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  "No," Jackie replied, sharply stabbing some Russet potatoes with a fork before putting them in the microwave. "But he does stare at Seth and me whenever we go outside. He's flipping creepy. Just stands there. And stares…

  "Maybe I should go over there and have a little chat-" Franklin’s voice trailed off at the sound of Jackie's "What does the Fox say?" ringtone. He shot his wife a dirty look. "Seriously? That's your ringtone?"

  "Hush up," she laughed, sliding her finger across the screen as she answered the phone. "Seth thinks it's funny."

  Franklin left her and went back to the living room as Jackie began her conversation. He picked up the remote from Seth who was playing submarine with it again, and began channel surfing to find something more interesting on TV to watch than the news. He had finally settled on a good Clint Eastwood movie, when Jackie walked back into the living room.

  "That was my friend, Larissa,” Jackie pestered. “She says that something is in her garage. Her husband thinks it's a large raccoon or something."

  "Oh ok, that's kind of cool.” Franklin replied absently, waiting for Eastwood to utter his famous words. “Feeling lucky, punk?”

  “You’re not listening to me!” Jackie crossed her arms.

  “Sure I am, honey.” Franklin’s stomach growled. “So is her husband going to chase it out?”

  "No, he's not. Larissa says he's scared of being bitten and getting rabies. She called because she wants to go to her bridge club meeting tonight but her car is in the garage.”

  "What? You’ve got to be kidding me... He won't get a raccoon out of his own garage so his own wife can go to a dinner party on a bridge?"

  Jackie rolled her eyes. "For the last time, it’s a card game. And I know it sounds pathetic, but can you get off your keister and help them? She really wants to go." Jackie put her arms around her husband. “If you do this for me I’ll make it worth your while later tonight when Seth goes to bed.” Her eyes sparkled and she kissed Franklin.

  Franklin’s eyes shot wide open. "Won't take me but a minute!" he said quickly, hopping to his feet. "I'll grab my pistol, shoot it, and come home. And for the record, your friend’s husband is a weenie."

  Jackie shook her head and smiled. "Just go, sweetie. And grab some milk on your way home."

  Franklin ran upstairs to his bedroom and changed out of his work clothes into a pair of well-worn jeans and a red t-shirt. Grabbing a familiar .357 magnum revolver from his sock drawer he flipped out the cylinder and ran his fingers down the cold, shiny, blued steel. Satisfied his favorite firearm was loaded he shoved it into his waistband, and flew down the steps towards the door.

  "I'm leaving, honey! There won't be anything left of that raccoon if it's still there. I'm going to show that big weenie how to take care of a pest problem!" He almost reached the doorknob before he poked his head back into the living room. “By the way, buttercup,” Franklin grinned. “I can’t wait for later. You sure know how to please your man.”

  "Don't forget the milk," Jackie said, trying to hide her grin.

  Franklin sprinted to his car and slid across the hood Dukes of Hazzard style. Realizing he slid over to the passenger's side, he shook his head and ran back around to the driver's side. He hopped in and pulled out of the driveway. It was a good fifteen minute drive to Larissa and Kevin's house in current traffic. He wasn’t sure why they couldn't just open the door and come back twenty minutes later after the animal left. Or why Kevin couldn't go in there and boot it out on his own. What a wuss.

  A few minutes later, Kevin met Franklin as he parked the car in the driveway. "I just don't want to get bit or I'd go in there myself!" Kevin stammered as Franklin stepped out of the car and shook his hand.

  "So you want me to get bit?" Franklin asked a little sarcastically. "I'm not exactly keen on the idea myself."

  "Well you are kind of used to doing stuff that's a little scary and crazy. You’re like that wild man on that tv show that yodels and catches dangerous animals with his bare hands!”

  Franklin chuckled. “'Yodel of the Wildman'? I love that show.” Ah, the curse of having a little bit of testosterone. “Well, maybe I'll take it home and eat it after I shoot it."

  "What? You can't do that! Don't hurt it! I just want it to leave."

  Franklin groaned. "Fine, I won't shoot it unless I need to. Can we finally go get this taken care of? My wife wants me to get some milk from the store on the way back."

  Kevin agreed, and the pair walked down the driveway, leading to the garage behind the house. From outside they could hear a low growl and tools rattling around.

  "Kevin,” Franklin said, eyeing the door, “that doesn't sound like any raccoon to me. That thing is making too much of a racket."

  "Well, that's why I wanted you to come take care of it. I thought it might be a really big rabid coon." Kevin eyed his reflection in a puddle of water near the door.

  Franklin chuckled again and wondered what kind of men society was raising these days. “The only thing rabid will be me kicking its hind-end!” He pointed to the door and boomed, "Open the door, I'm going in!"

  Kevin hesitated to disengage the lock. He let out a little whimper and whispered, "I'm going to stay out here." He pushed open the door and retreated ten yards back and stood behind his brick barbeque pit.

  Franklin walked over to the door and stepped inside and scanned the dark interior of the cluttered garage. He was met by the typical earthy, musty smell of a garage that doubles as a storage shed, but there was a strange metallic scent he couldn’t recognize. He tried to flip on the light, but nothing happened as he worked the switch back and forth. “Hey Kevin, do you have a flashlight?” A few seconds later a small keychain light landed next to his feet. “Thanks,” Franklin muttered, as he bent over to pick it up.

  The small LED light shot a small beam of brightness into the darkness. Stepping over boxes, air tools, and garden trowels, he penetrated deeper into the dark recess. Franklin strained his eyes to see movement, but to no avail. Instead he heard another rattle and a growl coming from the other side of Larissa’s brand new sports car.

  “Geez,” Franklin whispered to himself. “I didn’t know Kevin was so loaded.” He carefully stepped in front of the hood and admired the air scoop and bright yellow paint job. “Hey Kevin, maybe there’s a Deceptacon in-“.

  A long outstretched arm with a torn shirt sleeve suddenly materialized out of the darkness and clashed with Franklin’s head, surprising him, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. Looking upward, he was horrified to view the source of the commotion. Right before his eyes was the shredded body of a raccoon swinging from the jaws of a disheveled human being!

  II

  Central Kentucky Regional Airport, Lexington, KY

  Scattered rays of sun finally burst through the overcast sky as the thunderstorm that had dumped 3 inches of rain over the Bluegrass Plateau receded. As the sun returned to bake the landscape, the humidity soared and the muggy temperature outside seemed unbearable to those unfortunate enough to work out on the tarmac.

  Flight 3847 inbound from Charlotte, North Carolina kissed the end of the runway after being delayed due to the inclement weather. It would receive a thirty minute turn from workers before being sent back out as 3850 with service back to Charlotte.

  Jesse wiped the sweat off his brow and grabbed a set of orange marshaling wands from on top of the mobile ground power unit. As the CRJ-700 drew closer, he signaled for the aircraft to follow the “J line” in to be parked. After inserting chocks and hooking up ground power, he sighed as he headed to the rear of the aircraft to begin the downloading process.

  It was just another day for twenty five year old Jesse as he stacked passenger’s luggage in a bag cart and waited for the boarding process to commence. Not being native to Kentucky, the sweltering May humidity slowed him down. Originally from the dry climate of Idaho, he had moved east for college at the University of the Bluegrass. After two years he scaled down to part time classes and dove i
nto the work force in an effort to pay bills and save more money. The cost of attending a university was just too much for his empty wallet.

  Jesse’s thoughts were interrupted as his radio blared. “Charlotte ramp, we’ve got 3 late bags coming out to the aircraft for you.”

  “Copy,” Jesse replied, his voice lacking any enthusiasm what-so-ever. He had grown tired of his current job. The lack of quality leadership among management, the overlooking of dangerous safety issues by other agents, and witnessing countless co-workers being promoted despite their slothful, arrogant, and lazy actions had dragged morale down to an all-time low.

  Jesse had been raised on a small family farm and was instilled with a strong work ethic. It angered him to see hard work go unnoticed at his current job, while slacking off was rewarded. Oh well he thought. It’s the way the world works now. Stupid butt-kissers.

  The last of the bags were loaded into the cargo pit, and Jesse shut the door. He glanced at his watch. 1815. Sweet. Only one more hour and I can go home. He delegated the other pre-departure duties and hopped into the pushback to be ready for communication with the captain. It was only a short distance out to the taxiway and the process took only a minute.

  It was a welcome relief when he finally stepped back inside the cool air conditioned terminal and downed a bottle of Gatorade. He had just thrown the bottle in the trash can when he heard the sound of the door to the staff break room opening behind him. Spinning around, he immediately turned bright red at the sight of who it was.

  “Well hi, Jesse!” the girl said, a large smile beaming across her face as she strode to the refrigerator to extract her lunch from the jumbled mess of grocery sacks on the shelves.

  “H-hi, Katelyn,” Jesse stuttered back. Katelyn was a passenger service agent part time while she was finishing up graduate work at Jesse's university. The two of them saw each other around campus occasionally, but most of their interaction was at the airport. “H-how is your homework coming?” he managed to choke out.

  Katelyn shook her head as she took a bite of her roast beef sandwich. Swallowing, she replied, “It’s coming. Nobody said microbiology is easy.”

  Jesse nodded. “I can imagine. Kudos to you for being able to hack it.”

  “Well thank you. You’re in the middle of school as well, aren’t you?”

  “Part-time. I almost have enough money saved up to enroll in a couple more classes next term. I only need ten more credits to complete my business degree.” Jesse blushed and looked at the floor. It was always unnerving for him to talk to Katelyn.

  “Oh!” Katelyn exclaimed, wiping her lips with a napkin. “I’m sorry I forgot to get back to you about your text to me last week. I got caught up with school and work.” She smiled.

  “It’s not a problem,” Jesse lied. “I know you’re busy.”

  Katelyn laughed. “Well anyways,” she met Jesse’s gaze. “Yes, I would like to go out with you some evening.”

  Jesse couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His other ground service friends had harassed him about Katelyn ever since she started working there a year ago. The two had gotten to know each other a little bit on breaks and at the company Christmas party but he had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her out only a little over a week ago.

  “I know this is sort of sudden,” Katelyn continued, “but tonight would work out really well for me. So if you’re free-“

  “Oh I don’t have any plans. Tonight works great.” Jesse blushed and pretended to inspect a spot on the wall.

  She balled up her lunch bag and tossed it in the trash. "Bulls-eye!" she hollered. She tilted her head and looked at Jesse, “Well, what time are you coming to pick me up?”

  “How about 19:00? That will give me enough time to check up on an accounting class discussion board and get cleaned up.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll see you tonight,” Katelyn said, smiling and walking past Jesse to go back to the ticket counter. Her lingering perfume caught Jesse’s scent glands as a shiver of excitement shot up his spine.

  He strolled back outside to work the next inbound aircraft and get his paperwork ready. Well the rest of this day is going to go by fast, he thought, as he pushed open the door and the hot, humid air blasted his body once again.

  Jesse sighed, glanced at his watch, and ran outside to work his last flight for the day.

  * * *

  The skilled waiter navigated the sea of customers sitting around circular tables as he balanced a large 24 inch pan above his head. As he twirled around the room bobbing and weaving, he made the task appear much easier than it really was.

  Jesse’s mouth watered at the sight of the beautiful morsels of food about to be bestowed upon him. He and Katelyn had decided on a local Italian pizza restaurant and had picked the largest item on the menu: The Great Luigi. This gargantuan pizza, as its name implied, came with everything under the sun. Green, yellow, and red peppers, mushrooms, onions, olives, jalapenos, tomatoes, pineapple, Swiss, cheddar, and parmesan cheeses, ground hamburger, ground pork sausage, Vienna sausage, bacon, pepperoni, chicken, cubed steak, and Canadian bacon.

  “Here you are,” the waiter said, setting the pan on the table. “You two enjoy.” The couple didn’t waste any time in diving right into the savory delight before them. A full five minutes passed before conversation resumed between them.

  “So what was that you were saying about cellular mitosis, before our food came?” Jesse asked, as he wiped his mouth on a napkin.

  Katelyn blushed. “Oh it doesn’t matter. I’ve been talking about that stuff enough tonight. What about you?”

  “Not much to tell, I’m afraid.” Jesse chuckled.

  “Hmm. Tell me what Idaho is like?”

  “Well, the area where I grew up is really boring. It’s a long flat expanse that stretches from Ontario, OR, to Idaho Falls, ID. It’s called the Snake River Plain. It’s a very volcanic region formed as the North American Plate inched across the asthenosphere and the hot spot currently under Yellowstone National Park…” his voice trailed off.

  “What’s wrong?” Katelyn asked, cupping her chin on her hands.

  “Aw, heck, you don’t want to hear about this. I’m sorry. I’m kind of a geology nerd. I sound like an encyclopedia entry.”

  “Jesse, you’re fine.” She smiled. “You make the geology of Idaho sound kind of interesting, actually!”

  “Well, north of the Snake River Plain is a large expanse of mountains and wilderness. A prominent geological feature is the Idaho Batholith. It’s composed largely of granite that has been weathered into awe inspiring peaks, like the Sawtooth Mountain Range. I can show you a picture if you’d like?”

  “I’d love to see some pictures.”

  Jesse withdrew his phone from his pocket and thumbed through a picture album. “Here you go. This is a picture of some of the peaks next to Yellow Belly Lake.”

  “Oh my gosh! That’s so beautiful! What were you doing up there?”

  “Eh, just hanging out with a couple friends for the weekend. We were canoeing around the lake and trying to catch fish. The water is so clear up there.”

  “I wouldn’t have any clue about what clear water is,” Katelyn laughed. “I’ve spent most of my life here in Kentucky. All we have is muddy water.”

  “But you have the Cumberland Plateau!” Jesse’s eyes sparkled. “It’s laced with limestone that contains the deepest caves in the country.”

  Katelyn giggled. “Ah, yes. You did warn me when we first met that any conversation we had was bound to involve caves at some point.”

  In an effort to turn the conversation away from himself, Jesse asked, “So what’s the most frightening adventure you have been on?”

  “Oh, good question.” Katelyn paused to think. “I think I would have to say rock climbing in Red River Gorge. In high school a guy I liked invited me to go climbing with his buddies one weekend. It was fun, but I’ve never been more scared in my life. There was one instance where I lost my grip and fell… two feet u
ntil the rope stopped me.” She took a sip of water. “What about you?”

  “I was down at Neversink Pit in Alabama with a friend. It’s roughly one hundred sixty feet deep. This was the first sinkhole I had ever dropped where I could see the entire way down in daylight. My friend rigged the rope and dropped down first. When my turn came I hooked into the rope and the hardest part was backing out over the edge. I’ve never felt such a rush of adrenaline and fear before.”

  “I’m not sure if I could do that. But I would definitely try!” Katelyn glanced at her watch.

  “Time for you to go?” Jesse asked, amazed at how fast time had flown by.

  “Actually,” she gave him a sly grin. “How about some ice cream and pie? I know a really swell joint about half a mile away. It’s a nice evening for a walk anyways.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, I'd love to, but I'm really trying to prioritize my money for next semester."

  “My treat, Jesse.”

  Jesse met Katelyn’s gaze and couldn’t say no to that adorable smile, sparkling blue eyes, and long straight brown hair. “Okay, let’s go get some dessert.”

  Jesse added a tip to his bill and handed his card to the waiter. A moment later he returned and Jesse thanked him. “It was a very good meal. Thank you, sir.”

  “My pleasure, young man. You two have a nice evening.”

  Jesse held the door open for Katelyn and together they began walking downtown to the fabled ice cream parlor Katelyn spoke of.

  “I’ve lived in Lexington for about two years now and I still get lost,” Jesse said. “I only know a few main streets. I never venture out unless I need something.”

  “I know almost every street,” Katelyn teased, and gave Jesse a playful shove.

  Jesse regained his footing and asked, “So how do you want to use your degree in microbiology?”

  “I’d like to get into the research and development area for vaccinations, antibiotics, and study disease outbreak patterns.”

  “That sounds fun. You could be right on the front lines developing the latest treatment when crap hits the fan and a new plague sweeps across the world!”