Reflections in a Mud Puddle

                 A love story of things to come

                                        by Miguel Tigre

 

Chapter 1: Not what you recall

 

The story opens as sunbeams, shine through cracks in the blinds. They seep through and cascade on a few patches of ivory colored fur. The scene pans back and we see a rabbit girl laying in bed, lost in peaceful dreams as the rays slowly make their way towards her face. Her face wrinkles up and she frowns as she takes her pillow and covers her face with it. She moans and rolls over tossing her sheets to one side. She's wearing a loose shirt which is cut short exposing her white tummy. She rolls over again as the beams reflect off the shiny headboard of her bed, made up of silvery highlights on a mother of pearl frame. Now lying on her tummy, we see her little cottontail poke out from a pair of snug, tightly fitting shorts.

 

Ivory:[voice over] Hi. My name is Blanca Conejo, but everyone pretty much calls me Ivory. I know it's been a while since we've seen each other, but aside from my age.  Nothing much has changed. Um I know this isn't exactly how you wanted to see me, my tushie up in the air like this.  Wait a sec and my mom will wake me up.

 

          From downstairs comes a voice. "Blanca!?!? Wake up miha!! You'll be late for school!!"

 

Ivory: See that'll get me…

 

          Ivory throws her pillow at the door and pulls the covers up over her head and drifts back to sleep.

 

Ivory:[voice over] Geez, am I really this bad in the morning? Sigh. Well don't worry I'm sure when I'm good and ready I'll pop right up and get to school.

 

          A bit later Ivory forces her eyes open and looks at the clock on her wall. A tiny little penguin clock shows it's 8:45 am. Ivory turns over and dozes off again. Suddenly she pops up like a jack-in-the-box and screams. "GAH!!!! I'm gonna be late for school!!" Ivory tosses her covers off and starts pulling off her shorts and shirt as she tumbles into her closet. A few seconds later she comes out wearing a T-shirt, some very loose jeans, as she tries to get her vest on. She dashes into the bathroom as the scene pans off downstairs.

 

          In the kitchen, a female rabbit sits at the table sipping espresso out of a tiny cup. She hears all the noise coming from upstairs. She has on tiny little specs and despite her age, she looks very young.

 

Ivory:[voice over] You guy’s remember my mom Salma right? She's the one who was always driving my big sister Ebony crazy and talks like she can't decide which language she likes better, English or Spanish. Well she still looks like god's gift.. I mean what did you expect.  She's my mom after all and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Oy! Speaking of falling….

 

          Ivory tumbles down the steps and lands on her feet as she scurries off to the kitchen. As she runs by, Salma stretches out a plate of toast, which Ivory takes and starts eating.

 

          "Why didn't you wake me mami!?!?" Ivory said as she barely chews and swallows her breakfast as fast as it'll go down her throat.

 

          "I did miha" Salma says as she places her cup down for a sec." Would you like some juice?"

 

          "I need something with kick, or I'll doze off in the middle of my test today." Ivory grabs her mom's cup and wolfs down the whole thing. "I'll just take some of your coffee"

 

          Salma crossed her arms and looked at her. " Miha?… you DO know that's espresso right?"

 

          Ivory shivers like mad as she drops the cup and freezes. Suddenly she cracks and shatters into a millions pieces. She reforms and glares at her mom "HOW CAN YOU DRINK THAT STUFF!??!?!" She pants for a bit "It tastes like it should say 10W30 on it!!"

 

          "Espresso isn’t for everyone miha, besides, it's suppose to be sipped now chugged." Salma said as she picked her cup off the floor.

 

          "Well if you can take it at you age, it sure won't kill me" Ivory laughs as suddenly she doubles over as her stomach gurgles rather loudly.

 

          Salma glares at Ivory. "That's what you get for the age remark Blanca"

 

          Ivory's eyes grow huge then she bolts off to the bathroom. Salma gets up and walks over as she leans against the open doorway. " I take it you'll be wanting a ride to school instead of your usual running to school?"

 

           Ivory, sitting on the toilet with her jeans bunched up at her knees, glares at her mom "Does it look like I'll make it on time now??!" Her stomach gurgles loudly again and she doubles over.

 

Salma smirks and shakes her head as she watches her daughter work her first run in with espresso out of her system. "Another perk of espresso, at least at my age, is that it helps get things moving." Salma chuckles a bit." But you know that now don't you miha?"

 

Ivory grumbles at her mom as she winces at the fireworks going off in her stomach. "Next time just make with the motherly advice, rather than have me find out the hard way. Besides how come you can make age remarks and not me?"

 

Salma looks at her daughter assertively. " Oldest rule of womanhood miha, it's only fair when I do it."

 

Ivory pulls up her jeans and grumbles again "I'll make a note of that one"

 

Salma heads off as Ivory flushes the toilet and washes her hands. "I'll be in the car miha"

 

Ivory:[voice over again] That's my mami, too clever for her own good. Sometimes she gets on my nerves, but I try to learn from her as much as I can. I mean a strong, assertive, woman who looks THAT good at her age must be doing something right.

 

          The scene changes to the view of a University a short distance off. Many students are walking around, others are in the courtyard talking to their friends and classmates, and others are eating at the café. One student in particular is hauling tail to her class.

 

          Ivory dashes at full speed running past students and such, leaping over the ones sitting under the shade of trees in an attempt to make it to her class on time.

 

Ivory: This is my school of UTB or rather the University of Texas at Brownsville.  It's a great place and lots of fun… but when you're running late to class like me… it's way too big a campus. Not that I'm always running late mind you, sometimes I get there with seconds to spare… and some times I get there just in time.

 

          Ivory hopes into a golf cart with a security guard seated in it. "To the technology wing, and step on it!!"

 

          The guard smiles and peels out. "Running late again Ms. Conejo?"

 

          Ivory smiles weakly, then giggles nervously "And on a test day no less." When the cart reaches the wing in question she hops off and runs into the building. "WAIT!!!!" Screams Ivory as she sees the door to her class closing. Ivory slides in as a huge crashing sound is heard. The scene pans over Ivory pinned under a number of desks. Her teacher glares at her, as she breaks free and gets to her desk. The teacher sighs and closes the door.

 

Ivory: As you can see, no mater how the odds are stacked against me, I always come out on top.

 

          Ivory sits back and sighs. She watches as the teacher starts to hand out the tests. Suddenly her tummy gurgles loudly, and she clutches her stomach. She raises her hand, but slowly lowers it as the teacher glares at her. She starts to tap her feet nervously as the teacher hands her the test. Ivory sighs as she opens up her booklet and winces. "It's going to be a long 2 hours"

 

          2 hours later Ivory walks out of a stall in the women's bathroom. She raps her shoulder with her fist in a sort of pat on the back fashion. "Whew, I gave a personal best today. I held out for two long grueling hours" as she washes her hands at the sink. Leaning on the sink next to her is a black tigress with white stripes. She has medium length hair and is wearing a miniskirt and pants under it, some rather odd looking gloves on her hands, and a sleeveless shirt that says "Pantiger" on it.

 

Ivory:[voice over] Hey folks, see that cute gal there next to me? That's Tami; she's my best friend in the whole world. While she's a bit younger, we attend the same University. She loves kiddos and is studying to be a teacher. She has a rather "creative" sense of fashion. She LOVES to create her own clothes. I tell her she's better off being a fashion designer, but she loves kids too much. She's a bit proud and well, "shy" isn't quite the word... let's just say she's not as out going as me.

 

          Tami shakes her head and laughs. "Did you take into account the time you spent running to the bathroom here.. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAMPUS?"

 

          Ivory looks up from washing her hands and giggles nervously. "Um like a said… a personal best." Goes back to washing her hands. "Besides... these bathrooms are so vacant since they built the nice, luxurious ones in the main hall. All the better, because I don't like an audience when I um... put something down on paper. If you know what I mean."

 

          Tami laughs. "Yeah I know exactly what you mean. Fortunately us modern girls have the intestinal fortitude to hold out till we get home, well some of us do." Tami turns away with a snide look on her face.

 

          Ivory's eyes narrow and she dries her hands on Tami's shirt. "For the record, it wasn't like I had a choice, coming here to your turf. I drank some of my mom's espresso and found out the hard way that it doubles as Drano for your intestines." Ivory pats her tummy. "Despite the reoccurring attacks I can at least chalk up, losing those pesky 5 pounds I've been trying to lose all weekend."

 

          Tami looks at her shirt and at her. " Well thanks I guess. Anyway you did remember to bring your PDA right?"

 

          Ivory reaches into her ZigZag backpack and produces a small PDA out of her tiger-stripes skunk plushy. "I never leave home without it"

 

          Tami turns her back to her. "Great cause we're going to hit the mall after this. We've been waiting for weeks for the new Neo Linux upgrades to come out." Behind her, Ivory makes a face and grabs her bottom and rushes back into one of the stalls "I mean now that they make hardware upgrades with the programs preloaded, it'll be a cinch to get your PDA and my Lapstation to work with Syncho-Binary media. I mean, we'll be able to exchange data and money to or from our accounts.  Even use our Vidphones from anywhere in the world." Tami clasps her hands together and her eyes get all sparkly. "Isn't that cool Ivory? Ivory?" Tami looks around for her. "Um... Blanca?" Ivory's moans are heard as Tami looks under the stalls and sees Ivory makes fists with her feet as she moans. Tami makes a face and bolts off. "Um... I'll meet you at the Café"

 

          The scene changes to the Café as Ivory walks holding her stomach walking along side Tami.  Ivory grumbles just as loudly as her tummy.

 

          "Some friend you are" Ivory says clutching her gut. "You left me there to die by myself" She then glares at her Tami.

 

          Tami blushes and looks at her nervously. "You wanted me to be there while you did that? I mean I know we're close but... there ARE limits you know?"

 

          Ivory's face blushes too as a huge glob of sweat forms on the side of her face. "Um eh heh right... gotcha... good point." She turns her nose at her and looks away. " I forgive... this time."

 

          Tami sticks her tongue out at her. She then turns and stops in her tracks. "Oh no… not again"

 

          Ivory stops and looks "Huh?" She sees, in a corner of the Café, a tiger-striped male panda sitting by himself reading a book. He's wearing a long sleeved shirt with a very short jacket over it over it along with some very loose fitting jeans. She also sees a group of jackals, sitting in a nearby table looking his way and laughing. "Aw come on Malcolm, don't let them do it again"

 

Ivory:[voice over] That is Tami's twin brother Malcolm. Yeah I know, kind a hard to see the resemblance, they're as different as night and day appearance-wise. It's also true personality-wise too. See Malcolm is a bit of a recluse, very brooding and quiet. But once you get to know him he's one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet... and very trustworthy... more than any guy I know. Sadly, he gets picked on a lot... and unlike myself or his sister.. he isn't much into fighting back.

 

          The Jackals all snicker as one tosses an unopened can of soda at him. The can smacks him across the head making his eyes open wide. He stays this way for a couple of seconds... then they go back to their normal size and he continues reading as if nothing happened. Ivory clenches her fist so tightly her knuckles pop. She stomps off towards them and heads towards Malcolm's table. Malcolm lifts his backpack off of the table without moving his head from his reading as she kicks the table straight into the air. The Jackals watch at it sails and smashes on top of them.

 

          Ivory snatches the book from Malcolm and glares at him.  "Why don’t you ever do anything about them? You DO know it's not a girl's place to fight a guy's battles for him right?"

 

          Malcolm adjusts his tiny specs and smiles at her. "I don't remember asking you to. Hello Lady Ivory, you're looking lovely today. Then again you always are…."

 

          Ivory pushes his book back in his face. "Condense the flattery" She sighs and slicks her hair back and smiles at him. "I won't always be here to keep the jackals away Malcolm. You need to stand up for yourself... it's not cool to let them do this to you everyday. Sides I worry what they do when I'm not around"

 

          Tami, standing beside them, gives them a sly look. "My... should I get you two a room?" Tami laughs as she sees both her brother and Ivory's face turn scarlet. They both glare at her as she takes off running. Malcolm and Ivory chase after her in pursuit.

 

          At the mall they enter a computer store the size of a department store. Malcolm doesn't enter as he heads off to Walden Books instead. Ivory watches him as he goes in, but is interrupted as Tami yanks her back in.

 

Ivory:[voice over] Okay folks a bit of a history lesson for you. In this great time of ours, a huge technological revolution happened. A huge company which had a strangle hold over everything went under. When it did, new ideas and such flooded in and what would have n taken decades to change happened in a few short years. There was no company to hold them back anymore and innovation reigned. PCs are now very large paperweights. Laptops were done away with. What came after was something marvelous and more practical. Tami has what replaced PCs, they are called Lapstations. They are computers with more power and speed than the PC could ever obtain, and you don't have to have such power confined to your home, it goes where you go. I on the other hand have a newer version of the PDA’s that came later. It can chew up and spit out the old laptops. It's a personal organizer, a portable computer, a vidphone, and also my e-checkbook. I can pay for anything with it and it's debited from my account via my PDA. However there are a few sad sacks who won't let go of the past... some... worse than others.

 

          At one corner of the store is a cat that has a PC with tons of add-ons put on it, it no longer resembles a PC. The table buckles under the tremendous weight of the PC.

 

          The cat talks to the tech at the store, rather franticly. "Come on, you guys can still carry Amiga’s, I mean... look at it... it can still keep up.!!" The cat turns it on and suddenly the entire thing goes up in smoke, having chunks and pieces rain down on him. "WAIT!!!" he says as he picks stuff up off the floor. " I can rebuild!!" The tech just walks off shaking his head.

 

          "Man!" Ivory says watching this. "It's sad how some people just can't evolve." Shakes her head. "Oh well... on to more important stuff."

 

          Tami continues to look at the cat that's trying to franticly find tiny parts on the floor. "Man, that guy makes my bro look good."

 

          The girls walk over to the counter where they are attended to by a black bear. "May I help you ladies?"

 

          "Yes you can, we're here to pick up this order "Tami gives him an order slip." leans on the counter. "And make it snappy handsome." Both girls wink as he slowly back away and heads off to the back. Tami blushes and hides her face as Ivory elbows her in the ribs and shakes her head. Both girls giggle, as he comes back.

 

          "Here you go ladies, would you like our installation service? It's only 30 bucks more.” He said as he brought out a box with their upgrade parts in them.

 

          Ivory laughs and takes out one of the parts. "No need, I know what I'm doing. Time me Tami." Ivory takes out a tiny pack of tools from her bag. She takes apart her PDA and starts to reassemble it with the new parts added. The clerk watches in amazement as she finishes and turns her PDA back on. "TIME?"

 

          Tami stops her watches. "3 minutes and 13 seconds" She giggles as she sees the clerk’s reaction... his jaw on the counter.  "You must be getting slow."

 

          "Yeah right" Ivory says as she closes the clerk's mouth and takes the box. "I just forgot a few of my tools at home" she winks at Tami and both girls laugh as the set up at a table in the store so she can upgrade Tami's lapstation.

 

          Malcolm walks in and passes by the cat that's trying to patch together his computer. It falls apart again and he breaks down crying. "Get a life will you?" he walks away for a bit then stops and is rather shocked. "Did I just say that to someone!?!? Never thought I'd be the one saying that?" Heads over to his sister and Ivory.

 

          Tami sees her bother heading their way. She giggles and knocks over one of Ivory's tools. Ivory bends down to get it under the table as Malcolm walks in and gets a full view of Ivory's behind. His face turns red as he does not blink... just watching. Tami chuckles as Ivory gets her tool and looks at Tami then turns and sees a red faced Malcolm. She sits back down and her face turns scarlet. She takes a deep breath and kicks Tami under the table before going back to work. Malcolm goes off to a corner of the store and sits down and reads.

 

          Tami chuckles as she rubs her sore leg. "Guess he saw a side of you he never had" Ivory gives her a lethal glare as she hands her back her lapstation.

 

          Just then a little brown bunnyboy with a rather large pair of glasses runs in. "WOW!! Lookit all the toys!!!"

 

          Behind him is a rather winded bunnygirl. She stops to catch her breath then grabs him by the arm. "NOE!! Geez... how did I let mom and dad talk me into taking you with me." The bunnygirl has on a short skirt and a jacket with a familiar heart/carrot symbol on it.

 

Ivory:[voice over] Heh... bet you can't guess who this is? That ball of energy is my little nephew Noe, and that older girl with him is the former ball of energy you guys know as Lynda. Yup... she grew up, and lost a bit of her energy in the process. It's so freaky when I tell people I'm this older girl's aunt.

 

          Ivory waves to her. "Hey Lynda!!" Noe sees them and dashes off in such a gust that Lynda has to hold her skirt down. She sees them and walks over towards them. Noe turns his attention towards Tami while Lynda flops down on the ground next to Ivory.

 

          "Hey Blanca (Gasp)... how's it going" She says trying desperately to catch her breath.

 

          "Hey there little guy, giving your big sister her exercise?" Tami said with a giggle from both her and Noe who nods.

 

          "What are you doing here Lynda? I figured you'd be over at the lab helping your dad out,” Ivory said as she checked out the new revisions to her PDA.

 

          "Well I got sent out to get some things for my dad... mostly upgrades. I swear he upgrades as soon as they come out... rather than when they wear out." She said, standing up and looking over her shoulder at her PDA.

 

          Ivory touches the screen keypad on her PDA opening up new options. "Well in his line of work he needs cutting edge tech, genetics demands it." She looks at her and smiles. "You guys need anyone to help with installation?"

 

          Lynda walks over to the counter and hands the clerk a list. "Yeah right... we can't afford your rates... even WITH the family discount."

 

          Noe had wandered over to Malcolm. He looks at him as Malcolm puts his book down and looks back at him. "Yur a big geek you know dat?"

 

Malcolm looks at him and glares. "At least I can go potty without my sister's help…. unlike you"

 

Noe starts to huff and puff then he breaks out crying which makes Malcolm panic. Tami rushes over and carries him. 'What did you do to him?!?"

 

Malcolm looks at her, sweating bullets as Ivory glances at him. "I didn't even touch him"

 

"There there now." Tami pats him on the back as Noe looks at her rubbing his eyes. "Let's gets way from that mean old boy." And with that they both leave Malcolm... who sees now stick his tongue out at him as he's carried away. Malcolm sighs and just goes back to his reading... that is however until he sees someone heading there way.

 

"Great" Malcolm said as a tiger-striped wolf walked in. "Time for me to suddenly become even more invisible"

 

In walked a sharply dressed tiger-stripes wolf. He had rather long bangs that hung across each side of his face, the rest of his hair slicked back. Tami's eyes feel upon him and she caught Ivory's attention. She swayed her head to point him out to her. Ivory turned her head and saw him. She smiled back at Tami, as in the back Malcolm groaned.

 

"Damn you Zander, why now... why here?" he sighed and went back to reading as he saw Zander notice Ivory and start to head her way.

 

End of Chapter 1