buy it.

My point is that one man's trash is another man's treasure. Our culture throws so much stuff away, and so much of it is something that might be beautiful and special to someone else if given the chance. I see people tossing toys out by the curb, and I always feel a slight pain in my heart from wondering if the kids in that house realize they're throwing away their memories. I once heard this feeling described as 'Velveteen Rabbit Complex'. I find that incredibly apt.

I've looked around on the net to see if I could find anything else on this subject, and I've found rather a lot relating to people who enjoy trash, who make new things from it, who salvage old things from it, who play in it and even yiff in it! But more than merely a strange hobby or fetish, trash play can also be an act of rebellion against the unwritten rules of mundane society. We're all supposed to be clean and presentable all the time. We're supposed to scrub everything in our environments with painfully artificial-smelling chemicals, and then even paint our own bodies with the stuff. What about the sheer mindless joy we all felt as kids at making a big ol' mess? Can that feeling be recaptured?

This story came from thinking about questions like that. So be forewarned, the following tale is a little stinky. You might want to bring along a clothespin for your nose. Some rubber gloves couldn't hurt also. Though I hope that if you'll give this story a chance, you'll find that there's something worthwhile underneath its otherwise unhygienic surface. Brush off the dirt, and you'll find something I've put my whole heart into.

In essence, I think that sometimes stuff that just looks like ordinary garbage can hold amazing surprises if you don't mind getting your paws a bit dirty while digging through it.

This story goes out to anyone who's ever gleefully gone dumpster-diving or trash-picking.

Anyone who's ever lovingly cuddled a stained, dirty, ripped up stuffed animal.

Anyone who's ever found their heart's desire at a flea market for less than a buck.

Anyone who's ever looked upon something, or someone, that everyone else considers ugly, and then decided for themselves that it's beautiful.

After all, Charlie Brown's Christmas tree just needed a little love...


  *****


*part 1*


     "Hey fuckhead!"
     Justin's eyes slammed shut. He gritted his teeth. His three huge brothers had just seconds ago barged into his room and surrounded him. He'd thought they'd be at football practice all day.
     "What'cha doin', mutt?"
     "My homework," he lied.
     One of them snatched up the paper he'd been writing on. If any of them had had the slightest idea how to read, Justin might have been worried.
     "What the hell is this?"
     "Lemme see it!"
     "It looks like some kinda poem!"
     "Poetry? You fucking fag!"
     Justin felt like he was going to crush his own teeth to powder from grinding them so hard. His entire body was tense. It took every ounce of control to keep from snapping back at them. That would have been suicide.
     The three wolf jocks chuckled cruelly at their scrawny younger brother. He was getting mad again, which amused them to no end.
     "You a poet, fag?"
     "Writing poems to yer boyfriend?"
     "It's for school!" Justin finally burst out.
     "Bullshit! They never make any of us write poems!"
     He whipped around in his chair and glared at the one who'd last spoke. It was barely worth the trouble to tell them apart anymore. "That's because you're all too stupid to write your own goddamn names, much less anything anyone else would want to read!!" he snarled.
     Oh fuck. That was stupid. He was really in for it now.
     They grinned ferally.
     "Whoa! The faggot strikes back!"
     "Someone's got a smart little mouth."
     "Someone's gotta get punished for that smart mouth."
     "Someone's gotta get that mouth washed out good!"
     He scowled, mostly to himself for letting them get his temper up again. "Please. Not again..."
     "Oh, I think he knows what we're gonna do!"
     "Little cocksucker probably likes it."
     Resigned to his fate, Justin gave no resistance as the three of them lifted him straight out of his chair and carried him roughly out of the room and onward down the hall. It was his own fault for letting them provoke him. The best thing now would be to just go limp and wait until it was over.
     Giggling like a pack of demented hyenas, the three wolves dragged their brother into the bathroom.
     "Who's gotta go?"
     "Me! I drank a shitload of pop before the game!"
     "Go, man, go!"
     The tall one, that was Royce, was grinning like a madman as he pulled down his fly. He whipped out his dork and started pissing into the toilet.
     Holding Justin's shoulders were Greg and Dave; the fat one and the thin one, respectively.
     Justin was, of course, the short little puny one. He sighed in mild annoyance. This wasn't the worst of his brothers' games, not by a long shot, but it was pretty damn humiliating.
     Royce finished up and forgot to zip himself up again, so caught up was he in the thrill of the moment.
     "Now dunk 'im!"
     On that signal, Greg and Dave easily upended their little brother and forced his head into the toilet bowl.
     It was filthy, cracked, and hadn't been washed in months. Justin kept his eyes and mouth shut as tightly as possible. One time he'd gasped for breath and some of the piss had gotten in his mouth. He'd had to brush five times before the taste was gone. He could hear the echoes of his three brothers laughing like this was the funniest thing ever to happen in the history of the world.
     One of them said something, distorted by the water, and then someone flushed. It was definitely a relief. Justin had always been somewhat worried that they'd be too dumb to remember that part one of these days. Then he'd drown to death in a toilet full of wolf piss. Wouldn't that be a fun thing to tell Saint Peter?
     When the water was gone, Justin sucked in a much-needed gulp of air. His brothers released him suddenly and he fell hard on the floor, bashing his chin on the rim of the toilet on the way down. It'd probably ache for the rest of the day now.
     The three wolves were laughing like they were on drugs. Justin wrung his fur out on the floor and thought of all the things he wished he could say to them if only he was bigger and stronger and crueller than them.
     Dave snatched him up by his collar.
     "You learn your lesson, shitsucker?"
     "Didja have fun?"
     "Wasn't that hilarious?"
     Justin rolled his eyes. "Yes. Ha ha. You guys should have your own TV show."
     "Yeah, we should!"
     "We could get someone to run a camera, and just torture you all day!"
     "We could call it the 'Punt The Mutt' show!"
     "We'd be rrrrrrich! Rrrrrrich beyond our wildest dreams!"
     There followed another round of frenzied hysterical laughter.
     Dave let go of him, and Justin figured this was his best chance to make an escape. He ducked out of the bathroom and zipped as fast as possible down the hall.
     In the kitchen, he paused to catch his breath. He wiped off his fur as best as he could on a mostly-dry dishtowel. He poked around in the cupboards for a bit, searching for something to eat, but there was nothing appealing. As usual. 'Gee, I wonder where it could possibly have gone to,' he thought sarcastically. He walked out through the livingroom, kicking away the beer cans and snack food wrappers in his path.
     Mom was splayed out on the couch like a giant slug from a '50s horror movie. One fat arm was draped across her stomach, looking like it had melted there. She grimaced when Justin walked in front of the TV. "Where the hell are you goin'?" she demanded.
     "Outside," he spat back, not even looking at her.
     "Fine. Just get back before supper," she mumbled, then added loudly, "And you and your brothers better stop making so much god-damn noise playing in there!"
     "Okay, Mom," Justin grunted as he slipped out the door. Under his breath he cursed bitterly, "Thanks for coming to my rescue, you fat ugly bitch."
     He slammed the screen door behind him.



     Justin's family was, to put it mildly, fucked-up.
     They lived in a falling-down house in a rural little town called Flat Stone, somewhere in the lost shadows of the suburbs of some big famous city Justin had never been to. All around were trees and trailers and brown grass and rusted trucks. It was a town of poverty, where 90% of the people you ran into were either drunk, stupid or psychotic, or some lovely combination of the three. The weather never got anywhere colder than warm, not even in winter. Most of the time it was hot enough to nearly kill you. At least it felt that way, and sometimes you wished it would.
     Mom had been fat and ugly, and a bitch, for her entire life, Justin guessed. She was drunk approximately a hundred and ten percent of the time. Her life was her couch, her television and her snacks. She got up three or four times each day to fix a 'meal', or to go to the bathroom, and Justin suspected sometimes she didn't even get up for that. He knew for certain she'd never gotten up to defend him from his brothers. So long as they weren't actually murdering him with chainsaws, she made it clear through her attitude that she honestly didn't give a shit what they did.
     Dad was a shadow. He might as well have been a figment of Justin's imagination. There were only two places he ever went: The Factory and The Bar. If you noticed that 'the house' was not on that list, you are very observant. Justin's dad showed up at the house about as often as Santa Claus. When he did put in a surprise cameo appearance, most of the time it meant that at least one of them was going to be beaten up.
     Royce, Greg and Dave were basically the spawn of Hell. They were the result of vigorous fucking shortly after (and before) Mom and Dad's marriage. In fact, they were barely nine months apart. Justin guessed Mom must have been drinking at least as much as she did now when she'd been carrying them. Sometimes it seemed like they functioned as a single hive mind; one brain shared between the three (and maybe that was too generous). Their programming instructions were simple: Seek Out Little Brother. Destroy.
     Justin had wondered probably since birth if he was adopted. He was different from the rest of them in every way. Dad was a solid brick wall of muscle. Mom was an ocean of flab. All his brothers were big in some way or another. He, on the other hand, was small in almost every way. Short. Skinny. Scrawny. Runt. Pushover. Wimp. Chewtoy. Dirt.
     The other big difference between Justin and his family was, he was smart. Maybe not the kind of smart his teachers at school wanted him to be, but smart nonetheless. He was wise beyond his years in the ways of the grown-up world. He'd been taught by his cruel life hundreds of hard lessons in trust and pain. He was a flawless liar, a fairly decent escape artist, and not too bad of a thief either.
     At school he did his best to avoid trouble, though that was like Sisyphus pushing that bigass rock up the hill. The faculty all thought he was a little sociopath. Even when he wasn't cheating on tests, or sneaking food from the cafeteria, or taking paper and pencils and other school supplies out of the wastebaskets because his mother never bought him any, no one ever even gave him the chance to be good. If something broke, he was blamed. If something went missing, he was blamed. He was looked upon like some kind of vermin. A sewer rat. If it wasn't for the fact that he'd kept his grades up beyond anyone's expectations (mostly just to piss his teacher off), he was sure he would've been expelled a long time ago.
     What no one had ever bothered to realize was that he _had_ to be this way. It was a matter of survival. Natural selection, motherfucker. Living in a family as repulsively deranged as his was, the only way to stay sane was to outthink them. He had to be sneakier than all of them put together. More devious, more cunning, more alert, and more paranoid.
     Justin had given up on his family a long time ago. He remembered being a little pup, always picking dandelions for Mom, or asking Royce if he could play ball with him, or walking to school with Dave, or watching TV with Greg. And yet no matter how many times he tried to be a good boy, tried to win some tiny table scrap of attention or affection from them, he'd been kicked away. Tossed aside. Thrown away like trash.
     Nowadays he would spend recess sitting in a little crawlspace under the gymnasium stairs, watching his brothers play sports out on the field. He'd stare at them, wishing somehow he could achieve telekinesis just by wanting it hard enough. Just to make one of them drop the ball. Just to trip one of them up. Just to make one of them break their leg. Just a little...
     He didn't mind hating them; meaning he didn't feel guilty about it. They hated him even more, so at least it was fair. His father hated him even worse. Whenever his father turned up, Justin made himself as inconspicuous as possible. Otherwise, he'd show up at school the next morning with bruises so bad they showed through his fur. And his teacher would scowl at him because she thought he'd been fighting with the other kids.
     Why did his father hate him so much? That was an easy one to answer. Since he was so much younger than his brothers (the youngest, Dave, was still three years older than him), he figured that he was probably a mistake. Maybe Dad hadn't pulled out in time. Maybe Mom had mixed up her birth control pills with breath mints (Hah! Like she'd ever eaten a breath mint in her life!). Whatever the reason, his father had always glared at him, ever since he was little, like he was a stranger in the house. And his mother averted her eyes when he was in the room, as if she could make her youngest son go away forever if she could only ignore him long enough.
     But the truth of the matter was something far worse. A year ago, the secret had come to light. Justin didn't know how his father found out, but when he did, the whole family found out too. The man's drunk, roaring voice shook the walls of their flimsy little home.
     It seemed that Mom had not been entirely faithful to Dad. Several years before, she'd had an affair with a fox. They'd been sleeping around behind Dad's back for months. When she had found out she was pregnant, she'd called it off and hoped desperately that her husband would think the baby was his. The night the truth finally came out, Justin's father had beat the shit out of everyone in the house. And Justin had gotten it double.
     (Justin had wondered later why Dad hadn't just divorced Mom then and there. But the answer was laughably obvious. They were both too damn lazy for that. All the court dates and screwing around with lawyers? It was so much easier to just take out their anger on their bastard halfbreed son.)
     The news explained a lot. Justin really didn't look like a wolf anyway. He was not only skinnier than the rest of them, but also more lithe. His features were sharper. His arms and legs were more wiry. His scruffy grey fur had a brownish, rusty tinge to it, and his paws and feet were a deep dark brown.
     And, strangely, Justin even felt happy when he found out the truth. It meant that he was really only *partly* related to these people. His brothers were only half-brothers. His father was now just some guy. And somewhere out there there was a fox that had provided half of his blood. He obviously couldn't have been the sharpest knife in the drawer if he'd wanted to screw Mom in the first place. But maybe it explained Justin's intelligence, and the other parts of him he kept hidden away, guarded fiercely from his family.
     Out of all this small-town tragedy, the saddest part was that Justin simply didn't want to be like this; the way he was, and the way others perceived him. He didn't want to be seen as a sneaky, smelly little thief. He wanted friends. He wanted someone to talk to. He wanted someone to hold him, and kiss him, and tuck him into bed at night and tell him a story. He wanted all the things normal kids had.
     Sometimes just thinking about all this stuff would bring tears to his eyes. That was another reason he liked his secret place under the gym stairs. It stank, and was full of dirt and flakes of rust, but at least he knew no one could see him there. If he needed to, he could hide himself away in there and curl up into a ball to cry.
     Justin had another secret place though.



     Behind the house there was a patch of wild forest, a smoothly arcing strip of shady trees and cool, leafy greenery. And beyond that was the town dump.
     It was Justin's favorite place in the whole world.
     Every chance he got, Justin would slink away from the house, away from his crazy family, and head for the dump accompanied by his trusty backpack. He'd trek through the woods and come out on the edge of a massive valley filled almost to the rim with an incredible panorama of junk.
     Everyone in town came here to drop off their garbage. There was no regular garbage pickup in Flat Stone; it was far too small a town for that. So once a week, or sometimes once a month depending on each individual's comfort level of having reeking bags in the backyard, the various households in the community all piled their trash in the back of their pickups and trucked it on down to the dump.
     Once the little wolffox arrived at the dumping grounds, he delved in with the zeal of an archaeologist. To him, this wasn't just trash: it was buried treasure waiting to be unearthed.
     It was amazing some of the things he'd found. Mostly he looked for toys and other items that would interest a boy his age. But other things too. Surprisingly, there was usually quite a lot of perfectly good stuff tossed out with the trash every week. He'd rip open the big plastic bags and root carefully around inside. He'd learned long ago to get a feel for the bags first; it had only taken a couple of encounters with dirty diapers to teach him that. If instead he felt hard plastic corners at odd angles, that usually meant something interesting. He'd found plenty of toy cars, even a few that turned into robots. There were action figures and books and even stuffed animals, which Justin had a special affinity for.
     Years before, he had been out in the woods one day and tripped over a big black metal footlocker half-buried in the forest floor. After giving it a thorough cleaning-out, it now served as his treasure chest. After a full day's excursion to garbage paradise, the satisfied young canine would fill his backpack with his newfound prizes and hide them in the footlocker.
     Later on at night, when everyone else was asleep, he'd sneak out the window and go back to the woods for his latest discoveries. He'd smuggle them into the backyard and run the garden hose over them, washing them off gently and carefully. Often, the only thing wrong with his new toys was that they were a little dirty. Once they were cleaned up, they looked good as new.
     The next day, once they were dry, Justin would hide away his new discoveries in the footlocker and secure them inside with a big, sturdy combination lock he'd bought from the hardware store. He wasn't stupid. These things meant more to him than his own life. He wasn't about to chance someone else stumbling upon them and taking them away.
     There was a big reason he didn't dare keep his treasures in the house: his brothers. They'd smash everything he owned for the sheer pleasure of causing him pain. And if they ever found out that he still liked to play with stuffed animals, they'd beat him up even more than they already did (which would require rather a lot of effort, actually).
     But Justin _needed_ his plushies. They helped keep his softer side alive. Every now and then as he went through his neighbors' castouts, he'd tear open a bag and see a cute furry face looking back at him. He'd feel a connection forge in his heart; a kinship of sorts. He felt like he'd also been thrown away by those who should have loved him and taken care of him.
     One of his favorite toys was a plush mouse he'd named Rachel. He'd found her in amongst a bunch of baby things in a bag that had probably belonged to the Garrisons. (That was another thing about trash-spelunking; after a while you could make an educated guess as to which junk had been whose. If he'd been after blackmail material, Justin could have owned the whole town.) The small stuffed mouse was encrusted with old food and other stuff he didn't want to think too hard about. But as soon as he saw her, her shiny plastic eyes looked back at him and he felt a bond beginning to form. Those sad eyes seemed to call out to him, 'Save me. I don't want to be trash.'
     By the light of a crescent moon, he'd tenderly washed her off with the hose. He worked his fingers in deep, cleaning away years' worth of grime. He took her back to the footlocker and put her in a special hidden spot nearby where the sun would fall on her and dry her off.
     When he returned the next day after school, she was clean and soft. Her expression seemed much happier now. Under all that dirt was a pretty plush mouse with warm grey fur and a little red nose. Her paws, tummy and the inside of her ears were white. She was smiling now. Justin felt like maybe she was grateful to him.



     Branches snapped and leaves rustled under his paws as he made his way through the forest. He really, really needed to visit his plushies today.
     It was sunny and hot out as usual, which was good. His fur was already starting to dry off, but he'd probably still smell like pee later on. God, but his brothers were assholes.
     Off in the distance was his beloved treasure trunk. He hurried over and twisted in his combination. The lid creaked as he lifted it. Inside were all his toys, all patiently waiting for him to come and play with them. A sweet, happy smile came to Justin's face, and for a moment he felt perfectly content. Here were all the things he valued. All the things he had rescued.
     "How are you today, Rachel?" he whispered to his plushie. He picked her up, ran his fingers through her fur, and gave her a hug. "Didja miss me?" He kissed her on top of her head.
     The little wolffox gathered his other plushies in his arms. He sat down, leaning against the warm metal side of the box, and arranged his plushies in his lap. He sat them so that they were all facing him, looking like they were ready to listen to whatever he had to say.
     "My brothers suck. They did that toilet thing again. Mom didn't get off the couch to help me out, of course. But I didn't get in any more trouble at school today at least. There was a quiz on the solar system. I aced it. That stuff's easy. Oh, and yesterday Jeri found that necklace she lost; the one she 'knew' I stole from her. Dumb girl! Like I want some little plastic necklace that probably came out of a gumball machine! She spent the whole day Monday crying to the teacher, telling her I stole it! Mrs. Robertson probably would have spanked me if she could've gotten away with it without losing her job. She sent me to the principal anyway. Then they tried to make me confess. Ha! I never broke! They threatened me with all sortsa stuff! Said they'd give me detention for a week. I told 'em I didn't do it and there was no way they could prove I did. And yesterday, Jeri looks in her desk and there it is! She never even lost it, it was just under some books! Man, did she get red! She told the teacher she found it. And Mrs. Robertson said I didn't have to do detention anymore. She didn't apologize to me though."
     He paused, and he sighed.
     "That would've been nice. If she'd said she was sorry."
     He felt his eyes start to water. He hunched over and pulled all his stuffed animals closer. He buried his muzzle in their soft fur. They were always there for him.
     "I love you guys," he said softly. His tears landed on their fur. "I love you so much. Thanks for listening. I love you. I love you."
     He sat and rocked back and forth. He hugged his little friends tight, giving them all gentle kisses.
     This was the one time he was able to be tender. The one time he could let his guard down.
     He liked being gentle. He liked saying nice things to his plushies and giving them hugs and kisses. Whenever his family threw their worst at him, he'd come out here and vent his frustration on his plushies. But not by hitting or kicking them. Never! The very idea was disgusting to him! Why would he hurt his plushies? He loved them! He'd gone through so much trouble to rescue them and give them a new home. No, whenever he'd had a rotten day, he would come out here and talk to them. He would tell them all about it, getting everything off his chest while they listened silently. In fact, the worse he felt, the more loving he acted towards them. So what if they were only cloth and stuffing? Justin couldn't think of them like that. They were his friends, and they trusted him. He'd never do anything to hurt them.
     When he was feeling calmer, Justin put his plushies back in the trunk. He surveyed his collection once more. Then he leaned in and patted them on their heads. "Goodbye, guys. I'll see you later. 'Bye. I love you." He hesitated a moment, then closed the lid and locked it.
     Justin turned away and walked off towards the dump. There was no way to know what would show up from day to day, so he'd learned not to bother expecting anything. Some days it'd be nothing but pizza boxes and used tissues. Sometimes he'd find neat stuff all over the place. One time he'd found an entire comic book collection that someone's mom had thrown out. Most of them were dumb 'steroid users in tights'-type titles, but there were certainly a few that deserved keeping. The rest he took to school and left by the littler kids' part of the playground. He put a small sign on top of the stack that said: 'Free! Take One!'. It had made him feel good. After all, he more than anyone knew that one fur's trash is another fur's treasure.
     Justin arrived at the lip of the valley that led down to the huge trash pile. He smiled and took in a deep breath. He'd never told anyone before, but he'd actually gotten to like the smell of the dump. Yeah, it was stinky. But it was an interesting, multi-faceted kind of stinky. A stinky that hinted at possibilities.
     The little wolffox started down the sandy slope, headed for the place where all the new stuff usually got dropped off.
     He had just climbed up the ridge by all the smashed cars when he saw something lying in the trash that he'd never seen before.
     He had no idea his life was about to change forever.
     Lying on a pile of garbage bags was a dead girl.


~~~~~


*part 2*


     Justin screamed.
     The girl sat straight up. "Shit! What the hell!?"
     Immense relief swept through Justin's soul. He felt like he was about to crumple like a paper doll. "Oh my god!" he panted. His heart was whizzing around like a racecar. "I thought you were dead!"
     The girl looked to be a little older than him, but not by much. She was a rat. Her fur was a very pale grey, nearly white. Her hair was chocolate-brown and messy. Her tail was long, furless, and looked like a worm. She was wearing a white T-shirt and dirty, scuffed blue denim overalls. Her muzzle was long and pointed, ending in a bubblegum-pink nose. She had prominent buckteeth that were actually kind of cute.
     "Well why don't you check first before you scream like a grandmother and scare the poop out of people?" the ratgirl asked curtly.
     Justin skidded down the side of the ridge towards her, kicking up sandy dust behind him. "Well, geeze! You're laying there on a bunch of garbage bags. I thought someone killed you and dumped you here."
     She stood up. She yawned and scratched herself. "Nope. Just taking a nap."
     "On a bunch of garbage bags?" Justin asked, puzzled.
     She looked at him as if that should have been obvious. "Yeah. So? I like garbage."
     Justin smiled in a lopsided way. "Actually, I do too. But not as a mattress."
     She grinned and laughed. It sounded like steam from a rusty teapot, but in a nice way. She waded carefully towards him through the pile of black plastic bags. She stopped in front of him and abruptly put out her paw.
     Up close, Justin realized she was about a head taller than him.
     "I'm Lena."
     Justin arched an eyebrow, then hesitantly shook her hand. "Uh, why were you sleeping on trash bags?"
     "Tell me why you're here first," she snapped crisply.
     Given that this girl seemed like she could probably beat him up if she felt like it, Justin decided to keep on her good side. "Um, well, I like to come here every now and then and look through the junk. Sometimes I find toys 'n books and stuff..." he confessed.
     She crossed her arms and 'hmph'ed at him like a queen unamused by a commoner's crime. "You're stealing MY garbage?"
     "What do you mean _your_ garbage!?" Justin spat back angrily. This was his one special place. He didn't care if this girl was bigger and tougher than him, he was _not_ going to let anyone take this away from him. "I've never even seen you before! I've been coming here for years! And it's not stealing anyway. It's as much mine as anyone else's!"
     She grinned smugly. "It's my garbage 'cuz my dad owns the dump now," she said triumphantly.
     That kind of struck down any argument Justin could have come back with. "Uh..." He thought about it for a second. "Wait, he bought the dump?" he asked incredulously. "Why?"
     She smiled, showing off her ratty teeth in a 'wouldn't you like to know' kind of way. "Doesn't matter. He owns it, and that means I do too. So no one gets to root through my garbage without my permission!" she stated regally.
     Justin paused to reassess the situation. She was grinning too much. He suspected she was just playing with him. "Okay then, Miss Trash Princess, may I have your permission?" he asked cunningly.
     She burst out in a big smile. "Sure!" she squeaked. And with that, she grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him lightly onto the pile of trash.
     "Waaaaah!"
     A moment later, she jumped on the pile too. A bag burst, spraying TV dinner trays everywhere. "Eeew!" she said with a grin.
     Justin turned himself over and just stared at the weird girl. She was lying on her back, arms tucked behind her head, looking pleased as punch. "You never did tell me your name," she said out of the blue.
     "Justin," he replied quietly, as if ashamed of it.
     She smiled at him. He noticed she had long, silvery whiskers that bounced when she smiled. "Hi Justin."
     "Hi. Um, was it Lena?"
     She nodded. "So, are you gonna help me search through all these trash bags for fun stuff, or are you just gonna sit there?"
     He stared at her. "You really...? I mean, you want to look through garbage with me?"
     "Uh huh. I've never met anyone else who likes trash like I do. I'm pleased to meet you," she said in a sweet tone.
     Justin blushed. He'd been too busy being slightly frightened of this girl to realize that she was, in fact, a girl. "Um... I'm glad to meet you too." And actually, he was. He'd never met anyone else who liked trash either.
     They smiled at each other for a moment, slowly coming to the realization that they were kindred spirits.
     Lena looked down. "Oooh, I found something already!"
     Justin looked over. "What?"
     She threw a wad of greasy paper towel at him.
     "Hey!"
     She giggled.
     And that was how Justin met Lena.


          * * *


     The two kids played in the trash for hours.
     They became friends almost instantly. It was bizarre, Justin thought. He _never_ made friends with anyone this quickly. Then again, he never really made friends, period.
     However, the fact that you enjoy trash-picking is something you don't usually divulge to others, not even someone you trust. It was a bad, dirty, shameful thing. At least, that was how others saw it.
     But the two of them openly shared an undeniable love for trash, so there was no way either of them could possibly ridicule the other for it.
     By having this strange secret interest in common, it put them on perfectly equal ground. Friendship came easily.
     And as the two of them wandered about through the pile of bags, ripping them open like christmas presents, chatting happily the whole time, they realized they had a lot of other stuff in common too. They were both smart, enjoyed the same type of books and movies, loved pizza, hated zucchini, and shared a dozen or so other small similarities.
     They were different in just as many ways too. Lena said she lived with her father, no mom or siblings, and that she loved him dearly. On the subject of family, Justin merely said that it was something he'd rather not talk about. And they left it at that.
     The brunette ratgirl said that her dad had bought the land the dump was on last week, and that he'd replaced the old guy who'd been running it for years. Justin was happy to hear it. The 'old guy', he knew, was an ancient, foul-tempered German Shepherd with no teeth and no heart. He had scowled like a bird of prey at everyone who came to the dump to drop off their stuff. He took the gate fee from everyone by snatching it roughly away, as if he thought the whole town was trying to cheat him. Justin was certain that if the old fart had ever caught him dump-diving he would have called the cops in a heartbeat, or simply chased him down and beat the crap out of him. Thankfully, the old dog was also lazy. Justin had never seen him leave his post at the front gates unless he had to take a whiz. The young wolffox made it quite clear to Lena that the thought of that old fart losing his job just tickled him pink.
     Lena had a similarly low opinion of the man. She said he'd fought with her father every step of the way over the property rights, and that her dad had been only too happy to give him the boot when the land became his. She said that she and her father were now living in a little cabin just on the other side of the dump's main gate, and that they'd moved in a few days ago.
     That explained why Justin hadn't seen her before. He asked again why her dad wanted the dump in the first place, but the little rat was tight-lipped. She merely smiled, as if she was keeping one hell of a secret. Maybe there was gold in them thar garbage mounds, Justin ventured. She said he was _way_ off base.
     As far as the garbage went, it was a pretty good day for both of them.
     Lena found three dolls, a few spotty paperback books, an unopened box of snack cakes ("Hey, they're still in the plastic wrap! They'll be okay!" she had insisted), a broken ceramic elephant, one tiny plastic shoe, and an assortment of bottletops, which she said she collected.
     Justin found some books too, plus an action figure that looked like either a ninja or some kind of evil henchman, two metal cars that were only slightly stepped on, an activity pad with most of the pages un-crayoned, a baseball card, and a spool of white thread. (He wanted that to fix up some of his plushies with, but he didn't tell her that.)
     They also found plenty of other, smaller things. Stuff that deserved a second look but that they probably wouldn't keep. Candy wrappers with jokes printed on them, shiny pieces of unknown broken objects, paper with scribbled writing; stuff like that.
     Altogether, it was a happy, relaxed and fun way to spend an afternoon.



     When all the trash bags had been thoroughly searched, Justin and Lena looked up and noticed that the sun was going down.
     Both of them were rather smelly by now, but neither of them minded. Actually, Justin thought Lena's sweaty girl-smell was kind of interesting. (What he didn't know was that she felt the same way about his own wolfy boy-odor.)
     Their clothes had numerous spots and splotches, largely due to the fact that they'd been tossing icky stuff at one another for laughs all day. Nothing too gross though; they were only playing after all. An orange peel: fair game. A dirty diaper: hell no.
     Lena bent down and gathered her findings up into a convenient plastic grocery bag. "So, do you come here every day?" she asked.
     "No, sometimes I can't get out of the house. I come here usually three or four times a week if I'm lucky."
     "Well that's okay. I'll be here most of the time if you want to find me again."
     They stopped what they were doing, falling silent, and looked at one another for a moment.
     The sun was starting to set, painting the sky with candy pinks and savage oranges. The wind blew lightly through Lena's wild and uncombed brown hair. She looked at him with wide, dark-olive-green eyes.
     Justin realized that yes, he did want to find her again. He wanted to meet her here again and again, every day he came. He had finally found someone he could talk to. Someone who, much as he still loved his stuffed animals, could actually respond back.
     And she was cute, too.
     "I'd like that," he said, and smiled.
     "Me too," she said. She smiled too. Her whiskers bounced. "Can you come here tomorrow after school?"
     "I'll try my best."
     "Okay."
     The sky was growing darker now.
     "Um, see you later," Justin mumbled, wanting to say something a bit more eloquent but not knowing how.
     "Okay. 'Bye Justin." She turned away and gave him a little wave.
     "'Bye Lena," he called back.
     He'd just turned around again when she shouted, "Oh! I almost forgot!"
     He turned around. "What?"
     A rolled-up dirty sock flew through the air and bonked right into his forehead.
     "Bullseye!" Lena said triumphantly.
     Justin grinned. "You're a jerk!"
     "Thanks!" she said back, and ran off for home.


~~~~~


*part 3*


     Justin had gotten home that night just as 'dinner' was being prepared. 'Dinner' could barely be called that. Reheated macaroni and cheese from the night before, milk that was starting to turn, and a pawful of pretzels. (Justin guessed that was supposed to be their vegetable.)
     His three asshole brothers were busy talking about some basketball game that was on later that night, so thankfully they didn't bother him much. Everyone had long since gotten used to Justin coming home smelling like trash, so they didn't even notice him now. And considering that Mom smelled like beer and farts, and his brothers all carried a stench that was a combination of sweat, underwear skidmarks and, occasionally, weed, the fact that they passed over a bit of dump-reek was hardly surprising.
     Immediately following 'dinner', Mom took back her eternal position on the couch: head lying on the armrest, right foot snug between the cushions, right arm dangling on the floor, left hand clutching the remote as if it were trying to escape. Sometimes Justin wondered how come she hadn't frozen like that permanently.
     His brothers sat on the floor in front of her, ready to watch some b-ball. Soon the livingroom was filled with the sounds of sneakers scooting, crowds shouting and announcers yammering, occasionally punctuated by cheers and boos from The Dipshit Trio.
     Justin had become very, very good at sneaking out of a room without being noticed. He did so as soon as he'd cleaned his plate and was soon back in the tentative safety of his room. Well, it wasn't actually his. He had to share it with the three neanderthals. But at least he had his own bed.
     He wriggled under the bed and pried up the loose floorboard there with a screwdriver. His family would be engrossed for hours, so it looked like he had some time alone.
     In a dusty little recess beneath the floor, Justin had hidden his few attempts at poetry. He had never actually set out to be a poet, since even he had to admit that his brothers were right about it being kinda faggy. Still, he hadn't yet managed to convince his brain to stop bugging him about it. Every now and then a poem would just come to him, out of the blue, and it would nag at him until he wrote it down.
     Sometimes it was just a page full of scribblings about how much he hated his family. But not that often. Usually inspiration came in the form of odd little moments and happenings that he thought were worthy of remembering.
     For instance, the one he'd been writing earlier, the one that had been so cruelly mocked and ripped to shreds by the three philistines, had been about something he'd seen on the school bus that morning. Despite the fact that the weather was sunny and clear, he'd seen a woman standing on the corner wearing a rain slicker and carrying an umbrella.
     She was standing beneath its dome, smiling, looking as if she knew exactly what she was doing. She seemed so confident, Justin half expected it to suddenly pour down rain before the bus reached school.
     The fact that it *didn't* start raining seemed almost more surprising than if it had.
     As soon as Justin got home, he scribbled a few lines down. His first draft was lying on the floor in tatters, so he got a fresh sheet and started again. It flowed a lot better this time. Justin actually found himself thanking his brothers for destroying his first effort.
     He knew he wasn't a good poet, but he didn't care much. It wasn't like he ever expected to get published, or even wanted to. This was something he did because something inside told him to. Some part of his soul wanted him to write out these little vignettes.
     Rhyme wasn't important to him, or number of lines. It was all about how the sentences _sounded_. They had to flow correctly before he was satisfied. He weighed each line like composing music. It had to sound right, and it had to describe how the event had felt. Not so much what had actually happened, but how it had felt.
     He finished up, titled it 'Invisible Shower' and hid it under the floorboard with the rest.
     Smiling, he got out his homework and lost himself in it until it was time for bed.


          * * *


     All through school the next day, Justin was in a daze.
     The schoolwork was easy as taking a crap, so that wasn't a problem. Justin finished the worksheets in swift contempt and set them aside while everyone elses' pencils were still scratching about.
     He kept thinking about Lena. He really hoped he'd get to meet her again later. He'd had a lot of fun with her the day before.
     The young ratfemme was different from every girl he'd ever met. For one thing, she wasn't afraid to act like a boy if she felt like it. She didn't mind swearing or play-fighting or getting dirty. Yet at the same time, she was still comfortable giggling over girl stuff. Justin would've passed over those dolls she'd found without a second thought, but she had gushed over them like they were made out of gold. And he didn't mind either. She was cool about the stuff he liked, so he felt it was only fair for him to be cool about the things she liked too.
     Another thing he liked about her was the fact that she didn't take one look at him and then decide to treat him like slime. That was the reaction he got from basically everyone else at school. Even when he'd meet someone for the first time and try to at least be polite, they'd take in his appearance, and his smell, and sneer at him like they wished he'd just hurry up and die already.
     So what if he only had two pairs of pants and he had to wear 'em each for a week until Mom made him do laundry? So what if every one of his T-shirts had a hole in it, or a stain or two? So what if he smelled exactly like someone whose hobby was scrutinizing the contents of trash bags? Was that any reason to treat him like he wasn't even alive?
     Apparently, he realized, it was. He'd overheard enough mumbled comments to know that he was the school's resident 'smelly kid'. He was the untouchable. Other kids didn't even make fun of him most of the time, they just left the room or tried to act like he wasn't there.
     But Lena had been friendly to him right from the start. He guessed she'd probably been the 'smelly kid' at her school too. As he'd noticed the day before, they were on perfectly equal ground, and they both knew it. They were two of a kind. Being jerks to each other wouldn't even have made sense.
     "Mister Dalton!!!"
     Justin's head snapped forward. The teacher was giving him one of those 'How dare you daydream in my class!' looks.
     "I asked you a question!" the trim, well-dressed marten said in her usual snippy tone.
     Mrs. Robertson did not like him. Which he supposed was forgivable, considering that he didn't have a shred of respect for her.
     He smiled blithely at her. "I'm sorry, I was thinking about something more important than what you were talking about."
     If any other kid had had the balls to say that to a teacher's face, it would have gotten a full house of giggles hidden behind paws. Instead, the rest of the class just looked away in distaste.
     Mrs. Robertson was not pleased. "I asked you how many moons Mars has," she said sharply, hoping to catch him off guard.
     "Two: Phobos 'n Deimos. Got anything harder than that?" he asked suavely, tossing her a shit-eating grin.
     The teacher was not about to lose face to a student she considered little better than a maggot. "Allright then, Mister Dalton..."
     He really didn't like being called by his last name. He suspected she knew that.
     "...name all of Jupiter's moons." She grinned in triumph. She had his ass now.
     Justin grinned even wider. Without a trace of effort, he rattled off all sixteen at lightning speed. "Io, Ganymede, Elara, Carme, Amalthea, Metis, Pasiphae, Europa, Leda, Sinope, Himalia, Adrastea, Ananke, Thebe, Lysithea and, drumroll please, Callisto!"
     Mrs. Robertson's face went slack with disbelief, then turned into an ugly snarl. If looks could kill... She didn't even know half of those herself!
     He smiled innocently. It wasn't like she could punish him for giving a right answer. It was her own fault for not realizing he liked astronomy.
     She glared at him a bit more, daring him to make some smartass remark she could use to punish his little ass for.
     Justin said not a word. He'd thought about asking her if she wanted him to name all the asteroids in the Oort cloud, but that would have been pushing it. Never give your enemies anything they want, he'd learned. Never make it easy for them to punish you. Sometimes the best revenge is keeping your mouth shut and letting your adversary tear their hair out.
     Finally, Mrs. Robertson turned away with a little growl and went back to her lesson.
     He'd have to keep on his toes the rest of the day, but as long as he could keep from doing something dumb, he knew he'd won.
     He felt incredibly proud of himself.


          * * *


     "Hi Lena!!"
     "Justin! Cool! Good to see you again!"
     The little wolffox had zoomed off the bus, told Mom he was home, dropped off his homework and fled the house like it was on fire. He even bypassed his treasure chest. But he did remember to call out a hello to his plushies as he passed.
     He'd looked around the dump for a while, hoping she hadn't been just teasing him the day before. Eventually he'd spotted her in the Auto Graveyard, bent way over the open hood of the shell of some little foreign model.
     Justin rushed over to meet her. He was glad to see her twice over; glad just to see her of course, and also glad that she'd been telling the truth the other day. He'd been betrayed by a few other 'friends' in the past. But he was already mostly sure he didn't have to worry about that with Lena.
     Today she was dressed in jeans and a bright yellow shirt with some college sports team's logo on the front. "I thought you said sports were boring," he said as he arrived by her side.
     She looked confused for a second, then realized he was talking about her shirt. "Oh? Yeah, I just like the color of this one. Found it in a bag of old clothes back where I came from and it fit me, so I kept it," she explained. "Maybe I should wear it inside out?" she mused to herself.
     "Where'd you used to live?" Justin asked.
     "Not far from here. Another city called Pine Bend. It was a lot bigger than this place. Dad worked at the landfill there."
     "He must really like trash."
     She grinned, as if in on a secret. "You have no idea." She turned back to what she'd been examining before he'd arrived. "Oh, hey, lookit this."
     He stood beside her and tried to see what she was seeing. It was just a bunch of rusty car guts to him.
     "What do you think the likelihood is of me being able to get this engine up and running again?" she asked conversationally.
     "Somewhere between zero and diddly-shit," he replied automatically. Then he winced. "I mean, are you good with engines? I didn't know. I'm sorry-"
     She smiled and gave him a little shove. "You were right the first time, stoopid. This engine's dead as a doorknob. I might be able to save the flywheel and the transmission housing though. The rest's a buncha shit."
     He was rather impressed (though he thought the word she meant was 'doornail'). "Do you know a lot about cars?" he asked.
     The little rat nodded proudly. "Dad and I have a car we fixed up called the Frankenmobile. He bought it for, like, a dollar off some guy's lawn and we spent about six months putting new parts in. I loved running around in the old dump too, so he gave me a list of parts to look for. I figured I'd start today scouting for any new stuff here."
     Justin chuckled. "Good luck finding anything but truck parts. I swear, there's like a law around here that says people can only own pickups." He gestured towards the foreign model they were currently inspecting. "The cops probably confiscated this one and torched it."
     Lena laughed. It was right in his ear and really loud, but he didn't mind. "Naw, ours is some old four-door sedan. It's ugly as hell but it rides smooth." She brightened suddenly. "Now, the Green Beast's the one that's really impressive! I've gotta show her off to you sometime!"
     "We've got a station wagon," Justin shamefully admitted. "It stalls most of the time. We don't have a name for it."
     "Maybe I could come over and fix it?" she offered cheerfully, obviously excited by the idea.
     Justin paled. "Are you kidding? If my dad ever saw a girl working on his car, he'd punch your lights out!"
     Lena started to laugh, then realized he wasn't kidding. "Seriously!?"
     Justin nodded. "He loves that stupid car. He won't let anyone else touch it. But he never tries to fix it! He just swears at it and calls it girls' names when it won't start."
     Lena looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified. She decided instead to change the subject. "Anyway, that reminds me. I wanted you to meet my dad today."
     "Okay," Justin said. From her description yesterday, he sounded like a nice enough guy.
     "Come on! He's over at the front gate!" She ran off, and Justin noticed that her jeans, and her overalls the day before, hid a pair of wiry, powerful legs. It was almost impossible to keep up with her. She scrambled and jumped over piles of trash like she'd been born for it. All Justin could see of her big furless feet were flashes of pink.
     She stopped every now and then to let him catch up. She grinned at him. He definitely wasn't a lazy couch potato like Greg, but she was sure making him look like one.
     "You're acting like you've never run through a dump before!" she called over her shoulder teasingly.
     "Shut up!"



     After having traversed a good deal of the dump, they finally made it to the front gate. Justin was a bit winded, but Lena looked peppy as ever. She jogged in place for a little bit. "Slowpoke," she teased.
     Justin decided to wait until he got his breath back to reply to that.
     At the side of the main gate was a little shack that looked like a tollbooth. The incoming fursons gave the guy at the window three dollars and then they were let in to get rid of their trash. At the moment, Justin could see a little bit of the man sitting inside. Not much more than his pant legs, as he had his feet propped up on the desk, but enough to be sure that the old German Shepherd truly was gone for good. 'Bon voyage, you paranoid old poop', Justin thought.
     "Hey _DAD_!!!" Lena blasted out at an impressive volume. "Come see what I found in the garbage the other day!!" She turned around and blew a little raspberry at Justin.
     He shrugged. "Well, it's true," he had to admit.
     The door of the little booth opened up, and the man who stepped out made Justin do a double take.
     For starters, he'd expected another rat, like Lena. This guy was a skunk! His glossy black and white fur shimmered in the hot afternoon sun. His giant bushy tail swayed lazily behind him as he walked.
     He was wearing an ocean-blue button-down shirt, khakis, and tan work boots. On his head was a cowboy hat that no one but a tourist or a newcomer would actually wear, and on his pink triangular nose was perched a pair of round wire-frame bifocals.
     He was tall like a saguaro; lanky and sun-hardened. His body looked like it was made entirely of vertical lines, except for his round, warm face. He smiled cheerfully when he saw the two kids. He looked like a perfect combination of intelligence and hard work.
     "He's a skunk!" Justin noted.
     Lena laughed at him. "I'm adopted, ya fuckin' retard!" she said playfully.
     Justin glared at her, but he was grinning. "Asshole."
     "Fuckface!"
     "Shitsucker!"
     "Nipplehead!"
     Justin stopped cold. "Nipplehead?! What the hell is a nipplehead!?"
     Lena shrugged. "I don't know! It just popped out!"
     The skunk grinned as he loped up. "Well, you two seem to be playing nicely."
     Lena jumped up on him and hugged him so hard she nearly toppled him over. "Daddeeeee!" she squealed. She pointed at her wolffox friend. "This is Justin. He likes garbage too!"
     That wasn't the best way in the world to be introduced to someone, but Justin figured that in this family it wouldn't matter. He put out his paw for a shake. "Hello, sir," he said politely.
     "Well 'hello, sir' back to you too," said the skunk. He took Justin's paw in both of his and gave it one strong up-and-down pump. "Adam Tallevasco. Pleased to meet you."
     "Justin Dalton. But I don't like my last name."
     "Okay. Just Justin then."
     Justin nodded. He liked this guy already. Aside from seeming pretty cool, he was talking to him respectfully, like he was another adult. Justin couldn't remember the last time any other grown-up had treated him that way. And he was kind of a handsome skunk too. The little wolffox blushed a bit when he realized he'd thought that.
     Lena released her father and started making little patterns in the sand with her toeclaws. "Anyone do any dumping today yet, Dad?" she asked.
     "A few people." He looked across the dump, pointing off to the side. "Over there. Two guys so far. One of them had a whole truckload. Looked interesting."
     Lena grinned in delight. "Cool!"
     The tall skunk turned to Justin. "Lena was telling me about you last night at dinner. You like looking through trash too?" he asked, but in a very gentle voice so Justin would know he didn't disapprove of such activities.
     Justin was a bit embarrassed anyway. "Well, yeah. Sometimes."
     Mr. Tallevasco patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, nothing wrong with that! I've been stomping around in garbage most of my life. I'm an amateur garbologist."
     Justin arched an eyebrow in a 'you gotta be kidding me' way. "That is _not_ a real word."
     Adam looked melodramatically offended. "It is too!"
     "Really?"
     Mr. Tallevasco made a little 'trust me' gesture with his paws. "Swear to God. I'm a garbologist. I study garbage. You'd be surprised at what you can learn about a furson if you root through their trash."
     "I bet I wouldn't," Justin said with a bit of pride. "I've been dump-diving here for years now. I know plenty of stuff about people. Heck, if I wanted, I could probably rip a lot of people off. Dummies leave their bank numbers in plain sight sometimes."
     Adam was a tad startled. "That's not exactly what I meant, but I'll acknowledge we're in the same field. I'm talking more about garbage as a form of sociology. Did you know that most of the stuff archaeologists have learned about ancient civilizations, they get from looking through dead people's trash?"
     Justin thought that was kind of interesting. "Really?"
     Lena was off doing her own thing; she'd heard this plenty of times before.
     Adam crouched down in the dusty road beside Justin, his paw on the boy's shoulder. "Believe it. When you think about it, it makes sense. People from past eras would throw their trash in big heaps, just like this dump here, and it'd get buried and preserved long after all their buildings and culture were gone. Hundreds of years later, some guy stumbles by, sees something sticking out of the ground, calls an archaeologist, and presto! Just like a time capsule!"
     "That's pretty cool!" Justin said. "So someday after we're all dead, a bunch of future fursons, of maybe their robots, will uncover all this junk?"
     "Exactly," the bespectacled skunk concurred.
     "And they'll probably conclude we were all a bunch of drunken rednecks," Justin deadpanned.
     Adam snorted with laughter and nearly fell over. "I hate to say it, but I think you're right, my lupine friend."
     Justin rather liked being referred to as 'my lupine friend'.
     Mr. Tallevasco stood back up. He removed his silly hat for a moment to scratch between his ears. Justin noticed that his hair was pure white, like his stripes. "I also dabble a bit in the occult, but they're two completely different subjects."
     "Oh yes, totally unrelated!" Lena joined in.
     "Indeed. Completely and utterly unrelated."
     The two of them grinned and chucked at one another, obviously enjoying some in-joke that Justin didn't get. Maybe he'd find out eventually, but he didn't want to be rude and pry into it now.
     "You two want some snacks before you go off treasure hunting?" Mr. Tallevasco asked.
     Snacks? He was actually being offered snacks? Now Justin knew he _really_ liked this guy! "Sure! Thank you very much!" he said enthusiastically.
     "Me too, Dad!" Lena added.
     "Okee-doke. Come on in where it's cool and shady. I got some pop in the mini-fridge. I think there's some of those little cake things left over."
     Justin wondered if they were the allegedly-just-fine snack cakes Lena had found in the trash the day before. He followed the rat and the skunk into the little shack, noticing that this was the first time he'd ever been inside of it.
     It looked pretty much like a tiny little office. There was only one chair, so two of them would have to stand. There was a short wooden desk, clean and organized. Justin guessed it wouldn't stay that way much longer. At the back was a little fridge and above it was a corkboard covered in notes, schedules, and rather a lot of pictures of Adam and Lena together, always smiling brightly.
     The big skunk cracked open the fridge and it whined in protest. He tossed a can of cola to Justin. It was so chilly the wolffox nearly dropped it. Another can went to Lena. "Cheers," said Adam. He bumped cans with the two kids and they all popped their pull-tabs.
     It was good and cold, which was a nice relief on such a hot day. Lena took a long gulp, then held the can to her forehead for a while before rubbing it up and down the length of her long, furless tail.
     "Snack cake?" Adam asked, holding out the box with a few slightly-squished ones still in the bottom. He took a seat in the big, broken-in leather desk chair.
     "Are those...?" Justin started.
     "Yes, and I was right," Lena cut in. "They're fine! As long as the wrapper's intact, it's not like any germs can get in. Besides, they cram these things fulla preservatives anyway."
     Adam nodded, already nibbling on one, which was melting a bit in his paw. "That's true. I've heard these things have a shelf life of twenty years or so. Kind of strange, isn't it, to eat something that'll outlive most housepets?"
     That was certainly a weird observation. "Well, okay," Justin said bravely. "You guys are eating 'em and you're not dropping dead."
     At that, the skunk and the rat could not resist making overdramatic gagging noises and slumping over.
     "Ha ha ha," Justin said, and took the last one.
     They grinned at him.     
     And actually, the cake was not bad.


~~~~~


*part 4*


     As the days progressed, Justin and Lena swiftly and effortlessly became best friends. Soon Justin couldn't imagine life without her. She gave him a reason to be happy. Life was no longer just hiding from his brothers, getting disgusted stares from his classmates and being picked on by his teacher. His secret, solitary act of pleasure; exploring the dump, had become something shared. Which made it so much better.
     Sure, they'd occasionally have squabbles. But never any fights. They called each other filthy names constantly, but that was only playing.
     About the only thing they ever got into any real arguments about was over trash finds. Sometimes they'd discover something that both of them wanted. Eventually it was decided that 'Whosoever touches it first shall become rightful owner' would be their ironclad rule; no bitching allowed.
     Although if the loser still wanted the disputed object badly enough, they could always try to barter for it. That became a fun activity all on its own. They found it was just as much fun looking for stuff the other furson would like as it was searching for their own goodies. It was like going Christmas shopping every day.
     One such situation came up out of the blue about a week after Lena and Justin first met.



     The black plastic bag ripped satisfyingly under her paws. Lena gasped in delight at what she'd uncovered. A goldmine! Some fed-up mother had gone through her kid's closet and thrown away everything in sight. The little ratgirl called her wolffox friend over to explore it with her.
     They both reached in grinning and pulled the bag wide open. "Cool!" Justin exclaimed, as he noticed a little robot figure. It looked quite sinister, with snapping pincers and a missile launcher on top of its head. Justin poked at it, and a little red piece of plastic shot out and bonked right into his forehead. "Sweet! It's still got the missile!" Finding a toy like this with all its parts and weapons was a miracle.
     Lena was looking through some stuffed animals. "Oh, these are cute!"
     Justin looked up and noticed Lena holding a medium-sized fox plush with carrot-colored fur and a green hat and sweater.
     For some reason, he felt his heart go out to the little vixen immediately. She was adorable, and he knew right away he wanted her to cuddle with. But Lena had touched it first. How could he get it back from her without looking like a big sissy?
     Lena noticed him staring at the fox. "Um, I guess I'll keep these. If you don't mind," she said slowly, not sure if she was misreading his expression.
     Justin blushed. He trusted her, but this was still very conflicting. He was supposed to be a tough guy. Sneaky and devious. Cool and collected.
     And yet he still played with stuffed animals.
     'Then again,' a little voice spoke up, 'Lena's comfortable with being boyish sometimes. Do you really think she'd make fun of you if you wanted to be a little girlish?'
     With great courage, Justin haltingly said, "Actually, um... I'd kinda like that fox you're holding."
     Lena looked down at it. She'd seen in her friend's eyes that the plushie meant something to him. She kinda liked that. She'd had many experiences before where she'd find a stuffed animal and make an instant connection with it. Something would click, and she'd want to cuddle it right away, even if it was old and sticky and its seams were popping loose. She was happy to know that Justin could feel the same way too. "Well, you know The Rule," she said with a little smile. "You've gotta trade me something for her."
     Justin looked around, trying desperately to spot something good enough.
     She giggled. "Oh, how 'bout that gum wrapper?" she pointed out.
     Justin looked up and saw in her eyes that she knew how he felt about the plushie, and that she didn't mind. She was giving it to him to make him happy. He smiled warmly at her, passing along a silent 'thank you'. He picked up the wrapper and handed it to her.
     She gave him the fox and took the wrapper. "Ooh, I'll treasure it forever!" she gushed. They both laughed.
     Justin held the fluffy plush vixen in his arms. She was perfect. She was even in good condition; no stains, no missing patches of fur. Just one little loose seam he could easily sew up. The fox's shiny plastic eyes were happy, as if she knew she'd found the right owner. Justin gave her a little hug.
     "Awwwww," said Lena.
     Justin blushed.
     She smiled at him. "It's okay. I like plushies too. I don't think you're a baby or anything."
     Feeling a bit more confident, Justin gave his new fuzzy fox friend a kiss. He felt really happy. He looked up at Lena. "Thanks. My life sucks a lot of the time, and it's nice to have something soft to hold, you know?"
     She nodded, understanding perfectly. "Do you give yours names?" she asked.
     "Oh, of course," he replied without hesitation. "Who doesn't?"
     "I thought so. Only fursons who really care about their plushies name them," she said sagely.
     Justin froze. A terrifying, impossible thought had suddenly occurred to him. 'No. Never. Not in a million years...' It was out of his mouth before he could stop himself. "Do you wanna go see something in the woods?"
     "Mmmmmaybe. What is it?" She noticed how nervous he looked. "Is it something secret? Something special?"
     Justin was trembling all over. He weakly managed to nod. A large part of him was screaming not to do this. It was his freakin' Treasure Chest, dammit! No one was supposed to know about it but him! Never ever ever!!!
     Lena got to her feet. "Wanna go now?" From the tremor in his eyes, she guessed that this was something he'd only have the courage for if they did it right away, while the idea was fresh. If she let it wait till later, it probably wouldn't happen at all.
     "Um, I guess so." He gathered up all of the day's finds in his backpack, mindful to keep Lena's stuff separate in a plastic bag. He stood up and looked at her, feeling awkward.
     "Where do we hafta go?" she asked, her green eyes wide with curiosity.
     He pointed in the general direction. "Over there, past all the cars. I know where it is. Just follow me."
     "Okay."
     Justin shouldered his backpack and started leading the way.
     'You colossal idiot!' part of him screamed. 'You can't show her the secret treasure chest! Turn back now before it's too late!'
     'Shut up! I already told her I was gonna show her something,' another part replied.
     'Show her a tree! Show her a rock! Anything but the footlocker!'
     'Why not? She's not gonna laugh, or try to steal anything. She's my friend.'
     'You *think* she's your friend! Are you really gonna trust her with the biggest secret you have?'
     "Fuck you," he muttered under his breath. "Lena's cool. I'm not gonna be a jerk about this."
     "Did you say something?" Lena called out from behind him.
     "Just talking to myself!" he shouted over his shoulder.
     Just from the look on his face, the young rat could tell that her new best friend was really worried about showing her whatever it was he was about to show her. It was probably something he'd never let anyone else know about before.
     Lena sighed sadly. It reminded her of the secret she was keeping from him. She honestly didn't know if she would ever feel comfortable telling him, even though she'd been considering the idea for a week now. Maybe she'd never find anyone she could tell...



     The two little ones walked along in silence for quite some time before they reached the slightly rusty black footlocker. It was partially buried in the dirt, and camouflaged by a pile of tree limbs.
     Lena was confused. "It's a box. It's a big black box," she said flatly.
     "Well, there's stuff inside it, ya moron," he kidded.
     "Oh. That makes sense."
     Justin knelt down in the soft, cool earth. He tossed the tree branches to the side and was about to start fiddling with the combination lock. He stopped and looked uneasily at Lena. "Hey. Um... Could you become really interested in something over there right now?" he asked her.
     Lena understood. She turned around. "Oh look! Some trees!" she exclaimed.
     Justin was still too nervous to laugh, though the way she'd said it was pretty funny. He quickly spun in the combination and popped the lock off. "Okay, you can look now," he said.
     Lena got down on the ground beside him. The forest around them was cool and calm. The only sounds were the rustle of leaves and the occasional tweet of a bird. "What's in it?" she asked in a hushed, eager tone.
     Justin put his paws on the sides of the lid. He hesitated and bit his lip. He turned to Lena, feeling almost like he was about to cry. "Um... Look, this is really personal stuff. I've never shown anyone this before. This is like baring my soul to you, so be cool about it, okay?"
     His slightly brusque tone did not offend her. Rather, she knew exactly what he was feeling. She leaned closer and gave him a sudden hug. "It's okay. I won't laugh, or whatever you're worried I'll do. You're my best friend, Justin." And with that, she gave him a little kiss on the cheek.
     Justin looked at her with wide eyes. Surprise had completely replaced anxiety. "You kissed me," he said flatly.
     She blushed, not sure if that had been the right thing to do. "Yeah..."
     He smiled suddenly. He touched his cheek where she'd kissed him. "Thanks."
     She smiled too. "You're welcome."
     Justin hesitated for a second, then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek too.
     Lena giggled. The little rat's tail flicked happily.
     Her whiskers had tickled! Justin gave her a beaming smile. All at once, he felt completely comfortable with showing her his treasures. "Okay, here it is." He lifted up the lid.
     "Oh wow!" Lena took in the sight before her. The box was full of toys! All sorts of neat stuff, all of it cleaned up and well-cared for. Everything was organized into cardboard boxes. Action figures, Legos, trading cards, toy cars, robots, a stack of paperback books (one of which had a rather dirty-sounding title), and a small collection of stuffed animals.
     Justin felt his cheeks get hot when her gaze fell upon his plushies.
     "They're cute!" she squeaked. She reached in to pick one up, then abruptly stopped herself and looked to Justin to see if it was okay.
     He felt a little alarmed, but was relieved to see her stop and ask him for permission. "It's okay."
     They both reached in and got out the plushies, sitting them on the ground beside the box or on their laps.
     "What are their names?" Lena asked.
     Justin pointed to the foot-tall purple skunk she was holding. "That's Violet." He went in a circle, pointing out each of his beloved plushies in turn. A handsome brown fox with extremely lifelike eyes: "Alex." A plump skunk that was actually a large hand puppet: "Melissa." A seated squirrel the color of smoke: "Sandy." Another fox, this one with yellowish fur and a happy smile: "Kit." A black-furred mouse with blue eyes in a red top hat and vest: "Sammy." A little black bat with velvety wings: "Serena." A donut-shaped, lying down vixen with a white face: "Amanda." A pudgy grey mouse with white paws and a red nose: "Rachel. She's my favorite." And finally a white mouse in a slightly tattered adventurer's costume: "And this is Ruthie."
     "Wasn't she on some cartoon show?" Lena asked.
     "I think so. I found her at a flea market," Justin said.
     Lena noticed that all the plushies but Ruthie and Sammy were nonevs, meaning 'non-evolved': they looked more like wild animals instead of civilized fursons. She noticed two things that all of them had in common though. One, they all had very expressive faces. Some of them had gentle smiles. Some of them looked a little sad, as if they needed someone to come pick them up and give them a hug. And two, they were all obviously very well taken care of. They all had clean, fluffy fur, and she even noticed a few that showed clumsy but loving attempts to patch up their ripped seams.
     The little ratgirl smiled warmly. She gathered all of Justin's plushies up in her arms and gave them a great big hug. "I'm very pleased to meet you all!" she said with a giggle.
     Justin felt something wondrous in his heart. He'd shared his most closely guarded secret with someone, and it hadn't been scary at all. It hadn't backfired. In fact, seeing Lena cuddling the plushies that he loved so much, seeing them all sitting on her lap getting hugged, made Justin feel happy and content inside. He was glad she was enjoying his plushies. He liked being able to share them.
     "Remember the one in your backpack," Lena noted.
     "Oh," said Justin. He slipped his pack off and unzipped it. He fumbled around inside for a bit before bringing out his new little vixen in her green sweater and hat. He gave her a happy hug.
     "And what's her name?" Lena asked. "A lot of times when I get a new plushie, even if they don't have a tag, they'll tell me their names right away. I'll just look at them, and I'll know."
     Justin grinned. "Hey, that happens to me too!" He looked into the pretty green eyes of his new fox. "Felicia," he said at last, and with finality. "Her name's Felicia."
     Lena reached over to pat the little fox on the head. "Hello, Felicia. I'm sure Justin will take good care of you."
     "I will," the wolffox boy assured. He gave Felicia a kiss, and then sniffed her. "Hey, neat. I won't have to wash her off. She doesn't smell bad at all."
     Out of curiosity, Lena sniffed the plushies she was holding. "These ones are all stinky," she declared.
     Justin looked worried for a second. "What do you mean? Did something spill on them?" he asked worriedly.
     She giggled. "No, silly! They smell like you! Stinky puppy smell!"
     Justin grinned and gave her a little foxish bark. "I do not stink!" Then he thought about it. "Well, okay. I guess I do. But you stink too," he said playfully.
     "Really? Oh goody! Do I smell like stinky trash?"
     Justin nodded. "Uh huh. And you have your own special smelly rat smell."
     She grinned brightly and hugged his plushies. "Thank you! You smell like stinky garbage too, Justin!"
     He chuckled. "Thank you too." Among the both of them, that was certainly not an insult in any way. In fact, the more he thought about it, calling each other stinky like garbage was kind of a compliment.
     "You stink, Lena," he said tenderly.
     "You stink too, Justin."
     And oddly enough, they'd both said it exactly like saying 'I love you'.


~~~~~


*part 5*


     The screen door slammed behind him with a loud clatter. "I'm home!" Justin called out.
     "Don't slam the goddam door," his mother groused from the couch.
     "Sorry," he said automatically without meaning it. "Um, I'm gonna be going over to a friend's house for dinner tonight, is that okay?" His voice was guarded and hesitant.
     She looked up from the television. Her sagging, puffy face held nothing but suspicion. "Since when do you have friends?" she asked cruelly.
     Justin winced. 'Ouch.' He straightened up. "A new kid moved in. I've known him for a while now." He'd decided it would be a lot better if no one knew his new friend was a girl. His brothers would undoubtedly call him a fag, but at least they wouldn't really mean it. God knew what kind of sick mind games they'd think up if they found out he had a girlfriend-of-sorts. "He invited me over to his place tonight."
     The whale of a wolf regarded her son with beady eyes like broken bottle shards pressed into bread dough.
     Justin kept his mouth shut. She was waiting for him to crack, to admit that he wasn't telling her the whole truth. He wasn't going to let her intimidate him this time. Knowing that Lena was waiting for him gave him strength. It was interesting for him to realize that it was easier to stand firm when you were doing it for someone else that you cared about.
     Finally she grunted and looked away, starting to stare again at whatever insipid talk show was on at the moment. "Fine. Go off and do whatever. You're probably going to go get in trouble, aren't you? Well, don't expect me to bail you out if you do something stupid and get caught."
     "Thank you," he said with a little nod. "And I'm not gonna do anything bad," he added softly. He wished she could just maybe try a little bit, just once, to not think the worst of him.
     She was silent as stone.
     Justin turned to leave, when she spoke up suddenly.
     "I'm lockin' the doors before I go to bed. So if you're not home by then, you're out of luck," she mumbled.
     "Okay," said Justin. Normally her attitude would piss him off, but today it just saddened him. He shut the screen door gently behind him as he left.



     Lena was waiting for him in the woods behind the house. "Did she say yes?" she asked, not sounding very hopeful.
     Justin shrugged and smiled. "Stop the presses. The lard-beast actually didn't give me too much shit about it."
     Lena did a little jump of happiness. "Great!" She was dressed in her overalls again today, this time with a powder-blue T-shirt that read "Fuck Everything" in dainty cursive script. (She told Justin it was the only shirt she'd ever bought in store, because she liked the philosophy so much.) She also had a pink scrunchie in her hair, making a kind of almost-ponytail out of her terminally messy locks.
     Justin was clad in jeans and a black shirt with "AH BOO DEE BOO DAH" printed on it in red block letters. Neither he nor anyone at school knew what it meant. He suspected it was a band name.
     With warm afternoon sunshine on their shoulders, the two friends wandered off unhurriedly, talking casually about whatever popped into their heads. They planned to take a while to partake in their favorite pastime at the dump, then head over to Lena's house afterwards for dinner. Justin was looking forward to finally seeing where she lived, and getting the chance to find out what actual home-cooked food tasted like.


          * * *


     A few hours later, they both had sweaty fur, dirty pants and not much to show for it. Justin had made out better than Lena, but overall it was a mediocre trash day. A nicely-painted rubber pencil topper shaped like a dinosaur was the most exciting thing he'd found.
     It didn't matter though. He was happy enough just to spend time with Lena. He felt a sort of giddy pleasure at just knowing that she liked him enough to invite him over. He'd never been asked over to a friend's house before. He really had no idea what the procedure was. He just hoped he'd have a good time and not do anything embarrassing.
     Brushing the schmutz from their paws and pant legs, he and Lena headed out of the dump. The front gates were chained and padlocked when they finally reached the edge. The collection booth was empty. Adam had quit for the day and was already home starting on dinner.
     "So, what's your dad gonna cook?" Justin asked as they turned left at the gates and headed into a patch of trees.
     "I dunno. Something tasty. He's a good cook," Lena said, sounding quite proud of him.
     "My mom's never cooked anything tasty in her life," Justin replied with a wry grin. "At my house, if it doesn't come out of a box, it doesn't end up on the table."
     Lena chuckled. She did not have to ask why Justin had never invited her over to his house. The fact didn't bother her at all. In fact, it made her glad. It showed her that he cared about her enough to want to keep her hidden and protected from his family, like his footlocker full of treasures.
     The two of them stepped out of a cluster of trees and came upon a small, modest wooden house. Two stories plus a front porch and an expansive yard. The walls were painted cola-at-the-bottom-of-the-glass brown, with sky blue window shutters. Justin thought the place looked cozy and friendly.
     There were various bits of trash and toys littering the front yard, along with an ugly brown four-door sedan. One of its doors was orange. "The Frankenmobile?" he guessed.
     Lena nodded. "Good, you remembered!" Then she grinned from ear to ear and tugged on his arm. "Come on back behind the house! You've gotta meet the Green Beast!" she said excitedly.
     Lena had never exactly explained what kind of car the Green Beast was. Justin had guessed it was probably A: green and B: rather large. He was rather curious about it, since she'd always sounded so proud of it. He followed her to the backyard through a grove of tall, tickly weeds on the side of the house.
     And then he stopped dead in his tracks.
     "Holy shit!!" he shouted with a grin.
     Sitting there, basking in the sun, was a garbage truck! An _enormous_ garbage truck! A nifty older model too; probably several decades old. It looked like it had been fully restored. It was painted a bright, sparkling kelly green. It had loads of personality. The round headlights and broad grille seemed to smile at Justin and say, 'Howdy!'
     "You _own_ a garbage truck?! Sweet Jesus, that's cool!" he exploded.
     Lena giggled, bounced over and gave the truck's front wheel cover a hug. "Meet the Beast! Dad bought her at a public auction years back when he was still working at the landfill. She really looked awful back then! He was the only bidder and we got her for a tenth what she's worth. We've been fixing her guts and spiffing up her paint job ever since. We've even done some custom work. Dad's got a crystal skull for the gear shift knob."
     Justin walked slowly around the truck, eyes wide and mouth gaping open. His gaze was reverent, as if in the presence of a great work of art. "She's beautiful!" he finally sputtered.
     Lena seemed to really appreciate him saying that. "Thanks! I just love her to bits. Dad's trying to work out a deal with city hall to set up a weekly trash collection. The Beast wants to get out on the road and do her job."
     Justin seemed sad to hear that. "But then all the trash'll get crushed before we get a chance to go through it!" he protested.
     She laughed at him like that was the stupidest thing he'd ever said. "You total dumbass! Dad would never do that! You know he knows I love trash-picking. The Beast's collection bin's so big and this city's so small, Dad won't have to compact the stuff at all. It'll be like getting the stuff delivered right to our doorstep! And we'll never have to worry about being spied on while we trash-pick ever again!"
     Justin's frown turned upside down. "That's great!!" he said excitedly.
     "Wanna look in the back?" Lena asked.
     "Sure!"
     The two of them raced around to the Green Beast's backside. Lena was right, the place where the garbage would go was cavernous. "Heloooo!" he shouted, and indeed there was an echo.
     "She's an extra-huge model," Lena explained. "Made for some big city's trash collection, so she can hold a lot. She could hold a month's worth of this town's garbage. Dad could probably do two weeks' worth of rounds without having to compact anything!"
     Justin looked around inside, scrutinizing all the moving parts, wondering how that huge blade came down and scooped up its cargo.
     "Wanna hop inside?" she dared.
     "In this heat?" he said incredulously. "Fuck you! I'd burn my feet off!"
     She gave him a sly 'you have no idea what you're talking about' look. "Trust me. Hop up inside. I'll even give you a push."
     Intrigued now, and mostly certain that she wouldn't ask him to if it wasn't safe, Justin took hold of the edge of the collection bin and hoisted himself up. "No thanks, I can do it myself."
     In a flash, Lena had jumped up beside him. "Me too," she said smugly.
     He stuck his tongue out at her, then lifted one leg over the side and stepped into the garbage truck's interior. He lowered his paw carefully, expecting the metal to be searing hot considering it'd been sitting in the sun all day long.
     To his surprise, the metal floor was nice and cool. He gingerly stepped all the way in, mindful not to bash his skull on the low-hanging blade. "Wow! It's cool in here. How'd you do it?"
     Lena followed him inside. She walked around, her arms spread wide as if showing off a new house. The truck actually seemed even bigger now that they were inside of it. It looked like they could host a party in here. "A thin sheet of insulating foamy stuff over the old walls, and some new low-heat-conducting panels over top of that," she described. "She's like a fuckin' huge Thermos on wheels! In the summer, it's always nice 'n cool inside. When it gets really hot out, it's nice to come in here and lay down, have some lemonade, and read a good book."
     Justin looked around in wonder. "I didn't think it was possible..." he started, craning his neck around to get a good look up inside the turtle-shell-shaped roof, "...but I'm actually even _more_ ashamed of my dad's station wagon now."
     Lena giggled.
     All of a sudden, Justin heard a loud 'thunk', and then a deafening whirring filled the truck's interior.
     Startled, the young wolffox looked towards where he'd come in ...and realized the blade was moving! Someone had started up the truck's compactor!
     He whirled around to Lena, panic in his eyes, and was further perplexed by the fact that she seemed totally calm! She walked over and took hold of his arm. She gazed at him with a very wicked smile.
     "Lena! The blade! We're gonna get crushed!!" he shouted.
     "Exactly," she purred, then let out a long villainous laugh.
     The blade was coming closer and closer. The whine of the hydraulics made the floor vibrate. The sunlight shrank to just a thin blinding line under the edge of the blade.
     "What the hell is going on here!?" he howled.
     "You're trapped!" Lena said melodramatically. "Trapped in my Garbage Truck Of Doom, and there's no escape!"
     Justin flattened himself against the back of the bin, watching that gigantic heavy wall of metal inch closer, closing in on him like a venus flytrap...
     And all of a sudden it just stopped.
     There was at least four feet of room left between him and the blade.
     Lena fell over on the floor laughing.
     Justin finally realized that they'd been completely safe the entire time. "You bitch!" he screamed at her, starting to laugh too. "You complete bitch! You almost gave me a fuckin' heart attack!"
     Lena was laughing so hard she could barely talk. "Th-the look on your f-f-face!!" she sputtered. She rolled over on her back, cackling wildly, her legs kicking in the air. "Her bin's so big, the blade doesn't go all the way back. Did you even stop to think that I'd get squished too?"
     Okay, yeah, on hindsight that was kinda obvious. Justin tried to look furious at her, but it was hard to bite back giggles. He'd been had, and there was no use denying it. "Allright, it was funny. You scared me so bad I'm gonna have to wash my pants now. Ha ha," he deadpanned.
     Lena sat up and grinned like a hyena. "Number one or two?" she asked cutely.
     "Both. And a little of number three," he replied.
     That totally knocked her out. She fell over laughing again.
     By now the blade had begun to return to its original position. As it lifted, Justin could make out a figure standing there at the opening.
     Once the hydraulics stopped and the Beast was once again dormant, Lena's dad crawled up inside. "Hello, Justin!" he called out with a smile. "Sorry if I scared you too bad. Lena made me do it."
     "It's true," she said matter-of-factly. "I held a gun to his head 'n everything," she kidded.
     'Of course,' Justin thought. 'Someone had to have been operating it from inside the cab.' "You have a really strange way of welcoming guests, Mr. Tallevasco," he said, putting out his paw for a shake.
     Another hearty up-and-down pump. "Actually, you're the first one besides me and th' ratgirl here to see the Beast's interior. Ain't she a beaut?"
     "She is pretty damn cool," Justin admitted.
     "Did Lena tell you about my plan to start up a weekly trash collection?" Adam asked.
     "Mm-hmm. Sounds like a good idea."
     "If you like, once the city commissioner makes his decision, which should be any day now by the way, I'll let you ride with me in the cab sometime," he offered.
     Justin perked up. "Really? Sweet! Thank you!" He gave the lanky skunk another, much more vigorous handshake.
     "How's dinner coming?" Lena piped up. "I'm hungry."
     "A few more minutes, sweetie," her father said. He tussled her already-ruffled hair. "You two can come on inside the house if you like."
     "Okay. 'Bye Beast!" Lena said, and gave the side of her beloved trash truck another hug.
     Adam suddenly scooped her up under one arm and carried her with him out of the truck, making noises like a hungry bear carrying off a tasty lost Girl Scout. Lena giggled riotously and her tail swished about behind her.
     Justin paused a bit, watching them leave.
     The moment struck him rather forcefully. Seeing Lena and her dad playing together like that was like looking into an alternate dimension. He didn't think either of his parents had *ever* called him sweetie.
     "Geeze, what a difference!" he muttered in wonderment, then scrambled to hop out of the truck and catch up to them.



     A wall of smell nearly knocked Justin over as he entered the house.
     Food! Actual, home-cooked, not store-bought, FOOD! It was like uncovering the Holy Grail!
     He stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway and just inhaled the magnificent odor. He had no idea what it was. Some kind of meat maybe. He simply did not have any point of reference to compare this wonderful, mouthwatering aroma to!
     As he stood there, he was eventually able to wrench his attention away from the cooking smells to take a look inside the house. It looked tidy and clean inside. Someone else had probably lived here before, but Lena and her dad had already done a great job of making it distinctly their own. The furniture definitely looked lived-in, but everything was arranged nicely. He noted the wide grey sofa, two tall bookshelves and a curio cabinet which was almost certainly filled with fascinating knickknacks. There was a great big rug on the floor with what looked like Indian designs woven into it.
     Justin was about to step inside, when he caught his reflection in the plexiglass middle section of the screen door.
     He was a mess. He'd never really noticed it so acutely before. His clothes were dirty and worn-out. His fur was matted, scruffy, and encrusted with sweat and grime. He looked, and probably smelled, like he hadn't taken a bath in weeks.
     The young wolffox felt suddenly very ashamed of himself. His tail hung down between his legs. He didn't want to taint this pretty house with his filthy presence.
     Mr. Tallevasco walked by and saw him standing there. "You want milk or soda with..." He stopped in midsentence, noticing the pain in his young guest's eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.
     Justin didn't know how to respond. "Um..." He averted his eyes. "Your house looks really nice," he said finally, almost in a whisper.
     Mr. Tallevasco was about to thank him, when he realized that the little wolffox had really meant something more: 'It's too pretty for a smelly loser like me to deserve to set foot in'.
     Justin closed his eyes and looked like he was trying hard not to look like he was about to cry.
     Frowning with concern, the tall skunk knew he couldn't just let Justin feel this way. He reached out, grabbed the little wolffox under his armpits, and bodily lifted him into the room. "There," he said happily.
     Justin looked about in surprise. "Why did you...?"
     Adam kneeled down to the boy's eye level. "Justin, I'll bet a lot of people treat you like dirt because of how you look, huh?" he said softly.
     Justin nodded.
     "I'm not going to treat you like that. I promise. I look at you and I see a smart, friendly, polite kid who makes my daughter smile when she talks about you."
     Justin's lip trembled.
     "I look at you the same way I look at that big gorgeous dump I spent so much time and energy to purchase. Everyone else sees a huge pile of smelly trash. They don't give it a second's thought. I see something wonderful. I see acres of free stuff to wade through and explore. Lena sees an everlasting source of interesting bags and boxes to root through to find all sorts of cool stuff. Hidden, special stuff. So what if it's a little smelly, or dirty? Wash it off, give it some care, and it'll sparkle."
     Justin could not keep his stony composure a second longer. He let out a sob and fell forward into Mr. Tallevasco's open arms. He shuddered and cried on the skunk's broad shoulder.
     Adam patted the boy on the back and held him tight. "It's okay, Justin. Lena's been telling me about your family. She said she didn't think you'd mind. I think it's just horrible that you have to come home to a place like that every day. You're a good kid, Justin. Anyone who says different is a blind idiot."
     The little wolffox's whole body shook as he cried even harder. The fabric of Mr. Tallevasco's shirt was getting soaked with tears.
     "And considering that I'm a skunk, and that I grew up in a small town like this where the other kids would throw rocks at me and call me the most awful names you can imagine, you can believe me when I say I'll never, ever make fun of you or look down on you because of how you look or smell. I would be the worst hypocrite in the world if I did."
     Justin smiled warmly. He felt like he was having a heartquake. He barely knew how to respond to this. Being treated with respect was one thing. Having all these nice things said to him, things no one had ever said to him before, and all of them at once, he had no idea how to handle it. He felt like he was about to shatter like glass.
     Adam gave him a strong pat on the back. "Come on. I made some meatloaf and mashed potatoes. You can have as much as you like. I'm happy to welcome you into my house, Justin. You're my guest."
     He stood up and took Justin's paw in his own.
     Justin managed to wipe his eyes on the sleeve of his trembling arm. He looked up to Mr. Tallevasco. "Thank you so much."
     "It's okay," he said warmly. "You looked like you were way overdue for someone to say something nice to you."
     Justin smiled weakly, his heart still fluttering, as the two of them walked inside to where dinner was waiting.


~~~~~


*part 6*


     Lena abruptly belched the word 'fuck'.
     Adam and Justin both laughed out loud.
     The meal was over, and Justin considered it to be the single greatest feast he had ever eaten. He'd had four slices of Mr. Tallevasco's meatloaf and had to work really hard to keep himself from just devouring it like he was starving. It was so _good_! Hot, meaty and juicy! Seasoned perfectly, with little green olives on top for decoration. (Mr. Tallevasco said that slices of green pepper were a more traditional garnish, but that Lena loathed them.)
     The mashed potatoes were amazing too. They were _actual_ potatoes! Potatoes that had Come Out Of The Ground and were then Peeled and Mashed and Cooked! Not From A Box!! The concept alone was astonishing to Justin. He was sure he'd probably never be able to eat that instant crap again for the rest of his life.
     Heck, even the green beans, which he normally hated as much as Lena hated green peppers, were tasty. Apparently it had something to do with the fact that Mr. Tallevasco actually knew how to *cook* them, whereas his mother just tossed the frozen kind in a pan and proceeded to burn the shit out of them without fail.
     More than anything though, what affected Justin most was the simple fact that he was sitting at a table eating dinner and nobody was fighting or scowling or threatening one another. They were all just talking pleasantly and enjoying their food. Justin knew for certain that they really were glad to have him here; they weren't just doing this out of pity.
     It reminded him conversely of the time when he'd been in second grade and his teacher had decided to make him her 'fixer-upper' project.
     She had told him how very, very sorry she was that he had to come to school in such raggedy clothes, and how his mother obviously didn't know how to properly bathe him, and other 'you poor baby' crap like that.
     Even at that young age, Justin knew better than to put up with that kind of attitude for long. Her compassion was all sticky-sweet and substanceless. She didn't care about him as a furson. She wanted him to be her little pet. She wanted to give him a good scrubbing and turn him into a perfect gentleman. It was all about her own wants.
     One morning, she'd been in his face, smothering him in baby talk, and he'd simply decided that enough was enough. With no warning, he lashed out and bit her nose as hard as he could. Being just a seven-year-old, he really didn't have much jaw power, but the sheer shock value of the act was more than enough to do the trick. His teacher had screamed and shoved him away, calling him a horrid little monster.
     After that, she'd watched him like he was a rabid dog off its leash. He'd certainly put a stop to her little mind games.
     Justin stopped his thoughts, and pushed that memory aside.
     That was then and now was now. Now he was sitting here with a belly full of delicious food. Now he was sitting across from his best friend, who he'd trusted enough to show her his Treasure Chest. Now he was in the home of a man who'd showed him more genuine kindness in five minutes than he had ever received in the entire rest of his life.
     Adam noticed that Justin was staring down at his plate with a cloudy expression. He worried that the young canine might be mentally beating himself up again. "Justin? Yoo hoo?" he cautiously spoke.
     The wolffox's head sprang up. "Wha? Oh, sorry. Just thinkin' about stuff." He smiled brightly. "That was the best meal I've ever eaten!" he declared forcefully.
     The bespectacled skunk smiled. It looked like the kid was doing okay after all. "You're very much welcome!"
     "Told'ja my dad knows how to cook," Lena bragged proudly.
     "Hey, after the junk I gotta eat day after day, I wouldn't mind eating some escaped mental patient's cooking. Eating stuff that's actually well-made is almost too much!" Justin kidded.
     "I'll take that as a compliment, I think," Adam said with a lopsided smile.
     "It is, Mr. Tallevasco!" he assured. "I really am impressed. Thank you again for having me over." He turned to Lena. "And thank you too for inviting me."
     "You're welcome," they said in stereo.
     "So, do you want me to help clean up the dishes?" Justin asked.
     Mr. Tallevasco waved it away. "Naw, that's okay. You kids go play or something. I'll handle the mess."
     Justin got up and started stacking his dirty dishes anyway. "No, really, I wanna help! Please!"
     The skunk gave him a warm smile, then he turned to Lena. "How come you never beg me to do chores?" he asked rhetorically.
     She giggled. She turned to Justin, who was already gathering up her dishes as well. "'Cuz I'm not that stoopid," she kidded, crossing her eyes at him.
     "I'm not stoopid, I'm just a heck of a lot more polite than you," he countered smartly with a little 'so there' grin.
     Out of the blue, she leaned over in her seat and smooched him on the cheek. "I know. I'm just a total jerk, aren't I?"
     "Oh, absolutely!" he readily agreed.
     Adam hid his chortles behind his paw as the two of them continued to gleefully insult each other while they cleaned up the table together.



     After the dishes had all been washed and put away through a cheerful team effort, Lena showed Justin her room. Despite having moved in less than a month ago, the place was already a complete pigsty. It was the total opposite of the serene, tidy livingroom. She'd even made a little sign to hang on the door: 'BEWARE OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE'.
     Justin, of course, thought the place looked great. There was neat stuff strewn all over the floor and overflowing out of the closets. You could hardly walk anywhere without stepping on something. Rude posters adorned the walls. Dirty underwear and socks could be seen laying about shamelessly.
     Lena bounded across the room, instinctually knowing where to step, and jumped up onto her bed. She bounced a bit and told him to come join her. She chuckled at his valiant, but ultimately doomed, quest to cross the room without stepping on anything hard and pointy.
     Once they were both on the bed, Lena pointed out a huge mound of plushies that was almost as big as she was. She said that she'd found nearly all of them in the trash, and all the rest were from flea markets and yard sales. She said the town that she'd left had flea markets everywhere. Being the packrat that she was (no pun intended), she adored places like that, and so did her father. They went to three or four every week. Lena said that pretty much everything in the house was either used or garbage-picked, and she sounded very proud of that fact. "It's good for the environment, too," she noted. "We're recycling."
     Justin was content to just sit and listen as she gave him the grand tour of her room. He sat and hugged her plushies as she showed him all sorts of strange and interesting things she'd collected over the years. She seemed to remember flawlessly where absolutely everything in the room had come from. Many of her possessions held fascinating stories of how they'd come into the young ratgirl's possession. She told of amazing coincidences, lucky finds, and valuable collectibles that she'd bought from clueless flea market vendors for fractions of their true worth.
     Lena noticed that Justin seemed to have a particular fondness for a little brown bat plushie she said she'd found years ago at a yard sale for a quarter. As she talked, he petted the bat's fur and caressed her wings.
     "You can have her if you like," she said suddenly.
     He frowned. "No way! She's one of yours. I couldn't take her!"
     Lena smiled a strange, serene smile. "Do you realize that out of all my plushies, she's about the only one I don't have a real connection with? All the other ones I clicked with right away, like we were talking about before. Her, I just saw her lying there and bought her because she was cheap and cute."
     "Really?" Justin asked in disbelief.
     Lena nodded. "I've looked in her eyes a dozen times, and she's never told me her name. I should have known it was because I'm not sposto have her. You are."
     The coincidence of it was powerful. Justin had felt drawn to the little bat the second he'd seen her lying amongst the other plushies. Her fur was the color of chocolate milk. She had a little pink plastic nose and felt feet. "I think she likes me, Lena. She's smiling."
     Now it was Lena's turn to be surprised. "You're kidding!" She came closer and studied the plushie. The little bat's mouth had been stitched in such a way that it eternally resembled a sad frown.
     But Justin had noticed that, if he held her at just the right angle, he could see just the tiniest trace of a smile. "See? Look."
     Lena could see it. "Wow... I never noticed that before. That's it; you _totally_ have to keep her now. She's chosen you."
     Justin smiled. He looked into the little bat's calm dark plastic eyes.
     "What's her name?" Lena asked softly.
     Justin waited a second for it to come, and it did. "Cleo," he said at last, and with finality. "Her name's Cleo."



     Once the sun had set and the stars came out, Justin, Lena and Mr. Tallevasco retired to the porch. They sat in well-worn lawn chairs and slurped popsicles. Cleo was tucked snugly in Justin's shirt pocket.
     The night was quiet, but not silent. Dozens of night noises surrounded them, becoming clearer if they listened closely. Crickets chirruped. Frogs peeped and burped. The wind made the high grass sing. Somewhere in the distance, a lonely pickup truck was heading home.
     "Thank you again," Justin said softly to Mr. Tallevasco.
     The skunk smiled. He reached over and ruffled Justin's hair a little. "You're welcome. And don't worry. I'm glad you came. You're one of the most polite kids I've ever met."
     Justin chuckled. "That's funny. My teachers have all thought I was the son of the devil."
     "That's 'cuz you are," Lena whispered with a giggle.
     He smiled casually back at her. "With my dad, you're probably right," he whispered back.
     She snickered. "Popsicle!" she suddenly warned.
     Justin caught it in his mouth just before it would have fallen off the stick and stained his jeans. He crunched it up and swallowed, feeling the artificially-flavored goodness cool his throat and trickle through his chinfur. "Thanks."
     Mr. Tallevasco seemed deep in thought. "Your teachers, Justin..." he started, thinking about some of the rather unsettling school stories Justin had related while they were eating. Unsettling not for how they portrayed Justin, but how they portrayed the people who were in charge of his education.
     "Hmm?" Justin perked up.
     "Have any of them ever really treated you with any respect?"
     He shook his head. "Not really."
     "Have you at least tried to give them a reason to?"
     "Oh sure," he said immediately. "Every year, I tell myself I'm gonna be a good boy this time. I try to start out just sitting in the back, doing the work and keeping my mouth shut. But by now everybody knows about me and I'm sure they spread rumors about me in the teacher's lounge."
     The skunk nodded, expecting that. "And can you honestly say that your respect for them has only vanished when they showed they had none for you?"
     Justin thought this guy must be a mind reader. "Yeah. I try not to get in trouble. I try not to start fights. But they always happen anyway. My temper gets out of control sometimes. I get someone up in my face acting like I'm the scum of the earth, blaming me for stuff I didn't do, calling me names, and I can't take it anymore. It's not like I get into fistfights or anything. I've punched a few other kids, yeah, but never a teacher. Mostly I just insult them. I'm good at it. I'm good at finding whatever'll piss them off the most and just stabbing at it." He felt a little ashamed to be admitting all this, but he thought that Lena and her dad had both demonstrated aptly that they were trustworthy, and that they deserved his honesty.
     Mr. Tallevasco was quiet for a while. "So, basically, your teachers don't respect you, then when you treat them exactly as they're treating you, they call you the son of the devil," he said slowly, as if piecing together a complex philosophical riddle.
     "Well, none of them have ever called me _that_, but they've called me loads of other stuff. Monster. Sociopath. That Dirty Kid. Walking Disaster. I actually kinda like that last one," he said, trying to sound as if those names really didn't hurt as much as they did.
     "So they treat you like that, and they expect you to just take it with a happy smile on your face? And then they're shocked and outraged when you don't. Hm..." He stood up, stretched his arms, and lapped up the last of his popsicle.
     Justin looked up at him.
     Mr. Tallevasco leaned in closer, gave him a caring, wise smile, and patted him on the shoulder. "That doesn't sound very fair to me, now does it?"
     With that, he turned and walked back into the house. "G'night you two," he said before the screen door squeaked shut behind him.
     Justin sat quietly, slightly stunned.
     Lena scootched her chair a little closer to him, the metal legs thumping hollowly on the wooden porch. She put her arms around the little wolffox in a loose hug. "My dad's a nice guy, huh?"
     Justin nodded silently. He looked up at the starry sky, a quivering, peaceful smile on his face.
     "He's really good at making people feel better about stuff."
     Justin turned to Lena. "I envy you so much," he said suddenly, softly, and with all the sincerity in his heart. "I'd give anything if your dad could adopt me too and I could be your brother and we could be a family."
     Lena hugged him tighter. "I'd like that too. You'd make a good brother."
     Justin put his paw on her cheek, feeling the cottony-soft, almost-white fur.
     She looked up into his eyes. Her whiskers bounced.
     Justin leaned closer and softly kissed her on the lips.
     Lena flowed into the kiss with him.
     The night made soft noises all around them.
     Lena's popsicle was dripping onto her fingers, and she didn't care a bit. She didn't even notice.



     When Justin came out of the woods hours later and walked up to his house, he found the doors really were locked.
     So he just climbed in through his open window.


~~~~~


*part 7*


     "Oh, what now?" Justin's mother grumbled.
     He was eating breakfast and she'd just gotten up to get the mail. It was Saturday, so he didn't have school. His brothers had all left early for some sports practice thing though. 
     The immensely fat wolfess waddled painfully back into the kitchen, ground out her morning cigarette in the sink, then sat down heavily in one of the little metal chairs. She was clutching an official-looking letter in her fist.
     "What is it, Mom?" Justin asked quietly. Then he scolded himself. It was always better to just keep his mouth shut, head down, and finish his cereal as soon as possible. If Mom was mad, she could easily turn it on him at the drop of a hat.
     "Some letter from the city," she said. "God knows what they want from me this time..." She roughly tore the envelope open with her pudgy fingers, shredding it as if punishing it for bearing bad news. She extracted the letter inside and perused it with a deep, disapproving squint.
     Justin kept a close eye on her over the rim of his juice glass.
     "God _damn_!" Mom shouted suddenly. She slammed her fist down on the table, causing milk and cereal bits to splash out onto the plastic tablecloth.
     Justin didn't know whether to ask her what was wrong or just sit there with his mouth shut and hope the news wasn't too bad.
     She looked up at him and pointed at the letter. "Says here they're gonna start up weekly trash collection next Saturday."
     Justin tried desperately to hide a smile. Allright! Mr. Tallevasco had won! The Green Beast would soon be on the prowl, and he'd get to ride in her! "So... why's that bad?" he asked his mother cautiously.
     She snorted derisively at him. "Don't you got any brains, boy? This means they're probably gonna raise the taxes now! I'd rather just hand that old dog at the dump my three dollars and be done with it."
     "You'll save some money on gas," he noted, trying to look on the bright side.
     Mom sat back in her chair, pondering that angle. She looked at him with a little sneer.
     Justin knew that look. It meant that he'd made a good point, but she was having too much fun complaining to concede it.
     "When'd you get in last night?" she asked, changing the subject.
     "About ten thirty. I'm sorry. I was having a good time." He slurped his breakfast faster. He wanted to get the hell out of the room as quickly as possible before this turned ugly.
     "You and your new 'friend'?" she said with a mirthless chuckle. "I know you, boy. You don't make friends. You make trouble. If I hear you were out last night slashin' car tires or something like that, I'll get your father to whup the shit out'you," she threatened, waggling her fat finger at him.
     Justin kept his head down, not meeting her gaze, trying to look submissive. "I wasn't. I promise. We had some dinner and we sat on the porch talking about stuff."
     "What's his parents like?" She asked, thinking she might trip him up on the details.
     "He's adopted." He caught himself just in time. He'd almost said *she* was adopted. "It's just him and his dad."
     "What's his name?"
     "Adam Tallevasco." That was true, considering that she hadn't specified which 'he' she was talking about.
     "He's in your class at school?"
     "Nope." Actually, he'd never seen Lena at school. Maybe she just hadn't had the time to enroll yet.
     "Then where'd you meet him?" she asked, sure she was about to catch him.
     "In the woods behind the house. We play there sometimes," he replied without hesitation. He was thankful he was such a good liar. He tipped his bowl up to his lips and sipped down the last of the milk. He wiped off the table and went to wash his dishes in the sink.
     Mom finally backed off. She still didn't fully believe him, but he was at least sticking to his story. "Allright then. If you do have a friend, good. Maybe he'll keep you out of my hair in the afternoons so I can watch my shows in peace."
     Justin paused. Had that been a heavily disguised bit of motherly approval? Well, probably not. But Justin decided to look at it that way anyway. "I'm gonna go play outside now, mom."
     "Allright. Don't get in trouble."
     He walked past her, and on a wild whim, gave her a small hug.
     She looked up at him like he was on drugs.
     "See you later," he said over his shoulder as he bounced out the door.



     The news in the mail had perked the little wolffox up dramatically. He ran all the way through the woods, grinning widely. He made it across the dump in record time, leaping gracefully over piles of refuse like a wild gazelle.
     Through the window of the front gate booth, Justin spotted two pink-padded bare feet propped up on the desk. "Mr. Tallevasco!" he called out.
     A moment later the side door opened. The tall, handsome skunk came out with his thumb marking his place in a thick paperback novel. "Justin! Hi! You're looking chipper today."
     "I got the news about the trash collection," he said as he was ushered into the little office. Adam offered him the chair, but he politely declined with a shake of his head.
     "That's good! They called me early this morning and said they'd already sent out the notices. They agreed to just about everything I suggested! I wanted to contact you about that, but I had no idea how to go about doing so."
     Justin chuckled. "Yeah, I can just see you knocking on the door: 'Hi! I'm a strange man who wants to know if it's okay for your son to ride around in a garbage truck with me all day long!'"
     Adam chortled. "That would be rather awkward, wouldn't it? But you're here now, and so it's a moot point."
     "*Can* I ride with you in the Green Beast...?" Justin asked sweetly, turning on the cute-puppy-eyes and wagging his tail.
     He fuzzled the boy's hair. "Sure! I already told you you could. My first round's this coming-up Saturday morning. I'll be starting at about seven A. M.. I worked out my route so your house is the first stop. If you get up early, you can ride along the whole way with me and Lena. You don't even have to worry about missing school."
     "Awesome!" Justin beamed and rushed over to give the skunk a hug. "Thank you so much!"
     Adam grinned. He liked seeing Justin so excited over something so simple. "Actually, I've got even more good news for you... Oh, wait a minute. Duck under the desk, will you?" he said abruptly.
     Justin was confused for a second before he noticed the sound of a pickup truck approaching. The dump _was_ open for business, after all. The lean young wolffox quickly scooted under the desk and listened.
     Tires crunched on gravel as the truck skidded to a stop.
     Footsteps.
     A plump male voice. "Where's Mr. Roland?"
     "Oh, he retired," Mr. Tallevasco replied. Justin was getting an up-close-and-personal look at his pant legs. "I'm the new trash guy."
     "It's the same price as before, right?" whoever it was asked cautiously.
     "Oh sure. Three dollars, please."
     Rustle of bills in a wallet. "There ya go. Well, welcome to town, Mister..."
     "Tallevasco."
     "Tabasco?"
     Chuckle. "Ta-luh-VASS-co. I get that all the time."
     Another chuckle. "Allright then. I'll just get this dropped off and be on my way."
     "Have a good day!"
     "You too!"
     Footsteps walking away. Engine starting up. Axles whining as they pulled the truck forward.
     Mr. Tallevasco bent over and peeked his pink nose under the desk. "Now, where were we?"
     Justin crawled out. "You said you had some more good news for me."
     "That's right." The skunk was still thumbing his place in his book, and holding three wrinkled bills in his other hand. He looked about for something to do with them, then applied some Gordian Knot thinking and just marked his place with the three dollars.
     "Whatcha reading?" Justin asked.
     Mr Tallevasco held the cover up. "It's some scary novel. More of a thriller. I've read other books by this author, and this one isn't his most impressive. Good characters though." He sat down in his chair again and put his feet up. He sighed contentedly. "I love this job. I get to sit on my butt for seven hours every day, just reading, or making out the grocery list, or playing with Lena..." He tossed Justin a smile. "...or talking with friends."
     It was a small thing, but Justin felt rather pleased to be called a friend.
     "Okay, the good news. Back to that. Important stuff," said Adam.
     Justin listened eagerly, tail wagging.
     Adam took his feet off the desk and swiveled his chair to face the little wolffox. "I was thinking last night. You want to ride with me in the Beast, right?"
     "Right."
     "And you don't mind playing in stinky garbage, right?"
     "Not at all!" Justin said with a smile.
     The skunk gave him an appraising look. "Do you mind a little hard work?"
     "No sir. I do most of the chores around the house." He flexed his bicep. "I look small, but I've got good endurance," he boasted. He wondered if this was leading up to what he thought it might be leading up to.
     Adam smiled. "How would you like to be my Assistant Trash Collector? You have to admit, it'd be a bit boring just sitting in the passenger seat while I go about my rounds. Lena always helps out too. Before we came here, she used to help me unload the trucks at the landfill. You could help me out slinging the bags in the back and lifting heavy stuff."
     Justin was about to give him a very enthusiastic yes.
     "Hold on a second there," Adam stopped him with an extended index finger. "Let me sweeten the pot. You help me out for the day, and do a good job, and I'll pay you ten dollars."
     Justin nearly fainted. "You're shitting me!" he said with a look like he'd just won the lottery.
     "I shit you not," the skunk said with a straight face.
     "Ten bucks a week! Wow!" Justin shouted, obviously thrilled. "I've never even gotten an allowance! I don't know what I'd even spend that much money on!"
     Mr. Tallevasco clapped a sturdy paw on the boy's shoulder. "Don't get too excited. You'll earn that money if you accept my proposal. A lot of those bags are heavy as heck, and you'll have to be heaving them all day in the hot sun. I guarantee you'll sweat more than you've ever sweated in your life. Take my word for it; I started out driving a truck to pay for college."
     "You went to college? That's cool. I'm not sure if anyone in my family even knows where one is," Justin joked. "Wait, I take that back; my brothers watch college football all the time."
     Mr. Tallevasco grinned. "Yup. Got a master's degree in the biological sciences, and I ended up teaching classes alongside my old prof."
     Justin was really impressed. "You were a professor? Damn! That's really cool. And it explains why you're so smart."
     Adam was highly pleased by the compliment. "Well, thanks, but merely being a teacher is no guarantee of intelligence," he said modestly. "We had some old farts there that were totally out of their minds and no one could fire them because they had tenure. And I'm sure some of your own teachers are not exactly founts of wisdom either."
     Justin grinned and rolled his eyes in a 'tell me about it!' fashion.
     "So, will you accept the job? I'll even put you down as 'Vice President In Charge Of Waste Material Removal Services'."
     Justin laughed. "I'd rather just be your assistant. But yeah, I'd love to help you out! I'll really work hard. You'll see! I promise!"
     Adam ruffled the boy's hair again. "Great! Glad to have you on the team. And don't worry; it's not all bad. It won't be anywhere near as gruelling as my old route in the city. And it'll be the three of us working together. Just be sure to bring a water bottle; you'll need it."
     "Do I get a uniform?"
     "I don't think the city would be too happy paying for one," Adam said. "But you can have some of my old gloves. And I'll see if I can find you a hat. Do we have a deal?"
     "Hell yeah!" the little wolffox said brightly.
     "Then let's shake on it." Adam put out his paw, the colors of his fur making him look like he was forever wearing white gloves.
     Justin clasped his grey-brown paw to Mr. Tallevasco's and gave a firm shake. He was grinning ear to ear.
     "Oh, and I've got some more good news for you!" the skunk said suddenly.
     More!? Justin could hardly believe it! "Really? What now? You're gonna adopt me and take me away from my dumb family forever?"
     Behind his glasses, Adam's eyes looked bittersweetly at him for a moment, as if to say 'If I could, Justin, I would without hesitation'. "Well, it's not _that_ exciting," he admitted. "I just thought that a little celebration was in order, what with the city agreeing to my proposal. Me and Lena were going to go out to eat tonight and then take in a movie. You're perfectly welcome to join us."
     Justin stood there speechless. He didn't know if he could possibly keep smiling for so long. He was worried his lips would just fall off after a while. "...I don't know what to say! Thank you! I'd love to come along."
     Mr. Tallevasco rolled his chair a little closer and leaned over to give Justin a very paternal hug. "Glad to hear it. You know, Justin, I'm really glad we met. Honestly, Lena talks about you all the time. She was really worried and depressed when we first moved here. She _loved_ our old hometown. Sometimes she'd just go out in the dump and lie on the trash bags for hours."
     'Well, that explains that,' Justin thought, thinking back to how he'd first met her.
     "I'm grateful to you for being such a good friend to her, Justin," Adam said sincerely. "I love my daughter more than anything, and I love seeing her happy. For all the happiness you've given her, and me, I'm so very grateful to you."
     "Thank you, or you're welcome, or whatever," the young canine said quietly, a warm smile on his face. He gave the big skunk an extra squeeze. He realized that if Mr. Tallevasco really could become his new dad somehow, that he couldn't think of anything that would make him happier.
     Adam eventually broke off the hug with a series of macho pats on the back, just to keep the tender moment from spoiling their masculine image.
     "So, um, where is Lena?" Justin asked.
     "She's in the house, probably watching cartoons. Why don't you go give her the news? Tell her about your new job."
     "Okay!"
     "Help yourself to anything in the fridge if you like."
     "I already had breakfast, but thanks."
     Adam picked up his novel again. "Righty-o then. I'll get back to my book. I was at a good part when you showed up. We'll probably leave for the restaurant around five. Do you want to just stay over here until then?"
     "Yeah, I..." A thick dread suddenly descended upon him. "Oh crap! At some point I'll have to tell my mom I'll be gone for the evening!"
     Justin looked so suddenly scared, Adam knew he had to do something about it. He leaned in closer again, lowering his voice as if revealing a dark secret. "Justin, call her up and lie to her," he said firmly.
     The little wolffox was rather shocked. "What!?"
     "Lie. Tell her you're invited over for dinner again. Tell her you're going to hitchhike to the mountains. Anything. Just make sure you're free and clear for tonight."
     "Why?"
     "Because, Justin," Adam said seriously, "you deserve this. You deserve for something nice to happen to you. And your mother sounds like someone who'd snatch that away if she knew, just to spite you. Don't let her. Now, normally I'd never advise someone to lie to anyone else, especially a family member, but in your case I feel comfortable making an exception."
     Again, there was that concern for him that felt so different and new, Justin had no idea how to handle it. "Allright, Mr. Tallevasco. I will. Thank you."
     Adam leaned back in his chair again. "It's allright. I'm just looking out for you. It seems that post's been vacant for too long. Now go keep Lena company. She'll be happy to see you."
     Justin nodded and gave him a little salute. "Aye aye." He gave the skunk a last grateful smile and darted off for the house.
     Mr. Tallevasco returned to his novel, but he could no longer concentrate on it. He was smiling sadly, wondering how in the world life could be so mean to a nice little kid like that...


~~~~~


*part 8*


     Justin had an absolute blast that night.
     He'd watched cartoons with Lena until noon, chatting with her and drinking pop and nibbling on toaster pastries. Then they went out and played in the backyard for a while. They played a predator-and-prey version of hide and seek, with Justin chasing Lena through the trees, growling menacingly, then pouncing on her and tickling her senseless. Then it was her turn, and she'd growl and chase him for a while.
     Around three, Justin finally got up the courage to call him mom. He kept it as simple as possible. In a casual tone, he said he was at his friend's house and wanted to stay for supper again. To his surprise, Mom allowed it right away. She said his brothers were all going to a birthday party for one of their football teammates, so she was glad to have the house to herself for an evening. Justin thanked fate, thanked his mom, hung up the phone, and tackled Lena to the floor in an explosively happy hug.
     Afterwards, they went to the dump for a while and scouted around. Among other things, Lena found some little plastic circus people, and Justin found several handfuls of trading cards and a baseball cap with 'Plumber's Union' stitched on it (which he thought he'd have fun thinking up filthy euphemisms for later on).
     There was an hour to go before dinner, so they decided to clean up a bit and make themselves presentable. Lena went in the house to take a shower. Justin went to the backyard, made sure no one was watching, then stripped down to his tighty-whities and stood under the garden hose for a while. He found that amusing when he thought about it for a bit; usually after a successful dump-run, it was his latest finds that he'd wash off with the hose.
     He dried himself off with a huge fluffy beach towel hanging on a nearby clothesline (Lena had assured him it was there for just such a purpose). Then he put his clothes back on and went to admire the Green Beast for a bit while he waited on Lena.
     Since the dump closed an hour early on Saturday anyway, Mr. Tallevasco was ready and rarin' to go promptly at five. He found the kids sitting in the back of the garbage truck, admiring the day's spoils from the dump.
     Then they all piled in the Frankenmobile and headed off. Justin was rather surprised at how smoothly the ugly thing ran. Lena was right about her and her dad having fixed up the engine good as new. He also thought it was apt that he was riding in a car that looked like a pile of crap on the outside, but had a good strong engine under the hood. He thought it made a nice metaphor for himself.
     They got on the interstate and drove for quite some time. Justin hadn't been out this way in a long while. He and Lena made fun of some of the billboards they passed.
     Lena had chosen the restaurant. It was a slightly classier than average fast food franchise called Arnie's. She said there were bunches of them where she came from. Justin had never even heard of them before.
     He scanned the menu for a while, not sure what to get and what might be too much. Mr. Tallevasco told him he could feel free to order anything he wanted. So eventually he decided on a mushroom and swiss burger with curly fries and a chocolate milkshake. Lena got a huge order of onion rings with her burger, and threatened to waft her bad breath at him all through the movie. He told her if she did, he'd wait till she wasn't looking and pee in her popcorn. The guy behind the counter looked rather grossed-out. Mr. Tallevasco bit his tongue to keep from laughing.
     The food was hot, messy and delicious. There were only three burger joints in close proximity to Justin's house, and Arnie's beat them all hands down. And, to make the evening even better, Justin had noticed that one of the kids in the family sitting across from them had discarded his kid's meal toy in disgust, and when the family left they forgot to throw out their garbage. When no one was looking, Justin casually snatched up the toy. It was some character off a girl's cartoon show, but he was perfectly aware of that beforehand. Lena had been watching the same show earlier that morning, so Justin offered her the toy as a friendly gift. She liked it a lot and gave him a big hug in return.
     As they drove to the theater, they took a wrong turn and ended up having to go down a side street and come around from the back way. As they did, Lena and Justin immediately spotted two huge dumpsters enclosed in their own little walled-off nook. They both admitted to each other that it would be fun to go jump in them.
     The theater was the size of a small country. It seemed to have eight thousand million screens. The ceiling was ridiculously high. The air was redolent with popcorn. There were so many people milling around, buying tickets and snacks, Justin thought that if he got separated from Lena and Mr. Tallevasco he'd probably wander around looking for them until he died of starvation.
     Since the only movies he'd ever been taken to were sports flicks his brothers had wanted to see, Justin was really looking forward to seeing something that was more up his alley. Mr. Tallevasco informed him that they were here to see a great big bombastic sci-fi adventure flick. He said he'd seen a review for it the day before that had called it 'the most entertainingly trashy film of the year'. The skunk had taken it as an omen.
     They got a huge popcorn to share between them and went to find their seats. Justin looked at all the movie posers they passed, noticing that almost all of them were for sequels and remakes.
     The theater had stadium seating, which Justin had never encountered before. The trio easily found three seats together, near the middle, not too far and not too close to the screen.
     They all settled in, sounds of popcorn-chewing-people all around them, and got ready for the movie.



     Two and a quarter hours later, Justin walked out feeling like he'd just been spun around in an industrial clothes drier and then punched in the head.
     "That movie kicked _ass_!" he declared.
     "Yeah!" Lena agreed. "I didn't think they could fit that many special effects in one movie!"
     "Those robots were so cool! I hope they make toys out of 'em."
     "They make toys out of every movie that comes out anymore," Mr. Tallevasco said.
     "What'd you think of it, Dad?" Lena asked.
     "Ehh... It was exciting and well-directed, but the script borrowed heavily from a lot of other films. And the main character was badly miscast."
     Justin thought that was a fair critique. Even though, in his limited experience, he thought it was the best movie he'd ever seen in a theater.
     "I liked the alien with all the tentacles," Lena said. "He was actually kinda cute."
     "Was he computer animated, or a big puppet?" Justin asked.
     "It's impossible to tell anymore," Adam remarked.
     Lena dug around in her mouth, trying to extract a particularly tenacious popcorn hull that had decided to take up residence.
     They all hopped back in the Frankenmobile to head on home. Mr. Tallevasco, however, had one more stop in mind.
     He drove out the same way they'd come in, past the back of the theater. He looked around cautiously, checking to see if anyone at all was watching. Then he pulled slowly over alongside the two dumpsters and came to a stop. He turned around to the backseat, where Justin and Lena were already giving him puzzled looks. "Okay, quick, jump out."
     "What!?" Lena squeaked.
     "I heard you say you wanted to play in the dumpsters. Go on, before someone sees us!" he said with a wild grin.
     "You're kidding!" the ratgirl said in disbelief.
     "Nope. I saw a hardware store a few blocks down. I'm going to go get some lightbulbs and stuff. I'll be back in ten minutes tops and I'll give the horn a little honk as I pass by. Go, quick!"
     "Daddy, you're a total nut!" she said happily. She leaned over the seat and kissed him. "Thank you!" She popped open the door and she and Justin skedaddled out.
     "Ten minutes. I promise," Adam whispered to them. "Have fun!" he called out the window as he drove off.
     Justin turned to Lena. "Your dad is insane."
     "Yeah? Who's the one that wanted to play in a trash dumpster in the first place?"
     He grinned. "Okay, you got a point."
     With that, the two veteran garbage-explorers hoisted themselves up and slid into the lesser-full of the two dumpsters.
     Justin landed on a pile of bags filled with popcorn and drink cups. They were crinkly and sticky, and smelled like a carnival food court baked in a giant oven. "Eeew!" he whispered, but he was grinning. "This is the most disgusting thing I've ever done!"
     Lena started bouncing up and down on the big clear trash bags. They were very colorful; you could see all the candy wrappers and popcorn bags and nacho trays snuggled inside. "Yeah, but it's fun! It's messy and dirty and stinky and naughty and fun!"
     Justin had to agree. The very fact that this was so wrong was what made it exciting. He dug his claws into a bag and scooped up a handful of popcorn to toss at her. "It is fun!"
     "I'll give you a quarter if you eat some of that popcorn," she said with an incredibly devilish grin.
     Justin could not pass up the challenge. "Make it fifty cents."
     "Allright, but you have to eat five whole kernels," she negotiated.
     That was fair. He gathered five good-sized popcorn pieces in his paw. His rational brain insisted that this was incredibly stupid. The more childlike part of him was by now just spinning around saying, 'Wheeee!'.
     He popped the corn in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. "Ta daaa! Now pay up!"
     She grinned sweetly. Her little ratty buckteeth glinted in the moonlight. "I don't have any money!"
     He slugged her on the arm, but not too hard. "You are such an asshole! I can't believe it!"
     "Ouch!" she said while giggling. "It's your own fault! You knew I was an asshole and you trusted me anyway!"
     They giggled together, then immediately stopped when they heard the sound of a door creaking open.
     "Oh shit! Hide!" Lena squeaked in a whisper.
     As fast as they could without making any noise, they grabbed up bags of trash and piled them on top of themselves. It was stinky and sticky, but a lot better than having to explain to a theater employee why they were in here.
     An acne-ridden teenage fox dragged another full bag of cinema snack remnants behind him on the concrete, leaving a gleaming soda trail. He was singing some pop song to himself, and his voice was terrible.
     Lena and Justin were completely terrified, yet at the same time they were clasping their paws to their muzzles to stifle hysterical laughter.
     The teen lifted the lid and slung the garbage bag inside, never even looking in the hidden kids' direction. The bag landed on the two of them with a 'whumph'. The fox let the plastic lid slam shut and then walked back inside.
     "I think my heart just stopped," Justin deadpanned.
     Lena let out her suppressed laughter as they both crawled out from under the trash bags. Both of them now had soda running down their legs. "Oh, hey, I wanted to ask you something," she said abruptly.
     "If I know why you're such a spaz?" Justin supplied.
     She tossed an empty box of Jujubes at him. "No, you fuckbrains! This is serious!"
     Justin sat up. "Allright. I'm listening."
     Lena hesitated. "Um... It's about your Treasure Chest."
     Justin cocked an eyebrow. "Yeah? And...?"
     Lena tried to muster all the sincerity she could while standing waist-deep in garbage under a three-quarter moon. "Well, I keep thinking of it sitting out there in the woods. I know you've got it padlocked, but I keep worrying that someday some hiker or a camper or just some guy's gonna come along, dig it out and take it with him. All your stuff will be gone forever! All your plushies!"
     The fact that she was obviously truly worried about his stuff made him decide that she really was serious about this. They kidded each other so much that occasionally it was hard to tell. "Okay, yeah. That could happen. What do you think we should do about it?"
     Her eyes were wide with worry that he'd freak out at her suggestion. "I was thinking that... maybe tomorrow, me and Dad could come over and we'd all dig it up and take it over to my house. So I could take care of it and keep it safe, you know?"
     Far from being freaked out, Justin was floored by the thoughtfulness of her suggestion. He stood up, as much as that was possible in their current location, and gave her a sudden hug. "That's a great idea! Thank you! I've always wished I had a safer place to keep my stuff!"
     Lena was very relieved. "Oh good! I was really worried you would think it was a bad idea."
     "Why would I think that?"
     "I dunno. Maybe if it was important to you to keep it there in the woods for some sentimental reason?" she guessed.
     "When it comes to my plushies, I'd never let sentimental stuff get in the way of protecting them," he assured.
     Lena was glad to hear it. "There's a little toolshed out behind the house. We could put it in there, and then you wouldn't even have to come inside to check up on it. Even if we were asleep, or not home or something."
     "You'd trust me that much?" he said with surprise.
     "Of course," she replied, as if that was obvious. "It's your stuff." She grinned. "And I know you wouldn't just hop in the Green Beast and take her for a joyride while you were there."
     Justin thought that made for an interesting mental picture. "I can see the headlines! 'Local Boy Goes On Mad Garbage Truck Rampage!' Actually, wouldn't it be cool to see a garbage truck in a high-speed police chase?"
     She laughed so hard she snorted. "An ice cream truck would be even better! Can't you just see some guy hangin' out the window, pelting the cop cars with popsicles?"
     At that, both of them snickered like idiots.
     "Hey, we haven't looked in the other dumpster yet!" Justin realized.
     "Well, what are we waiting for?"



     And so the two of them had lots of fun and got extremely messy until they heard a car pull up and a soft horn toot.
     Adam had planned ahead and had bought a plastic tarp for the backseat. "You kids have fun?" he asked, as two grinning furry heads popped up over the side of the dumpster's mouth.


~~~~~


*part 9*


     The next morning, Justin had the good fortune of waking up before everyone else. The sun was barely up. His brothers were still conked out from the night before. And if his suspicions were correct, judging from their breath, they'd all be waking up with hangovers soon. Like he was going to stick around for that. Hell naw.
     The little wolffox slipped gracefully out the bedroom window with a pencil in his pocket and some paper in his backpack.
     Deep in the woods, he came across his beloved Treasure Chest. He gave it a pat. "Guess what? You're going to be moved someplace safe!" he said to his plushies as he undid the lock and lifted the lid.
     Justin cleared away some leaves and sat down beside the footlocker. He reached in and gave each of his plushies a kiss.
     He took Cleo out of his pocket. He hadn't gotten a chance to bring her here since Friday night. It had been nerve-wracking, keeping her literally at his side the entire time since then. He shuddered at the thought of what his brothers would do to the little plush bat if they found her. They'd probably snatch her from him and flush her down the toilet!
     But no, that hadn't happened. He had successfully hidden her from them. He had protected her. "This is Cleo, everyone," he whispered to his other plushies. He petted her soft fur tenderly as he laid her beside Rachel and Felicia. "Welcome to my little family, Cleo. You're such a pretty bat. I love you. I promise I'll always keep you safe, all of you."
     He got into a comfortable position, leaning against the side of the footlocker. He opened his backpack and got out the paper. He laid it on top of a hardcover book from inside his Treasure Chest. He felt inspired this morning, and thought he'd try a little poetry.
     Morning dew sparkled on the leaves and grass. Birds called out their melodic warnings to one another. As the new morning came alive all around him, Justin was not surprised that his pencil wanted to talk about Lena. His composition was exceptionally free-flowing today. There was no structure at all. He just wrote down everything he could think of about her. Her hair, her feet, her ears, her tail. Her eyes, her smile, her laugh. Her kindness, her loyalty, her wit, her energy and her tenderness.
     'I love you, Lena', he wrote.


          * * *


     Several hours later, he'd filled a few pages, read most of a paperback, and was now bored out of his skull.
     On the drive home last night, Lena had told her dad all about her idea to move Justin's secret hiding place, and he'd been all for it. Adam said there were shovels in the shed and plenty of room there for a footlocker. He'd told Justin to come by the house around noon and they'd all march off into the woods together to rescue his stuff to its new location.
     He glanced at his watch. It was nowhere near noon, but he was sure they'd be up by now. They wouldn't mind if he came a little early, he thought.
     Justin packed up his poetry, said goodbye to all his plushies, and secured the footlocker's lid. Then he set off across the dump to Lena's house.
     The dump was calm and silent. A few birds flitted around, pecking at the bags. But otherwise everything could have been a postcard. Justin didn't think he'd ever seen it so peaceful.
     The front gate was locked when he got there, since the dump was closed on Sundays. Justin followed the chain-link fence for awhile until it petered out in the trees. Soon he could see the top of the Green Beast in the distance.
     He heard Lena laugh. As he got closer, he peeked around a tree and saw that she and her father were having a picnic breakfast in the backyard.
     But when he looked closer, he noticed that the only food they had was placed in front of Mr. Tallevasco. Lena was sitting in front of a pile of nasty-looking garbage.
     That was odd.
     Lena and her father were talking, but he was too far away to catch what they were saying.
     Then Mr. Tallevasco reached into the pile of trash and pulled out a broken up, headless plastic doll. He held it out to Lena. With a smile, she opened her mouth, and he slid the doll in. He pushed it all the way inside. Lena swallowed it in one gulp.
     The fur on the back of Justin's neck stood straight up.
     He had _not_ seen that.
     Lena's paw hovered over the small pile of trash, deciding what to choose next. She selected a sardine can. She gave it a long lick, inside and out, then slid it into her open mouth and easily down her throat.
     Oh fuck, he was _not_ seeing this!
     Next up was a squashed milk carton. Lena chewed on it a bit and then gulped it down as well. Her father watched, smiling pleasantly, as he sipped his coffee and took bites from a bagel. Then Lena ate some filthy, raggedy beanbag plush with most of its stuffing spilling out. She sucked out the tiny plastic pellets like jelly from a donut.
     Justin was biting his knuckles to keep from screaming. He was biting them so hard they bled. His mind could not comprehend this sight. His brain would not believe his eyes.
     Lena held up a dirty sock and slurped it down like a strand of spaghetti.
     There were no words for the horror, the surreality, the disgust that Justin was feeling. And it was all made so much worse by the fact that she was *smiling* while she was doing these incomprehensible things! Her father was sitting there smiling too, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening!
     Then Lena picked up a used diaper that was practically dripping with filth. She opened her mouth wide.
     Justin wanted to look away more than anything else in the world. He wanted someone to hit him in the head with a baseball bat. Anything at all to make his eyes stop watching this.
     The little ratgirl happily chewed the plastic of the disposable diaper, nibbling it into her mouth bit by bit. Then she swallowed it whole and sighed with satisfaction.
     Justin tore himself away and ran off in the opposite direction. He stopped by a tree, sunk to his knees and got the dry heaves. If he'd had anything for breakfast, it would have been coming up right now. He retched and retched until his throat burned and he could taste blood.
     What the fuck had he just seen?!?


~~~~~


*part 10*


     At noon, Lena skipped happily out the front door, hoping to meet Justin halfway at the dump when he came over. To her surprise, he was already sitting there on the porch in one of the lawn chairs.
     He was staring off into space as if the world didn't exist.
     "Hey smelly," she said pleasantly as she walked over.
     Justin slowly looked up at her.
     Lena stopped cold. Her smile vanished in a heartbeat. Her best friend was staring at her as if he'd never seen her before and he couldn't even understand what he was looking at.
     Justin did not speak a word. He couldn't.
     "What's wrong?" Lena squeaked out in a tiny voice.
     The wolffox continued to stare, still trying to comprehend the image that had lingered in his mind for nearly two hours now. That disgusting, horrifying image that had nearly ripped his sanity to shreds.
     Lena took a step closer. "Justin...? You're kinda scaring me..."
     "I saw you eating garbage this morning," he blurted out emotionlessly.
     It was as if the words were a magic spell to turn the young ratgirl to stone. Her body stiffened in place. Her face froze in an expression of deep shock, as if someone had just punched her in the kidneys and the pain hadn't kicked in yet. She turned and fell back into the other lawn chair.
     Justin kept staring.
     For a long moment, the only sounds were the birdcalls echoing in the morning breeze.
     And then, without warning, Lena began to cry. She buried her face in her paws and cried with her whole body, bawling like a little baby. Or like someone who had just watched a loved one die.
     Justin hadn't expected this. The horrible image in his mind was put aside for a moment as he watched this girl, who just a few hours ago he'd seen as his best friend, weeping so forcefully it looked like she might shatter into pieces.
     The little rat's body rocked and shook as if an electric current was being pumped through her.
     Lena looked straight up to the heavens with closed eyes and sodden cheeks. "I-I... I d-do-don't w-want it to end!!!" she suddenly wailed.
     Mr. Tallevasco had heard his daughter's pitiful cries and immediately dropped what he'd been doing. He slammed the screen door aside and came rushing out onto the porch. "Lena! What's the matter!?" He ran to her side, dropped down on his knees, and put his arms around her. He noticed Justin's blank stare. "What Did You Do To Her!?" he growled, and it was the first time Justin had ever seen him angry.
     "It's n-n-not his f-fault, D-Daddy..." Lena managed to convey through her sobs. She hugged her father desperately. "H-he s-saw us this morning."
     Dawning comprehension filled the skunk's eyes. He looked up suddenly to Justin, his mouth falling open as his ability to speak simply disintegrated.
     For several agonizing minutes, the three of them were frozen like that. The moment had made them statues. Justin stared at the rat and the skunk as his thundering, conflicting emotions clashed inside him and rendered themselves null. Lena buried her face in the fabric of her father's shirt, her cheeks crimson in shame and heartbreak. Adam stared at Justin; the moment he'd dreaded had come true, and all his plans for dealing with it had turned instantly to ash inside his mind.
     Finally, it was Lena's soft, whimpering sobs that broke through Justin's emotional tempest. Those pitiful sounds reached their way to his heart. No matter how grotesque the images were, this sound reminded him that he loved Lena, and she loved him, and that he owed it to her to listen to her explanation.
     Slowly, softly, he spoke. "I saw you eating trash, Lena. Why were you doing that? _How_ were you doing that?"
     The tearful young rat looked up at his voice. His words were without anger or revulsion, just an intense need to know and to understand.
     Justin tried to calm his heart and soften his gaze. Lena's eyes were red with tears.
     "Justin?" she asked, in a cracked, wet voice.
     "Yes?"
     "Do you think we could still be friends if... If you knew I wasn't a real girl?"
     A frozen shiver streaked up Justin's spine. What in hell did she mean by that?
     Lena looked up to her father's loving face. "I have to show him," she said, as if asking permission.
     He nodded solemnly. It was the only way to begin to explain it.
     "Look," Lena told Justin simply. She closed her eyes and tried to find her courage. She lifted up the front of her T-shirt, exposing her bellybutton. She held her shirt with one paw, and with the other she poked one finger into her navel, then another.
     Justin watched in rapt, surreal fascination as Lena stretched her bellybutton wide enough to drop a golf ball in.
     She tucked the edge of her shirt under her chin, then reached down with her other paw to pull her stomach hole even farther, until it was wider than she could even open her mouth. The impossibly gaping orifice dripped with a thin, mucouslike slime that was the color of weeds. A fetid, rotting smell wafted from deep within the cavity.
     Justin got a whiff of it and immediately covered his nose. It smelled like the entire dump had been compressed into Lena's belly. "What _are_ you!?" he shouted.
     "I'm garbage," she admitted sadly.
     She had not meant it metaphorically. The inside of her stomach was a dark, marshy green, with oddly shaped unidentifiable lumps inside that reeked of decaying trash.
     Lena *was* garbage.
     "H-how?!" Justin stuttered. "I mean, what... But you're..."
     Mr. Tallevasco reached over to steady the boy's shaking paw, which had a death grip on the arm of his chair. He was glad when Justin didn't pull away. "I can try to explain, Justin, but you have to be willing to accept my answers even though they're impossible," he said, trying hard to sound calm despite the pain he was feeling for his beloved daughter.
     "I'm looking at something impossible already," Justin said flatly. "Could you put that away, Lena?" he asked, sounding a little queasy.
     "Oh, okay," she said quietly. She extracted her paws, and her bellybutton snapped back to normal like elastic. She let her shirt down and held onto her daddy's arm.
     "Justin, do you remember when we first met, out by the front gates? How I mentioned that I was into studying the occult?" Mr. Tallevasco asked.
     Justin nodded.
     "It's actually not just a hobby. It's something I'm deeply involved in. And I don't mean witches and ghosts. I'm talking about things no one in the modern world has ever heard of. Invisible forces that are all around us."
     Adam fixed Justin with an intense, penetrating gaze. "Would you believe me if I told you that emotions are like energy? Like electricity? That strong emotions can accumulate within objects over time, and that those objects can become like charged batteries?"
     "I don't know," Justin answered truthfully.
     "It's true, I promise you," Mr. Tallevasco said sincerely. "It's something that everyone sees and no one notices. You were telling me how your father's car stalls all the time. Does he swear at it?"
     "Constantly."
     "There you go. His angry energy has built up inside the car, and it keeps it from running properly. It's like it's all filled up with some kind of corrosive chemical."
     Oddly enough, Justin did not have much trouble believing that.
     "Here's another example; your stuffed animals, and Lena's. I've studied this emotion/energy connection for many, many years now, and what all the books say and what all my studies have shown is that love creates the very strongest, most vibrant energy deposits. When you cuddle your stuffed animals, when you talk to them and tell them you love them, you are pumping them full of your love. It stays there and grows. Instead of being corrosive, it's like a super strength potion. It makes it so that you become even happier when you're with them. Even just the sight of them warms your heart."
     "You mean, the more I love my plushies, the more loveable they get?" Justin asked. The very notion made a startling amount of sense.
     "Yes, Justin." Mr Tallevasco nodded. "You're taking to this well. I'm glad to see that."
     Justin was quiet, just trying to listen and take it all in. He wanted to understand now. Before, after he'd seen what he'd seen, a large part of his mind had told him to simply run away and never, ever think about Lena again. But that was as impossible as it was unkind. He was glad he'd forced himself to come back to her house. Now his horror had finally subsided, leaving a painfully acute curiosity behind.
     "This energy affects people too," said Mr. Tallevasco. "Some fursons even believe that while our souls are our own, they grow and are shaped by the emotions of the people around us. It's almost like the saying 'you are what you eat': nurturing emotions nourish, and cruel emotions corrode.
     "Except sometimes, the opposite happens. If someone is fed nothing but hate and negativity, then that furson will, most of the time, grow up to be hateful and pessimistic themselves. But like in your case, Justin, you've taken all that horrible bad energy and grown stronger from it. You've wrung what tiny little trickles of affection were possible from the emotions you were surrounded by, and worked hard to keep the cruelty from overtaking you. It's often people like you who have the brightest, most caring souls of all."
     Justin blinked a bit. That was a way of looking at things he'd never considered before, and he felt warmed by Mr. Tallevasco's compliment.
     "I've studied and experimented with this emotional energy for almost my whole life, Justin. I first learned about it from an incredibly old book I found at my local library. It was written by some old, mad recluse who was completely insane and completely brilliant at the same time. The concept fascinated me, and it still does. I spent so long studying the phenomenon that eventually I could actually see it."
     "See it? How?" Justin asked.
     "Well, 'seeing' is not quite the right word," the skunk clarified, "but it's close. Certain objects just look... *different* to me. Some are sharper, or fuzzier, or completely out of focus. Some have colors that seem unnaturally bright. Some draw me closer, and some push me away. I can tell right away how much energy is stored in almost any given object, and what kind of energy it is. For instance, Lena's plushies almost glow they're so full of love. I'm sure yours do too."
     Lena smiled softly. She could see as he did, and she knew it was true.
     "I was in college when it started, and eventually I came to the realization that garbage often has a much, much higher concentration of energy than regular objects."
     That was interesting. "Why?"
     "Well, if you think of objects as batteries for this energy we're talking about, think of them as circuits too. With most objects, the energy that flows in, flows out too. It's a cycle. When an object that holds a lot of emotional significance is thrown away, suddenly there's no outlet for that energy anymore. It stays locked within the object, and even builds up over time."
     "Like a water balloon," Justin mused.
     "Very good!" Adam gave the boy's paw a pat. "So I went to a landfill to test my theory. It was an incredible experience. I nearly passed out, went blind and went crazy all at once. It was staggering! It literally knocked me off my feet!
     "The entire dump was pulsing, rippling, *breathing* with energy! Hate and love, all of it mixed together. It took me hours before I could even look directly at anything. It was like staring into the sun, or directly at a lightning bolt."
     "Wow..." Justin said breathlessly.
     "So as soon as I could, I got a job driving garbage trucks. On my route, I'd study the trash. Over time it got so that I could see right through the bags how many charged-up objects were inside. It was fascinating stuff. I started hanging out at the landfill all the time."
     The skunk paused to remove his glasses and wipe them off on the edge of his shirt. Justin noticed that there were tears in his eyes.
     "One day, I saw an incredibly bright object off in the distance," Adam continued, beginning to waver slightly. "I walked through the trash to see what it was. I'd never seen a single object that carried so much energy before. It looked like a tiny star, fallen to earth.
     "As soon as I reached down to touch it, I *knew* what it was. It was like an electrical shock. Suddenly, the knowledge was right there in my brain: this was someone's soul, and somehow it had become garbage."
     Justin looked at Lena, beginning to understand. She nodded slowly, looking back at him with her scared, sad green eyes.
     "I went home and read through all the books I'd collected on the subject. I made some calls to this small group of other occultists I met with occasionally who believed the same things I did. I eventually arranged a meeting with a man who was older than my own great-grandfather, and who knew more about this subject than anyone. He may have even been the one who wrote that book, I don't know.
     "Anyway, he told me exactly what to do. He said it only happened rarely, but sometimes a furson would be cast so completely aside by life and their loved ones, that their soul, instead of ascending to the next world, would compact itself into a tight, protective ball and be stuck on Earth in a state of dormancy. He said there was a ritual to give these souls life again."
     Mr. Tallevasco paused. His heart was pounding. He'd never told anyone but Lena about this. It took all his strength to say these words that any sane furson would think were the ramblings of a lunatic.
     "It was Lena," said Justin.
     Adam nodded again. "Yes. It was her soul. I went back to the dump and found it again, lying in the same place, still pulsing like a beacon. It was a tiny sphere of pure energy; no bigger than a marble, but it was heavier than lead. I gathered up a huge pile of trash that was composed entirely of items that were highly charged with love-energy. I started the ritual. It took a long time. I had to cut my own palms open and give my blood to this lost soul, who I knew nothing about. The blood was necessary as a binding agent, to link the soul back to the world of flesh again.
     "After a while, the garbage began to melt and bubble, like it was under intense heat. I watched the soul's brightness flicker, getting duller and then suddenly becoming blinding.
     "When I dared to look, Lena was lying there, perfectly reborn as she was when she'd died."
     Lena was crying again, but now it was tears of love for her father. She remembered that night well; her second first birthday.
     "She looked up at me, and she asked me who I was," Adam said as a lone tear rolled down the coal black fur of his cheek.
     "And you said, 'I guess I'm your dad now'," Lena remembered.
     They both paused for a while for Justin's sake, to let it all sink in and settle. The young wolffox sat back in his chair, starting off into space, trying to deal with all of this. If it was true, it meant that his entire world had widened. As preposterous as Mr. Tallevasco's story of emotional energy had been, Justin found that it was nearly impossible to disbelieve. His heart and his very instincts latched onto it; they'd known much longer than him that this was all real and true. It was a deeply rooted subconscious knowledge. Something every waking mind glimpsed at its edges, but could not normally see the whole of.
     "I'm garbage," Lena said again, and this time her quiet voice held a small spark of determination. She was tired of feeling ashamed of what was inside of her, and she was going to finally stop. "My body is made of garbage. That's why you saw me eating it this morning. It's just like breathing or eating food or going to the bathroom. It's something I need to do to stay alive."
     "What happens if you don't?" Justin asked with gentle concern.
     She bit her lip. "I'd rot," she said simply.
     Justin's imagination supplied all that her frightened tone had suggested. He saw in his mind the bubbling, melting mass of garbage she'd been born from, and wondered if that was what she was in constant danger of turning back into someday.
     "That's why we moved," Mr. Tallevasco said. "Lena needs to eat garbage with high levels of emotional energy. Our landfill eventually ran out, and there wasn't enough coming in to create a stable balance. We needed to find a new place that was rich in high-energy garbage. It was like hunting for a gold mine. I'd been doing a survey of dumps and landfills in the surrounding area, and this one was practically lit up like a christmas tree. I had enough money in my accounts to purchase the land. It was an easy choice.
     "You'd be surprised at what kinds of objects store that kind of high energy we were looking for. A lot of times, all it takes is for that object to be handled by someone in a very strong mood. Someone buys a can of soda while they're furious at their spouse; that fury seeps into the can and stays there after it's thrown away.
     "But what Lena needs most are objects that someone's cared for. Love energy is nourishing and sustaining. It endures. Trash full of angry energy can satisfy her only a short while."
     Justin thought about that, and then an awkward smile came to his face. "Like junk food," he quipped.
     Adam stared at the boy for a moment, and then chucked.
     Justin laughed too.
     Lena felt hope suddenly flood into her heart. Justin was smiling. He was laughing! Maybe he could accept her after all!
     "That's a very apt description," Mr Tallevasco said. "I'm surprised I never thought of it before."
     "So, do you understand now?" Lena asked Justin tentatively.
     Her eyes were wide and filled with desperation. Justin realized now that the reason she'd started crying so hard earlier was that she was sure that he'd hate her once he discovered her secret. He'd see her as some kind of monster. He was almost certainly her first best friend ever, and she didn't want to lose that. She didn't want to lose _him_.
     That image of her swallowing a diaper came to his mind again, and he shuddered. But his heart beat down the revulsion he felt. Would he stop being friends with someone if a medical condition forced them to eat through a tube? Or what if they'd they lost their legs in a car accident and had to spend the rest of their life in a wheelchair? Or if they were paralyzed? Or incontinent? Or dying of cancer? Or AIDS?
     Of course not. He couldn't turn his back on a friend under those circumstances. He'd be a horrible furson if he did.
     He reached down and shifted his chair closer, then suddenly leaned over and drew Lena into a startlingly heartfelt hug. Tears streamed down his cheeks. "It's okay, Lena. I love you. You're my best friend! I don't care what you are! I care about *you*!"
     Lena burst into tears as well and held her wonderful friend tightly to her. "Oh Justin...!" She squeezed him and cried all over his cheekfur and kissed him.
     She could not believe this was happening. For weeks now, ever since she'd allowed herself to make friends with this boy, a voice had been nagging her that her secret couldn't stay hidden forever. He'd find out one day, and then he'd run away and never speak to her again. As she'd grown to care about Justin more and more, the fear of that moment had grown stronger and more crushing every day. And now that moment had come. And it had passed.
     He was hugging her. He said he loved her.
     "Justin... You're the best friend I've ever had. You're the best furson I've ever known..."
     "I'll never hate you for what you are inside," Justin whispered tenderly in her ear. "Everyone else hates me for what I am on the outside. I'm not gonna be like them. You've never treated me like they do, like I'm disgusting and worthless. I'm not gonna be like that to you either. I couldn't live with myself if I did."
     He kissed her pretty, furless pink ear.
     "You're the best furson I've ever known too, Lena. Why would I hate you, when we're so obviously supposed to be together? Look at us! Could there be any doubt you were supposed to meet me? We're exactly alike!"
     Lena gasped softly at the revelation. It was true. In her heart she knew without a doubt it was true.
     And as the two of them hugged, Mr. Tallevasco was stunned speechless by what he was seeing. Not, however, because he had any doubt that Justin would accept Lena for what she was and continue to care about her. He had more faith in Justin than that.
     He was stunned because the energy of their souls was doing something he'd never seen before. It was looping and spiralling and snaking back and forth, entwining and dancing to and fro between their bodies. It was like fireworks, or a swarm of butterflies, or an endless field of wildflowers in bloom.
     It was the most indescribably beautiful sight his eyes had ever beheld.


~~~~~


*part 11*


     The two young furs hugged silently for quite some time.
     Eventually, Lena looked up and told her father that she wanted to talk to Justin alone for a while.
     He nodded, respecting that this was the time for them to pick up the pieces of their friendship and do what they could to try and put them back together again.
     Lena led Justin by the paw off the porch. She took him behind the house to the Green Beast, which looked like it was sitting there waiting patiently just for them. Lena hopped up into the back and put out her paw to help Justin climb inside. He got a sudden idea, held up his index finger to say 'wait a minute', then ran and got the big fluffy beach towel. He tossed it into the truck and climbed in after it. He and Lena spread it out, sat down together, and got comfortable.
     "So... Um..." Justin started, without having any idea *where* exactly to start.
     "Ask me anything you want," Lena said right away. "I mean it. Don't think about it or worry that it'll upset me. Just come out and say it. I know how bad it must have scared you to see me eating my weird breakfast. I want you to feel comfortable about me again, Justin. If you think we can, I want us to be friends again like we were yesterday."
     Her caring, and her desperate need to be cared about herself, reached out to Justin's heart. He leaned over and hugged her again, softer this time, as if she was one of his plushies. "We _will_ be friends again, Lena. You want it, and I do too. I can't see any reason why we shouldn't be."
     She let out a tiny squeak of wordless relief and joy.
     "We just have some stuff to talk about first, you're right," Justin said.
     "Whatever you need to know," she readily assured. "And thank you for not being all scared of me. I've always been afraid to have friends before, 'cause I thought when they found out, they'd hate me," she admitted, looking down at her paws.
     "I don't hate you! I promise!" Justin said fervently. He nuzzled her gently with his moist canine nose. "When your dad explained it, I thought about, would I hate you if I found out you were sick? Like, if you got some disease, or got in an accident? And you had to stay in the hospital for a long time with tubes stickin' out of you, pissing into a little bag all the time? If that happened and I turned my back on you, I'd be the biggest asshole in the world."
     She smiled at his caring, then smiled for a different reason.
     He caught the glitter of naughtiness in that smile. He rolled his eyes. "Allright, you can say it..."
     "I thought you already _were_!" she burst out amid giggles.
     He laughed too, and they both felt another wave of relief. If they could get back to teasing one another, they'd be fine. Their teasing, at its heart, was about trust. If one of them said something like that, the other one knew for certain that they didn't really mean it. And that was precisely why it was funny.
     Lena was overjoyed to see Justin really, truly smiling again. "But no, seriously; I'm really, really glad you're still being nice to me, Justin. And that being sick thing you just said, that's exactly what it feels like for me. It's just like having some really weird disease. Except when you're sick, people can understand that. They feel sorry for you and bring you flowers. I felt like I couldn't ever tell anyone about what happened to me. I felt like if I told anyone, they would think I was some kind of monster and they'd try to get rid of me."
     He nodded in understanding. "That must've been really hard on you all this time."
     "Years and years," she said simply, her voice only hinting at how long those years had seemed.
     "Lena... Um..." he began to ask.
     "Ask it," she urged, tugging on his arm. "I told you. Whatever it is, just ask it."
     He took a deep breath, then let it out slow. "Alright. Lena, um, how did you die in the first place?"
     She gasped softly.
     "I mean, if your soul wound up in the dump, and that guy your dad talked to said that that only happened when 'life and loved ones turned their back on you', or something, then..." He trailed off, worried a bit that this was too big, too painful, of a question.
     Lena got quiet for a moment, as if she was arguing with someone inside herself. She seemed to come to the decision that she was not going to fear her memories any longer.
     "I used to be a street kid," she said.
     "My mom was a junkie. She used all kinds of drugs, especially that shit you stick in your arm with a needle. We lived in a cardboard box most of the time. Sometimes we stayed for a while in a shelter, when we were lucky, or in empty houses or at the bus station. Mom was gone most of the time, trying to scrape money together for more drugs. I was cold and sick a whole lot.
     "I don't hate my Mom, and I still wish sometimes that me 'n Dad had been able to find her again. She wasn't mean to me. She just didn't know how to be a mom, that's all..."
     Lena shook her head, as if clearing away cobwebs. "I don't remember hardly anything of those days. Some of it's because I just don't want to. And some of it is because, um..." She stopped and tried to fit what she was thinking into words. "I guess it's like, if the same damn thing happens to you every day for years and years and years, then there's no memories to make. I'd get up, try to find some food in the garbage cans, and wait for mom to come home. That was it. What's there to remember?"
     Justin gave her paw a soft squeeze. "I'm really sorry..." And here he'd thought his own family life was the worst ever. He felt a little ashamed of that now.
     Lena cupped his paw in both of hers, and returned the squeeze. "It's okay. It's over now. If there's one thing I do remember, it was my last day."
     She shuddered, just for a moment, as one solitary sob escaped her. "I was in my favorite alley, looking through the trash bags. It was my favorite because there were five different restaurants all around and they all dumped their trash in the same place. I could almost always find something to eat there that wasn't too gross.
     "Then this man came up behind me."
     She trembled like a leaf.
     "He grabbed me, and he started pulling off my clothes. I tried to scream, but he had a knife and he held it right in front of my eyes. He never said anything. He just threw me over on the pile of trash and... And then he raped me."
     Justin let out a gasp of shock and pulled her close. He gently nuzzled her cheek. "Oh my God, Lena... I'm so sorry."
     Knowing that Justin cared about her so much was like a brightly burning candle in her heart. She felt almost silly now, for thinking he'd ever abandon her.
     She had to go on with her story though, now matter how icky it felt to relive it. "The guy fucked me really hard, but it wasn't for long. He squirted his shit in me, then he picked me up and just threw me across the alley into a dumpster. Luckily I landed on some soft bags. He walked over and looked in at me. I didn't move. I thought if I looked dead he'd just go away.
     "Finally, he left. I just laid there in the trash crying for a long time. I remember the trash bags were actually kind of comfy, and I burrowed down in them and pulled them on top of me like blankets to keep me warm.
     "He'd thrown me away like trash after he used me. I felt like trash. But it wasn't like I was ashamed of myself. I just thought that life had treated me like trash for so long, I should just go ahead and accept it. I snuggled into the bags and said 'I'm garbage', and it was almost comforting.
     "Then the garbage truck came along. I knew if I didn't get out of the dumpster, I'd be tossed in the truck and get compacted. But then I decided that I didn't mind if that happened. I was garbage after all, and garbage gets crushed and taken to the dump. That's just how it's supposed to be.
     "The truck picked up the dumpster and it lifted me way up in the air and tipped me in with all the trash. I actually laughed; I wasn't scared anymore. I just accepted that this was what was supposed to happen to me.
     "The first time the truck compacted the garbage, I got a little scared. But there wasn't much in it yet, so it just kinda squeezed me a little." Lena brushed away the tears from her eyes. "It was like the truck was hugging me, trying to tell me it wouldn't be so bad to get squished.
     "It pushed a little harder next time. Then even harder, again and again, until I lost count. Then one time I got crushed and it just knocked the wind out of me and I passed out.
     "The next thing I knew, I was looking up, and Dad was looking back at me."
     Justin nuzzled her softly. He kissed her cheek, her ear and her hair. "Lena... You're not garbage. Even if you really are inside. You're only garbage if no one cares about you and just tosses you away. I care about you, and I want you to stay right here with me."
     She sniffed back her tears and gave him a few kisses too, tickling him with her long whiskers. "Thank you."
     "Wasn't it kinda weird for you though?" Justin asked. "I mean, you die in a garbage truck, then all of a sudden some strange guy's looking at you?"
     She shook her head. "It wasn't weird at all! Not even a little bit. I took one look at him and I knew he'd saved me. He told me later that he'd cut his paws and given me his blood, but I already knew he'd done something like that as soon as I woke up. See, he really is my dad. He gave me life. He's my dad and I'm his daughter."
     "...I guess so. And you told me you were adopted!"
     She smiled. "Weird, huh? It's actually sorta like both at the same time."
     Lena paused to stretch her legs. She'd been sitting in the same position for a while now and they were falling asleep. She stretched, then wiggled her long pink toes. "Dad's been so good to me. He had no idea who I was when he brought me back to life, but the first thing he did when he saw me laying there was he took off his shirt and wrapped me up in it so I wouldn't get cold. He took me home in his car, and when we got to his place he gave me a nice long bubble bath. I remember that part the most; him rubbing me all over with the washcloth. Getting my fur nice and clean. I'd never felt anything like it before.
     "After that, I said I was hungry. First he gave me some of his old baggy clothes to wear and then he took me to the kitchen. He fed me all sorts of stuff. We sat at the table and talked for hours.
     "When I got sleepy, we went to bed together and he held me in his arms all night long. I'd never felt so safe."
     Justin briefly wondered what that would be like; feeling safe in the arms of a parent.
     "It took Dad a while to figure out that I needed to eat garbage," Lena went on. "After a few days living in his apartment, he was feeding me all sorts of stuff and I was still hungry. Then he made the connection between my 'aura' and the garbage's."
     "'Aura'?" Justin asked.
     "That emotion-energy he was talking about; how he sees it. I saw some lady on a talk show a long time ago, saying she could see people's auras. I thought the word fit pretty good. When Dad looked at me, I didn't give off the same 'vibe' or 'scent' or whatever as normal people do. My energy looked like the same energy coming from stuff in his trash can. So he fed me a bit of trash, and I liked it! I sat there on the kitchen floor and he fed me the whole bag of garbage!"
     Lena's exuberance over the memory made it more comic than puke-inducing. The image of a happy little ratgirl gulping down the entire contents of a trash can was rather funny, in an absurdist way. Justin smiled lopsidedly. "But it's trash! Doesn't it taste awful? How can you stand it?"
     "You know, it's weird, but it actually tastes good!" she said. "It's hard to describe. Like if I eat an old boot, it still tastes like a boot, but I enjoy it anyway." She thought for a bit about how she could possibly explain it to him. "Hey, are there any foods you really hated when you were little, but now you like them?"
     He nodded. "Yeah; peas. I used to roll them into my lap when Mom wasn't looking and then flush 'em down the toilet. Now I don't mind them at all."
     "Exactly!" Lena said. "It's the same thing with me and garbage. I changed, and now I like it. If you put some garbage in your mouth, it'd taste the same as it would for me, but my tongue just likes it for some reason."
     It was a bit of a roundabout explanation, but he thought he understood. "So, what're your favorite 'foods' then?"
     She licked her lips, thinking about all kinds of yummy trash. "Plastic grocery bags are nice, but they're not very filling. House keys are like candy. Pizza boxes, little porcelain statues, smashed-up toys; those are all pretty good. Stuffed animals are just about the best. They make me feel nice and warm inside. And sneakers! Old stinky sneakers! The more beat-up and nasty the better!" she said brightly, describing them as if they were the greatest taste sensation ever.
     "Sneakers!?" Picturing her chomping on one was a little stomach-turning.
     "They're _fantastic_," she assured. "Of course, that's just me. I know it must gross you out. In fact, if you really can't stand the idea, I'll keep on waiting 'till you're gone to eat that stuff. I don't want you to be uncomfortable."
     Justin considered it. "Oh, I don't know. You shouldn't have to go to all that trouble. I mean, I already know that you do. Yeah, it was pretty unpleasant, seeing you eat a diaper this morning. But that was mostly because I didn't understand what was going on. If you need to eat trash, I can deal with it. It might even be interesting to watch."
     "Interesting *because* it's so gross?" she inquired.
     He nodded. "Yeah. Sort of."
     "I heard Dad call that a 'train-wreck fascination' once. He was talking about people slowing down on the freeway to stare at car accidents. He said people are just wired like that; sometimes their eyes wanna look at stuff even when their brains think it's nasty."
     That made it sound like he was just some rubbernecker. "Well, okay. You're right, it would be like that a little. But another reason I wouldn't mind you doing it in front of me is so I could get used to it. You said you didn't want me to be uncomfortable around you. I don't want that either. If I watched you eatin' sneakers and pizza boxes every now and then, it probably wouldn't affect me much after a while."
     "Okay, I understand. And that's very thoughtful of you," she said with a smile and a quick kiss on his nose. "So next time we go out rooting through the day's trash, I'll snack on some of the stuff and you can tell me if you're okay with it, or if it gets too weird for you."
     That sounded reasonable. "Allright then."
     She grinned suddenly. "Hey, wanna see something really weird I can do?"
     He arched a wary eyebrow. "How weird?"
     "Just watch..." She lifted up her shirt again.
     "Are you gonna do that bellybutton-stretching thing again?" he worried. "That kinda made my skin crawl."
     "No, trust me," she reassured. As she stared down at her tummy, she gave a little grunt, sounding almost as if she were going to the bathroom.
     Her stomach bulged.
     Then her bellybutton widened and something began to slide out of it.
     Justin watched in eye-popping disbelief as a transforming toy robot emerged out of his best friend's stomach.
     It had a bit of goo on it, but otherwise it looked just fine. Lena wiped it off on the edge of the blanket, then handed it to the stunned little wolffox. "Here!" she said brightly.
     The toy dropped into his paws, and he stared at it as if it had just dropped out of the sky. Finally his lips worked again and he sputtered, "What the _Fuck_?!?"
     She giggled. "Don't get all freaked out! If you'd found that in the dump, you'd be jumping up and down in joy. That's a cool toy! I knew you'd like it." She paused, as if something had tickled her. "Waitaminnit, I think I've got his gun in here too..." She concentrated, and then a little silver-colored plastic weapon spat out of her navel. "Oh good." She handed it to him too.
     "How in the holy name of fuck did you do that!?" Justin yelped, torn between being seriously weirded-the-hell-out, and actually rather impressed.
     She smiled proudly. "I can remember absolutely every single piece of garbage I've ever eaten. It's like an encyclopedia up in my head. Don't ask me how I do it though, I have no idea. It's all just *there*."
     "And you can just... burp it back up at will?"
     "Uh huh!"
     He ran a paw through his hair. "That is just... I don't know what that is!"
     "Well I think it's cool!" Lena declared. "And it's really handy, too. If I want something, and I know I've eaten it, I can just make another one."
     Justin shook his head. "You're going to have to go into a little more detail on this. I still don't get how..."
     She tried not to get frustrated. This was second nature to her, but totally new to him. She tried to keep that in mind. It would be like if she suddenly had to use urinals from now on: she knew of their existence, but they were completely foreign to her. "Okay, okay. Basically, it's like this: I eat something, it gets digested, just like you. Now, regular food just goes on through me into the toilet, like you too. But garbage... It's like I take the energy from it, but the things themselves are left behind. Like when you eat fatty foods, the fat cells stay in you."
     "Okay, I understand that," said Justin. "We did a thing on food and the digestive system last year at school. The pancreas, the spleen, the duodenum. All that stuff."
     "Good. So, here's the weird thing; If you eat lots of fat, you get a big butt. But I eat all this garbage, and it stays inside me, and then it's like it just vanishes! I've eaten probably a couple hundred garbage truck's worth of junk since I got reborn, and it's all still there. Yeah, whenever I eat a hamburger it comes out as a turd the next day..."
     "Bit too much information," he cautioned.
     She blushed. "Sorry. But you get the idea. Dad says it violates some fundamental law of physics. He says I'm like a black hole. Matter goes in, and where it ends up, nobody knows. Maybe I'll just blow up one day and spread a gajillion tons of garbage all over the whole town!" she said with a chuckle.
     Justin was starting to get it. "So, even though the stuff's digested, if you want it again, you can un-digest it?"
     "That sounds about right," she agreed.
     Justin looked down to the transformer in his paws. It looked like it turned into a black sportscar. And, yeah, it was indeed a pretty cool toy. "Thanks, Lena. That was really nice of you. Freaky, but nice," he kidded.
     "You're welcome. Actually, I've got whole piles of stuff inside me you might like! Toys are usually really high in love-energy, more than just about anything else, so I eat a lot of them. I already got their energy, so they're just sitting there in my... wherever the stuff goes."
     Justin chuckled at the image of her spitting out a huge pile of toys, and him checking each one to see if he was interested in it. "Okay, that might be pretty cool. So, why don't you just get rid of all of it then?"
     She rolled her eyes. "Duh! Because it might come in useful someday! Hey, you're glad I kept that thing, aren't you?" she asked, indicating the robot in his paws.
     "Yeah, but that's not what I meant. If you're worried you might blow up, why not just spit it all out? Like letting air out of a balloon before it pops."
     She thought that was a fair question. "I've thought about that, but part of me, like an instinct, thinks it's supposed to stay in there for some reason. Like vitamins or something. And I'm not really worried I might blow up. Don't take me seriously all the time!" she chided.
     "Hey, this is all new to me! I don't know _what_ to take seriously! You could tell me you can pull trash bags out of your ass and I wouldn't know if you're kidding or not!"
     She fell over backwards laughing. "No, I can't do that!"
     "That's a relief!"
     "Oh, but you know what I can do?" she popped up and asked with the type of eager smile that suggested it was something really delightfully gross.
     "...What?" he asked, not sure he wanted to know.
     "I like to do a little 'spring cleaning' sometimes. Inside me, I can kind of shift things around. I'll get together a lot of stuff I know I won't need for anything later; soda cans, candy wrappers, diapers, stuff like that."
     "What exactly do diapers taste like?" he interrupted.
     "Not bad. Chewy with a creamy center."
     Justin grimaced really hard. "Eeeeeuuuww!"
     Lena smiled proudly. It was quite an achievement to gross out a boy, and one who'd spent most of his life in a garbage dump too! "Actually, the worst part about them is knowing what they are. I just close my eyes and pretend they're something else. Anyway, I get together this big pile of stuff I don't need, then I can just puke it all up at once! It comes out of my bellybutton in this huge fountain!" she described with gusto. "One time I did it and the pile I made was even taller than I was!"
     Justin was stuck between wanting to go throw up and laughing his tail off. "You are the most disgusting furson I've ever met!"
     "Why thank you!" she said flirtatiously.
     He snickered.
     All of a sudden they were both startled by a series of quick knocks on the side of the Green Beast. Mr. Tallevasco showed up a second later holding two glasses of lemonade. "Geeze, I can't tell you how happy I am to come out here and find you two laughing!" he said with a wide, relieved smile.
     Lena and Justin took the cool drinks from him gratefully. "Thanks, Dad!" Lena said.
     "How are you doing, Justin?" the bespectacled skunk asked sympathetically. "I mean, this is a lot to have to deal with in one day."
     "I think I'm mostly okay with it," Justin said calmly. "It's kinda weird and gross, but Lena's my friend, so it's not that hard to deal with."
     Lena leaned over and rubbed her shoulder on his, giving him a happy 'thank you' smile.
     Justin thought of something else. "And, y'know, living with my family, I've had to get used to weird shit happening to me all the time. It's just a part of the daily routine. I come home from school, and I have no idea what'll happen when I walk in the front door. Maybe nothing. Or maybe Mom'll scream at me for a while. Maybe my brothers will dunk my head in the toilet for the three-thousandth time. Maybe my Dad'll be there and he'll smack me around for an hour or two."
     Lena and her father both cast sympathetic glances at him.
     "But it happens. It's scary, but you learn how to live with it. You learn how to react quicker. When something fucked-up happens, you identify it, accept it, and figure out how to get out of it as fast as possible with the least amount of bruises. I guess, in a way, I'm almost grateful to them. Something like this comes up with Lena, and I'm just naturally wired to go, 'Okay', and move on."
     Mr. Tallevasco smiled at the young wolffox in a way that was both proud of him and sad for him. "It must take a lot of courage to live like that."
     Justin shrugged. "I don't know about that. Mostly it's just a matter of having to. If I didn't get like this, I'd probably be a coma vegetable, or worse, just like my dumb brothers."
     "I've never met them, but I'm sure you're not anything like them at all!" Lena told him firmly and lovingly.
     He smiled warmly at her. "Thanks. That means a lot." He was about to take a sip of his lemonade.
     "Wait! Stop," Lena said.
     Justin looked at her, puzzled.
     She concentrated, made a little grunt, then reached down and pulled something out of her bellybutton. She reached over and deposited in his glass a little red paper umbrella.
     She clinked glasses with him. "Cheers!"


~~~~~


*part 12*


     Justin spent the whole afternoon talking with Lena, asking questions and finding out all sorts of fascinating things about her condition. The more she described it and the more details came clear, the less frightening and strange it became. Justin was actually starting to think it was all pretty cool.
     And also, in a strange way, none of it was really surprising to him. Some tiny part of his instincts had 'sensed' something odd about Lena from the very first time he'd met her, but the sensation was so small he hadn't paid any attention to it. So, whereas some other furson might have gone stark raving mad if they'd found this out about a friend, Justin was much more interested than afraid.
     It occurred to him later that his surprisingly easy tolerance for Lena's circumstances probably had a lot to do with his own family. They were all perfectly normal, at least physiognomy-wise, and they all scared the living hell out of him. Lena was kind and pretty and funny and the best friend he'd ever had. Who cared if she ate a few used paper towels every now and then?
     When it came down to bare bones, he simply knew he felt safer with a trash-munching ratgirl who'd come back from the dead than with his own parents.
     A _lot_ safer.
     As the sun was starting to go down, Justin said goodbye to Lena and her dad and trotted off back home. It would be best to eat dinner with Mom and the three gorillas for the next few nights, lest they get suspicious.
     While he poked at his half frozen/half burned TV dinner, Justin kept thinking about Mr. Tallevasco's meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and wondering how he could possibly force down the glop in front of him.
     It also occurred to him that in all the hoopla of discovering Lena's secret, he'd completely forgotten what he'd gone over there for in the first place.


          * * *


     When the school bus let him off in front of his house the next day, Justin didn't even bother telling his mom he was home. He darted straight off for the dump.
     He looked for Lena a while, but she was nowhere to be found. It seemed she wasn't in an exploring mood today.
     Undaunted, the intrepid wolffox continued on to the little brown cabin past the woods. He swung around back for a moment to say hi to the Green Beast (who seemed, as always, glad to see him), then came around the other side of the house to the porch and knocked on the front door.
     Lena answered in purple shorts and a pale yellow tanktop, holding a TV remote.
     Justin blushed; she looked _really_ cute!
     She looked surprised to see him. "Oh! Hi Justin! Come on in!"
     Inside, the sounds of after-school cartoons wafted through the air like a demented symphony. On the screen, a badly animated cat and mouse were attempting to beat the crapola out of each other, with predictably zany results.
     Lena plopped down on the floor a few inches from the screen. She picked up the bowl of popcorn she'd been snacking out of and handed it to him. "Want some? After friday night, I've been craving more of this stuff."
     "You didn't get it out of the same dumpster, did you?" he kidded, and took a pawful.
     "Nope," she said, grinning. "If I did, I'd have to give you fifty cents every time you ate some!"
     "You never did pay me," he said with a mock-scowl.
     "Oh, right..." She dug around in her shorts pocket a bit, then emptied out the contents on the floor: a blue plastic wallet, a small pile of coins, a foil rainbow sticker and a gummi worm. She handed him two quarters. "Here ya go."
     He politely refused. "Aw, it's okay. I didn't really mean it. You keep it."
     She shoved the coins back at him. "No way! I dared you and you accepted, so you earned the money. I'm a rat of my word," she insisted.
     Shrugging, Justin pocketed the change.
     Lena took a sip from her soda. "So, what brings you over here? Wanna go to the dump?"
     "Actually, I was thinking about what we were supposed to do yesterday."
     Lena paused as if struck by a tiny bolt of lightning. She turned and gaped at him. "Really?!"
     "I guess so. Why not?" he said. "I mean, if you don't want to..."
     She stood up in a flash and put her paws on his shoulders. "Are you kidding? I'd love to help you move your treasure chest! I just can't believe you'd still be okay with me doing that!"
     He was rather puzzled. "Well, why wouldn't I be?"
     Lena growled kiddingly. "Boys are so dense!" she shouted, then suddenly nuzzled noses with him. "You dummy. I thought you'd be all not wanting to because of what happened yesterday."
     Justin was still puzzled, and he didn't think he was being dense. "I don't see why. I mean, we talked it out and I thought we were okay with everything," he said sincerely.
     Lena took a moment to just regard him with wonder. "Wow, you really mean it. You're not just being nice to me..."
     "What? What!? Why should I be upset?"
     "Because," she said with a tap on his nose from her forefinger, "I've been lying to you the whole time we knew each other. I was keeping my deep, dark secret from you and I thought for sure you'd feel like you couldn't trust me anymore."
     He still looked, and felt, confused. "Nope. I don't feel like that a bit. I understand why you wanted to keep it a secret. It's no big deal for me. There's stuff I haven't told you about me yet, and that's just because I haven't gotten around to it. I still trust you, Lena. Keeping a secret's a lot different than lying."
     She hugged him, and felt a little dumb for thinking he'd have reacted any different than this. "You're not dense, Justin. I'm sorry. You're just a really, really nice guy."
     He nuzzled her ear. "It's okay. I'm sure you never expected anyone to find out your secret and then be okay with it."
     "Yeah," she agreed. "It's almost freaking me out how quickly you're accepting all this!"
     He smiled. "I guess I just don't see any reason not too." He patted her forearm. "So, you wanna go grab some shovels, head off to the woods and dig that big sucker up?"
     She gave him a bright grin. "Sure!" She flicked the television off without a moment's hesitation.



     As luck would have it, they not only found two strong, sturdy shovels in the toolshed, but Lena also remembered that they had a wheelbarrow in the basement. The two of them went downstairs to retrieve it, and Justin noted that her basement was spooky and cool enough to make a haunted house out of during Halloween. Lena took that as a compliment.
     Together they lugged the huge old-fashioned wheelbarrow up the stairs. It was a rusty dull green, with wooden handles and a fat little rubber tire in front. It looked plenty big enough to move the footlocker.
     Thusly armed, they headed off for the woods behind Justin's house.
     They took a small detour by the front gates to check in with Lena's dad. Mr. Tallevasco also seemed quite pleasantly surprised that Justin was still willing to entrust them with his greatest treasures. The plaid-clad skunk said he wished he could join them and add his strong back to their team, but unfortunately he was still on the job. The two little ones said they didn't mind and that they'd have fun doing it by themselves anyway. It would be an adventure. Mr. Tallevasco wished them luck, and gave them each a (store-bought) snack cake for the journey.
     The terrain of the dump was way too bumpy for a wheelbarrow, so Justin and Lena took the long way around. As they walked, they talked about some of their recent acquisitions from the trash and other lucky finds. Justin mentioned that last thursday at lunchtime he'd found a whole untouched brown paper lunchbag just lying there in one of the big rubber trash cans. When the bell rang and no one was looking, he'd stealthily hidden it in his backpack. Despite being on the school's free lunch program, it was always a good idea to grab food when it was available, he explained. He never knew when he'd get it at home after all.
     As the rat and wolffox continued on their journey, they also inevitably gave each other rides in the wheelbarrow. Justin found that Lena had amazing upper-body strength and could run like a horse. She raced him through the woods so fast he was scared stiff they'd crash into a tree at any moment. It was, of course, highly entertaining.
     Eventually they arrived at the half-buried footlocker. Justin paused to simply take in the idea that it would no longer be there after today. "I'll miss coming out here," he said softly.
     "We don't have to do this, if you don't want to," Lena said comfortingly, her soft paw on his shoulder.
     Justin took a deep breath and washed his sentimental thoughts away. "No, I'm okay. This was my special secret spot where I could be alone with all my stuff. I've been coming here for a long, long time. I'll miss it, but you're right; my stuff isn't safe here. In fact, now that I think about it, I'm really surprised my brothers never stumbled onto it. I guess I'm just lucky they're too old to come out here and play around in the woods anymore."
     She gave him a comradely one-armed hug. "Well, we'll make sure they never, ever find it now!" she said brightly. She jammed her shovel into the soft, dark earth. "Let's get to work!"



     Over the next few hours, the two of them dug and dug until all their muscles were sore. The footlocker wasn't buried very deep, but it was anchored into the ground quite tenaciously. They ended up with a chubby ring of piled-up dirt encircling their excavation site.
     Thankfully, the sun wasn't too scorching that afternoon. It was mild out for a change. There was even the occasional much-welcomed cool breeze.
     The sounds of shovels crunching into soil and dirt raining down in heaps finally gave way to the tune of two very tired sighs. Justin and Lena sat down in the dirt, back to back, and took a breather.
     "We did it," Justin panted.
     "Yup," Lena huffed.
     For a while, that was all the speech they were capable of. They sat and took deep breaths, feeling the sweat rolling down their fur and the sensation of the blood flowing through their tingling muscles.
     "And now we gotta heave that big fucker up into the wheelbarrow and drag it home," Lena grumbled.
     "Wheeee," Justin said, with oodles of sarcasm.
     They waited a while longer until they thought they could actually move again. Lena got up first, then held out a paw to help heft Justin to his feet too. He was starting to realize that Lena was in much better shape than he was. It was a bit embarrassing to be weaker than a girl like that. But then again, that kind of attitude was part of what made his brothers such chunky, muscleheaded jerks.
     Once it was free of the bonds of the soil, Justin found that the footlocker was actually lighter than he'd expected, even with it still full of stuff. He'd imagined it weighing half a ton or so. Thankfully, his imagination had blown it so out of proportion he found he could easily deal with the reality of it. He and Lena 'heave-ho'ed a bit and slid it into the wheelbarrow with a satisfying thud.
     The trip back to Lena's house took a lot longer than the trip from there. Aside from the task of having to lug the heavy wheelbarrow, they were both a lot more tired out than they realized.
     At first they'd hauled the wheelbarrow in shifts. That had worked okay until their shifts started getting progressively shorter and shorter as their arms got tired quicker.
     As they took a much-needed break under a weeping willow tree, Justin had an idea. Once they felt rested and were ready to carry on again, each of them took a handle apiece in both paws and carried the wheelbarrow together. Sharing the weight was much better. Soon they were making a lot faster progress home.
     They arrived in Lena's front yard as the sun was setting, turning the trees to black silhouettes against a tangerine peel sky.
     Mr. Tallevasco was on the porch waiting for them, having closed up the dump just a few minutes earlier by chance. Seeing that the two kids looked like they were both about to drop dead on the spot from exhaustion, he swooped in and took the wheelbarrow from them and trundled it back behind the house. He returned to find the young furry duo splayed out on the cool grass, panting heavily, but smiling from the satisfaction that they'd realized their quest at last. The tall skunk gathered them both up under his arms like bales of hay and took them inside. He plopped them down on the couch (Soooooo comfy after all that walking!) and went to get them some ice water. Justin promptly dumped half of his on his face and the other half on his feet.
     When they'd rested enough, Mr. Tallevasco offered to drive Justin home. The young canine was in a quandary. He knew his feet would hurt like hell if he had to walk all the way back home, but he also didn't want to risk any of his family seeing Lena's dad dropping him off. A compromise was struck when the bespectacled skunk offered to drive him most of the way there and let him off far enough from the house that they wouldn't be spotted together. That sounded good, and Justin agreed.
     There was still one more thing he had to do before he could leave though.



     Now the sky was a soothing blue-purple. Justin, Lena and Adam walked out to the backyard where the Treasure Chest was still waiting patiently in the wheelbarrow.
     "Thanks for letting me keep this here," Justin said to Mr. Tallevasco.
     The lanky skunk gave Justin's shoulder a pat. "I'm happy to. You can come over whenever you like and check up on it. It's worth it just for me to know you'll sleep better, knowing your treasures are safe."
     Justin shook his paw gratefully, then turned and gave Lena a hug. "And thank you for helping me drag the damn thing all this way!"
     "You're welcome. But if you decide all of a sudden you want it back where it was, I'll cream you," she threatened cutely, waving a teasing fist in his face.
     He chuckled. "I'd have to be a total idiot," he assured. He looked around and took notice of the modest little toolshed standing out in the yard a little beyond where the Green Beast slumbered. It was painted a pleasing shade of easter-candy blue. Justin thought it looked like a fine place to hide his loot.
     With Mr. Tallevasco's help, he hefted his Treasure Chest up out of the wheelbarrow and together they dragged it across the lawn. Lena ran ahead and held the door of the shed open for them. The two males laid it down on the smooth wooden floor and Justin nudged it into an aesthetically pleasing position in the corner.
     The shed was much bigger inside than it seemed. There would be plenty of room for Mr. Tallevasco's tools, and for Justin and Lena both to come in and sit and look at his collection whenever they wanted.
     Justin smiled contentedly. It had really happened. From Lena's suggestion two days ago, to now. And here it was; his beloved footlocker, full of his most treasured possessions. Now in its new home. He would never have to worry about it again. No more fretting about the tortures his brothers would inflict upon his stuffed animals if they ever found them. No more having to sneak back and forth in the middle of the night.
     He gave the big black box a loving pat. "There. You're safe now," he whispered to his plushies inside. "I'll come visit you all the time. I promise."
     He walked out and shut the door behind him. He looked up to Mr. Tallevasco. "I'm ready to go now."



     Justin's mother nagged him a bit for coming home late and missing most of dinner, but he barely heard her. He offered to wash all the dishes and that seemed to assuage her.
     The young wolffox stood at the sink as he scrubbed and looked out the window to the bright white moon above.
     He couldn't imagine a safer place for his plushies than with Lena.
     'I just hope she doesn't get hungry and eat them someday!' he thought, and giggled.


~~~~~


*part 13*


     Bright and early next Saturday morning, Justin was waiting nervously on the steps in front of his house.
     Mom was still asleep, and the Three Horsemen Of The Apocalypse had already scarfed down a messy breakfast and left for football practice. There was no one around to watch him tag along with Mr. Tallevasco, but he was still worried nonetheless. His heart was filled with the nameless dread of what would happen if his family ever found out about his friendship with Lena and her dad. He had no specific worries, just a certainty that whatever happened, it would be really, really bad.
     His ears perked up at the sound of a growly but well maintained old engine coming closer. Then, way down the road, the Green Beast approachethed.
     Justin jumped up and grinned as it arrived in front of his house. Worries were forgotten in an instant.
     Lena popped up and leaned out the passenger side window. "Good morning!" she shouted sweetly.
     "Hey, Lena! Hey, Mr. Tallevasco!" The young wolffox's tail was wildly wagging.
     Lena's dad came around the other side, looking very official and resplendent in his garbageman's uniform. It was just a hat and a loose-fitting green jumpsuit with an embroidered nametag over his pocket, but it looked great on him nonetheless. His huge bushy tail swayed proudly behind him. He filled his uniform with the pride of a man who loves his work.
     "Hey there, Justin!" Mr. Tallevasco called out. He walked over and patted the boy on the head.
     Justin lifted up the two bulging black trash bags that had been sitting at the curb. "Here ya go," he said as he handed them ceremoniously over to the tall skunk.
     Adam chucked them in the back of his beloved trash truck and smiled fondly. "Her first pickup in years! You can tell she's happy; listen to her motor purr!"
     Indeed, the Green Beast's engine did sound uncannily like the contented rumblings of some giant prehistoric cat.
     "Let's get out of here before my mom sees me," Justin suggested.
     "Good idea," Mr. Tallevasco agreed. He ran back around to the driver's side. Lena held her door open for Justin and he hopped up beside her.
     The inside of the Beast's cab was quite impressive. Everything was shiny and polished. Justin liked all the old-fashioned-looking controls on the dashboard and the gigantic steering wheel. The seats were glossy black faux-leather. They were roomy and very comfy. A pine-scented air freshener hung from the ceiling (mostly as a joke), and a few pictures of Lena were tucked into the top of the windshield. And, just as Lena had said, there was a translucent crystal skull on the gear shift lever that glistened liquidly in the sunlight.
     Adam pointed to it. "Picked that up at a yard sale once for six dollars."
     The skunk stomped the gas pedal and the Green Beast gave a joyful roar as she started out on her second maiden voyage.



     Since the whole town of Flat Stone was very rural, there were often long, woodsy stretches between houses. In fact, it was almost half a mile to Justin's nearest neighbors. It left them all plenty of time to talk.
     "This is the coolest truck I have ever been in," Justin declared.
     "Thanks!" Adam called out over the thrum of the engine. "Me and Lena both worked hard to get her back in shape. Remind me later and I'll show you some pictures I took when we first bought her."
     "It was awful!" Lena said sorrowfully. "She'd just been sitting in some parking lot for years getting rusty. The city hadn't been taking care of her at all! Seeing her like that was like finding a kitten with a broken leg on your doorstep. We had to rescue her!"
     "You sure did a good job then!" Justin said. "She looks brand new!"
     "Thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of work," Mr. Tallevasco said with a happy sigh. "Every second's been worth it. Some guys might buy some old muscle car and fix it up in their garage, or maybe even snatch up some sleek, hot european model that can go three times the speed limit on the freeway. But how many people have their own customized vintage garbage truck?" He grinned proudly. "The Beast's unique, and that makes her special!" He gave the dashboard a proud pat.
     Moments later, they arrived at their second stop of the day. Six white trashbags and a broken-up coffee table lay there at the curb, ripe for the plucking. Adam, Lena and Justin all hopped out and tossed everything inside, careful not to be too rough with the bags. After all, who knew what fascinating treasures lurked within?
     As they drove off, they noticed a toddler waving excitedly at them from his livingroom window. Adam gave the horn a toot. Justin was sure it made the little guy's day.
     "Ooh, yeah. Just remembered." Mr. Tallevasco popped open the glove compartment. "Got somethin' for you," he told Justin.
     Justin grinned as he was handed a pair of nice thick rubber gloves (Lena was already wearing a pair herself, along with her favorite overalls), and a baseball cap onto which Mr. Tallevasco had carefully printed in permanent marker: 'Official Garbageman's Assistant'. "Wow! Thanks!" Justin said with a grin and a wagging tail. He put on the hat and gloves and admired them in the side-view mirror. He thought he looked very professional now.
     "How come I don't have a hat?" Lena whined playfully.
     Adam gave her a one-armed hug. "You never asked for one, sweetie." He paused, then thought a bit. "Actually, you two would look cute with matching hats. I'll get right on it after supper tonight."
     Lena consulted her inner encyclopedia of trash. "Actually, I think I can whip something up right now..." She concentrated, and Justin watched as a bulge appeared in the front of her overalls. She reached inside and came out with a blank cap just like Justin's. She put it on and looked satisfied. "There!"
     The weirdness of her being able to do that was almost completely gone now. Justin even envied her a bit. After all, how cool would it be to carry around a huge storehouse of stuff and be able to retrieve anything you wanted whenever you felt like it?
     "How's it look?" she asked him as she adjusted the cap to fit comfortably around her big ears.
     Justin stroked his chinfur thoughtfully, like an art appraiser. "Pretty good. But it doesn't say 'Official Garbageman's Assistant' like mine," he added smugly.
     Lena 'hmph'ed. "I'll fix that then!" She grunted a bit, and the front of her overalls protruded again. She reached in and pulled out a magic marker. "A-ha!" She pulled off the cap and tested the tip on a bit of scrap paper that had been lying on the dashboard. "Nope. This one's dry," she said disappointedly.
     After a few more stops, there were about a dozen or so dry magic markers lying on the floor of the Green Beast's interior. Adam was doing his best to contain chortles at his daughter's plight.
     She tried another one. Finally, a mark! "YES!!" she bellowed, nearly making her father steer off course.
     Justin fell over laughing.
     "Okay, next time we stop, you make my hat like Justin's," Lena told her dad.
     "Will do, sweetie."
     They stopped a minute or so later and picked up another pile of bags. One of them looked like it might contain some dolls and stuffed animals, so Lena was excited about that. She tossed it in the back and looked forward to finding it again later.
     As Justin tossed in the last of the bags (and realized that, yes, he was starting to sweat already), Lena sat on the edge of the collection bin and watched while her father dutifully made her hat official.
     He handed it back with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, honey. It ran out of ink. I could only do the initials for now."
     Lena scowled at the hat which now read 'O G A'. "Darnit."
     Justin grinned. "If you really want, we can swap hats for now."
     She jumped down and walked over to give him a quick smooch. "That's okay, but it was sweet of you to offer."
     Justin blushed.



     The next few hours were some of the most enjoyable Justin had ever spent. The work was occasionally tough (like the giant curio cabinet that was so damned heavy he was sure he'd be having nightmares about it for weeks), but mostly it was just tossing bags in the back of the Green Beast's hungry maw. That was something Justin would have gladly volunteered to do anyway, just for fun. And on top of that, he was actually getting _paid_ for this! It was like being paid to eat donuts, or to sit around watching TV!
     Several people came outside to meet them. Mostly it was just to say hi to their new garbageman; get a 'feel' for the guy, or to voice their opinions of the new trash collection idea in general.
     Surprisingly, Justin's mom turned out to be very much in the minority with her opinion. Most people they talked to thought the new service was a great idea, and welcomed not having to drive up to the dump every week. One woman even offered them a plate of cookies!
     The best part of the job though was just being with Lena and her dad. The three of them talked about all sorts of stuff, told jokes, told stories, and just generally got to know one another even better.
     (One thing Justin finally got around to asking was why he'd never seen Lena in school. She laughed and told him that the explanation was blindingly obvious. Since she'd just suddenly popped back to life years ago, there were no official papers that said she was Mr. Tallevasco's daughter. They couldn't possibly enroll her in school without arousing undue attention. And since Adam was a former teacher anyway, he'd just been home-schooling her all this time. Once it was put like that, Justin realized it made a lot of sense, and he felt a little silly for not figuring it out himself.)
     All day long, Justin did his very best to be helpful. Most of the time, the work flew by like nothing. Despite the fact that a lot of people had saved up their garbage for the first day they wouldn't have to haul it away themselves, it was mostly just the standard bags and cardboard boxes. Nothing too heavy or cumbersome. Justin definitely thought he'd rather spend a *dozen* days slinging trash than have to dig up and move another footlocker.
     There were relatively few problems from the people along the route either. There were however, a few misunderstandings. At least three people had to be informed that the city didn't allow Mr. Tallevasco to pick up bags of lawn clippings (for whatever bizarre, bureaucratic reason), and one nearly-hysterical woman wouldn't shut up about recycling bins.
     In fact, the only furson who'd been downright rude was a fat fellow in a 'wifebeater' tanktop who had swore rather colorfully at Mr. Tallevasco when he'd been told that he'd have to haul his giant tweed-covered couch to the dump himself because it wouldn't fit in the back of the truck.
     Otherwise, the people they met were all nice. Lots of people came outside to stare in amazement at the Beast, and many mothers commented on Justin and Lena's cute matching hats.
     At noon they took a break and went by a small local eatery for lunch. Considering they were all quite sweaty and smelly by now, they knew if they ate inside they'd probably asphyxiate the other diners. Being courteous fursons, the trio decided that that wouldn't be polite. So Adam went in and quickly ordered sandwiches for everyone, asking the waitress to please bring the food out to where they'd be sitting outside. That worked out fine, and they all sat on a shady bench together and shared a pleasant meal, not minding each other's stench a bit.
     Lena and Justin both got grilled cheese, and found out they both considered it their favorite. Afterwards, they just tossed their trash in the back of the Beast, picked up the restaurant's garbage from out back (by far the smelliest and squishiest of the day), waved to the waitress, and departed.



     The day got hotter as it progressed. By two thirty, Justin's shirt was as soaked as if he'd gone running through the rain. Thankfully though, the Green Beast pulled around a corner then and he saw that their next stop was also their last. They'd completed an enormous circle and ended up back at Lena's house.
     Adam parked the Beast in her usual place in the backyard. She idled down slowly, sounding quite content. Adam jumped down from the driver's seat onto the cool grass. He stretched his back, cracked his knuckles, then checked his watch. "Wow, I didn't think we'd be finished until at least three! We made a good team!"
     Lena and Justin scampered out too. "I'm gonna go get some water!" Lena called out as she ran into the house.
     "Bring me some too!" Justin shouted back. He approached Mr. Tallevasco. "So, did I do a good job?"
     The tall skunk looked very pleased indeed. "You did a *great* job, Justin! You were extremely helpful! I don't know how we could've gotten that damn curio cabinet in the back without your help!"
     The curio cabinet had been the undisputed low point of the day. They'd had to go into the woman's house to get it since she was too old and frail to drag it to the curb, and had found it to be about seven feet tall and at least four across. It was made of hardwood and lead glass, and it weighed, approximately, six billion tons. And since it split in two, and both halves fell within the city's size limits, they had to take it.
     "I know!" Justin agreed. "What was that thing made of, titanium?"
     "Who knows? All I'm sure of is that I'm really going to enjoy backing the Beast up to the ravine by the west side of the dump later on and watching that sucker tumble out and smash to bits at the bottom," he said with a devilish grin.
     Justin kneaded his hands like a supervillain. "Yes, yes! Revenge of the garbagemen! Ha-ha-haaa!"
     Adam joined him and they sounded like a chorus of Frankensteins.
     Lena returned with three dripping glasses, wondering what all the maniacal laughter was about. "Are you two allright?" she asked guardedly.
     "Oh, we're just talking about destroying that damn curio cabinet," Justin explained.
     Lena lit up like a lightbulb. "Count me in! Do we have any sledgehammers, dad?"
     Adam took his glass and shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately no. But we are going to drop it off a cliff."
     "Sweet!" Lena did a little jump for joy. Water droplets went everywhere.
     Mr. Tallevasco guzzled his water in seconds. "Well, I'm gonna go inside and put my feet up for awhile," he informed the kids. "Looks like you two have plenty of time to play in the garbage before Justin has to get home for supper. Have fun!" He turned to walk away.
     Justin looked worried for a second.
     The bespectacled skunk turned back around with a grin. "You didn't think I forgot?" he asked Justin playfully. He pulled out his wallet and presented the boy with a crisp ten dollar bill.
     The excited little wolffox accepted the bill reverently, never having been given so much money at one time in his entire life before . He spontaneously hugged Mr. Tallevasco like a bear trap. "Thank you!!" he shouted.
     Adam gave the obviously ecstatic boy a pat on the back. "You earned it, Justin. You did an outstanding job today. I'd be happy to have you come along with us every Saturday from now on."
     "I'd love to!" Justin said immediately.
     Lena came up behind him. "Whatcha gonna spend it on?" she asked, pointing to his new bill.
     "I have no idea!" he admitted truthfully.
     "Let's go look in the trash!" the energetic little ratgirl said as she tugged on his sleeve. "I'm sure it's gonna be a good day today! We're gonna find all sorts of cool stuff!"
     Justin thanked Lena's dad once more for the money, then ran off with Lena to explore the day's loot. Mr. Tallevasco went back in the house, popped a cola, and settled in to numb his brain with some daytime TV.



     Lena was completely right twice. First when she'd said that her dad wouldn't have to compact the trash. They'd picked up the whole town's garbage and the Beast still didn't look like she had a full stomach. She could have easily gone another few miles or so. The piles of bags were all spread out like a smorgasbord before the two kits, inviting them to come on in and discover their secrets. And now they had a nice cool place to look through everything, instead of having to stand outside in the dump in the hot sun.
     Secondly, she was right when she'd said it was going to be a good day for garbage-picking. As it turned out, it was one of the best days either of them could remember. It was an absolute trash bonanza. Both of them wound up with armfuls of loot.
     Lena rediscovered the bag of dolls and plushies and tore it open to find that most of them were just her type. Either some young woman had decided to get rid of all her old toys that she'd outgrown, or some frantic mother had just given up trying to get her kids to clean their room and bagged everything in sight. Within the bag-o-plenty, Lena even found a plush wolf that reminded her a little of Justin. She connected with it immediately and gave it a big hug. She said his name was Nicholas.
     Justin's major find came in a bag full of otherwise ordinary garbage. At the very bottom of a sack filled with the usual paper plates and junk mail, he'd found a small assortment of transformer robots. Three of them were in perfect condition, and two others were just missing an arm or a foot, and still in playable condition. Lena even told him that she had a whole pile of spare toy bits somewhere in the black hole of her tummy, and she might have some limbs that would fit his new acquisitions.
     A little later, while Justin was looking through a collection of dusty crime novels with intriguingly lurid titles, Lena made another discovery. This one made her mouth water: a pair of raspberry-colored ladies' high heels. Shoes, for whatever reason, were often very potent repositories of emotion-energy, and thus quite nutritious and pleasing to the palate. This pair in particular looked especially tasty.
     Justin noticed her looking fondly at them. "Um, are you gonna eat those?" he asked cautiously.
     She nodded. "I was gonna... If you don't mind."
     "Allright. I'm curious now. Go ahead."
     Glad that he had given her his okay, Lena put the first shoe in her mouth and nibbled lightly on its toe. "Mmmmmmm!" she said. She chewed it a bit more, then popped the whole thing in her mouth and swallowed.
     Justin watched her neck bulge oddly as it went down. "Doesn't that hurt your throat!?" he asked with concern.
     "Nope. I'm stretchy, I guess." She started gnawing on the heel of the other shoe. It was easy to tell she was enjoying her snack.
     "So, uh, what does it taste like?" he asked. This was grossing him out considerably less than he thought it would. It was surreal, yes, but more fascinating than frightening.
     Lena gulped down the shoe and let it meet its mate in her stomach. "Delicious! Leathery on the outside, silky on the inside," she said with a satisfied smile.
     "See anything else that looks tasty?" Justin asked.
     Lena looked around and spotted what was left in the bag of plushies. She selected one that resembled a cartoon character she didn't care for. "Sorry, li'l guy, but you're my lunch!" she said predatorially, and popped it in her mouth. She chewed with gusto, enjoying the feel of the fluffy stuffing spilling out into her mouth before she swallowed.
     Justin watched her with a slight fog of unreality surrounding his head. He couldn't believe he was actually watching Lena eat a plushie. He looked around at the trash surrounding him for anything else she might like. "Uh... how about this old sock?"
     "Not right now, but I'll save it for later," she said as she took it from him and stuffed it in her pocket. Then she squeaked and suddenly looked at him with a broad smile. "Justin! You offered me a sock!"
     "Yeah. You're welcome," he said, a little startled by her overjoyed response.
     "Yes, and thank you for that, but I'm excited because you're okay with this! You weren't just saying you were to make me feel better!" she clarified.
     "Well, sure. I think I'm starting to get used to it. Just don't eat anything too nasty and I'll be fine. No diapers."
     "No diapers; I promise," she said solemnly. "But could you hand me some of those army guys over there?"
     Justin turned around and noticed a tiny platoon of plastic army men he'd completely overlooked. He scooped them up and handed them to her.
     She immediately popped a medic in her mouth and started chewing. "Mmm! These guys are like candy!"
     To Justin's surprise, he was actually getting into this. Seeing his best friend so happy made him happy too. "Anything else?"
     "I'm okay for now," she told him. "But thank you so much for being cool about this."
     "You're welcome. If I see any more old shoes, I'll let you know."
     Lena giggled, and her whiskers bounced.


~~~~~


*part 14*


     From then on, life was pretty darn terrific.
     Justin went over to Lena's house to play almost every day after school. They romped through the dump, shared their toys, had long conversations, and just generally did best-friendly type stuff.
     One day, Justin arrived to find Lena sitting in the backyard next to an enormous pile of interesting trash. Just as she'd said she could, she had 'burped up' an amazing amount of stuff from her own internal trash dimension that she thought he might like. Just on first glance, Justin noticed all sorts of things he was wild about. He gave Lena a supercharged, tail-wagging hug for her generosity. They sat in the grass together and looked over all the neat stuff, with Lena spinning stories about where it had all come from. In addition to toys, books and plushies, Justin found plenty of parts and accessories which had a good chance at matching up with some of his other toys that were missing limbs or weapons. And as she discovered more specifically what sort of things Justin liked, Lena was able to 'burp up' even more goodies for him.
     Justin was also getting along great with Mr. Tallevasco. The little wolffox did his very best to repay the kind skunk's generosity in any way he could. He often volunteered to help with household chores and loved lending a paw in the kitchen. On the occasions when he thought he could get away with staying over for dinner, the meals tasted even better for knowing he'd helped create them.
     A week passed, and bright and early the following Saturday Justin was on the job again, his 'Official Garbageman's Assistant' cap perched proudly on his head. They did their rounds even quicker than last time. And after Justin and Lena had played in the day's trash for a while, Mr. Tallevasco took them out to dinner at Arnie's again and surprised them with another movie.
     By now, Justin had twenty dollars hidden carefully away in his little hidey-hole beneath the floorboards under his bed. He'd thought for a long time, and had finally gotten an idea about how to spend it. He would wait until next Saturday when he'd have thirty bucks total, then treat Lena and her dad to dinner. Just thinking about it made him happy. After all, he got plenty of toys and books from the trash, why would he need to go to a store and buy more? This way, he'd be able to pay back a little of their generosity and it would make him even happier than just buying something for himself.


          * * *


     It was Wednesday, and Justin was on the bus coming home, trying to choose a restaurant in the area that wouldn't be too formal or too expensive. One that would be just right. He stared out the window, lost in his own little world.
     His bubble popped when the bus' doors opened and he saw his three brothers sitting on the front steps waiting for him. He stepped boldly off the bus onto the curb, already tensing himself for whatever mayhem they had planned.
     They grinned maliciously at him like a pack of wild jackals.
     They had to be planning something, but Justin was determined not to let their idiocy ruin his day. Whatever crap they had in store for him this time, he'd take it stoically and then just shrug it off like he always did.
     But as the bus pulled away, Justin looked across the yard and noticed something that made his blood run cold.
     His father's car was parked in the driveway.
     He had come home from work early.
     This was _not_ good.
     Shaking badly, but trying his best to stay brave, Justin approached his brothers.
     "You are in so much fucking trouble."
     "Dad's gonna kill you."
     "Wish we could watch."
     Justin sneered defiantly at them.
     "Wanna know why?" Royce asked as he leered closer to his little brother, his fangs glinting with exuberant drool.
     "Not really, no," Justin said flatly.
     "Whoooah! He's a tough little fucker!"
     "Not scared of daddy at all, are ya?"
     "Ha!"
     Royce reached out with his wiry arms and roughly grabbed the front of Justin's shirt. "I'm gonna tell you anyway, you little pukeface. See, I was at lunch today, and one of the guys on the squad asked me if it was my little brother who was riding around with the new garbageman."
     'Oh fuck,' thought Justin.
     "So I'm like, what the hell? And he said his mom saw you out riding along with that goddam skunk like you were best friends. Said you even had a cute little hat! What the fuck was that all about, huh?"
     Justin's jaw was trembling in fear. Not of his brothers, no. Of his father. Because if they knew, he knew, and that's why his car was parked outside now and why Dad was almost certainly sitting inside waiting for him. "I-It's just a job. He's paying me to help him," he explained in a tiny, dry voice.
     "Oh, we already know. That's why we told Dad. He is really pissed at you. He is seriously gonna put you in the hospital this time, you little shit," Royce snarled cruelly.
     The other two guffawed like spectators at a public lynching.
     "So get in there! He's waiting!" Royce clutched Justin by the back of his neck and suddenly rammed him into the screen door. "Oops! I forgot to open it first!" he said mockingly.
     Justin heard his brothers' braying laughter over the buzz of pain coming from his nose. He thought it was starting to bleed.
     Royce swung the door open and hurled his brother inside. Justin landed in a painful heap, cracking his right shoulder against the hard wooden floor.
     "Have fun," sneered Royce.
     Greg and Dave giggled like harpies.
     Justin got up slowly, keeping as much dignity as he could. He glared at them. For the briefest of instants, he wished with all his heart that he could suddenly find himself holding a big fucking gun with a lot of bullets in it.
     He shook that disturbing thought right out of his head. "No." That was going too far, even for dickheads like them.
     Justin steeled himself, readying his body for all the pain he knew was coming, and went off to face his father.



     He found him in the kitchen, seated in one of the little metal chairs. Mom was nowhere to be seen.
     "Get in here," Dad grunted.
     Justin's father was pure wolf. His body was chiseled into a godlike sculpture of muscle from decades of hard labor at The Factory. Every inch of his body was crisscrossed with scrapes, scars and burns. His muscles were taut slabs of steel. His biceps were thicker than Justin's waist. His fingers were fat blunt sausages with claws.
     Justin stepped into the room, feeling smaller and scrawnier than he ever had in his life.
     His father was perfectly quiet, just staring at him. Justin had never seen this before. Usually the old man just started in right away screaming and punching.
     Justin was terrified. He was suddenly very glad he'd gone to the bathroom before he'd left school.
     "Do you know what your brothers told me?" Dad slowly asked, stretching out each syllable to the maximum tension.
     "Yes sir. I think so," Justin answered meekly.
     "Is it true? You've got yourself a nice little job and you didn't tell me?"
     Justin nodded.
     The huge wolf's neck muscles tightened. He looked ready to punch through a brick wall.
     Justin took a deep breath, trying to stand perfectly still and straight and not quiver.
     Slowly, painfully slowly, Justin's father reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two ten dollar bills.
     Inside his head, Justin screamed in rage.
     "Do you know what these are, boy?"
     "That's my money," Justin growled.
     With a sound that reverberated throughout the house, Justin's father brought his giant fist down hard on the tabletop. It was a miracle it didn't splinter into bits. "YOUR money!?"
     "Yes sir," Justin said as calmly as he could. "I worked for it. I earned it."
     "You don't know shit about working," Dad snarled. With that, he tore both bills in half, right down the middle, and let them flutter to the table.
     Justin opened his mouth, but shock kept him from uttering a word.
     The old man grinned with cruel amusement at his fake son's reaction. "You didn't earn a god damn thing."
     A bolt of anger surged up through Justin's throat. "That was mine!" he screamed.
     "NOTHING'S YOURS!!!" the huge wolf roared back.
     Justin shut his mouth. He was still trembling, but now it was out of sheer fury. His father had been in his secret hiding place. What had he done with his poems?
     "You don't own anything in this house, you understand?" Dad spat. "This house and everything in it, including your ass, is mine. I work for a living. I sweat my fucking ass off all day long so your fucking mother can buy food to feed your ungrateful fucking mouth!!"
     "Fine! Okay!" Justin shouted back. "So what's wrong with me doing the same, huh!?"
     Dad grinned as if Justin was hopelessly retarded. "What's wrong is that you don't even have the sense to do it right, you god-damn little faggot. Normal kids go out and get paper routes. They don't play around in other people's fucking garbage!!"
     Justin was worried even more deeply for a second, until he realized that his father had just used that as an expression. He didn't think his dad knew about his trips to the dump. At least he desperately hoped not.
     "And I wouldn't even be so pissed off about that," the huge wolf rambled on, "if you at least had the sense not to work for some stinkassed goddam skunk."
     "What!?" Justin burst out, sure he couldn't possibly have heard that right.
     "You dumb shit! What the hell is wrong with you? You got wax in your ears? Can't you understand a single fucking thing that comes out of my mouth!?"
     "I heard fine!" Justin spat defiantly. "I mean, what's so bad about Mr. Tallevasco being a skunk?"
     His father reeled as if hit in the face. He clenched his eyes shut and swore under his breath. "You really are the stupidest fucking kid in the world, you know that?" he brayed.
     Justin glared hatefully at him, wishing the old fuck would just have a heart attack and die and leave him alone for good.
     "Skunks are the lowest fucking animals God ever created! I can't believe I have to _tell_ you this! They stink for a reason! It's to let everyone else know to keep away from their filthy asses!"
     Justin could not believe what he was hearing. "You racist motherfucker!!" he exploded without thinking.
     Dad seemed to take the insult as a compliment. "You're damn right I'm 'racist', if that's what you call being smart about the kind of unclean, degenerate shitwads that walks around on two legs among us decent people. And you're also damn right that I fucked your mother! I fucked her a whole lot of times, and I pumped her full of three sons that I'm actually proud of." He stood up and leaned menacingly over the table, and his voice grew dangerously quiet. "But I never fucked her when she had you, you lousy goddam bastard..."
     Justin instictually backed up against the wall.
     "Oh, you're scared of me now? Finally doing something smart, huh?" Dad taunted as he came around the table and approached the shaking little halfbreed.
     Justin scanned the kitchen, looking for the best way to run away quickly, or, as a last resort, to spot something he could use as a weapon.
     The massive wolf loomed over Justin like a vengeful pagan god. "You need to learn a lesson, boy. You need to learn about what kind of fursons God meant decent people like me and your mother to associate with."
     Justin could not contain an insolent laugh at the total insanity of that statement.
     Dad slapped him once, razor quick, across his mouth. "I know why you're standing up for him," he said low and mean. "Has he been touching you? Huh, you little faggot? Is that why you ride around in his little truck? Does he make you suck his cock, boy!?"
     That did it. That crossed all the lines that had ever been drawn. Justin couldn't stand it a second longer. The beating was coming anyway; it didn't matter what he did anymore. "You sick fuck! Of course not!! Mr. Tallevasco's a better man than you'll ever be! He's smarter than you too! He went to college, he used to be a professor! Or do you even know what that means, you dumb fat fucking asshole!?"
     Dad said nothing, he just simply brought his fist around and punched Justin hard enough to nearly knock him through the wall.
     Justin slumped to the floor as a shower of cracked paint rained down upon him. The back of his head had indeed put a massive dent in the wall behind him. His head felt like it had suddenly filled with blood like a balloon.
     "Get up!!" Dad screamed.
     "Eat shit," Justin slurred. He realized one of his teeth was loose.
     An arm like a side of beef reached out and yanked the boy up in the air, nearly snapping his neck. "You think you're big enough to talk back to me, huh? You think you're tougher than your old man? You think I won't kill you right here and now in this kitchen and let your mother mop the blood off the floor when I'm done?!?"
     Justin's collar was cutting off his air, but he still managed to croak out, "Try it. Have fun in jail, asshole."
     With a growl like a freight train, Justin's father hurled him across the length of the kitchen, sending him crashing into a stack of dirty dishes in the sink.
     Justin finally cried out as shards of glass and ceramic pierced his flesh in a dozen places. He dropped off the counter and landed hard on the floor on his side. His right shoulder made a horrible crunching sound. He didn't even have time to wonder if it was broken. His father swept the kitchen table aside with one gigantic paw and headed straight for him.
     "Up!!!" he roared.
     Justin coughed, and a perfect circle of blood dropped out on the tile in front of him.
     "UP!!!"
     Justin mumbled something.
     Dad bent over and grabbed the boy by the back of his head, his claws laying open the skin in four places. "What the fuck did you just say?"
     Justin coughed again, and a tooth fell out onto the floor with a tiny clatter. "I said," he repeated with great difficulty, "that I'm pretty sure I can't do that right now."
     His father threw him back at the floor. "Fine. Stay there. You lie there and you think about our little discussion. I'm going to go in the other room now, and when I come back, you are going to clean up all this broken glass, you are going to scrub this floor, and you are not leaving this house except to go to school for the next four months."
     Justin didn't even have the energy to be shocked or angered at that. He watched sideways from the floor as his father stomped out of the room and his own blood trickled down through his fur.



     An hour later, Justin was still laying on the floor when his father walked back in.
     Justin had had time to check himself over. He was pretty sure the whole surface of his skin was now covered in one immense bruise. He was missing one tooth. His shoulder was almost surely sprained, if not broken. Maybe a hairline fracture somewhere. He was bleeding in more places than he could count. And the back of his head seemed like it was just simply gone, transformed into a soupy mush of tissue over bone.
     Dad threw a broom and a dustpan at him. "Get to work," he spat.
     Justin barely managed to keep himself from cheerfully asking through his bloodied grin, 'Will you pay me ten bucks if I do a good job?'



     That evening, Justin laid in bed with the lights off and listened to his family eating dinner.
     That was another part of his punishment; he wasn't allowed to eat breakfast or dinner for a week. The school lunch was enough, his father had said, to keep his skinny ass alive.
     Justin would not allow himself to cry.
     Despite the fact that his secret hiding spot had been violated and his poems had been left in tatters all over the floor.
     Despite the fact that his door was locked from the outside and his window had been nailed shut.
     Despite the fact that he was in more pain than he could remember in his life.
     Despite the fact that his blood was still oozing past his bandages and staining his sheets.
     He would not cry.
     He was not going to feel sorry for himself. He was not going to whimper and mewl and let that fucking asshole win. He was not going to be broken.
     More than the pain, he felt a fiery rod of anger spiking up through his stomach.
     He Had Had _ENOUGH_ Of This Shit.
     He'd taken it for so long. For years, he'd taken the insults and abuse, the punches and kicks, and had just gone off to his room and slept it off. But that was before he knew what love and friendship and happiness really felt like. Hard to believe it was barely a month ago when all he'd had was his stuffed animals. Now he had Lena, and Mr. Tallevasco. They made him feel like he mattered, like he was worth something. They made him feel cared about, accepted, and loved. They made him feel as if the rest of his shitty life couldn't hurt him anymore.
     But his father wanted to take that away. And that was unacceptable.
     No fucking way was he going to let that overmuscled racist fuckhead win!!!
     With a snarl of rage from between clenched teeth, Justin fiercely punched his pillow as hard as he could.
     He whimpered and tears came to his eyes as a dozen different pains flared up again and clutched at his body like talons.
     The small boy trembled from the pain as he laid himself down again and tried not to move.
     His body felt like it was a heartbeat away from splintering into tiny shreds, but his mind had never felt stronger.
     This was it. He was not going to put up with his father's bullshit anymore. He was not going to be afraid of him anymore. He was not going to take his fatass mother's insults anymore. He was not going to take his retarded jock brothers' abuse anymore.
     He remembered Lena's T-shirt: 'Fuck Everything'.
     That was a pretty good assessment of how he felt at the moment.
     Justin rolled over on his side, trying to keep pressure off his swollen right shoulder. He tried in vain to get comfortable, but that wasn't going to happen.
     Eventually his rage simply burned him out, and he slept without dreams until the next morning.


~~~~~


*part 15*


     The next day, Justin's mother jerked him awake with a hard tug on his right shoulder. Justin let out a high-pitched shriek of pure, white-hot pain.
     "Shut up, you little sissy," she said disgustedly. "Getcher clothes on. The bus'll be here any minute."
     His shoulder throbbed like a gleeful demon was chewing on it. Justin's brain swam up through the pain and realized he was awake.
     "Did you hear me? Get your skinny little ass up!" Mom shouted at him. "Or do I have to beat you worse than your father did to get you to obey me too?"
     "Fine, fine! Give me a second," he grumbled. He sat up, still wearing his clothes from the day before.
     "Change your clothes," she ordered with a nauseated grimace. "You stink like blood and you look like you've been run over by a damn truck."
     'I have,' he thought, 'its name was Dad'. But he didn't dare speak it aloud. His mother waddled fatly out of the room and slapped the door shut behind her.
     Thankfully, his brothers were nowhere to be seen. He was sure they'd feel obligated to weigh in with their own taunts about his father's little lesson last night. That probably just meant he was gonna get it after school.
     Justin slowly peeled his shirt off, wincing the entire time. His blood had dried during the night and virtually _glued_ his shirt onto him. He whimpered and 'arf'ed in pitiful pain as he torturously removed his ruined shirt. He tossed it over on the hamper, and repeated the performance with his jeans, which were thankfully only slightly bloodied. 'Looks like I'm down to only one pair of pants now,' he thought with a sick grin.
     'That's it. Good. Laugh about it. Don't cry. He doesn't deserve the satisfaction of you crying. You're stronger than him. Fuck all his muscles. You're stronger than him because you're a better furson than he is. Fuck him. He's not even your real father. Aren't you kinda proud of that now?'
     Justin struggled into some new clothes and limped off to breakfast. He hadn't noticed it the night before, but he'd bruised his hip pretty badly when he was thrown across the room.
     The Asshat Trio were grouped around the kitchen table, shoveling cereal in their mouths, milk dripping down their chins like a clan of mountain ogres. Justin was about to pull up a chair when Dave shoved him hard in the chest.
     "How hard did you hit your head, retard? Dad said no food!"
     'Oh yeah, right.'
     Justin turned his back on their jeers and laughter and went to go stand by the door, waiting for the bus to come. He had to get the hell out of this house.



     Mom watched him like a prison guard as he boarded the bus. "And if the school calls and tells me you didn't show up, I'll send your father to find you!" she called after him.
     "Yes, mommy," he shot back in an angry snarl. He stepped onto the bus, and he thought the doors closing behind him was the sweetest sound in the world.
     The bus driver, a fat, imperturbable raccoon, took one look at him and cringed.
     "I look that bad, huh?" Justin spat at him. He didn't wait for a reply, he just stomped up the steps and took his seat, ignoring all the stares he was getting.
     It was probably the longest bus ride he could remember.


          * * *


     When the bus pulled up at school, Justin was the first one off, pushing through the doors and barely even waiting for the raccoon to brake. He ran as fast as he could with his limp. He wanted to reach his classroom before anyone else got there.
     Mrs. Robertson was seated at her desk as always. She glanced briefly up at him and scowled in her snippy way. "You're early, Mr. Dalton. That's unusual," she said snidely.
     Justin walked over to her desk. "Look at me," he demanded.
     She was about to give him a good tongue-lashing for using that tone of voice, but her words left her when she actually got a good look at her pupil.
     She stared, horrified.
     Justin turned around once, mostly so the blood-black mess on the back of his head could press the shock even further. "I need to ask you for a favor, Mrs. Robertson," he said as politely as he could.
     She was speechless. This child belonged in an emergency room, not a classroom.
     "I need you to mark me down that I was here for the day. I know you don't like me much, and that's okay because I've been a real jerk to you, and I'm sorry. But I can't be here right now. I have to get to someone who can help me."
     Her jaw moved, but the marten could produce no words, only small squeaks and gasps of disbelief.
     Justin realized that she was looking at him now with the first traces of sympathy he'd ever seen on her face. "Please, I..."
     "That's enough, Justin," she said softly.
     And just like that, their feud was ended. It wasn't her tone that told him, so much as the fact that she'd finally called him by his first name.
     The teacher got out her attendance sheet and marked him present. "You were here all day. Now, do you need me to call anyone?"
     "No!" Justin immediately barked. "Please, don't! If my mom finds out, my dad is going to do even worse stuff to me when he catches me."
     "Your father did this to you!?" she spoke in an unbelieving whisper. Mrs. Robertson reached out a shaky paw to gently cup Justin's cheek. She'd never seen any of her students in such bad shape. It was heartbreaking. Justin Dalton may have been a wiseguy and a perpetual pain in the ass, but no child deserved this.
     Justin nodded. "All I need from you is to just say I was here, that's it. Thank you so much for helping me. And I'm sorry for all the dumbass things I've said over the year. I'm sorry I was such a jerk."
     "That's quite allright, Justin. I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me too. I was just as much at fault for our little war. But please, I feel like I have to at least call the police..."
     "No!" Justin insisted again. "I'm gonna go hide in the bathroom for a while until everyone's in class and I can sneak out without anyone seeing me. Then I'm gonna go get someone who can help me. Don't worry. I'll be okay. But if you call the cops now, I won't have any time to get somewhere safe and ask for help. Please, just trust me."
     The sincerity and urgency in the boy's eyes was impossible to deny. "Allright. Go then."
     "Thank you," he said again. "And if everything works out, I might be able to get back here sometime after lunch."
     "Allright then." She leaned over in her chair and ever-so-gently hugged the boy, as if he was as delicate as a soap-bubble. "Good luck, Justin. And I'm sorry again for the way I've treated you. I didn't know..."
     He hugged back, and even gave her a little nuzzle on her cheek. "It's okay. I forgive you." He pulled away, knowing the other kids would be coming in any moment now.
     He looked back just before he ducked out the door. "Please don't tell anyone..."
     The door shut silently.
     "I won't," Mrs. Robertson promised to an empty classroom.



     A few minutes later, the first few students entered the room to find their teacher sitting silently, slumped over at her desk with her head cradled in her arms, crying.


          * * *


     Another pickup truck pulled up to the front gates of the city dump. A pudgy otter in a white T-shirt approached the little booth.
     "Three dollars, please," Mr. Tallevasco said lazily.
     The otter looked worried. "Uh, Mister? I got somethin' to drop off, but it ain't garbage."
     Mr. Tallevasco sat up in his chair. His instincts suddenly sensed that something was wrong. "What is it?"
     "Some kid flagged me down as I was passing by the school. Said he needed to talk to you right away, that it was an emergency. He's beat up pretty bad. I think he needs to get to a hospital."
     The otter didn't have to say a word more. The bespectacled skunk dashed from his office. "Justin!?" he called out.
     The passenger door of the pickup opened, and a bloody mess of fur limped out.
     "Oh my GOD!!!" Mr. Tallevasco screamed. He was at Justin's side in a heartbeat, his arms around the boy in a tender, gentle embrace. "Fucking christ, what happened to you, Justin!?"
     "My dad," he replied simply.
     His silver-blue eyes welling up with hot tears, Adam kissed the boy desperately on top of his head. "You're safe now, Justin. I promise you're safe. You did the right thing coming here. I'll protect you, I promise."
     The otter wandered over to them. "You gonna be okay now, kid?"
     Justin nodded to him. "Yes sir. Thank you very much for helping me."
     "You're welcome." He stood there for another moment, feeling incredibly awkward. "I hate just leaving you two here like this. Is there anything else I can do?"
     Justin looked straight into the man's eyes. "You can swear to me you won't tell anyone you saw me. I'd get in a lot more trouble if anyone knew I was here." And he emphasized the word 'trouble' to mean; 'You think I look beat up now? You ain't seen nothin' yet.'
     The man nodded solemnly, kneading the bottom of his shirt in his paws. "Allright. I swear."
     Adam tore his gaze from Justin. "Thank you, sir. You can go now. Everything's under control here."
     "Allright then," the man said warily. Keeping his eyes on the two of them the entire time, wondering what tragedy he'd stumbled into, and how much of it he'd helped to prevent, he got back in his truck and drove away.
     Justin and Mr. Tallevasco were left alone.
     Mr. Tallevasco cradled the little wolffox in his arms as if trying to hold in water from a sponge. "Justin... Oh my god, I can't believe this happened to you! I'm so, so sorry. What happened? Tell me, please!"
     The tall skunk seemed to be crying and panicking enough for the both of them. "Calm down! Please! It's okay, really," Justin said.
     "It's not okay, Justin! What did he do to you? This- This is inexcusable!!"
     Justin lowered his gaze and stared at the sandy ground. "You're right. And I'm not gonna take it anymore. When I got home yesterday, I found out my dipshit brothers told my dad I was working for you. He tore up the money you gave me. And I was saving that up to take you and Lena out to dinner."
     Words failed Adam upon hearing that. He could only hold Justin closer to him, his tears trailing down the boy's shoulder.
     Justin nuzzled the soft jet-black fur of the gentle skunk's neck. "Dad was really pissed, but mostly because you're a skunk. I never knew he was so much of a bigoted asshole. He said that you shouldn't be allowed to walk around with 'decent people', or some dumbass thing like that. Hah! If my dad's a 'decent person', I'd rather be a skunk anyway."
     Adam kissed the boy lightly on his cheek. "I'm glad to hear that, Justin," he said in a barely controlled whisper that was a single breath away from a sob. "I was the victim of a lot of prejudice as a kid. I guess I'm not surprised to find it here too. Thank you for seeing through all those lies."
     "And..." Justin fought back tears of his own. "And he accused you of wanting to have sex with me."
     Adam gasped and half-choked.
     "I stood up for you, and that's when he beat me up. He punched me, and then he threw me across the room into a bunch of dishes. He made me clean up all the blood and broken glass, and then said I was grounded for four months and I couldn't have any more meals for a week."
     The first fires of righteous rage began to flare deep in Adam's gut. They grew and flashed brightly, slowly overpowering the sorrow and the shock. "Justin, I will never let him lay a finger on you ever again. I'm going to take you inside with Lena and then I'm calling the police. They are going to arrest him-"
     Justin suddenly and silently pushed him away.
     Adam was stunned. "What? Please tell me you don't expect me to just stand here and do nothing! I cannot let you go back home to that... that monster!" he shouted.
     Justin looked up to him, and the deadly serious glare in his eyes froze the skunk like ice. "Mr. Tallevasco, I agree with you. He's a monster, and we're not going to let him get away with this. But you're not gonna call the police. I need you to do something else for me."
     "What?" Adam asked weakly, pinned like an insect under that fierce glare.
     "I want you to make me into what Lena is."


~~~~~


*part 16*


     Justin actually made it back to school before lunch. He wasn't hungry, since Mr. Tallevasco had given him a huge meal after he'd finished tending as best as he could to the boy's wounds. Adam put an 'out to lunch' sign on the dump's main gate, drove Justin to school, and wished him luck.
     The little wolffox snuck back into the school building without anyone seeing him. He decided to hide out in the library until lunch and afternoon recess were over. He figured no one would ever think of looking for him there.
     After leafing idly through a book on space travel, Justin went back to class when the bell rang. As expected, none of his classmates were even aware he'd been gone, or at least they didn't seem to be. (Though he got plenty of looks once he sat down, oh boy did he ever)
     As soon as he walked in, Mrs. Robertson fixed him with a heartbreakingly worried stare.
     He smiled back to her, saying, 'Everything's okay now'.
     She sighed in grateful relief.
     And later on in the day, she even gave him an 'A' on a quiz from the day before that he knew he'd really only earned a 'C' on. Attached to it was a yellow sticky note that read, 'I hope everything worked out. If you need to talk with me, or need my help again, please don't be afraid to ask'. She'd signed it with a tiny smiley face.
     Justin realized he liked having Mrs. Robertson as a friend a lot more than being her enemy. 'And all it took was me getting pulverized to a bloody pulp!' he thought with an ironic little smile.



     His mother was waiting for him when he got off the bus. She eyed him suspiciously, but he was pretty sure she didn't suspect a thing. Good. He'd been kind of worried that the otter guy might have gone ahead and called the cops.
     He went to his room, and stayed there.


          * * *


     For the next three nights, Justin went through a living nightmare. His mother treated him like a criminal. His brothers ragged on him constantly, calling him vicious names, poking at his wounds and trying to get him into any trouble they could think of.
     Through it all, Justin did not speak a single word.
     He did not speak when his brothers came back from dinner, patting their bellies and describing in detail how _gooood_ it had tasted.
     He did not speak when Greg tripped him in the hall and made his nose start bleeding again.
     He did not speak when his mother went on a half-hour diatribe about how skunks, and rats too, were inferior creatures in every way to wolves, and that Justin should feel ashamed for even talking to that disgusting garbageman, and that he ought to pray to God for forgiveness.
     He did not speak when his father came home unexpectedly for dinner Friday night and did his best to goad him into starting another fight.
     He did not speak when his father threatened to throw him out of the house forever if he caught him speaking to Mr. Tallevasco ever again.
     He did not speak when his father shoved him.
     He did not speak when his father called him a faggot, and bragged about ripping up his poems.
     He did not speak when his father spit on him in disgust and stormed out of the room because Justin would not respond to his taunts and threats.
     Justin just wiped the spit away and smiled.
     Tomorrow morning was his salvation.


          * * *


     Justin awoke at five in the morning on pins and needles. Not just figuratively. Some of his injuries were finally starting to heal, and it felt like pins and needles were actually being poked into his skin.
     His brothers were still snoring thunderously away in their beds, sounding like an out-of-control monster truck rally.
     He got up and put on his one remaining pair of pants. In the pocket was something he'd kept hidden the last four days, kept it more fiercely guarded even than when he'd brought Cleo home and waited to sneak out into the woods and hide her in the Treasure Chest.
     It was something Mr. Tallevasco had given to him. He pulled it out and unfurled it: a fifty-five gallon glossy black plastic trash bag.
     He lifted it to his nose and inhaled the sweet, clean odor of the plastic.
     "Helooo, ticket to freedom," he whispered to it.



     Several hours later, the alarm clock went off with its usual annoying electronic drone.
     Greg slapped at it until it shut up. Royce sat up, yawned, and picked his nose. Dave tried desperately to conceal his morning erection.
     It took them all a few moments to realize that Justin was already up and awake, and that he was walking around the room throwing things into a huge trash bag.
     "What the fuck?"
     "Why are you up so early, you little retard?"
     "What are you doing?"
     "I woke up early, so I thought I'd clean up the room a little bit," Justin explained tersely. He picked up a stomped-on fast food cup and tossed it in the bag. "I'm getting sick of you guys treating this place like a fuckin' landfill."
     That got their attention quickly.
     "Fuck you!"
     "It's our room, you fuckin' cumstain!"
     "You're one to talk, little mister garbageman-in-training."
     "Eat shit," Justin spat back. "Don't blame me if you like wallowing in your own filth and I don't," he said in his most annoying voice. 'Come on, you dumb fucks! Take the bait!' he screamed in his head.
     Like the predictable lummoxes they were, they did indeed take the bait. Hook, line and sinker.
     "Asswipe!"
     "Disrespectful little prick!"
     "Fuck you!"
     Royce took the lead, as usual. "You're so concerned about cleaning up our room, huh? I see one big huge piece of trash standing right here in front of me!"
     'Yes! Yes! Now, take this to its inevitable conclusion, you neanderthal!' Justin internally cheered. "Oh yeah?" he replied at his snottiest. "Where? I don't see anything!"
     "You, ya stupid queer!" Royce barked. With a beckoning wave of his arm, Greg and Dave were at his side. "You heard him, let's clean up the room!"
     "Yeah! Let's take out the trash!"
     "Bag the fag!"
     'Oh my, that was actually quite clever, Greg,' Justin mused as they all grabbed him and slung him into the big black trash bag. 'I am so glad you dumb bastards can't see the grin on my face!' he thought triumphantly. He began to struggle theatrically.
     "Tie it up!"
     "Hell yeah!"
     Greg and Dave held the wriggling bag steady as Royce tied the top in a thick knot. "There! Think you can get outta that, little bro'?"
     "Ha ha ha," Justin said. "Very funny. Let me out now."
     They cackled like madmen.
     "You've gotta be kidding!"
     "Why the hell should we do that?"
     "You'd just run to Mommy and tell her how mean your big brothers are!"
     "Dad said you gotta stay in the house! This oughtta keep you here!"
     Royce gave the bag a good kick. "Try not to suffocate in there, little bro," he said in a low, dangerous voice.
     'Geeze, he really is a psychopath!' Justin realized. 'I feel sorry for whatever dumb cheerleader he takes out on a date.'
     The three wolves continued to laugh and high-five one another as they left the room.
     "Finally!" Justin relaxed and got comfortable. He'd made sure to only throw soft trash into the bag, and was glad for that. They had tossed him in even rougher than he'd predicted, and his shoulder and lower back were aching like mad again.
     As sounds of breakfast wafted through the halls, Justin found that he could sort of walk on his butt cheeks. He backed up against his bed and leaned on it. He couldn't really stretch his legs out, but he was comfortable enough for now. In fact, in an odd way, it was even exciting being inside the big crinkly trash bag.
     The first part of his plan was a complete success. He knew he could count on his brothers' almost Pavlovian cruelty. Their minds were so woefully simple. Brother + Trash Bag = Brother In Trash Bag. "Dummies," he said with a grin.
     He'd been thrown away physically. Thrown away just like garbage. That was the first part.
     Justin waited patiently for fifteen minutes or so as his brothers ate and left for practice. He actually heard the 'whumph' of his Mom falling back on the couch into her eternal TV-watching position.
     Finally, he heard tiny, dainty footsteps enter his room.
     "Can you breathe in there?" Lena asked in a whisper.
     "I'm fine. Thanks for coming. I knew I could count on you."
     "Of course I came!" she whispered as fervently as she could. "Like I was just gonna leave you here to keep on getting tortured by those maniacs!"
     He smiled, and wished she could see it through the bag. "It was still really brave of you to sneak in here."
     The little ratgirl leaned over to hug the big trash bag full of best friend. "You're even braver, Justin. I really hope everything works out," she said softly.
     "It will," he assured firmly. "So, are you ready to take out the trash?"
     "Always!" she said brightly. She gave him another crinkly hug, then hefted him up in her arms. Then, more carefully than she'd ever done anything else in her life, she attempted to sneak Justin out of his house without making a single sound.


~~~~~


*part 17*


     Lena was sweating bullets as she tried desperately to keep Justin balanced in her arms while she eased the back door shut behind her with her bare foot. "I am so glad you're a scrawny little twerp!" she whispered to him.
     He giggled a bit.
     Once they were safely outside the house, Lena bounded over to where Justin's brothers had already put out the rest of the trash and sat Justin down carefully.
     He let out a huge sigh of relief at the feel of dewy morning grass beneath him. "Cool! You did it!"
     Lena smiled proudly. "Sure did! Your mom never e-" Her voice cut off suddenly.
     Justin wondered what had diverted her attention. "Lena? What happened?"
     When Lena spoke again, she sounded _furious_. "Your father is a fucking jerk!!"
     That had come out of nowhere. "Yes, I know," he said. "And...?"
     "Listen to this note he left on top of the trash! 'To our garbageman. Keep your filthy paws off my son or the next time I see you I'll kill you, you stinking dirty god damned skunk. Signed; R. Dalton'." She let out a long growl of rage.
     "That sure sounds like Dad, allright," Justin deadpanned. The note was disgusting, but he'd been through so much of his dad's bullshit already, it barely even fazed him.
     Lena gritted her teeth and stomped her feet. "That fucker! That dumb racist shitheaded cocksucker!!" she fumed.
     "Go, Lena, go!" Justin cheered her on. "Call him all the names you want! He deserves it!"
     Keeping her voice down so as not to attract attention from Justin's mom, Lena let out a stream of truly creative expletives. "That dick-gobbling shitsucker! That ugly, smelly, brainless asshole son-of-a-fucker! That assraping motherfucking pukesack! That piss-drinking, ball-sucking, leg-humping ass-backwards aborted piece of worm shit!!!"
     Justin was laughing harder than he had in weeks. Hearing his cute little girlfriend cussing out his dad so artistically was beyond hilarious. "Stop! Stop, Lena! I'm laughing so hard I think my scars are popping open!"
     "Shit! They're not really, are they!?" she immediately asked, with real concern.
     "No, no. It's okay. I'm sorry." He giggled again, and the pain did spike up pretty hard. "Ow! It does kinda hurt, but I'm so fucking happy right now, who cares?"
     Lena gave the bag a light swat. "You had me worried, you sonofabitch!" she said with a chuckle.
     "Why Lena, you're absolutely right! I am the son of a bitch! She's inside right now, sitting on the couch like a beached whale!"
     Lena giggled so hard she actually farted.
     When she'd composed herself again, she got out the rolled-up trash bag from her own pocket and started to unfurl it.
     "So when's your dad showing up?" Justin asked.
     "Pretty soon," she said as she started climbing into the bag. "I told him to wait at least twenty minutes after he dropped me off."
     "Okay, cool." Justin took a moment to reflect. Things were moving so fast all of a sudden. 'Wow, I'm really going through with this,' he thought to himself. He'd thought that at least some part of him would be scared, but amazingly, he was high as a kite. He'd become almost light-headed with giddy glee. It didn't even matter that he was risking death. It had to be better than living in this freakshow for a single second longer.
     When Lena was snugly wrapped up in her bag, she skootched closer to Justin and rubbed up against him. Their bags crinkled in a cute way.
     "I'm really excited, Lena," Justin told her softly.
     "Me too. But aren't you scared?"
     "Nope. Not a bit. I was just thinking about that. Why should I be scared? I trust you and your dad more than anyone else on earth."
     She smiled gratefully. It felt good to know her friend had such faith in her. "Thanks, Justin." She snuggled him through the plastic.



     They talked a bit more, until the rumble of the Green Beast's engine could be heard drawing nearer.
     "Oh boy!" said Lena. "Here comes dad!"
     "Betcha fifty cents my mom comes out and yells at him," Justin said casually.
     "You're on!"
     And, predictably, just as Mr. Tallevasco pulled up, all fifty thousand pounds or so of Justin's mother came storming out the door on a righteous crusade. "You sick pervert!" she yowled. "What the hell have you been doing with my son!?" she demanded.
     Mr. Tallevasco was the epitome of cool as he picked up the first bag and tossed it into the Green Beast's gaping maw. "Mrs. Dalton! Good morning! And in answer to your question, I've been paying him ten dollars a week to help me out on my rounds."
     "You know damn well what I mean! You dirty sick perverted deviant bastard!!" she thundered.
     "Tsk tsk, Mrs. Dalton!" said Adam, pretending to be shocked. "I assure you I've done nothing but give the boy a chance at employment. I would think you'd be happy! Most parents are glad to see their children showing some initiative to enter the job market."
     Momma Dalton simmered and fizzed like a fried egg. "I swear to God, you go near him again and I won't even wait for my husband to kill you. I'll do it myself."
     "How, ya gonna sit on him?" Lena whispered to Justin. They both giggled riotously.
     Mr. Tallevasco picked up one of the oddly-shaped, giggling trash bags and laid it down gently inside the truck. "Is that a threat?" he asked conversationally, just like asking, 'Is it going to rain this afternoon?'.
     "What, are you stupid? Of course it's a threat!"
     The slick skunk picked up the other wiggling bag and placed it alongside the first. "Oh, allright. Then I'm sure you must know that seriously threatening to kill someone, and a city employee no less, is a felony that can land you up to ten years in prison." He'd pulled that number out of his ass, but it sounded good.
     And it also did a good job of taking Justin's Mom down a notch. "Get out of here and don't you *never* come back," she hissed like a poisonous snake.
     "Fine then. But since your abhorrent behavior today has forced me to ban your family from using the city dump, I imagine your house will soon be overflowing with garbage you can't get rid of. Maybe you can start a compost heap?" he suggested cheerfully as he hopped up into the driver's seat. "Toodle-oo, Mrs. Dalton!" he called out merrily, and gave the Green Beast's horn a friendly toot.
     Justin and Lena were too busy falling all over each other laughing to hear Mrs. Dalton's pitiful parting salvo.



     "You were great, Dad!" Lena said proudly.
     Mr. Tallevasco had parked a quarter mile down the road and was now working hastily to untie the knot imprisoning Justin within his trash bag. "Thank you, Lena. I can't believe I pulled that off myself."
     The little wolffox took a huge gulp of air once he was finally set free.
     "Justin!" the bespectacled skunk shouted as he hugged the boy. "Are you okay? Could you breathe in there at all?!"
     "I'm fine! But you're squishing me!"
     Adam released him in an instant. "Sorry! I'm just really relieved everything went according to plan."
     Justin nodded, feeling the same. "And yes, I could breathe." He held up his paw and showed off his little black claws. "Built-in air hole makers."
     "Oh, okay. Obviously!" Mr. Tallevasco said with a sigh of relief. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, as if trying to clear out a bad nightmare. "Honestly, I don't know how I got through that. I was seriously scared there, Justin. Your mother is like..."
     "Go on! Say it!" Justin urged eagerly. "Say whatever you want!"
     "She's like some kind of unearthly demon!" the skunk finally burst out. "The look in her eyes! I think she really would have killed me if she'd had the chance!"
     Justin didn't doubt it. "And isn't it sad that she wasn't angry because she was trying to protect me, but because she thinks all skunks are dirty pervs?"
     Mr. Tallevasco shook his head sorrowfully. "I should pity her, I really should, but I can't. Justin, your mother may be the ugliest woman I've ever met. And I am not talking about her appearance."
     "Show him the note, Lena," Justin said flatly.
     "What note?" Adam asked.
     Lena gingerly uncrumpled the little piece of paper and held it out to him. "You don't wanna read this," she warned.
     Mr. Tallevasco did anyway. His eyes widened as he scanned the words. He finished, and straightened up suddenly, his face a rictus of controlled rage. He looked as if he'd just been slapped violently across the face.
     "Bastard," he said simply. That one word held more sheer fury than Lena's entire colorful tirade.
     Adam wanted to spit on the note, drop it on the ground and crush it under his heel. But he restrained himself; it might become useful later on.
     He stared off into the distance, clearly screaming inside his mind all the things he didn't feel comfortable saying in front of children.
     Justin reached out to take the skunk's paw. "Hey, it's okay," he said gently.
     Mr. Tallevasco looked back, and his eyes were kind again. "Sorry if I frightened you a bit there. I just wouldn't feel right saying all the hateful words I'm thinking right now out loud."
     "That's okay, Dad," Lena said happily. "I already did it for you."
     "That's true," Justin backed her up. "Before you showed up, Lena called my dad every swear word in the entire universe!"
     Adam smiled with an odd bit of parental pride. "Now Lena, that's not nice," he said, without meaning it in the slightest.
     Lena giggled.
     "Well, hop on out of there and let's get started on our rounds, Lena. It'll look suspicious if it's just me out by myself today," Mr. Tallevasco said. He held out his paws, and the little rat took hold and jumped down.
     Adam turned to Justin. "You'd best stay hidden in here. If I'm seen with you at all today, God knows what could happen to me."
     Justin nodded, understanding perfectly. And hiding out in the back of a comfy garbage truck all day wouldn't be that bad anyway.
     Adam reached into his pocket and came out with something. "I did remember your hat, though," he said as he plopped the 'Official Garbageman's Assistant' cap down on the boy's head.
     And for no reason at all, Justin just had to hug him all of a sudden.


~~~~~


*part 18*


     Justin popped the two quarters he'd just won from Lena into the slot and punched in The Factory's number. He was in a phonebooth outside a small hardware store which was conveniently closed on Saturdays. Adam and Lena sat in the Green Beast's cab, eating the lunch they'd just bought from the diner down the road, and using the truck to shield Justin from view should any cars drive past.
     The phone rang a few times, then a gruff voice came on the line. "Hello?"
     Justin tried to sound suitably frightened. "I need to talk to Mr. Dalton right away! Tell him his wife's in trouble! It's an emergency! Hurry!"
     "Okay!" the voice sputtered and set down the phone with a hasty 'clunk'.
     Justin actually felt a little bad about tricking whoever-it-was like that.
     As he waited for his dad to speak up, Justin remembered one of the many vicious things his father had said the night before: 'If I ever catch you talking to that sick fucking garbageman again, I'll throw you out of the house forever!' Justin grinned widely. Geeze, how absolutely perfect. He couldn't have hoped for a better choice of words.
     "What's the matter?" came a sudden loud growl in his ear.
     "Wazzup, Dad?" Justin said casually.
     "Justin?! What the fuck are you doing calling me at work!? This had better be damned important! What's this emergency? Is your mother okay?"
     "Oh, she's just fine," he said lazily. "At least, I think she is. You see, I lied. I snuck out of the house and I'm calling from a payphone."
     "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!" the phone roared.
     Justin held it away from his ear and grinned even more. He could practically *hear* the veins popping out in his dad's forehead!
     "When I get off work, I am going to beat that fucking disobedient streak right out of your little-"
     "Oh shut up, ya fuckin' pussy," said Justin.
     Dead silence for a few seconds.
     Then, "WHAT THE *FUCK* DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!!?"
     "I told you to shut up, you pansy-assed little faggot! Is that clear enough, bitch?" Justin said, a heartbeat away from falling down laughing. His heart was thumping like a bass guitar. This was exhilarating!
     "You-! You god damn little...!! I swear to fucking God when I get home-!! I'll-!!"
     "Don't have a heart attack there, pops!" the cocky young wolffox said cheerfully. "Your work buddies would need a forklift to lift your fat, dead ass outta the factory!" Holy shit! He could not believe he'd just said that! He was on a roll!
     "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!"
     "Uh, that won't be necessary. Remember what you said last night about throwing me out of the house if I ever spoke to Mr. Tallevasco again?" he asked casually.
     "YOU!! YOU!!!" his father was reduced to roaring. By the sound of his breathing, he sounded like he was about to burst a blood vessel in his brain and drop dead any second now.
     "Well, guess who I said a great big 'hello' to when he came to pick up our trash this morning? We had a lovely little chat indeed," Justin said with a great big smile.
     "YOU HAD BETTER HOPE I NEVER FIND YOU, YOU GODDAMN LITTLE PRICK!!! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL KILL YOU!!! I'LL BREAK YOUR FUCKING LEGS OFF AND BASH YOUR MOTHERFUCKING HEAD IN, YOU FUCKING LITTLE HALFBREED FREAK!!!"
     Justin smiled. He had completely lost all fear of this shouting, tantrum throwing, undoubtedly red-faced, pitiful little man. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Bye now. Have fun explaining to your co-workers who you were screaming all that stuff at."
     There was the sound of sputtering realization on the other end.
     "Have a nice day, Dad!" Justin shouted and hung up.
     Immediately, he fell down in the booth, sliding down the glass and laughing so hard he thought he'd die. He laughed and laughed and laughed and his whole body ached like hell, but he barely even noticed. He laughed until some of his wounds really did open up again and blood came running down his back in tiny shivery trickles. Justin laughed like nothing else in the world mattered, or even existed. He was free. He was free! Free!! His father had thrown him out. Just like garbage. He'd been thrown out physically, and now figuratively. Both halves were in place. "I'm garbage!" he cried out joyfully as his smile split his face and tears streamed down his cheeks.
     "Dad," said Lena conversationally, "I think Justin's lost his mind."


~~~~~


*part 19*


     The rest of the day blew past in a breathless hot daze.
     Adam, Justin and Lena finished their appointed rounds with oodles of time to spare. Justin had a ton of fun catching the bags tossed in the back of the Green Beast's hungry mouth, talking and joking with Lena and her dad, and just feeling free and unafraid at last.
     When the day's work was done, Mr. Tallevasco parked in his backyard and decided to sit in with the kids while they rustled joyfully through the day's haul. Lena and Justin were more than happy to share their hobby with him. He went into the house first, got them all some tasty snacks, and then they started in to explore.
     Justin found all sorts of fun, gross things to feed Lena. Her unique eating habits were completely devoid of any uncomfortableness now. An empty yogurt cup, a cassette tape, a plastic doll head, some old underpants! It was like a game: 'Will Lena Eat It?'
     He also had lots of fun just enjoying his favorite activity with his two very best friends in the world. He found all sorts of neat stuff, but was barely even keeping track. In fact, he was having more fun looking for things for Lena and Adam. He found Mr. Tallevasco some novels and a paperweight for his office shaped like a tiny mountain, and for Lena he unearthed a whole bunch of tiny rubber cartoon characters that she loved at first sight.
     Lena surprised him by coming across a new plushie friend for him. It was a small red fox, lying down with her pretty black paws stuck out in front of her, a serene look in her yellow plastic eyes. Justin clicked with her immediately and said her name was Toffee.



     When the sun went down and the air became cool and sweet-smelling, it was time for the ritual to begin.
     Justin and Lena both handed their bags of new stuff to Mr. Tallevasco and he sat them safely to the side. Justin decided to keep his new little foxie with him. It would be comforting to hold her once it started. And even if she did get ruined, he could always just pop her out of his bellybutton afterwards, fixed up good as new. That was, of course, assuming everything worked out.
     With the solemnity of a funeral, Mr. Tallevasco held out the two fifty-five gallon trash bags for Justin and Lena to step into again. They went in willingly, with hopeful smiles on their faces. Mr. Tallevasco tied them in nice and snug. Then he stepped into the collection bin and placed them deep inside, ensuring that there would be a solid wall of trash all around them.
     "I love you both," he said softly to them, "with all my heart."
     "I love you too, Daddy," Lena replied.
     "I love you, and I trust you, Mr. Tallevasco," Justin said earnestly.
     The bespectacled skunk smiled bittersweetly and carried on with his part in Justin's plan.
     He stepped back out of his beloved trash truck and wiped the sweat from his brow and the tears from his eyes. To the side of the house, there was an enormous pile of garbage bags. The day before, he'd gone to the dump, piled them in the back of the Beast and brought them here. Their purpose was to fill the truck to capacity. He wanted to make absolutely sure that the job would not be done halfway.
     Justin and Lena huddled close together in their comfy, crinkly bags. They held on to each other as best they could. They giggled nervously as they listened to the sound of more and more bags being hurled all around them and on top of them. They started feeling warmer, and the air was getting a bit thin.
     With tears now pouring down his cheeks, Mr. Tallevasco tossed the last bags into place. The pile wasn't all gone yet, but this was all he felt comfortable filling the truck with for now, knowing his daughter and her best friend were somewhere inside.
     A large part of him insisted that he was mad for agreeing to do this. Completely insane. He was murdering them. He was murdering two innocent children. The tears kept on flowing like twin rivers as worry swirled around inside Adam Tallevasco and tried its best to eat him alive.
     He felt the strength leave his body, and he slumped over on the side of the garbage truck, crying harder than he had in decades.
     After a long while, he was able to get himself under control. He sniffed, then readjusted his glasses.
     He patted the Green Beast on her side. "Take care of them," he whispered to his beloved garbage truck. "Do your duty, but don't hurt them any more than you have to. You're a good Beast. Lena and I both love you, and I'm sure Justin does too. I know you won't let us down."
     Mr. Tallevasco climbed slowly into the driver's seat, hesitated one last time, then reached out and punched the 'compact' button before he could stop himself.



     Justin let out an excited yelp as he heard the compactor spring to life. "Oh shit! It's really happening!" he cried out, his voice a mix of terror and joy.
     Lena hugged him even tighter. "Don't worry, Justin! We'll be fine!"
     He hugged her too. The thrum of the hydraulics was all around them. "I'm not worried! I know everything's gonna be okay now! And we can be a family now too."
     "You'll be the best brother ever," Lena said from the heart.
     "And you'll be the best sister."
     They could already feel the start of the pressure building.
     "Say it with me, Justin: I'm garbage."
     "I'm garbage."
     "I'm just stinky, dirty garbage, and I've been thrown away."
     "I'm stinky, dirty garbage, and I've been thrown away."
     "Garbage has to be compacted and taken to the dump."
     "Garbage has to be compacted and taken to the dump."
     The thrum of the hydraulics was now a roar. The whole truck seemed to shake. Justin gently petted Toffee's velvety-soft fur.
     "I'm garbage, and this is what's sposto happen to me," said Lena.
     "I'm garbage, and this is what's supposed to happen to me," Justin repeated.
     The blade was coming relentlessly closer.
     "I love you, Justin," Lena said as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
     "I love you even more," he told her.
     The hydraulics whined tearfully as the Green Beast crushed and digested its meal.


          * * *


     Adam Tallevasco sat on his livingroom couch with the TV turned off, staring at the walls and waiting.
     As he'd expected, a pounding knock finally showed up on his doorstep.
     "Coming," he called out in a hollow voice.
     He opened the front door, having checked several times to make sure the screen was securely locked, and found The Big Bad Wolf huffing and puffing and ready to blow his house down.
     "WHERE THE FUCK IS JUSTIN!?!!??!!!"
     Adam actually stepped back a bit, the voice was so loud. He cleaned out one of his ears with his pinky finger. "I have no idea," he said flatly.
     "Bullshit!!" Mr. Dalton bellowed. "He's here! He has to be here, you sick faggot fucker!"
     Mr. Tallevasco calmly held up the double-barrelled shotgun.
     *SH-SHOCK*
     It's been said there is no sound in the world more instantly terrifying than the blood-freezing ratchet of a shotgun being cocked.
     "I'd appreciate it if you'd lower your voice," Adam said calmly.
     Mr. Dalton was momentarily struck dumb by the skunk's sheer audacity. "You can't point that thing at me!"
     "I can, and I am. This is my house, and you are a trespasser. I'm in fear for my life, and I have every right to shoot you dead if you step one foot closer."
     "Fuck you," the wolf spat, calling the skunk's bluff.
     Gracefully transferring the shotgun to his right hand, Adam reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a miniature tape recorder. "On this tape is a recording of your wife saying, and I quote: 'I swear to God, you go near him again and I won't even wait for my husband to kill you. I will do it myself'. If I blast your balls off right here and now, I can simply play this tape for the police, show them the note you so kindly left me, and they will pat me on the back and thank me for doing my job, which, if you remember, is taking out the trash."
     Mr. Dalton did not move an inch. His muzzle curled into an ugly, defiant snarl.
     Adam put the tape recorder back in his pocket. "Get off my property right now or I will kill you," he said emotionlessly. He lifted the gun's barrels and aimed directly between Mr. Dalton's eyes.
     The wolf took a small, hesitant step back.
     "Get off my property right now or I will kill you," the skunk repeated like a robot.
     Finally, it got through to the wolf's brain that pride was less important than staying alive. The skunk was right; he had absolutely every reason and right to shoot him. Mr. Dalton backed off and went swearing off to his station wagon.
     Mr. Tallevasco watched him carefully until he'd driven fully out of sight.
     Then he went back inside, locked the door, unloaded the shotgun, put the cartridges back in their little box, placed the shotgun in its case at the top of his closet, locked it up securely, took off his clothes, got into his pajamas, laid down in bed, and proceeded to stare up at the ceiling for four and a half hours until he finally fell asleep out of sheer mental exhaustion.


~~~~~


*part 20*


     As the first light of dawn was breaking, two furs were standing in the city dump, huddled anxiously around a third figure lying on the ground. The skunk and rat held hands, hoping, praying that they'd done everything right. They'd followed the ritual as exactly as possible. Just as Mr. Tallevasco had done years ago when he'd given Lena a new chance at life.
     "Please..." Lena whispered.
     Adam squoze her paw.
     Justin opened his eyes and yawned.
     Mr. Tallevasco burst into wild whoops of laughter. He danced around the dump in a frenzied little polka of supreme relief.
     Lena reached over and hugged Justin with all her might. "You're okay!!! I knew it would work!!"
     It took a few seconds to fully comprehend what was going on. One moment he was in the trash, then the compactor was roaring in his ears and it felt like he was being hugged to death, and now... "Holy balls! It did work!!" he shouted, and gave Lena a squeeze that nearly popped her eyes out.
     Adam noticed the two of them hugging and dove in like a baseball player sliding into home. He threw his arms around the two little ones and covered them in a battalion of kisses.
     Justin giggled from all the affection. "We did it! I'm okay! I'm garbage!!"
     "We're a family!" Lena shouted.
     Mr. Tallevasco tenderly nuzzled them both. "I love you! Oh, I love you two so much! You're my son now, Justin! I have a daughter and a son! I can't imagine being any happier!!"
     Justin joyously shouted and hollered as tears streamed down his cheeks. Tears of pure and absolute freedom.
     Throughout the dump on that sunny Sunday morning, cries of joy filled the air. Birds took flight. The warm sun glinted off the towering heaps of trash. And one exceptionally contented big green garbage truck purred happily as it looked on.
     Justin looked around in wide-eyed wonderment as he beheld the dump as if for the first time. Crazy, swirling loops and spheres and curls of energy fluttered and flickered throughout everything. Rage and love, all of it coexisting perfectly. It was magnificent, the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. The energy Mr. Tallevasco had described was real to him now as well. The dump pulsed with energy, as if it was all one giant organism with a gargantuan silent heartbeat. Justin thought it might take a while to learn how to eat garbage, but he had no doubt he'd be well-fed.
     And as he searched within his mind, he could feel his new little fox, Toffee. She had indeed given him all her energy like a good plushie, along with all the other trash he and Lena had absorbed. The back of the Green Beast was completely empty now.
     Lena looked down amid tears of laughter and finally noticed something rather out of place. "Justin!!" she shrieked.
     The wolffox and the skunk looked at her in alarm. "What's wrong?!" Justin asked.
     "Look!" she said.
     They'd both been reborn nekkid as jaybirds, and when Justin looked down at himself, he gave a loud yelp of surprise too. While all of his injuries were perfectly healed, leaving not a trace behind, it seemed something had nevertheless come out not quite right. Where once was a hill, twas now a valley...
     "I'm a *girl*!!!" Justin screamed.
     Mr. Tallevasco looked very worried indeed. "Oh, geeze! Um...! Something must have gone wrong!"
     "Obviously!" Justin yelped, but he was starting to laugh now. The situation was so absurd, how could he not?
     "It's not so bad being a girl," Lena comforted. "Besides, I'm sure Dad can sort you out right again."
     Justin shrugged. "Okay, yeah. Being a girl might be kinda fun. And if this is the worst side effect I get from escaping from my stoopid parents forever, I'll take it!"
     Adam chuckled at the boy/girl's bravery. "That's one way of looking at it."
     "Can we call you 'Justine' now?" Lena kidded.
     Justin shook a playful fist at her. "Call me that again and I'll cream you!" he kidded.
     Lena laughed out loud.





  *****





*Epilogue*


     Several months after his little brother had disappeared, Royce spotted him standing in line at the drugstore. "Justin!!" he screamed out urgently.



     The cops had been all over the place.
     He and his brothers had been questioned up and down, right and left, by what felt like the entire city police force. As soon as Dave had let slip that the last time they'd seen Justin they'd tied him up in a garbage bag, they were all pretty much fucked six ways from sunday.
     While they all denied ever taking that bag of trash out to the curb, it was mysteriously nowhere to be found when they'd returned home that afternoon. And as one snarling officer had so succinctly put it; "He didn't just throw himself away, now did he?"
     The police combed the town dump upside down and inside out, and even took samples from the inside of the city's lone garbage truck, but not a single trace of Justin's body was ever found.
     When the story finally hit the local news, suspicion alternately fell on the brothers, then Mrs. Dalton, then Mr. Dalton, and then seemed to randomly jump around between all five of them.
     Matters were not helped when Justin's teacher, Mrs. Robertson, came forward at last and told the police about the boy's condition when she'd last seen him, and his strange requests of her.
     Matters ware made even worse when several of Mr. Dalton's co-workers told police they'd overheard him that day loudly and violently threatening to kill someone who could only have been his youngest son.
     The headlines screamed louder and louder. The rumor mills cranked out motives and methods left and right.
     Adam Tallevasco was cleared as a suspect early on when he played the tape for the local cops and showed them the note. He also told the police of his nighttime encounter with Mr. Dalton, which the police were eventually able to get the wolf in question to admit to.
     The skunk's charming little adopted daughter had pleaded heartbreakingly with the police to please find her lost best friend.
     Dozens of witnesses on Mr. Tallevasco's route came forward to say that Justin had seemed perfectly happy and trusting of the garbageman, and several even remarked on the boy's hat. Nearly all of them also remembered that the skunk and the little girl were by themselves that day.
     So suspicion had once again fallen squarely upon the Dalton family's shoulders. They were all taken downtown and held for questioning for days. None of them confessed, and eventually all of them, even the stone-faced Mr. Dalton, had been reduced to pitifully crying heaps of fur protesting their innocence. For lack of evidence, they were released.
     The police chief gave a statement to the papers that they were now pursuing the scenario that some out-of-town drifter had abducted the child. The case was declared officially unsolved, which everyone knew meant that it would remain that way forever until some hiker stumbled across a skull a few decades from now.
     Mr. Dalton lost his job and was told by his boss that he'd be arrested immediately if he ever showed his face at the factory again. On the night of the Dalton boys' triumphant return to their school football team, fans from their own bleachers had thrown cups and beer bottles at them and booed them off the field. And with no more money coming in, the family had to live off their savings for months. Which meant that they had to cut back on non-essentials. Which meant that Momma Dalton could no longer watch her beloved cable TV.



     But none of that mattered now. Royce was grinning ear to ear. Justin was *right*there*! He could clear this whole mess up once and for all and the police would finally leave them alone and he'd get to watch Dad totally whoop the little runaway bastard's _ass_ when they got home!
     "Justin!" Royce screamed again.
     Everyone in the drugstore turned to look, including the little wolffox.
     Royce stopped dead in his tracks and nearly fell over.
     "Y-You're a girl!" he yelped, as all his hopes drained out of him.
     "Yeah, so?" the female canine replied.
     "Y-Y-You c-can't be a g-girl!!!" Royce protested.
     "Want me to pull down my panties and prove it, you jerk? Go away!" she sneered snottily at him.
     Royce's head was spinning. He felt like he was about to throw up or pass out. "You look just like my little brother..."
     "Thanks for telling me I look like a boy, asshole!" she snapped. And with that, she sauntered away and flicked her tail at him.


          * * *


     Late one Friday night, Mrs. Robertson was sitting at home grading papers when she heard a knock at the door. When she got up to investigate, she found a shiny red apple placed carefully upon her doorstep.
     She bent down to retrieve it, and realized upon closer inspection that it was actually a fancy foil-wrapped gourmet dark chocolate apple, and that it was sitting on top of a yellow sticky note.
     The note read: 'Sorry if you were worried about me. I'm fine! I'm safe, and I have a new family now. But shhh! It's a secret! Don't tell anyone!'. It was signed with a tiny smiley face.
     Mrs. Robertson nearly collapsed on the stoop. She managed to waddle unsteadily back inside and plop back down in her chair. She let out a long, sudden sob, and cried and cried as relief filled her troubled heart.
     The apple, by the way, was delicious.


          * * *


     "Your first sneaker," Lena declared, holding aloft a dirty, worn-out running shoe that reeked of the crypt.
     She and Justin were sitting on the hood of a junked pickup truck (what else?) in the dump under a full moon.
     Mr. Tallevasco had figured out weeks ago that Justin and Lena had simply swapped some of each other when they'd been reborn, and now Justin could switch back and forth between being a boy or a girl just by thinking about it. To Lena's delight, she found that she could do the same as well. Being a boy was really interesting, she thought. Though most of her reasons for feeling that way were too naughty to mention.
     For now, they were back in their old bodies. Lena had prepared a sumptuous feast of garbage. Justin was finally ready to attempt eating some of it.
     The little wolffox gulped. "Couldn't I try something a little easier first? Like a paper towel, or a doorknob?"
     "It's best to just jump right in," Lena advised. "Now eat it, ya big dope!" she said playfully as she suddenly shoved the shoe in his startled mouth.
     Justin was absolutely horrified for a moment. Then his tongue started to get used to the exotic footwear flavor. His expression slowly turned from shock to pleasure. "Mmmmm!" He took the stinky sneaker in his paws and chewed it all over before easily letting it slip down his throat. "Damn, that was actually pretty good!!"
     "I told you!" she said with a cute giggle. Her buckteeth gleamed white in the moonlight.
     He chuckled and bumped shoulders with her. "Okay, you were right. I should've listened to you."
     "And it didn't hurt going down, did it?" she asked.
     "Not a bit." He licked his chops, appreciating the aftertaste, barely believing he'd just swallowed a shoe and it had tasted better than pepperoni pizza. "Got any more of those?" he asked eagerly.
     "Oh, I've got all sorts of stuff!" Lena said happily.
     And then the dump was silent, but for the crickets and the tiny sound of two young furs' tender kiss.




The End
for now...




  *****



Author's endnote:

I wrote this in Eight Fucking Days! I can't believe it!! And I thought writing "Ghost Story" in thirty-five was impressive!

Actually, I should say 'Eight Crazy Nights', since 95% of this was written well after midnight. I'm writing this right now at 5:21 A.M.! I'm a masochist!!

By the way, all the plushies in this story are real. They are all based off actual cuddly stuffed animals I own, and they were all very happy to appear here. I hope success does not go to their heads.

And no, the movie described in chapter eight does not refer to any real movie. Though it does sound like a lot of 'em, don't it?


Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Cheez-its, Cheetos, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Code Red, Guacamole Doritos and Pop-Tarts. I love you all. I couldn't have done this without you.



"Down In The Dumps"
Started: February 5th, 2005  Finished: February 13th, 2005  Editing Completed: February 24th, 2005  (Re-edited: August 17th, 2008)