Antone's Lament
Antone's Lament
By
SWSP
It was a cold yet very stormy night as sheets of rain came down by the bucketfull cascading down his body soaking him to the bone making an already miserable walk damn near not worth even thinking about the misery anymore.
The tiger trudged down the muddy former dirt road which had turned into a slop trough more fit for mud racers then magnificent felines such as himself. With mud mixing with water stained on his legs the tiger grumbled a cuss word to himself at not being dressed right for the unexpected weather. He wore a now pink colored white buttoned down shirt with now mud and water soaked slacks. He had checked the weather which said just cloudy and cold. Boy if he could just get ahold of that inept weatherman and put him outhere instead of the tiger himself he would call it just revenge. The slight smile he had quickly turned back to a sour scowl when he gave his soaked clothes a once over drooping his head in shame.
Henry looked down at his mud soaked feet sulking not bothering to bring his head up. "if only I could put that moronic incompetent weatherman in my place it would be justice well served" Henry grumbled to himself as his feet sucked themselves into more deep mud making his orange striped coat more of a disgusting brownish grey type mess as he with all of his might pulled both his feet one by one out of the deep mud eliciting a loud SPPPLATH STICK sound as he trudged on seeing the form of his house come into view a few hundred feet down the mud slicked road.
One final water soaked mudhole lye between him and his salvation which was the small yet quite comfy place he and his mate, a bull, called home. The last mudhole turned out to be the worst of the entire bunch as it engulfed the tiger up to his knees in deep mud when he stepped in it. One final SCLOP Schtick and he was standing at the foot of his driveway miserable, wet, angry, and very muddy.
With his morale shot and his night pretty much done Henry with conviction power walked his way up his driveway ripping the keys out of his pocket practically impaling them in the lock turning it with anger induced force. He flung the door open stomping inside his house slamming it with a ear deafening crack tracking mud all the way into the kitchen and a stunned taurin who looked up from reading his paper with wide eyes of surprise.
There before him stood his mate Henry, a soaked mud caked mess with water dripping off those parts of his body not sticking themselves to his clothes.
"Damn honey what happened to you?" Antone said in a concerned tone looking over Henry's soaked form. "I thought you were going to your social thing tonight" Antone said in a questioning tone.
"The fucking weatherman is an asshole that's what!" Henry spat eliciting a deep hearty laugh from his taurin mate.
"And so *chuckle* that doesn't tell me why you're back so soon Henry" Antone said with a bit of a light laugh in his voice.
"About mid-fucking way there the fucking heavens opened up on me so fast I had no fucking choice but to come back or face scrutiny from my social club" Henry spat.
"Honey they would of understood, they are not that type of people, you know that better then anyone since they accepted both of us as a couple right after we got married" Antone reminded Henry "If anything they'd of probably let you shower and given you some clothes to wear until yours dried out" Antone said softly.
"But then you'd of gotten suspicious Antone like you always do when I go out by myself. You'd of thought I'd have gotten busy with one of the guys who offered me a set of his clothes" Henry seethed.
"Henry I'm past that now since I'm assured they wouldn't do anything with you behind my back. I worry about you because I know what you are and how easy it is for you to forget I married you not because of what you are but more who you are" Antone said softly.
"And so you're going to sit there telling me I can't be the tiger I want to be when I'm away from your side? That's pretty overprotective don't you think?" Henry said in a sarcastic tone. "You understood the day we accepted ourselves in marriage that I would never do such a thing to you who to my memory were no better yourself at controlling your desires down there" Henry growled bearing his teeth.
"That's not what I said Henry and you know it" Antone said with a little annoyance in his voice. "The reason things between us are so rocky is because I never know if I can trust you enough as your husband to understand we are a couple now and not just a boyfriend slash boyfriend. You made this commitment Henry, not me, I would have just been as happy being your boyfriend but now things have changed and you have to learn being a couple is not just about how many times you think you can fuck me in bed to keep me quiet" Antone spat with clear anger in his voice.
"Who the fuck said I was your fuck buddy when you know in your heart Antone you're only lying to yourself when you say the things you do. I know how you look at other men and to be very honest I'm sick of always being the one who has to be held in check while watching you try to get into the pants of another man" Henry yelled.
"If you want to sleep out on the street tonight Henry be my guest because right now I don't want to be in the same house as you. If you cannot stop going on these little rants when things don't go your way we will not be married for very much longer" Antone spat. "Take your shower and get the fuck out of my house until you calm down and start to think straight" Antone yelled getting up off his chair slapping Henry across the face with his big hand.
Henry returned the favor by punching Antone square in the gut causing him to fall on the ground in a heap of intense pain. Henry followed it up with a swift kick between the legs of his husband making the bull cry out in agony with tears of intense hurt rolling down his cheeks.
Henry not caring about what he had done didn't even bother going up to take a shower. Instead he stormed upstairs tracking more mud through the house ripping off his clothes throwing them on the ground as he went. He found a suitcase and feverishly started to fill it with as many clothes as he could. Once that was done he found a pair of jeans, a polo shirt, and a baseball cap throwing them on as quickly as he could. He went back to the suitcase slamming it shut picking it up making his way down the stairs. He stopped at his now defeated broken husband scowling at him as he stood there waiting for his deep blue eyes to come in contact with his enraged yellow tiger eyes. When both of their eyes met Henry blew off the obvious pain and deep sadness in his husband's eyes as the rage of his temper overtook him one final time.
"Let that be the signal to you we are done and I'll be seeing your sorry ass in court" Henry growled giving Antone one final kick in the balls for good measure before he stormed back out into the now pouring angry rainstorm slamming the door with a loud crack which echoed through the neighborhood.
He jumped into his Honda Civic parked on the side of the street and peeled out as loud as he could shooting up mud as high as it would go caking any car it hit in mud as he slid his way out of the neighborhood hell bent on getting as far away from it as he could. A few minutes later the road turned into pavement and once his tires gripped it he was gone gunning the engine of the little car to it's highest RPM tearing down the road never to return again.
Antone lay in a heap crying in agony at the top of his lungs not caring if anybody walked in on his pitiful site. A puddle of tears formed on the ground as he crouched into the fetal position letting his great internal loss consume him shaking as he wept going almost blind choking on his own tears.
A neighbor who had heard it all and witnessed Henry's outburst of rage with his car ran over to the house to see if everything was alright. She knocked on the door a few times. With no reply she rang the doorbell a few times, still no answer. She reached down jumping in surprise when the knob moved and the door came open.
The bear ran in calling Antone's name as loud as she could. When she came upon the kitchen there lay a former mighty bull in a heap of tears crying out "HE'S GONE, HE"S GONE FOREVER, SOB"
Molly trying to hold back her own tears tried her best to console the weeping bull. It was no use as his body shook and tears flooded out of his eyes. Molly knew Antone needed help way beyond hers so she ran to the phone picking it up off the counter dialing 911.
"911, what is your emergency?" The operator said.
"Hello my name is Molly and I am at the home of one of my neighbors in Mockingbird Willow who got into a scuffle with his significant other and is in pretty bad shape" She said as calm as she could.
"What's the address please?" The operator asked.
"55522 Holy Bird Street" Molly said. "And please hurry!"
"We'll get someone outhere as soon as possible" the operator assured the bear as the line went silent.
The first to arrive were the paramedics who rushed in to look over the weeping bull before they transported him to the hospital. They put Antone under sedation so they could look to see if a doctor at the hospital needed to see him. After cutting off his shorts they determined he needed to be observed overnight.
The police arrived a few moments later to take a statement from Molly who told them everything she saw and heard. They went in to get a statement from Antone but he was too out of it to say anything so they took a statement from the paramedics as a lovers quarrel gone bad.
Antone was loaded on the stretcher and wheeled out the waiting ambulance which quickly departed with sirens blaring as soon as its doors closed.
Molly would have to notify the next of kin or close friends to tell them what had happened to Antone. She walked over to the fridge in the kitchen to see if there were any numbers of close friends or family tacked on it. She saw the cell phone number of Antone's close friend Boe who she immediately dialed. A few seconds later a deep manly husky voice came on the line and she told Boe everything about what had happened to Antone.
She could hear clear anger in the husky's voice as he told her as soon as he got off work he'd be at the hospital by Antone's side. The line on the other end of the phone went dead and Molly placed the phone back in the charger on the counter making her way out of the house making sure to lock the door when she closed it.
As she was walking back the images of what she witnessed and what she came upon flashed before her as tears welled up in her eyes. She opened the door making her way into her house shutting it quietly. Her back hit the wall and the bear let her bottled up emotions come unquarked grieving for Antone.
Antone was rushed to the hospital and put in a room for observation but he was too drugged over to do anything but be forced to sleep even as tears free flowed out of his eyes as he slept.
The next morning came as Antone slowly came out of slumber not bothering to open his eyes. He took no heed of the voices approaching his room as more tears started to form in his eyes as he thought about Henry. Why did the tiger go off like he did? All Antone did was be honest and this was his crushing reward as his throat developed a painful lump causing him to quietly whimper. He knew all was lost now and the tiger was normally true to his word which made the heaviness of his heart sink deep as a huge boulder in his chest making it hurt.
He lay there about ready to sob again when he heard a very familiar voice come shooting into the room soon followed by a big strong set of massive canine paws belonging to his close husky friend Boe who wrapped them around the body of his fallen best friend who started to shake as the sobs flooded out of his eyes.
Boe had heard everything about what had happened from Antone's next door neighbor Molly and shot over to the hospital as soon as he was able to get off work. He knew his friend needed him and there he stood bent over in his work clothes with sobbing bull in his arms not caring if they got wet from tears.
"He's gone, he's gone forever Boe, SNIFF SOB" Antone choked as he let go of his emotions pouring them into the paws and chest of Boe as he buried his face in the front of the Husky's shirt.
Boe could feel his own tears welling up in his eyes as he consoled his fallen friend trying not to choke on them himself as he softly spoke:
"I'm not going to let you go Antone, I'm here for you" Boe said in a tear soaked voice as his own tears slowly trickled down his cheeks feeling every pain filled sob of his best friend.
"He's gone forever Boe, I'm sorry it wasn't my fault he just snapped" Antone cried deep into Boe's arms.
"I know Antone, let it go, let it go, I'm here for you now" Boe choked as his emotions finally boiled over out of his eyes onto the bed below. "It's not your fault anymore Antone we'll get through this you and me I promise. I'm not going to leave your side, I never should have in the first place" Boe cried. "We will get through this you and I, I promise" Boe said as his sobs and Antones finally started to ebb.
Antone was asleep within minutes after his friend said those words. He didn't release his grip but went down on his knees just holding Antone in his arms as more tears welled up making him bury his face in the chest of the bull letting his emotions stain themselves on it as the bull's emotions were stained to his.
Boe felt his tear soaked eyes getting heavy with sleepiness and finally let it overtake him as he kneeled on his knees with his best friend still wrapped in his arms. Before he drifted off Boe whispered some final soft words in Antone's ear:
"I'm here for you now and for always. I won't let you go because I love you"
To be continued..