The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories by Kyell Gold Read Free Book Online Page A

died down.
    “ I’m sorry,” Jonas whispered.
    “ Why don’t you have any money?” Pike whispered back.
    Jonas hesitated. “Come on,” Pike said. “I want to sit in front of a fire. Tell me on the way.”
    They walked for another half mile, and Jonas told Pike how Sasha had been such a good friend, how he’d discovered the money gone, how Alexan had seemed so tender and had asked Jonas to come with him (he embellished that part), how Jonas couldn’t think of anything he wanted to do more than just run away. He even told Pike how devastated he’d felt when the fox hadn’t shown up for his appointment, and the raccoon was silent. Jonas hoped he felt guilty.
    They stopped outside a small row house. Pike unlocked the door and slipped inside. “Just keep your voice down,” he said. “The cubs are sleeping.”
    “ Doesn’t your wife mind what you do?” Jonas asked, wondering for the first time.
    Pike shrugged. “She died giving birth to Kirish.”
    “ Oh.” He didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m sorry.”
    The raccoon busied himself lighting a fire. “Her mother stays with the cubs. I make enough money to keep everyone fed, and to pay our taxes.”
    Jonas sat down on the rug and watched as the fire caught. Pike tossed some wood onto it and then left the room. He came back wiping water from his muzzle and handed a wooden cup to Jonas. “Here. I don’t have anything fancier.”
    Jonas sipped the water, curling his tail around him. The fire felt good on his wet paws, but he felt uneasy inside when he saw the wetness on Pike’s muzzle, remembering the black traces of blood he’d put there. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “Are you hurt?”
    “ It’s a little tender.” Pike sat beside him. “It really was for your own good, Jonas. You know, that merchant would’ve just taken you to Ferrenis and then either abandoned you there or abused you ’til you ran away. And then you’d be in a foreign country with nowhere to turn.”
    “ You can’t know that,” Jonas said, but his dream had faded even further. The darkness was going with it, driven out by Pike’s warmth. He felt that all of his other life was a dream, but this was real, and he should hold onto it.
    “ It happened to one prostitute I knew. He ran off with a client and came back seven months later with…he was hurt. And sick. He died a couple months after that. Tally said it had happened at least five times since he started working at the Staff. Neither of us wanted to see it happen to you.”
    “ Hasn’t anyone ever run off and been happy?” Jonas filed away the surprising knowledge that Tally had once been a worker at the Staff. He always thought of the cougar as the manager and couldn’t imagine him spreading his legs for anyone or putting that pretty muzzle between someone’s legs.
    Pike stared into the fire. “Maybe. But it’s not often. Not as often as the other way. Think about it, Jonas. If these people wanted commitment, would they keep coming to us?”
    “ Maybe they just can’t meet people,” he said.
    Pike shrugged and sat quietly, and Jonas sat next to him, basking in the fire’s warmth. “Anyway,” Pike said after a couple minutes, “your fox didn’t come look for you too hard. If he really wanted you to come with him, he’d have asked about you, wouldn’t he? He’ll be on the road and you’ll see him again in the spring. Meanwhile, just try to relax. There are good things about our life, you know.”
    He covered Jonas’s paw with his, and Jonas moved his paw away. Pike withdrew his, and folded his arms in front of him. They didn’t speak again until Jonas said, “I think my paws are dry.”
    “ Better get back to the Staff, then,” Pike said. “I’ll see you for exercises.”
    “ Yeah.” They both got to their feet, and stood awkwardly before Jonas pulled Pike into a hug. “I’m sorry again about your muzzle. Really. I was just…” He struggled to find words to describe how that betrayal