Interview with a Husky (pt 1)
I looked up from the notepad in my lap to the wall clock. It was almost eleven a.m., my interview subject should be arriving at any moment. I decided to look out the window and see if he had arrived yet. I had never actually met or spoken to Xander, but I knew from Jen that Xander was a husky with grey and white fur, black accent marks and that he often wore his bright blue school blazer. Jen is my girlfriend, and much more attentive to detail. She describes Xander as a beautiful example of what Nature can do when she is left to her own devices.
Just then I saw that a fairly new Chrysler convertible pulled up to the building with the top down. I saw the husky inside close the convertible top and get out of the car. That must be Xander, I thought as I looked down from third story window. It was obvious that my girlfriend was correct, Xander was obviously a fine specimen of creation, even from two stories above. His fur was as she described, grey and white, and quite thick looking. It always made me wonder why members of his species felt the need to wear clothing since their bodies were essentially covered in fur. And he was wearing his blazer despite the fact that the autumn days were relatively warm, this time of year.
I stepped away from window and got two cold bottles of Disani from the break-room, as well as two new school cups from the back room and set them on the table. I paused for a moment, wondering if the school cups would be adequate. Should I have searched for a straw? Can a husky drink from a cup like this, or should it be a wider cup. Would a bowl be more appropriate? No, I thought, that's silly and the gesture might seem bordering on racist. Damn, maybe I should have payed better attention during the multi species relational etiquette seminar. Jen would know what to do, I felt in my pocket for my cell phone, but before I could dial I heard a knock at the door. It was too late.
I opened the door and was warmly greeted by the husky: "Good morning. My name is Alexander, and I'm here for the eleven A.M. interview, are you Joel?" and he extended his paw to shake my hand. His paw was softer than I expected, and the fur was smooth to the touch. I felt a little bit of a tingle as noticed the pads were also soft and felt quite good in my hand. I had never before shaken hands with a member of his species before and it was actually kind of exciting for that reason.
"Good morning Alexander. I am Joel and welcome the communications department," I said quite matter-of-factly and a bit stiffly.
He must have noticed the business like attitude I had be cause then he said "Joel, you know this is supposed to be an informal meet session to prepare for tomorrow, so please be yourself today. My friends call me Xander and I'd like you to if your comfortable."
"Thanks, Xander, I will. I suppose I am still a bit in the 'work mode' since my department meeting this morning. But I'll lay off the formalities for today," I said.
Then in a surprisingly gentle and relaxing voice Xander said "Good, I've been looking forward to meeting you today and I am really looking forward to what we will be doing tomorrow." Xander was referring to tomorrow's "Campus Outreach Program" which is intended to help break down student barriers between the species. Although in truth, the students have been breaking down the barriers on their own. Tomorrow would really be more of a formal effort to help create a public message encouraging diversity.
I looked more directly at Xander and noticed that his eyes were bright and a clean shade of light blue. That was the first moment I felt an odd but strong sense of his humanity, if you could call it that. No, "humanity" is the wrong word but there is a word for it and he would probably address it later. However for a moment the gleam in his eyes and the expression on his face were strangely arousing in a way I still can't quite describe. I found myself intrigued by his presence and actually wanting to get a little closer to him as a person.
"Xander, if you would like to take a load off, I thought we could talk over here," I said pointing to the soft brown leather sofa seats that we were lucky to get in our department. They were leftovers after the Dean remodeled his office. The leather was exceptionally fine grain and buttery soft, almost to the point of being like a bed. Xander sat down on one sofa while I took the other. I judged from the look on his face that the sofas were pleasing to his touch as well.
Curiously this was the first time I was seeing a husky sit. In truth I found it interesting to see the way he swayed his fluffy tail and rear end a little to the left to make sure he could sit comfortably. It was rather cute. My first thought was "does that tail of yours get in the way often?" followed by "how do you drive a car with that thing?" But manners kept me from asking either.
Xander must have noticed the inquiry in my eyes because he broke the ice by telling me his car has a specially built seat designed to accommodate tails of various species, sizes and shapes as well as moving parts that allow him to get comfortable while driving. Right away Xander impressed me as being an intuitive person, and I knew this would be an interesting afternoon.
"Jen tells me that you are quite the 'up-and-comer' in communications as well as what a great interviewer you are. She says that you give your interviews a fair, balanced approach and that you can be counted on to represent the truth in you articles and webcasts." He was right, of course, at least I saw myself as having those qualities. Still, he was making me blush a little and I'm sure he noticed me squirm because he went on to say "so I am quite comfortable with you already. I am quite eager to talk to the student body about the diversity of our races and our common ability to learn from those differences."
Xander had stopped speaking but I was just looking at him. I was admiring him, his eyes and his form. Everything about him I saw was beautiful. He seemed to be the perfect blending of the physical traits of a human and all the cute and playful energetic things that I remembered about dogs. But this was not a dog, it was a man, a cano-sapien. And oddly enough I was feeling stimulated in a way I never had before. Well, perhaps before, but as an adolescent boy looking at a girl. What a strange feeling was coming over me - one I could not fully grasp. His expression was saying something like "Well, are we going to get on with it?" and then I blushed because the image of me stroking his fur had burst in upon me.
"So what's next?" Xander said. 'What's next indeed' I thought, I briefly shook my head in disbelief, and hoped he had no idea that my thoughts were veering far from professional and into perhaps dangerous territory.
"Um," I managed to sputter, "well, perhaps we should take a few minutes for you to give me some background, you know you could talk about your childhood, your home life, and then how you came to the university." 'Phew, good save' I thought. He started talking and I started jotting down keywords as he spoke, although truthfully, I was staring at him and taking him in, all over again. I was admiring him - looking at those beautiful blue eyes of his and wishing they were closer to me. I was wondering what it would be like to touch his muzzle, his nose, his ears. Then I thought of Jen, and what she had called me. She said she thought I was a pan-sexual because we enjoyed watching gay porn and having sex to it, but I hadn't expressed any interest in males. She said I just hadn't met the right guy. I found myself looking at Xander, wondering if she was right. I certainly felt attracted, but I doubted whether he was attracted to slightly unattractive male humans. I really doubted I would be his type.
Then i realized he had stopped talking and must have realized I was not focusing on him. "Joel, is this not what you wanted to hear?" he said in a bittersweet tone that stung a little at my heart because I had been thinking quite affectionately of him but really not listening.
"No, Xander, this is exactly what I wanted to hear, but... but I'm having... a hard time..." I said, which was true and ironic as I noticed my pants tight because of an erection, I prayed he did not notice. "I'm having a hard time because..." I could see the look on his face saying 'I'm waiting....' Finally I figured I better tell a little truthful lie to cover up. "I've never interviewed a cano-sapien before and I'm nervous that I might screw this up." Which I was. I was nervous I might screw up this chance to get to know him better - in every way possible. My God, Jen was right. I can be attracted to whatever I want, and right now, with every glance at Xander I am thinking I want him.
"Well, I noticed there's a bulge in your pants pocket," he said. 'Oh dear God no! He sees my erection. Can I run out of here?' I thought. 'Yes, I could run now, and...'
"That's your cell phone if I am not mistaken, does it have a voice recorder on it?" he said.
'Oh, you sweet sexy husky' no wonder I'm lusting after you, your thoughtful too, just like my Jen. "Yes, as a matter of fact it is," I said pulling out the phone and starting the recording mode. I set the pad and pen down and resumed listing to his story. I have to admit it was interesting, only not as interesting as his eyes and fur, and masculine body were. He told me of how he had dated a cheetah once, and the discrimination he faced. In the end they broke up not because of opposition but because they couldn't agree on children. Xander wanted to adopt, but his boyfriend - did he say boyfriend? "Excuse me, I said, did you say boyfriend?"
"Yes I did," Xander said.
Ok, I know you probably know where this is going. Don't you? I'm having a great deal of fun working on it and I will get back to this asap. However, its 6 am, I just started this about two hours ago, and I really need to get a couple of hours of sleep. I welcome any comments about these first twenty two paragraphs. I'm a total newbie to fiction but I love the genre. Hopefully I can pull off a decent first story. Thanks for looking.
Update 12/10/11 I completed this chapter and uploaded it as (chapter one complete), not really sure if I should delete this first part or not. But I know someof you have book marked it. So this comment is meant for you so that you know the full chapter is available now. I hope you like it. Thanks for the kind comments.