FREE STORIES 2012(106)

"Jack?" Renard called from the forklift's bench seat. He'd returned an hour ago licking his lips and presented Jack with a frog as a peace offering. (The gift would have been more impressive if he hadn't obviously found the frog in one of Jack's frog traps and then complained that it had peed in his mouth.) "You okay?"

"Dropped the fucking bolt!" Jack barked out a series of words he knew were curses and some words he only suspected were curses.

"That last word does not mean what you think it means," Renard said with annoying calmness. "And it's impossible for bolts to fuck, at least in the sexual manner."

"Just shut up!" Jack snarled. He needed the bolt. It was aluminum, so using a magnet on a string wouldn't help. Could he reach it from underneath? He eyed all four of the access holes at the bottom of the housing, trying to judge if he stuck his hand up thru one of them, he'd be able to reach the bolt.

Something dark moved through the shadows under the forklift and his nose told him that it was a mouse. Sometimes the mice would fetch things for him if he asked nicely, but if he called to the mouse, he'd attract Renard's attention. Besides, he didn't actually "talk" to mice so much as "pantomime."

"And you can't fix the mower on the hayfield?" Alfie clip—clopped around the idea of what they were trying to do.

Jack brushed his right thumb and forefinger together in a whisper of a snap to attract the mouse.

Renard didn't seem to notice the sound, snickering at the conversation. The cat understood the machines only marginally better than the pony but he recognized the circular nature of their conversation.

As Jack waited to see if the mouse realized he was asking for help, Jack stared at his outstretched hand. There were times it seemed horribly wrong. It wasn't much different from Renard's but still the fingers seemed too short or the thumb seemed too long or both or neither.

No mouse appeared.

Jack answered Alfie's question to cover a second quiet snap. "We had to fry the brain on that mower which is why we need to tow it with the forklift to make hay." They'd discussed simply having Alfie tow the mower but the hay field was on a fairly steep hillside (which was probably why there were no buildings on it.) There was a chance that the mower would simply knock the pony down and run him over. Alfie would also work off any little fat that he had, rendering the whole process a negative gain.

"Before we can do that, we need to change over this forklift's controls because..." Which required the dropped bolt. Which was out of reach from the access hole in the bottom of the housing. Maybe if he used a bent wire…

A mouse popped up through the far right access hole.

So far for Jack communication hadn't hit the level of exchanging real names. He'd given nicknames to a dozen that he could recognize by sight and smell. This mouse was black with a torn ear and a surprisingly large set of gonads. Jack had named it Notch.

The mouse waved in greeting but didn't call out, probably because he understood that Renard was in ear shot.

Jack pointed at the bolt. Notch scanned the housing, spotted the bolt, and scurried to it. Picking it up with his mouth, Notch climbed up through the motor to drop it into Jack’s outstretched palm. Unfortunately, there was no way to thank the mouse. Jack would have to owe Notch a treat.

"Because?" Renard prompted.

Jack frowned, screwing the retrieved bolt into place. What had he been talking about? "Because – because whoever built this world clearly did not have me in mind."

"God," Renard said.

"What?"

"God made the world." Renard expanded, marking his place in his reader with a flick of his paw. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Yadayadayada, I don't remember it all. Just the cool parts. Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good…" Renard trailed off as Jack cocked his head in confusion. "Do you not read anything?"

"I read the instruction manual for this thing." Jack disappeared back into the motor housing of the forklift again. "I know how this is suppose to work." He came bounding out, tail wagging with excitement despite his irritation. He jumped up onto the seat beside Renard and posed with his paws on the steering wheel and then looked meaningfully at the foot pedals down in the darkness. "And this world wasn't built with me in mind."

"Nor me." Alfie muttered clopping through his paces in the endless circle of the power generator.

"More you than me." Jack called to the pony, and muttered lowly. "If you had hands and a more flexible spine."