#and earlier I went to the farmer's market and got a kombucha and just walked around.

[gayjoealwyn]

saturday is the perfect day to be productive in a completely self-serving way. I hope you each get to waste time to your heart's content

[nootcatt]

Walking Alfie

Written by: the resident Heller Cafe author Eula Thompson

Inspired by: a prompt from @idgaf-what-you-call-me.

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Alfie squirmed and twisted, rolling his little hunched, furry body in the grass, but he couldn’t get out of the harness they had put on him so that they could attach the leash. Jack looked on, wincing in sympathy. He could easily communicate to the young raccoon what he wanted him to do, either by “speaking” raccoon or by just sending a thought, but the self-appointed leash police at the park were adamant that if there was a non-human animal around their pets, it needed to be on a leash.

I hate this, Alfie sent Jack, it’s undignified.

You want to go to the park with us, don’t you? Jack sent back.

I’m a wild animal. I can go to the park whenever I want.

Do you want to go with us?

Alfie let a silent, sulky moment pass. Yes, he sent.

Then you have to wear it, Jack sent. Be a good sport.

It itches, Alfie whined.

You can stay here, if you want.

Alfie thought about it. Will you buy me a churro?

We will buy you a churro.

Deal.

When they got to the dog park, Charlie was already there with Stevie and their dog, Rolf, a chocolate labradoodle who did, in fact, bear a striking resemblance to the Muppets character. Rolf and Alfie sniffed each other suspiciously, as Alfie and Miracle had done when they had first met, and decided that, while not friends, neither were they enemies. An untidy truce was formed wherein they agreed to maintain a respectful, if wary, distance from one another. To this end, while Rolf and Miracle romped with Stevie in the dog enclosure, Alfie decided to hang out near the rest of the group of humans. He climbed the nearby trees and clambered over the benches they sat on, occasionally stepping on shoulders, to Dean’s irritation and Charlie and Jack’s endless amusement.

“Can you tell him to stop that?” Dean griped, fishing a fallen acorn out of his coffee. Overhead, Alfie dropped another one, and Dean covered the cup with his hand to keep it from falling in.

“I think he’s adorable,” Charlie said. She was slurping a gigantic frozen slushie drink that she had gotten at the farmer’s market on the way, which had big chunks of fruit in it.

“Well, you don’t have to live with him,” Dean grumbled, sipping his coffee. He was up earlier, and the sunlight was brighter, than he would strictly have preferred; but they had wanted to hang out with Charlie, and they both went to the same dog park, so this was what had happened.

Cas was quiet, and somehow watchful. He was like that a lot these days, Jack had noticed; he seemed just to watch Dean, watch his face and his mannerisms, and listen to his voice and his words. There was a kind of wonder in it, like someone at an art museum, admiring a painting or a sculpture, appreciating the play of light and shadow, angles and planes and curves, or marveling at the appearance of soft flesh or flowing fabric carved into hard, sparkling marble. But then again, it was not like someone at a museum – more like admiring work that was given as a gift. You’re incredible, the look seemed to say. You’re amazing. I can't believe you’re mine.

Charlie hand-fed a chunk of pineapple from her slushie to Alfie, who moved his little paws over it to feel it thoroughly before nibbling at it. “You’re going to spoil him,” Dean said, tipping back the last of his coffee. He chucked the cardboard cup at the nearby garbage bin and nailed the shot – nothing but net – and his mood seemed to immediately improve. His hand sought and found Cas’s without conscious thought.

“He likes fruit,” Charlie said. Alfie sniffed at her slushie cup, grasping it with his front paw, and she pulled it away from him. “No,” she told him. “That’s all you get.”

Alfie walked across their laps and nosed at Cas’s kombucha tea, which he held away from him in a similar manner, so Alfie went to Jack instead. You said you would buy me a churro, Alfie reminded him. Jack stood up.

“I’m going to walk with Alfie,” he said, which was technically true. They would have to walk to get to the churro cart.

“We’ll be here,” Cas said, his voice soft and his tone serene, and Jack believed it. No force in the universe could have moved Cas from that spot next to Dean.