What Freedom Means (7)
I woke up the next morning with Tal'ena still hugging me. I gingerly tried to get loose, as I had to go, but it was pretty obvious that she was awake. "Please don't leave", she said weakly. "Tal, I need to use the rest room, unless you want me making a mess on the floor here." Her grip immediately relaxed enough for me to free myself, and I got up. "I am assuming that this door leads to a restroom?" I indicated an semi-open door which led to what looked like a rest room. She nodded, and I went in and did my business. As I came out, She had gotten up, and was waiting for me to come out. "My turn," she said, and brushed past me. By the time she had gotten out, I had cleaned up the bedding, and had put my clothes back on. Apparently, they had taken themselves off during the night. I was folding up the bedding I used, I heard the door to the rest room open. As my back was to that door, I did not see her exit the room, nor did I hear her sneak up on me and tug hard on my tail! I went down, the bedding went up, and by the time it was all over, we were in a pile of fur, limbs, bedding, and laughter.
Then the door knocked a few times, and we were still giggling and getting untangled when the door opened to admit... Jack. Who looked amused as we tried to untangle ourselves, and waited patiently as we got seated on the floor. He explained that Mike had gotten the supplies for the pool. He also wanted the workshop portion of the barn cleaned out so that we could do something productive in there, or prepare it for renovation. He also explained that Jeff would be by at dinner time with the results of my testing.
Three hours later, we had gotten the pool back up and running. It'd still be a day or two before the chemical balance permitted anyone to swim in it, but at least it was on it's way. We then looked in the workshop area, and my attention was immediately drawn to the two vehicles parked there. "Are those what we are cleaning out?" I asked. Tal'ena nodded her head. "Yep. We had a morph here temporarily about two years ago who thought he could fix those things up. Instead, he got picked up by some company, and we got stuck with them. Unless you think you can fix them, we are just going to have a wrecker come out and tow them away. We might get a few bucks for salvage money. I looked at the two vehicles closer. It was a car and a motorcycle. The car turned out to be a late 50's vintage Chevy Impala (with the distinctive tail end), and the motorcycle an old Triumph Bonneville. I had apparently taken quite a while to look at the things, because I heard Tal'ena clear her throat. I looked back her, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry about that. I think I can fix both of them up. All the parts appear to be here," I waved my arms around the shop, " and I think if I can get some new spare parts in I should be able to fix them up in about two months or so, barring any other interruptions." Tal'ena looked at me like I had grown a second head. with an amused look in her eyes, she replied, "You sure about that? What makes you think so?"
"My first master was the owner of a car and motorcycle dealership. He had me apprenticed to each one of the staff for a few months, except for his master mechanic. I was with him for over a year, and I learned a lot from him. He was sad when Master went bankrupt and had to sell me off. The person who was working on these left the books here for working on both, and he left all the parts in two distinct piles. Pending permission, I'd like to see if I can get the motorcycle working first. It's easier to work on.
Talena walked over to one of the phones scattered around the place and made a quick phone call. fifteen minutes later Jack walked into the shop and told me that if I could get the cycle up and running, I could keep it. "There's one problem with that," I replied. "I do not have a license to drive." Jack found this very funny and said that we'd get the appropriate paperwork for and training done to correct that for all three of us. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the shop getting the air conditioner working, and cleaning the place up and organizing things.
Jeff came in the shop around 6 pm as I was washing up. He asked why I had missed dinner, and I stated that I wanted to get things finished. "While I commend you on your dedication to your work, dinner is one thing that we like everyone to be at." I bowed my head. "I apologize. I was not made aware of this rule." Jeff chuckled. "It's not a rule, per se. We just like having everyone there for things like news and other events to be passed around." As we walked back to the house, he told me that Tal'ena had received a copy of my test results, and that he had been told of what was going on with the shop. "Jack, Tal, and myself think it's a good idea. I'd like to see you run with it, and see about getting them working again. Who knows, that car might have some value in it still, if it was running." I nodded sagely. "I'll have to have get some parts purchased, and have a few things sent out to an external shop as we don't have the tools or equipment here to do them." Jeff looked at me and replied, "We can get some tools and we will get you the parts you need. What other things were you needing to send out?" "Paintwork mostly. A few pieces on the bike need to be either re-chromed or replaced, along with a fresh coat of paint on the bodywork and tank. The car needs a fresh paint job and some interior work done which is beyond my knowledge or skills to do correctly. Otherwise, I should be able to handle almost everything in house, if the impala's engine is still in good shape."
By this time we had reached the kitchen. Tal met us at the door. She set Jeff down at the table and glared at me while re-heating leftovers, which I ate quickly. I bussed the dished over to the sink, and helped her finish off the dishes afterward. As the night before, we all ended up being up after the day workers went to sleep. Jeff said his good night and went upstairs to a guest room, and I was relegated back to the floor. This time, Tal'ena joined me from the get go. The rest of the night was spent talking about proper protocol for evenings, and when dinner was, and other important matters. We eventually dropped off to sleep, though.
Somehow my clothes still found their way off my body in the middle of the night, though.