Ogreness, Black Lake-book5

Chapter 6

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Sissy went nuts about ten PM. Raised me from a half-drowse. I think I’d read the same paragraph three times already. I leaned out of bed to follow after the pit pull, but while she headed for the foyer, I veered into my office, to check out my new camera feeds.

A twenty-foot flatbed was backin’ into our cul-de-sac. Small forms, movin’ too fast to be human, flicked about in the gloom. A boom moved into place and levered beam after beam onto the long bed.

Gozer and a few other neighbors entered into view. Arms waved. An elf in my office prolly could have heard them grumblin’. I’ve been told they have sensitive ears. Maybe Sissy wasn’t barkin’ just at the loadin’ going on.

Fifteen minutes later those dark wisps moved about, I guess chainin’ down the load, and the rig pulled away, leavin’ no one in sight, like they were never there, except part of the erector set was missin’. Interestin’. But I was more keen on learnin’ who egged my house. The twits.

I called Sissy to calm her down. Third hiss, she let out a final howl at the door before trottin’ up the hall. I gave her silly praise, and then headed for the backyard. I was done readin’, and Sissy needed to do her last business, but I followed her out to keep down the explorin’.

I’d barely stepped outside when a scent matchin’ a newly-acquired memory struck me, waftin’ past the chlorine stench from the pool. I padded slowly to the edge of the screened lanai and whispered, “Ya there?”

A healthy, if subtle ogre growl answered me.

“Ya studyin’ the stars?” I asked.

She didn’t speak for a bit. When she did, her voice was nearer than where the first growl originated. “No peace even out here on the plains, clearly.”

“So ya’re not from around here?” I asked Nuel. As though the Northern accent didn't define that.

Sissy chortled from the far side of the yard, but quieted before I had to shush her. I waited for Nuel to answer. Maybe she didn’t want to talk to a capitalist ogre.

“It’s quiet out here.”

So maybe she’s from the big city.

“Ya from the plains?” she asked.

I told her I grew up on a ranch on the East Slope of the Range. That was sorta true. But mostly only weekends and summer. It’s a story I like better.

“Ya lived in the Range?” There was an odd surprise in her tone. “So. Ya’re old money.”

She could say that. No one could afford to buy a foot of land anywhere in the Range now. “Have cousins who still work the inns on Black Lake.”

“That’s sickening.” The words were terse, but a hint of humor lilted under them. She asked what drew me out of the mountains.

I thought about her question for a moment. I had various answers, dependin’ upon my mood. And audience. Twenty years ago there wasn’t a backlash against our race. Today, I never woulda come down to be closer to our developers, where land is affordable. I woulda preferred to work cattle and attend the quarterly board meetin’, and flee home the minute my great, great uncle adjourned. Wistful thinkin’.

“Tough question?” she asked.

I smiled. She couldn’t guess how tough.

“Silva is dying to know why ya’re still a bachelor.”

Hmm. Really? Silva? Oh, yeah. Nuel wasn’t interested in a capitalist ogre.

She said, “I suggested it was yar body odor and bad looks.”

Ah. That was mean. And funnier than heck.

“After all these years Silva still can’t guess when I’m pulling her chain. I think humans think we ogres are a lot more different than we are.” She asked how my arms are doing.

“Meh. Dress shirt will hide the scratches tomorrow.”

“Ya go into an office, like normal people?”

What? Normal? I opted to leave that and the people-comment alone. Think it's a northern expression. “But I refuse to wear a suit. And I hate ties.”

“In ten more years the fad will fade again,” she said. I think that’s what she said. She was keepin’ her voice down, prolly to keep the neighbor mutts from raisin’ a din.

With that thought, Sissy raised her own fuss. I shushed her. The glow of her white hide trotted toward me, passed right by, and to the wall between us and Nuel. She let out a quiet pit bull yodel.

Nuel said, “I didn’t think they liked our kind.”

Years past, not so much. But if they grow up as puppies around us, they’re smart enough to love us more than humans. A bit of my own prejudice.

“Ya never had a dog?” I asked.

“Never. Scarred as a child by all the neighbor dogs that went nuts when they saw one of us.”

Us. An ogre. Not a lot of ogres in the big city. Most of their buildings still don’t accommodate our height, which is every giant’s hot button. After all these generations, if they wanted to embrace us as neighbors, they would have changed by now.

“Scarred?” I asked.

“Emotionally, not physically. I think my hosts are getting ready for bed. I better call it a night too. Nice chatting with ya.”

Not, good night. Or, see ya. As in, I put up with ya, now go away, forever. Her scent diminished, and the clunk of a slidin’ door openin’ and closin’ raised Sissy’s hackles.

The silence that followed made me feel a little—alone. Which is odd. I figgered out a long time ago that I’m a loner. Got that in common with my cousin, Kriz. When the clan bulls get together and work on a keg, howl old ogre epics, I’m good disappearin’ when I can get away with it.

Darshee and Wizper had both finally given up on me. Like it was possible for me to ever choose one over the other, if I was tempted to end my bachelorhood. The three of us have for the most part, settled in as best of best friends. Though I’m not naive enough to think one or the other wouldn’t slit the other’s throat if that would enable ’em to snag me. Oh. I’m so mean. Got a good ogre ego.

“Let’s go to bed, girl.”

Sissy trotted to my side and we traipsed into the house together.

~ Nuel ~

Rich and good looking. No wonder he’s so full of himself. Dumb enough to lock himself out of his house. What a bumpkin.

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