{"sf1_id":961385,"sf2_id":"zeRwl2ym","title":"Z-Court Chapter 1 \"Welcome to Springtime Hills\"","author":"Silver Teh Coyote","words":1460,"posted_at":"2016-02-03T03:03:00.000Z","tags":["Cocker Spaniel","Comedy","Dog","House","Husky","Subdivision","slice of life"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/961385-z-court-chapter-1-welcome-to-springtime-hills","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/zeRwl2ym","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/c5/46/c5462c12-919b-4be2-aa6c-9776b15762c5","description":"#1 of Z - Court\n\nSpringtime Hills is a place that any furry out of college can live in! Meet Pilar Spanner, a female Cocker Spaniel who is definitely on the sensitive side. She is the new resident in Springtime Hills' Z - Court, a circular court with 12 different houses, each with a single resident. How will she hold up? And soon she may find that something very strange is going on around here...","content":"Chapter 1: \u0026nbsp;Welcome to Springtime Hills\n\n  \n\nI gripped the steering wheel gently as I guided my car along the winding roads of the pristine greenish foothills that were in plain view. \u0026nbsp;It had been hours since I had left from home. \u0026nbsp;I could still smell my mom's cooking and hear the stories my dad used to tell. \u0026nbsp;I started to get misty eyed before I said to myself, \"Stop that. \u0026nbsp;You are a big girl now and you have to let it all go.\"\n\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; THUD.\n\nThe road I was driving on was bumpier than what I was used to, \u0026nbsp;I could feel all the boxes of my stuff shake. \u0026nbsp;I had packed a lot of my things in my car, mostly my collection of books and my collection of scented candles, but other odds and ends as well. \u0026nbsp;Two boxes were stacked on top of each other behind my seat, which was probably not a good idea. \u0026nbsp;Another large box sat in the passenger's seat.\n\nTHUD.\n\nAnother bump. \u0026nbsp;Sure enough, that damn box in the back hit me in the back of my head from behind. \u0026nbsp;It hurt quite a bit, but at least I was almost at my destination from what the GPS on my phone displayed. \u0026nbsp;I let go of the steering wheel with my left paw to caress the exact spot the box hit on my head. \u0026nbsp;Instead, for some reason, my left paw landed on my big, floppy left ear. \u0026nbsp;I hate my ears. \u0026nbsp;They always make me look clumsy, \u0026nbsp;They are nothing but a pain in the ass when it's windy. \u0026nbsp;My dad said I always tripped over them when I was a newborn puppy and could only walk on all fours instead of on two legs like everyone should. \u0026nbsp;I managed to rustle the fur on the spot that the box hit my head. \u0026nbsp;It seemed to soothe it, but I knew it wouldn't last.\n\nA couple more hours passed, with one trip to the gas station where I got to stretch my legs, too. \u0026nbsp;But soon, I found myself at my destination, Springtime Hills. \u0026nbsp;I pulled up to the large brown check-in gate. \u0026nbsp;It almost looked like a house and there was a trough of white and pink flowers underneath the receptionist window. \u0026nbsp;A vixen with a pink blouse came up to the window.\n\n\"Hi, welcome to Springtime Hills! \u0026nbsp;How can I help you?\"\n\nI wondered if they really do say that 24/7, but now was not the time to ask.\n\n\"Yes,\" I replied, \"My name is Pilar Spanner and I am checking in to live here. \u0026nbsp;I paid online ahead of time.\"\n\nShe turned around and started quickly typing on a computer.\n\n\"What was your name again?\" she asked.\n\n\"Pilar Spanner,\" I said again.\n\n\"Did you say pillar?\"\n\nI can't stand when they say that. \u0026nbsp;\"No, Pilar. \u0026nbsp;It's like Pillar but with one L instead of two.\"\n\nShe continued to type.\n\n\"And you are a Cocker Spaniel?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" I replied.\n\n\"Oh! \u0026nbsp;Here you are! \u0026nbsp;You are in the Z - Court, house number 11.\"\n\nShe handed me my keys.\n\n\"Enjoy your new life!\" \u0026nbsp;she said with a smile.\n\n\"Thank you very much!\" I said, smiling back.\n\nI drove on. \u0026nbsp;Springtime Hills appeared to be a very peaceful private village, but it looked like every other subdivision I had ever seen. \u0026nbsp;It really wasn't what I had in mind, but it was fine nonetheless. \u0026nbsp;I passed a sign that had a big letter \"A\" on it. \u0026nbsp;Assuming that Z - Court was at the very end of the road, I groaned. \u0026nbsp;I still had a bit of a ways to drive, and my butt was asleep. \u0026nbsp;After I had went through the entire alphabet, I finally had arrived at Z - Court. \u0026nbsp;I made a right into the court, and saw a white house with a red roof that had a gold number one on it. \u0026nbsp;\"Great,\" I thought, \"looks like I'll have to learn my numbers today, too.\" \u0026nbsp;I kept driving and had passed 6 and 7, and then some woods and saw house 9. \u0026nbsp;Wait, what? \u0026nbsp;Where was 8? \u0026nbsp;I decided that it didn't matter and parked at house number 11. \u0026nbsp;I looked at my keys. \u0026nbsp;There was only a single 1 but there was a clear space for another 1. \u0026nbsp;Maybe it was scratched off.\n\nI exited the car and felt a slight pain in my lower back, and then my feet started to hurt. \u0026nbsp;House number 11 looked to be pretty small, but not too bad. \u0026nbsp;I decided to start unpacking right away and opened the back door of my car. \u0026nbsp;I scratched an itchy spot on my light green blouse and put the house keys in my back jean pocket on the left side. \u0026nbsp;I saw the box that hit me in the back of the head, labeled \"Pilar's Keepsakes\". \u0026nbsp;I smiled, grabbed the box, shut and locked the door and started lugging the box up the sidewalk to the house. \u0026nbsp;As I reached the porch, the door swung open. \u0026nbsp;Standing in the doorway was a tall male Siberian Husky wearing jeans and a T-Shirt that read \"SupernaturalCON XVI\". \u0026nbsp;I nearly dropped the box. \u0026nbsp;Did that vixen give me the wrong address?!  \n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Hey!\" he said, \"who are you?\"\n\nI wanted to sink into the sidewalk. \u0026nbsp;\"Um...I'm Pilar Spanner, and I just moved into this Z - Court in Springtime Hills.\"\n\nHe laughed in a very high pitch.\n\n\"Here we go again,\" he laughed, \"that vixen can't tell an address from a zip code.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" I said, \"so now what do I do?\"\n\n\"No worries,\" he said, \"you only just live next door in house number 12.\"\n\nWhat a relief. \u0026nbsp;\n\n\"Here,\" he said, walking down the porch steps, \"let me help you with that.\"\n\n\"Thanks!\" I said, smiling as he picked up the box. \u0026nbsp;We started walking to my house next door.\n\n\"So,\" he said, \"watcha got in there?\"\n\n\"Personal keepsakes,\" I said.\n\n\"Oh...can I see them?\"\n\n\"Sorry,\" I said as I gave him a look, \"they're kind of personal.\"\n\nBoy, was this guy weird. \u0026nbsp;Who asks about someone's personal belongings like that? \u0026nbsp;By shooting him that look I could see that he had a high, broad defining forehead. \u0026nbsp;And he sure was eccentric about meeting me.\n\n\"Oh, my apologies,\" he said, \"I'm just interested is all. \u0026nbsp;But that's fine.\"\n\nAt that moment we got to my new house. \u0026nbsp;I opened the door. \u0026nbsp;The house was completely barren.\n\n\"Yup,\" said the husky, \"this place has been abandoned for a long time until they recently refurbished it so that someone can live here. \u0026nbsp;I really like places that are abandoned. \u0026nbsp;Tons of supernatural stuff happens in abandoned places.\"\n\nI set down my stuff near the door. \u0026nbsp;\"I guessed that you liked that kind of stuff by looking at your t-shirt,\" I said.\n\n\"Oh!\" he said excitedly, \"you know about SupernaturalCON?\"\n\n\"Sorry,\" I replied, \"I don't go to conventions, too crowded.\"  \n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; \"Oh...that's cool. \u0026nbsp;What do you like to do?\"\n\n\"Me? \u0026nbsp;I dunno I guess I do like the supernatural. \u0026nbsp;I just wouldn't go to a convention about it.\"\n\n\"Cool! \u0026nbsp;Looks like we have something in common! \u0026nbsp;Well, I'd better get going back to my house, but next time you can tell me all about it!\"\n\nHe extended his right paw to me. \u0026nbsp;\"My name's Andy, by the way. \u0026nbsp;It was nice talking to you, Pilar!\"\n\nI shook his paw.\n\n\"Yeah, sure, that sounds like fun, Andy! \u0026nbsp;Thanks for welcoming me to Springtime Hills!\"\n\n\"No problem,\" he replied, \"but before I forget there's a Springtime Hills app on smartphones. \u0026nbsp;Download it and search Z - Court. \u0026nbsp;We are all on there. \u0026nbsp;It's the best way to communicate around here, but you can use the phonebook to call us by landline too.\"\n\n\"I'd rather use the app,\" I said, \"thanks for the info!\"\n\n\"No problem,\" he said as he walked away, \"see you around!\"\n\nHe sure was helpful, but something worried me about him. \u0026nbsp;He was certainly nosy and he was just very strange. \u0026nbsp;Maybe he'd prove to be a bit more bearable next time. \u0026nbsp;After I had moved my car and moved all the boxes into the house, I knew that a lot of work had to be done. \u0026nbsp;After all, the website said that this was a \"do it yourself\" house, and the moving truck would arrive tomorrow.\n\nI decided to explore my new blank house. \u0026nbsp;It was a bit larger than Andy's house, thankfully. \u0026nbsp;I never wanted a small house but not a big one either, so this was just right. \u0026nbsp;Although a lot of work was ahead, I felt very comfortable. \u0026nbsp;I was now a resident of Springtime Hills.\n\n  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp;  \n  \n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"Z - Court","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/965458-z-court-chapter-2-a-new-home.json"}}