Chapter 1
The sun rose like usual this time, huh it's been pretty regular lately, and Lerlean and I have been at work since the wee hours of the morning. The moon greeted us as we rose and sobbed as it had run to escape the harsh light of day. Lerlean fluttered about between the trees checking each one to ensure that they remained healthy and their roots caked with dark brown liquid, whose origin is a closely protected family secret, sorry. Lerlean's tiny wings beat against her scales and her claws test the strength of the bark. I walk to the barn and begin my morning maintenance of the tree shaker. Easiest way to retrieve them from the trees rather than waiting for them to fall. The great machine wheezes into life as I clean it terrible hooves and its gelatinous grasping claws searching for purchase on anything. Foul-smelling fluids leak from the places where it should leak, and stays in where it shouldn't, once I've completed my rounds of the massive quivering beast I set the machine loose upon the field. The trees seem to scream as they are throttled by the greasy gelatinous claws of the shaker, but they don't because these trees don't talk. Which is actually kind of rude when I think about it. Why don't they talk, we've always been nice to them? Moving on. Lerlean and I continue checking the trees until the sun hung overheard, bearing down on us with a gentle heat that warms our skin-like meat coverings, a soft breeze murmurs through the trees. We break to catch lunch. Once we've caught lunch and interrogated it, proving that it had no further knowledge of our family secrets, we executed lunch with cold calculating efficiency. After consuming the newly limp carcass of lunch Lerlean yawned and stretched. Her delicate wings battering against the bark of a tree, she leaned against. She gave me a vulpine smile and began to speak. "So big bro any plans for the night? Jeffery and I are heading out to roller rink. You could ask that cute little thing at ��the general store to come with you and the four of us could have some fun." He scarlet teeth clacked as she spoke and her fingers toyed with a feathery wisp that dangled near her second eye. "Well, I'm not sure." I could feel my face flush and can't lie I was a little embarrassed that some someone saw me blushing. LerLean and Jeff had been seeing each other for almost a year and I liked him well enough. He and I didn't have all that much in common but he was a decent guy. My brain flashed to Laura Grace Ware, her azure eyes that gleamed with a soft caring charm. Her cute little hooves would clack when she walked and her smile melted my heart every time I saw it. She and I had known each other for a while, and I'd had a crush on her since we'd first met in the last year of high school. "I don't know if she's want to." "Oh please, she is head over heels for you. Have you even seen the way she looks at you? Trust me she likes you. Not to mention that every time you're in there she always looking at your butt." LerLean smirked and inclined her head toward me. "Seriously the last time I was there with you she'd sneak a glance every time you turned away." "What, really? You're kidding." I had a cocktail of emotions waging war in the intestines of my mind. I hoped it was true, however, I had no basis to judge whether or not LerLean was being truthful. You know what? ��I'm not going to let shyness or the threat of embarrassment keeps me from taking action. I'll ask her out today. She works almost every day during the week and I'm sure she'll be there. I felt steel fill my spine and I rose to my feet. "Yeah, I'll ask her. I mean it's not like things could go downhill, what the worst-case scenario anyway? She says no? Big deal, let's finish up and I'll go ask her as soon as I can." "Aw, that's the spirit. We only have one or�� two things left to do anyway." She grinned from antenna to antenna as she fluttered to her feet. The rest of the evening went easy; the metallic smell stained the air as we departed from the orchard. LerLean went back to the house and I did what little I could to clean up. As I pulled the smallest barn door open and the merciless sun shone upon my precious little bike. My old Honda shadow that I picked up 3 years ago second hand; it gleamed crimson in the light and screamed to be fired up and taken out onto the nearest dirt road. Of course it couldn't scream, not anymore. It was just an assortment of steel gears, pipes, and a few organs wedged in so they'd muffle that odd rattle I could never iron out. The seat and saddlebags were hand-made from pale leather that was mildly weathered by the sun; luckily the gaudy tattoos that once covered the skin had faded not too long after I'd managed to tan it properly. The pulled the slightly oozing keys from the pocket of my jeans and straddled the tall cruiser. After whispering a few words that I can't mention here into the antlers that adorned the handlebars it screeched to life. A loud wail that pierced the quiet of the orchard, a throaty rumbled intertwined with the sound of a soul being shattered, rebuilt lovingly, and then shattered again with cold brutality. The soft dirt in the barn was kicked up into a pleasant little dust devil as I pulled out of the door. The small swirl of dust began to travel the backroads attempting to steal the souls of the weak to gain power and influence. I felt the wind sweep against my face and rustle my hair the steady thrum of the bike shook under my hands as I sat out toward the Sonoma general store with a fluttering little feeling in my heart. Well not a fluttering, just an ultimately meaningless rush of chemical my body responding to the danger of soaring mere inches from the ground at speeds the body wasn't meant to endure and in anticipation of the question I was about to ask one of the most beautiful women I' ever seen. Then again I suppose beauty had no real meaning. I mean to me she was stunning, her warm smile and cute little hooves, the soft-looking bark that covered two of her arms. The tiny vestigial wings that adorned her shoulders and her short tail the lolled to and fro as she went about her day. I was also looking there for other reasons but hey I can't be blamed from what my�� libido was thinking. She was a masterwork of soft features, perky curves, and little idiosyncrasies that coalesced into perfection. Not to mention Laura was so warm and caring to everyone she knew. My minds ran faster than the bike as I planned out what I was going to say. I decided that the plan wasn't worth it. Because after all, a plan is only a list of things that are waiting to fall apart.