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"Field, if you open that door one more time ... "

The harvest mouse, peering into the dark November chill, re-adjusted his muzzle mask and called over his shoulder, "I thought I heard something!" Like a car, maybe? Like crusaders for democracy, maybe? Like--

"It's the wind," Adelaide said, setting a bucket of cleaning supplies beneath the sign-in table. "Probably blew something over." The pink bat had disinfected all the usable surfaces in the gathering space. She took her own mask off, tossing it atop her purse.

"How do you know?" Field asked.

"I've got big ears, too." The bat's sonar-capable scoops tilted for show. "Now, close it! It's freezing ... and you aren't wearing a tail-sock."

Field sighed dramatically and shut the door, meandering back to the sign-in table.

"On the news this morning, Fib the Weathermouse said we might get some stray flurries overnight," Adelaide mentioned.

"Hell's finally frozen over," Field said plainly. "Took long enough."

Adelaide, not answering, sat back down, big, bendy thumbs gripping a used book. The cover was frayed in the corners, and there was a scratch across the back. As a librarian, she got to keep anything old or damaged enough to be deemed 'out of circulation.'

This one, 'A Deadly Éclair,' was a 'cozy mystery' about a small-town, coastal baker, an otter, who solved crimes on the side. Part of a series. 'Cozies' were fluffy reads, style over substance. The appeal was in the characters and the quaint, atmospheric settings.

Field, still standing, put his paws on his hips. He stared at his mate. How could she, or anyone, relax right now? With so much on the line? Unable to keep still, he started pacing back and forth behind Adelaide's chair, occasionally glancing at the clock.

5:40.

Twenty minutes left.

It's like a Doomsday countdown.

It was Election Day, and they were in a small, country church, having volunteered as poll workers in their rural precinct. Making people vote in a church was surely a conflict of interest, but there were no other public buildings out here to serve as host. So, here they were.

When the night was over, the mouse and bat would gather all pertinent documents and take them to the county courthouse for official filing and verification.

"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor," Adelaide said without looking up, of Field's pacing.

"How can I sit down when the course of civilization hangs in the balance?" Field asked.

"By plonking your golden ass in a chair."

Field's cheeks burned. Crossing his arms, he slumped into the seat beside her. He took his mask off, too, putting it on the table. Unable to keep from fidgeting, he fiddled with the pens on the desktop, clicking and unclicking them.

Click-clack.

Click-clack.

"No one's showed up for the past forty minutes."

Click-clack!

"Do you think that's a sign?"

­Click--

Adelaide closed her book and took the pens and put them aside, rattling off a list for him. "First off, we're in a pandemic. A lot of them probably already voted before today, and--"

"Well, hopefully it was in person!" Field interrupted seriously. "What if they all voted by mail? The post office is being sabotaged."

"The sun set an hour ago," Adelaide continued, "and with the rain we're getting and the drop in temperature, the roads are probably icing up." The bat reached for the voter sign-in sheet. "Pretty sure everyone who wanted to vote has done so already."

"It's not if they voted, Adelaide, it's if their vote is even going to be counted," Field stressed. Why didn't anyone understand that?

Her ears tilted forward. "Last week you were going on and on about how great the polls looked and how it would be a tidal wave of epic proportions. You were pretty confident," she reminded.

"It was a coping mechanism." Field paused and considered. "Indiana's always been a lost cause, anyway. So, I guess less will change for us than people in better states."

"Just stop thinking about it."

"Like you?" Field accused.

She gave him a pointed, purple-eyed look. "I've done my part. I voted. Told others to vote. I donated to candidates. I'm volunteering for this unpaid job here to ensure it's done fairly ... what more am I supposed to do?"

Field's whiskers twitched at the rebuke.

"You wanna join a protest? Start a riot? Bats are viewed as freaks and mice are seen as pushovers. Doubt we'd be safe. Besides, we live an hour from any major downtown. Where would we even go?"

"I don't know, okay? Just ... we gotta do something!" Field rubbed his cheeks with his paws. What could one do when there were no consequences anymore? When nothing seemed to matter? As prey, he was used to feeling helpless and powerless. But that didn't make it any easier to bear. "People should know better. Why do they vote against their self-interests?"

"Is that rhetorical?"

The mouse looked at the bat.

"They're shortsighted," she offered.

"There has to be more to it than that."

"Stupid, then. Also racist. Not necessarily in that order."

"Feel like excuses, like we're letting them off the hook."

"You can only control so much."

"Unless you're a billionaire ... "

"Which we're not. We're just poor country critters, and life is going to go on no matter what happens," Adelaide said quietly. "We still have to work, still need to take care of ourselves. The sun will come up tomorrow."

"Nice cliché," Field mumbled. "And also open for debate."

The harvest mouse forced himself to get up. Moving slowly, he went behind them, through the open double doors that led to the worship area. The lights were off in there. He slumped into a pew and wriggled, laying on his back so he could stare at the dim, boring ceiling.

"What are you doing?" Adelaide said, looking over her shoulder.

The harvest mouse said nothing.

"Field."

"I don't want to fight," he said weakly.

"We're not fighting."

"You never take anything seriously," the mouse replied, his voice echoing slightly in the empty space.

"Maybe," Adelaide conceded. "But you take things _too_seriously."

The mouse skipped a beat before also admitting, "Maybe ... "

Neither said anything for a moment.

"You woke me up with your tossing and turning last night," Adelaide said.

"I'm sorry ... "

"It's okay," Adelaide assured. "I just worry about you, is all. Especially lately." The bat put her book in her purse, realizing she wasn't going to get any further. "Try to think for the best, hmm?"

No response.

"Maybe the results aren't a 'worst case scenario,' and they actually go better than you think? Ever consider that?"

"No."

Adelaide rolled her purple eyes.

"I tried to be optimistic before. That was a more naïve me. I've come to my senses, now."

"I've known you for too long, Field. You're a romantic at heart. Always have been."

"You mean I'm a sap?"

"You're sweet," Adelaide said. "Neurotic, sometimes, but sweet. You aren't believable as an entrenched cynic. Don't have the edge for it. Now, if you were a rat, I'd buy it."

"Like you said: no one takes mice seriously ... even you ... "

"That's not true! I understand your concerns. I share them." She paused. "Pessimism is a good defense mechanism, but it's terrible for your mental health. Gotta temper those anxieties with something lighter. You can't continue the good fight if you're not at full health. Can't have you stroking out on me! I need you ... "

Field softened. "I need you, too."

"It'll all be over soon," the bat promised.

"Will it? Everyone keeps clinging to that. But I feel like it's just beginning," Field said quietly. This was a generational fight.

"Eat an apple. That'll perk you up."

"I only brought one, and I had it for lunch." Field went quiet and then sat up, looking back at her. "Why? Do you have one?"

"No."

"Oh ... "

"Bet you wish I was a proper fruit bat, don't you? Your life would be complete."

"But then who'd keep me honest?" Field replied.

"Guess you'd just be an untamed bad boy," Adelaide suggested with a smile.

Field stood up and walked back to his mate. "Bad boy? Like what? Those venom-eating grasshopper mice?"

"Nah. Too much drama with them."

"How would you know?"

"They've been on the cooking competitions I watch. One of them is hosted by a grasshopper mouse. He's really moody. No, I prefer a much simpler mouse." Adelaide looked up at him. "With a pronounced submissive streak."

Field blushed, clearing his throat as he sat down beside her. He let out a deep breath, as if to say 'anyway.' "How, uh ... how much time left?"

"Ten minutes."

Field nodded, resisting the urge to check his phone. He'd somehow kept it in his pocket for the past few hours. Once he got on social media, he'd never get off. Besides, all the bad takes would only make him feel worse.

"Oh," Adelaide remembered. "Did I tell you Kody almost ran for office?"

Field blinked. "What? Why?"

"Well, I say 'almost' like it was ever _actually_gonna happen. Back in the spring. You know how carried away Ketchy gets ... "

"What am I looking for?" Adelaide asked Ketchy, squinting at the newsprint. They were in the library, late-May. It had just re-opened and the crowd was sparse.

"The headline!" the squirrel, Adelaide's best friend, said. Her bushy tail fluttered about. "Bottom right."

The bat's purple eyes went where directed, and she recited it aloud. "Electrician Saves Woody's Pizza From Maybe Burning Down Someday." She shook her head. "So?"

"Their lights were flickering, and he went in to repair them. Found a short circuit," Ketchy said proudly, her look communicating 'that's my man.'

"Yeah ... so?" Adelaide repeated.

"So, he's locally famous now! Everyone reads this thing," the squirrel declared of 'The Sheridan Circular.' She tapped at the paper and gave it a stylish toss to the desk.

"That's because it's free. And only four pages long."

Ketchy rolled her eyes, dismissing such 'negativity.'

"And it only publishes once a month. Think about that. All the news in an entire month fits on four pages! Everything in this junket is third-rate."

Undeterred, Ketchy said, "This could be an opening."

Adelaide squinted. "For what?"

"For office! There's an 'at large' town council seat open in November."

"Kody's never struck me as being interested in politics."

"He's not. He asks me who to vote for, and I tell him."

"I see where this is going ... "

"He has the face to be a public figure. I have the brains."

"This is like that movie. The Lapine Candidate. Wasn't that on TV last week?"

"No ... " Ketchy's eyes evaded the bat's. "Just think it might be nice to have a friendly face on the council. Maybe someone who could divert some funds to, oh, the town library? We haven't gotten a raise in almost two years ... we deserve one!"

Adelaide didn't deny that, but said, "Pretty sure that'd be corruption."

"You think anyone would care? Where have you been the last four years?"

Adelaide titled her head in allowance before continuing, "You realize this is a town of three thousand people. The council has very little authority. It's just a status symbol."

"You never support my ideas," Ketchy said.

"That's because they're usually crazy. The only people that run are local businessmen trying to add to their profile."

"Kody's local. And has a business. And is a man," Ketchy said, counting on her fingers.

"Yeah, and he's not rich," Adelaide pointed out bluntly.

Ketchy, momentarily deflated, chuffed and pretended to read the rest of the paper. "Oh, look! Garden Club Set to Learn About Bonsai."

"I can't even imagine it. The nighttime council meetings would've kept Kody from watching all the big games," Adelaide told Field.

"Yeah."

"Bet you'd vote for him, though." Beneath the table, the bat rubbed a pink-furred foot-paw against one of Field's.

The mouse gnawed on his lower lip. "Only cause he's my friend."

"Is that all, mm?" Adelaide asked nonchalantly. She knew that Field had a heavy crush on the hunky rabbit.

"Sometimes, I think you want something to happen," Field accused.

"Something?" Adelaide skipped a beat before suggesting, "We should invite them over, sometime! Haven't gotten together much lately. Think it's safe enough now to be in closer contact ... "

Field squinted.

Were Adelaide and Ketchy conspiring to get him and Kody into some sort of 'situation?' Or maybe all four of them as a group?! Exhibitionism was definitely one of Adelaide's kinks ... probably why they fooled around outside so often. They lived in the middle of nowhere, sure. But it was still outside, where someone might conceivably see.

Field shook his head, trying to clear it. Focus! Impending doom. Dystopia. He looked to the door once more. "I really don't think anyone else is coming."

"We established that."

"This is really it ... I thought it would feel bigger or seem louder somehow. It's just quietly slipping away ... "

"Remember, after we lockup here, we gotta take all the papers to the county courthouse. Make sure we have everything. Don't want to have to make another trip."

Field stared into space.

"Mousey?"

"Mm? Yeah, I know." Field twitched. He slunk back in his chair. "I just wanna get it over with. This whole day. This whole stupid, worthless year. I wanna get to what happens next ... "

"And if it's bad?"

"At least I can start adapting to it." Waiting was the hardest part, as the song went.

Adelaide, leaning back, suggested with a shrug, "Could always look at exit polls?"

"Those aren't reliable."

"Mm." Adelaide reached her wing-arms across the table, velvety membranes stretching between bony struts. "Always preferred _entrance_polls, myself."

"Are those even a thing?"

"Maybe you should give me one and find out ... "

Field shook his head in confusion. "I'm not a certified pollster."

"I'll be the judge of that." The bat stared at the mouse with dilating, plum-purple eyes.

Field knew that stare. It was her dominant look. Her hungry, lusty, 'aren't you a good boy' look. His blue eyes widened. Wait a minute ...

The mouse gasped.

"Adelaide! We're ... " He lowered his voice. "We're in a church!"

"Ooh, good point. We can work in a whole 'forbidden fruit' theme!" She reached out and brushed an elongated thumb against one of his paws. "Bet you'd like to enjoy a nice, juicy ba-at," she said in a singsong tone.

"How can you keep thinking about sex at a time like this?"

"Hey, if you think we're doomed to be screwed anyway? Might as well be literal."

Field opened his bucktoothed mouth. Then shut it. "I guess that's fair," he mumbled eventually.

"So, we don't have to be miserable all the time?"

"Just most of the time."

"Right. We'll have to work out a schedule," Adelaide offered.

"But we should really wait 'til we get back home to, uh ... you know."

"It's cute how you're too shy to verbalize something we've done literally a thousand times," Adelaide said with a smirk.

"Whatever you wanna call it," the mouse emphasized, "we'll be home in an hour."

"I don't wanna wait that long," Adelaide insisted. "As you keep pointing out, who's to say society will still be functioning then? In an hour? In a day? Live in the moment."

"You're just full of clichés, tonight."

"I'd rather be full of you," she said, not missing a beat.

Field didn't dignify that with a response.

"Oh, I got it!" Adelaide said excitedly. "Hah. This is good. I'll be an undecided voter, see, and you'll 'convince' me to turn out."

"What would I say to convince you?"

"You'll convince me with your penis."

Field snorted. "That's ridiculous!"

Adelaide prodded the mouse with a wing-arm. "So, is that a yes or a no?"

"We're not officially closed yet!" Field said, gesturing at the door with his prehensile tail. "We've got another ... two or three minutes ... "

"No one's coming. No one's going to catch us. And I sanitized the whole place, so we're not going to roll around in the virus."

"We have to go to the Courthouse, and--"

"We'll make it quick," the bat promised. "Five minutes, max. Please? You've been so anxious, we've hardly done it at all the past couple of weeks."

Field's whiskers twitched, feeling a pang of guilt. He_had_ been neglecting her, and himself, in the election's closing month ...

"And when we get home, you'll just be glued to the election results 'til you pass out." Adelaide took a breath. "You don't even have to get undressed! Just pull your pants down."

Field, squirming in his seat, felt his loins stirring, his pulse quickening. His desire for the bat was clouding his judgment! As ever, as always. Love was irrational, though. Right? All those neurochemicals.

"Five minutes!" Field repeated.

Adelaide chittered happily.

Field quickly undid his belt before he could second-guess the decision. The mouse stood up, jeans sliding down his slender body without being unbuttoned. He sniffed at her, almost trembling with anticipation. "I never made love in public before I met you."

"You were a virgin before you met me," Adelaide replied smartly.

"It's still true, though."

"We haven't been caught yet," Adelaide said mischievously, eyes landing on the growing tent in her mate's boxer-briefs. "Fuck, that makes me hot!" The bat stood as well, unfastening her own pants, stepping out of them entirely. "Not hot enough to vote, but enough to think about it!" She sat on the sign-in table and laid back.

"Don't you ... don't you want the satisfaction of having your ballot punched?" Field asked, getting into the role. He pushed his underwear down to his thighs. His thick cock sprung forward and upward, twitching with his heartbeats. A bead of pre clung to the tip.

"Do you really think it'll satisfy me?" the bat asked, one wing arm draped across the table. The other reached down between her legs, into her panties. She rubbed her clit while she ogled the exposed mouse.

"If you vote for the right candidate, you'll be filled with satisfaction."

"But what if no one passes my purity test?" she insisted.

"I guess you'll have to realize that, in an imperfect world, compromise is necessary for the greater good."

"Such a smooth talker! Go ahead, then. Introduce me to democracy." Adelaide said, spreading her other wing-arm, bending her knees, and lifting her legs. "Help me uncover my ballot."

Field did as told, tugging her panties off. Hurriedly. He tossed them. Didn't matter where. Didn't care! He didn't realize how pent up he was until this very moment.

The clock struck six.

"The polls are now closed!" Field announced.

"Oh, dear," Adelaide said in an exaggerated tone. "I don't want to be breaking any laws ... "

"Since you were already in line, rules state that I _have_to give it to you."

Adelaide giggled, hooking her legs around his hips, drawing him closer. "Is that in the Constitution?" she murmured.

"I think so?" Field panted. Throbbing, dizzy with arousal, he rubbed his shaft along her pussy-lips. His ears were practically on fire, gorged with blood. "Some article ... or something. Very important ... "

Arms stilted on either side of her, paws flat on the tabletop, the mouse leaned over the bat, hips wedged between her candy-pink thighs. Lining up, he finally eased himself into her silken passage. Just like that. At a polling place! In a church! Before God and all the dead presidents and whoever else!

Field's heart hammered. Hilted inside her, he was massively regretting having agreed to only five minutes. He wanted this to last twice as long!

Seeing he was in a pleasured trance, Adelaide gripped his ropy-tailed rump. "How ... how many offices are being contested, exactly?"

"Oh, well, a couple ... dozen," Field said, pulling back and thrusting forward. "Mmf! At least! That was one. Here's ... here's another ... " He humped again, again. Up to speed in no time, hips motoring. A butterscotch blur. She was wet, warm, and laying there, letting him do the work even though she held the emotional reigns.

The table wobbled, rocked, scraping across the floor.

This thing isn't going to break, is it?

Adelaide grunted.

A minute passed, then another.

Field's golden balls slapped against her. His bat. His beautiful bat. Tropical pink, hotter than hot. Oh, so smooth and soft and snug, already clenching around him. And, oh, her scent! It was all good, so, so good, and he couldn't ...

" ... ah ... ah, AH!" Field cried sharply.

His thrusts stopped. Chest heaving, he stayed inside her, shivering hotly. His muscles seized up as he came.

Adelaide, seeing and hearing, and yes, feeling him climax, was brought to the brink of hers. So close! She rubbed at herself again. "Ah, is my vote going to ... count?" she asked, voice wavering. "Promise me it is! M-mousey?"

Field, eyes reopening, leaned in and answered with a resounding, affirmative kiss. A spontaneous lip-lock. Their maws suckled and smacked and re-meshed several times, heads tilting and whiskers brushing.

Adelaide stuck her long, wily tongue into his mouth.

Field didn't resist.

Her wing-arms wrapped around him as she finally buckled, her sex seizing up in powerful, clenching spasms.

The bat arched beneath her mouse, breaking the kisses to suck air and let forth blissful echo-bursts. Invisible, airy light chitters bounced off every inch of the room and back to their ears.

Field's ears swiveled. Her noises were even higher pitched than his own squeaks. He stood back up but remained inside her, slipping a paw beneath her shirt so he could caress the fur on her belly.

Adelaide, eyes half-open, flashed her fangs at him. She looked punch-drunk, beyond pleased. "Talk about ... hah, polling the electorate ... "

Pulling out of her, the mouse yanked up his underwear and jeans, refastening his belt. He checked the clock. Five minutes, give or take. "I'll sanitize the table if you get the documents together."

Adelaide sat up, still half-naked, her foot-paws not quite reaching the floor. She cocked her head. "Aren't you forgetting something, darling?"

"Oh, right!" Field went to search for her panties. He returned with them. "Here."

"No, silly." Adelaide reached over for a roll of stickers and peeled one off, slapping it on Field's shirt, right over his heart. It said: 'I voted!'

"Heh ... thanks." Field beamed.

The mates kissed again, drawn together like magnets.

Adelaide murmured against his chin, "Love you."

"I love you, too," Field whispered. "I'm sorry I've been so ... distracted."

"It happens."

Temporarily reassured, the mouse began to clean up while Adelaide put her clothes back on and started collecting the documents.

Field didn't know what would transpire tonight, tomorrow, or the day after that. But no matter how dark things got, they'd get through this together, their love lighting the way.

Okay, yeah. I'm definitely a sap.