{"sf1_id":890236,"sf2_id":null,"title":"New neighbors","author":"davsionnach","words":1365,"posted_at":"2015-07-24T18:40:00.000Z","tags":["Anthropomorphic","Dingo","Fox","No-Yiff"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/890236-new-neighbors","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/890236","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=890236\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\n\"There's a moving truck down\nat the Jensen's old place.\"\n\n\nInci was just coming in from work. \n\n\"Huh? What was that?\" \n\nDav pulled a couple steaks out of\nthe refrigerator and set them on the counter.\n\n\n\"Someone is moving into the\nJensen's old house.\" At Dav's seemingly absent-minded stare she added,\n\"We have new neighbors.\"\n\n\n\"I didn't think they were\nselling it.\"\n\n\n\"Since they're going to be\ngone for at least a year they decided to rent it out.\"\n\n\n\"Ah, OK. Steak all right for\ndinner?\"\n\n\n\"Never mind that right now. You\nshould go down there and say hello. Maybe offer to help.\"\n\n\n\"I was just about to start dinner.\"\n\n\n\"I'm not terribly hungry. I had a\nlate lunch. You should go say hello. You could use a friend that doesn't work\nat the restaurant.\"\n\n\n\"I have friends that don't work at\nthe restaurant.\"\n\n\n\"Yeah, they all work at other\nrestaurants. It wouldn't hurt you to have someone besides me to talk to where\nthe conversation doesn't always end up about work.\"\n\n\n\"But...\" \n\n\"Oh, hush. Go on and meet the new\nneighbors. I'll get changed, make dinner and come down and meet them myself.\nI'll put together something for dinner I can bring down and share with them.\nYou know they won't be in a spot to be cooking for themselves tonight anyway.\"\n\n\nDav knew it was time to surrender. \n\n\"All right. I'll go.\" \n\nHe put the steaks back in the\nrefrigerator, closed it, paused then reopened it and grabbed out a six pack of\nbeer. Inci raised an eyebrow at him.\n\n\n\"I'll feel odd going empty handed,\"\nhe said. \"Besides moving heavy boxes and furniture is better with beer.\"\n\n\n\"Fine. I'll be down in a little\nwhile.\"\n\n\n*****\n\nDav headed out the door and down\nthe street. As he approached the moving truck a dusty-tan dingo bounced out of\nthe back onto the sidewalk. He cocked an eyebrow at Dav while glancing down at\nthe beer in his hand.\n\n\n\"Hi. My name is Dav. I live a\ncouple doors down. We saw the truck and figured I'd come down and see if you\ncould use a hand. Also, thought this,\" he jiggled the six-pack \"might\nmake things a little more pleasant.\"\n\n\n\"You, mate, must have been\nsent by heaven above. The two things I needed most, beer and an extra pair of\npaws. My name's Ris. Just moved into town from a few months in San Diego.\nBefore that spent my life in Torquay, little postage stamp of a town about an\nhundred kilometres southwest of Melbourne. Not to be too forward, but how about\nwe pop open a couple of those beers while we scout things out a bit.\"\n\n\nThey wandered through the house\ngetting a mental map of the rooms with Ris adding commentary about where the\nfurniture was going to go.\n\n\n\"By the way, that's a nice\nkilt, mate. Scottish or Irish?\"\n\n\n\"A bit of both.\" \n\n\"Well it shows off your legs\nreal nice. You a runner?\"\n\n\n\"Uh, yeah.\" \n\n\"Me, too. We should head out\ntogether sometime. Being new around here I could use a little guidance for some\ngood routes.\"\n\n\nThey got to the kitchen. \n\n\"Excellent, the fridge is\nplugged in. Let's get the rest of that beer in there for later.\"\n\n\nRis eyed the label on the bottle. \n\n\"Sionnach's Saison. I'm a bit\nof a beer-head, but I haven't heard of that brand before. It a local? And\ndidn't I see that name on a restaurant over on 16th Street?\"\n\n\n\"15th Street. Yes, it's really\nlocal. It's mine. Both the beer and the restaurant.\"\n\n\n\"You own a restaurant and\nbrew? Mate, I think I just found my new best friend. Always wanted to give\nbrewing a try, but it never quite made it to the top of the list. Please let me\ncome help next batch you make.\"\n\n\n\"Sure. There are times an\nextra set of paws on brew day can be great to have.\"\n\n\n\"You think we should order a\npizza or something?\"\n\n\n\"Actually my wife was going to\nput something together and bring it over a little later.\"\n\n\n\"Oh. Uh, great. I guess we\nbetter quit dawdling and get this truck unloaded.\"\n\n\nThey made quick work of the truck's\ncontents.\n\n\n\"Well, that's it for the truck.\nHow about we grab a couple more of your beers while we wait for your wife to\nwander down.\"\n\n\n\"No need to wait much longer,\nhere she is!\"\n\n\nInci was coming up the sidewalk\nwith several plastic storage containers full of food.\n\n\n\"Your timing is impeccable, my\nlove,\" Dav grinned at her taking the food from her. \"There isn't a\nsingle box left for you to help with.\"\n\n\nInci swatted Dav's backside and\ngave him an irritated look.\n\n\n\"Oh, hush, you. Hi, I'm Inci,\nDav's wife,\" she held out her hand towards Ris. \"I figured you might\nnot feel like cooking your first day in so I brought over something for dinner.\nNothing too fancy, just a pasta salad with chicken.\"\n\n\n\"Name's Ris. Thanks for\nloaning me your husband. Once I got here I realized I had no idea how I was\ngoing to get the furniture in, then suddenly up walk an idle set of paws.\nDinner was very thoughtful of you. All that's in the fridge right now is a few\nof your husband's beers and I'm honestly hungry enough to eat a baby.\"\n\n\n\"So, is your wife around? I'd\nlove to meet her, too.\"\n\n\n\"Nope. No wife, never has\nbeen.\"\n\n\nInci blushed. \"Sorry, stupid\nof me to just assume.\"\n\n\n\"Ah, no worries. No harm done.\nWe're all just getting to know each other. Let's head inside.\"\n\n\nThey went into the dining room,\nunpacked the food onto the dining room table and started eating.\n\n\n\"To be honest my last\nrelationship is kind of how I ended up here. A few months after I moved to San\nDiego so we could be together things just started falling apart. Then it got to\nthe point we just couldn't stand to be in the same house anymore, so I packed\nup my things, said goodbye and left. That was about three days ago. Wanted to\nfind a place with a good theater scene a nice long distance away and decided to\ncome here.\"\n\n\n\"Theater scene, are you an\nactor?\"\n\n\n\"Just a bit, mostly bit roles,\nyou know, crowd scenes or the chorus. I actually get more into the set design\nand construction. I've already got a job lined up with the Tyrone Theatre\ndowntown.\"\n\n\n\"That was fast. How did you\npull that off?\"\n\n\nRis seemed a little embarrassed.\n\"Actually my ex has an in with the artistic director and pulled a couple\nstrings to get it for me. Just as anxious to see me leave as I was to get out.\nOn the way here I spent almost every minute I wasn't driving trying to find a\nplace to stay and came across this place to rent. Signed the lease\nelectronically this morning when I was somewhere around Omaha, picked up the\nkeys on my way into town.\"\n\n\nDav looked at is watch.\n\n\"Oh, no. It's almost midnight.\nSorry, Ris, I really have to get going. I have to get up early for work\ntomorrow. Still want to get together for a run? Maybe Friday morning about\n7:30?\"\n\n\n\"Sure, mate. Sounds good, you\ncan give me a tour of the neighborhood.\"\n\n\n\"All right. I'll swing by and\nwe'll head out.\"\n\n\n\"Great! See you Friday!\"\n\nDav and Inci shook Ris's hand and\nheaded back down the sidewalk to their house.\n\n\n\"See?\" Inci said giving\nDav's tail a gentle tug. \"That wasn't painful at all, was it? You might\nactually have a friend that doesn't work in a restaurant!\"\n\n\nDav reached up and scratched Inci behind\nthe ears.\n\n\n\"I guess not. It might be nice\nto have a running partner sometimes. And you're right, it's nice to have a\nconversation with someone that doesn't turn in to a shop-talk-gripe-fest.\"\n\n\n\"What's that? Did you say I'm\nright? You know how much I like being right.\"\n\n\nDav returned the tail tug, then\npaused to give Inci a kiss.\n\n\n\"When are you not right? Let's\nget home.\"\n\n"}