Hank Heartken
(August 2006 - New York Military Entry Processing Center)Henry Heartken, a young river otter, sat in the large room filled with chairs and other young people. Like him some were with their parents. Henry's father had accompanied him to the service entry station that morning. more than ten hours had passed since they arrived. The seventeen year old otter had going through physical exams, blood tests, aptitude evaluations, several strange interviews , and he continued to wait for his turn to talk with the career specialist to find out what occupational specialties he was qualified for.His father looked over the ASVAB test result printout as she said, "I don't know how to read this. These number things never made any sense to me, I wish you mother was still here." The older otter spoke with a thick cajun accent. Both otters had spent much time leaving behind the french cajun dialect in favor of the more common english of the locals.Henry and his father had moved to New York out of necessity over a year ago, after they lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. Even after a year they were still unable to find a stable life in their new home. Together the boy and his father had gone through their many options for the future. Reluctantly Henry's father had agreed to sign the waivers for him to enter the service early. If all went well he would leave for his new hopeful, bright future later that week."Well, Hank, what do you think you're going to do once they call you back there?" The older otter asked as he looked over at his son."I don't know pa. I guess it all depends on what that paper says I can do." Hank had worked hard over the past months to lose his cajun drawl, the one thing that made him a target for those around him. He now spoke with neither a cajun or New York accent. To most he sounded like a generic american, possibly from anywhere.As the two sat in silence for a moment a short, yet lanky weasel came in through a far door and shouted, "Mr. Heartken!" As they were called, Henry and his father stood and followed the uniformed fur into the room beyond. He ushered them through a maze of cubicles to a station in the back. The weasel pointed to a seat against the wall, "Sir you can sit there, Mr. Hearken, please have a seat in the chair by the desk." The weasel sat
in the cheap rolling desk chair and pulled himself to the keyboard at the workstation. "I've looked over your scores young man, and it looks like you have a full selection of combat arms options open to you. Was there anything in particular you wanted to do?""Well, sir, I have always been good with a rifle." Henry had told the weasel trying his hardest to cover any of his cajun roots. He truly fear that they would think he was undecated and not worth recruiting if they heard him speak the way he used to. So many at the new school had told him just that. "Well son, that sounds like infantry to me. I even have an airborne school slot open and you can leave this weekend." "I don't want airborne, sir, I don't think I can jump out of a plane. But, I would like to leave as soon as I can." Henry watched as his father's face melted to the point just before tears. The thought of leaving his pa scared him, but he knew they could not keep going as things were. He looked down at his webbed paws as he continued, "I just need to get going so I can help pa."The weasle leaned back in his as he looked over at the young otter. 'Look son, we have a few options here. And if what you want is to help out your family I think we can work something out." He turned back to the desk, "What I have here is an open Airborne Infantry slot, It is a Four year obligation with ten thousand Dollar lump sum signing bonus. That means as soon as you finish your training and arrive at your first assignment you will recieve the entire bonus with the appropriate taxes withheld, That will be close to eight thousand if I recall correctly. As the soldier spoke Hank's eyes went wide, The was almost a year worth of pay he and his father brought home when they could find work. "Is... what does that mean?" he asked as he looked over at his father. The weasel looked at him quizzically as he tried to give the answer the boy was looking for, "Basicly, we need people in those kind of positions right now with everything we have going on in the world. The signing bonus if to get those... Less than desirable jobs filled." He winced as he realized how bad that might sound to the otter. Hank started to twiddle his thumbs as the started to ask a few more questions, " How... How does the pay work? Can... Can I
just send it all home?"Caught off guard by a question he had rarely heard, the boy seemed more concerned with his father than with himself. Before he could speak the Older otter piped in, the thick cajun accent coupled with the dirty french dialect was lost in translation as the two began to argue. After several exchanges Hank looked over at the weasel with an almost angry look in his eyes. "Where do I sign?" he asked without waiting for the Weasel's answer to his question. The soldier looked back at the boy as his father left the cubicle in a huff. "What's going on here son?" he asked now that they were alone."Nothing," the otter said flatly, "Just... Where do I sign and when can I leave?""Look," the older fur said, "I see that you want to help your dad, Here is how things work. The money is direct deposit into the bank, and bank you want, even your fathers."Hank looked back at his paws as he scratched at the webbing between his fingers, "We don't have a bank account. We haven't ever had any money left over after getting..." He tailed of as his mothers voice ran through him ming,'never lay your burdens on another.' He and his father lived by that rule, and he knew that was why his father was insisting on him keeping the money for himself, but he was doing this for his pa, not himself.The weasel looked back at his terminal and started typing as he spoke, "It's not my place to say anything, so I won't. But You need to really think about this if you are only doing it for the money." As he finished the printer on his desk buzzed to life. "I have you leaving in two days, if that good with you?"The sooner the better," Hank said as he sat back in the chair. and folded his arms across his chest. 'I am going to do this whether you like or not pa,' he thought to himself as the Weasle asked him more questions to finish up the paperwork.
Hank stood by the lamp post as the group of young furs waited for the bus. He was always a social butterfly in the past, but lately he could not bring himself to talk to anyone. Every time he opened his mouth her feared
the bayou accent slipping out. Every time it did they would all laugh at him. He watched as all the others gathered in small circle and talked among themselves, all but one chinchilla. He watched her as she sat by herself against a tree into the grass by the building. She seemed different from all the others, more than just the fact she sat alone like him. He couldn't help but stare at her as she sat in silence doing nothing, she seemed lost in her own thoughts, even ignoring or blowing off all the guys that walked up to her. He slumped to the ground next to his big, old leather suitcase. The luggage held all his worldly possessing, much like many of the others around him. He watched as the chinchilla only fiddled with the backpack that sat in her lap. She was beautiful, one of the loveliest girls he could remember setting his eyes on. She was obviously going to the same place he was, all he needed to do was work up the courage to try and talk to her. But, all he could do was look at her, his young male mind started to wonder as he watched her. She had all the curves in all the right places. He closed his eyes as the imagined what that thick fluffy fur must have felt like. Suddenly he caught himself fantasizing about her. Each time he got her to the point of taking her cloths off his mind would go blank, and he considered which of the young porn star bodies would suit her best, only to find he could not bring himself to match one to her. It seemed to him that it would be an insult to the chinchilla's voluptuous, curvy, sensual form. He wanted to know her, to talk to her. But she was older than him, and definitely out of his league. He didn't stand a chance of talking to her, let alone getting her to do anything more with him. She was passing up guys the looked like they could bench press a bus. She turned away every prime guy that walked up to her, she had standards and Hank was sure he didn't meet them. As he sat and daydreamed of the sexually alluring chinchilla girl he dozed off into strange half dreams dominated by her face and fuzzy imagined body.
Hank sat in the front seat of the bus, his eyes constantly drifting back the few rows to the solitary chinchilla. It looked like what ever she did or said to all the guys back at the staging point ran them off. He pondered his options as he watched her look out the window, still lost in her thoughts. She hadn't brought a lot of stuff with her, unlike most of the others. She seemed unlike anyone else,
reserved, quiet, and almost unapproachable. he glanced down at his wrist only to remember that his watch was broken. he thought to himself, 'it's now or never, once we get to boot camp I'll never see her again.'He stood and walked back to the empty seat by the chinchilla and dropped down into it. he stretched out his paw as he introduced himself. "Hank Heartken," he said as he sat there. after a long moment with no reaction from the girl he added, "Most people grab hold and shake, maybe even give their name too." After another long moment of her staring at him she finally stammere, "Sus... Susan Shelby." The name echoed in his head as he listened to her voice. She sounded as beautiful as she looked. The was no way he had any chance of meeting or talking to a girl like this. And the fact that she would be gone from his if in just a few hours of the bus ride gave him the courage to make a move. No matter how stupid or foolish she thought he was, it didn't matter. It wasn't like they would be in the same unit or anything. He tried to make small talk but she seemed uninterested in talking to him, no matter how polite he was trying to be. after she blew off every advance he made he closed his eyes and just ran through his own life and what he was going to do.
Suddenly Hank jerked wake. It was night now and the bus was weaving through some sort of complex. there were a lot of building that all looked the same. The sight was intimidating to the young country otter, even more so that the big city. Everything looked so large and imposing, and every sight was strict and confining. This new military world was so far beyond him that his heart started to race. He stood up and started to pace up and down the aisle only to be scolded by the drive to sit and stay seated. He fidgeted nervously as he tried to maintain his cool. The bus slowed to a stop in front of a huge building. he watched as a large panther got on the bus and started to bark orders and insults at the group of recruits. "Okay you maggots, get the fuck off my bus. FASTER! FASTER! FASTER!" Without hesitation the young otter pushed his way through the others as the retrieved their bags from the overhead compartments and under the seats. as he stepped off the bus he was confronted by a Mink that said, " take your ass over there," as she pointed to one side. he swiftly moved to where she had directed him and listened as she started to chant loudly "Jocks to the right! Nots to the left!"He stood nearly motionless as the three busses unloaded their occupants into the quad. It was not long before he was surrounded by larger boy and hidden from the view of the others. several other soldiers started to direct the gaggle to line up and from straight rows of troops. as the commotion died down he looked across the quad, there she was, standing in the middle of the formation across from him. He slapped his paw to his forehead as he thought about how much of an ass he must have looked like with the way he acted on the bus.The large panther started to pace between the two groups, male on one side and females on the other. The Drill Sergeants word were lost to him as he started at the chinchilla, he couldn't concentrate on anything else, even oblivious to the other females around her. He shook his head as the boys around him began to move and run. Slightly confused about what was happening he aimlessly followed the beaver next to him and grabbed his luggage and followed the line into the building. As they entered there was a younger pitbull, not much older than him, that shoved a bundle of linens into his paws and said bay three." still confused he continued to follow the beaver in front of him. As they turned to enter a large room of bunks he was stopped by hedgehog and told, "Next door boy, are you deaf? You fucks seem to get stupider by the week." Hank lowered his head as he continued on to the next bay, once inside he moved to the closest empty bun in fear of being yelled at again. He sat his stuff down and took a seat on the thin mattress. as he watched more boys of varying species come into the room. the sounds of the chatter and odd conversations slowly rose to a roar as furs began to pair off at the bunks. Everything went silent as the Panther entered the room. He shouted "On Your Feet shitbags. Look at the ugly fuck to your left or right, that is now your battle buddy for the remainder of your stay here. If his ass gets in trouble so does your's, so you better look out for one another." Hank glanced as he realized he was the only one alone with no bunk partner. as he started to raise his paw the panther stumbled forward with the impact of a small possum that bumped into him. The marsupial looked up at the panther as he pushed the glasses back up his snout, "I'm sorry sir," he said sheepishly, "I was..."DS. Matthews looked down at the opossum and said, "get your ass over to an empty..." He stopped as the opossum dropped the the floor
lifelessly. "Mother Fucker!" he shouted before he looked over at hank, "Private... shrimp dick, Get over here and help Ds. Winters take him down to the infirmary." Hank swiftly ran to the opossum's side and helped the hawk lift him to his feet and carry him into the hallway. The bird looked over at hank, they stood about the same height. The bird said, "looks like you might have your share of troubles keeping this one out of trouble." He smiled at the otter as he led them down the hall. Hank Smiled back weakly, "I had a few opossum friends back in the bayou. They're not that hard to deal with once you get past the survival instincts." "What's your name private?" the hawk asked."Hank Heartken," he replied as they entered a small room with an examining table in it. "Well Private Heartken, You need to take care of this guy and make sure he gets through this shit. Every time he falls behind, I better see you right there with him. You got me?""Yes sir," he replied as the lifted the opossum onto the table. He looked at his new 'battle buddy' and pondered what he just got himself into as the hawk left them alone in the room.