New Town; New Friends

I was in shock the day that I got a phone call from the police. I was at the equestrian center jockeying some horses, trying to land my first job in the big leagues when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number so I excused myself from the owners of the Thoroughbreds. I could never have expected what happened next, the Chief of Police was on the other end of the line. He informed me that my house was burned down in a suspected arson. The firefighters had found two burned bodies and a dead horse in the backyard. Everything was destroyed in the inferno, all that was left was a huge pile of rubbish and a few badly burned bricks.

After that, I spent several months occupying a crappy room in a cheap hotel while everything got sorted out. As it turned out, the fire was presumed to have started in the living room. There were traces of gasoline throughout the entire lower level, and thought there is a possibility that the fire had started from the fireplace, it was unlikely. The two bodies that were found had turned out to be my dad, which I already had known, and my grandmother. It didn’t make sense to me, my dad hated his mother and she was never allowed to be over at the house.

Despite all of the tragedy that took place, I was unable to get in touch with any of my brothers, or even my birth mother, Stella. I felt as though I had been completely disconnected from the world, except for the other towns folk who mumbled under their breathes as I walked by. Sometimes people would ask me how I was doing, or other completely pointless questions that I didn’t want to answer. I was depressed, and alone, what I needed was a change of pace. Something fresh and new.

This led me to the upcoming city of Starlight Shores. It had a city feel to it, but large spacious empty lots just perfect to recreate myself on. After stopping at the clothing store for a new look, I got in my car and headed towards the city.

Once there, I checked out the local paper to see if I could find the perfect place to build my dream life.

There was a large farm lot just north of town, no neighbors but the wild animals and the mountains. It sounded like the perfect place to me, so without even looking at it, I went to the courthouse and paid cash. I gained ownership that day and was guided to a great contractor who could build me the perfect house.

We went over several different plans, but nothing suited my taste. She finally gave up trying to find something, and just went ahead with a whole new idea. Blueprints, draw right before my eyes, creating my perfect house. The lady looked a bit skeptical of my color choices. “Just wait until you see it all together, it will be great.” She nodded her head, but still seemed unsure of me.

After we shook hands, I left her office and headed over to see my new residence. Upon arrival, I immediately fell in love with the view. It was perfect, open and secluded from everything and everyone else. As I stood in awe of my new surroundings, I heard a territorial bark. I looked over to the sound and found a large spotted dog frantically running back and forth across the lot.

Surely it had to have been someones pet at one time. “Come here, Lady.” I whistled to the dog and she came shyly over to me, never letting her guard down. I held my hand out to her and she put her nose to me.

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but I must not have been too bad, because she went over to the middle of the lot and laid back down.

It took several months for the construction workers to get my house completed, all the while, I was staying in another cheap motel. Each new morning, I would drive out to my lot and see what progress had been made. And every morning, that dog was there, waiting for me to come with a treat.

It didn’t take long for her to warm up to me, and I was happy to have a companion.

Finally, the house was completed. It turned out even better than I had imagined.

There was just one thing missing. I turned to look at the dog, once again at my feet ferociously wagging her tail in excitement. I got down eye to eye with her and asked, “Lady, would you like a new home?”

She jumped up and licked my face all over. I know she had no idea what I was talking about, but she sure was happy. In preparation for adopting the dog, I had already gotten all of the amenities for her. I pulled out the pink, diamond studded collar I had custom made at the jewelry store and slipped it over her massive head. “Now we both have a home, Lady.” She smiled up at me and licked my face again.

I got up and patter her on the head, “Now you stay here and guard the house while I go to the gym.” She woofed at me and sat down.

I slowly backed away while whispering, “Stay… stay girl… stay….”

She just stared at me like I was crazy, I knew she wouldn’t go anywhere though. She had her forever home, and so did I.

I went to my car and drove down to the gym. During my motel days, I had acquired a job at the stadium. Originally, I went there to apply for the open position on the soccer team. Unfortunately, the coach said I was much too scrawny to join the team. With my previous Jockey dreams, I had always worked hard to keep myself as skinny as I could, but now my goal was to bulk up and become a top athlete for the Llamas. Until then, I was stuck selling hot dogs and foam fingers to fatties.

Since I hadn’t really ever worked out, I knew the best place for me to go would be the gym. Hoping to find someone who could coach me, or at least work out beside me. The first person I ran into was a rude woman, she wouldn’t even give me a wave. Despite my enthusiastic hello, she completely ignored me and headed up the stairs to the workout room.

I followed her up the stairs after changing into my workout gear and hopped onto a treadmill next to  a pretty lady. She was very fit and was constantly bumping up the speed of her machine. Nervously, I turned mine up to a slow jog.

She smiled at me and turned hers up again.

Was she trying to encourage me to go faster?

I smiled back and bumped mine up a couple more notches. She laughed and went faster. I laughed too and pushed mine to go faster. We were both at a run, hers much faster than mine though. Just as I went to bump it up again, my foot caught on the fast flying tread and I felt myself flying backwards.

My arms shot forwards and I grasped the handles as hard as I could.

The lady quickly hopped off her machine and hit the emergency stop on mine. My body slid off of the machine and I landed face down on the hard floor. Embarrassment washed over me and I didn’t want to move an inch. “Are you ok, sir?” The girl was squatting next to me.

I rolled over and she helped me stand up, “I’m a bit new to this working out thing.” I tried playing it smooth, but I knew the damage had already been done.

“My name is Sadie Mason. I come here a lot. You know, you shouldn’t try to beat a pro at her game.” She laughed, her eyes shone brightly under the fluorescent bulbs of the steel building. My mouth made no sound, it just fumbled a weak smile as she shook my hand.

“I’m… I’m… Cole… Cole Greymane. I’m new in town.” I squeaked out.

“Well it’s nice to meet you. Maybe we will run into each other again sometime. I have to go now, I hope you didn’t hurt yourself!” She started to walk away.

“It’s just a bump.” I called after her, “I’ll be fine.”

I stood there awkwardly in the gym looking around at the men who were all working out. Thankfully, someone came up to offer me some help.

“My name is Darren Lotts. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation with Sadie. I just wanted to let you know that she is dating a guy name Rich. So you might not want to waste your time on her.”

“Oh, uh, ok. Thanks for the heads up. I was just looking for someone to work out with though.”

He stuck his hand out at me, “Well then, I’m your guy!”

Darren showed me how to do a chin up, like I didn’t already know, “Now it’s your turn. Work on this while I run on the treadmill. If you need any help just yell. I don’t think you will need me though, chin ups are pretty self explanatory.”

The bar hung just over my head. Piece of cake. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my back.

After jumping up and grabbing the bar, I realized that maybe doing chin ups wasn’t as easy as I had thought it would be. The bar was pretty slippery, and several times, I fell on my bottom, lucky for me, no one was paying much attention to the new guy in the corner of the gym.

I looked around before trying again, no women.

Well, at least I’m not the only one having problems.

 

Chapter Two: Settling In