A New Decade (Story) (Patreon)

I've been so busy getting stuff ready for my GOH appearance at Fur the 'More I haven't had time to polishing anything up for Patreon this month. Thus I'm sharing my con book story that's coming out at  the con this weekend. Since the theme for the con is Furries and Fedoras, I created something that introduces the 1920s to the reader.


The heavy coat tried to protect Cecil against the blizzard, but his exposed tail was wet and cold by the time the fennec reached the diner. The warmth of the restaurant was welcome after being out in the storm. Before going to grab a seat at the counter, he hung his coat up by the door. Then he sat down and waited, trying to get some sensation back into his numb body and tired mind. He wasn’t sure he was still awake until the cup of coffee landed in front of him with the soft clank of ceramic, and the smell of awareness came tickling at his nose.

“Rough night?” asked the waitress.

Cecil looked up at the familiar tabby cat in her crisp, blue uniform and its white smock. “Yeah,” he said picking up the cup of java. “Long night in the office. I was busy all shift.”

Maude pulled out her pad and a pencil. “Is this a two eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon type of night or more a ham and Swiss omelet kind of night?”

Cecil took a long sip of coffee, feeling the warmth in his muzzle. He wasn’t a cold weather animal by any means, but he did the best he could. “Two eggs,” said the fennec.

“You got it.” She scribbled down the order and took it down to the cook who was working the grill.

Thinking, Cecil nursed his coffee, not aware of his surroundings. He could still hear the clicking of keyboards and the printing of the telegrams in his ears even though he’d been off work for almost thirty minutes now.

“You going to tell me about it?” asked the cat.

“Hmm?” said Cecil, looking up to see who was talking to him. She was standing behind the counter, tail lashing. “Oh, I don’t want to keep you from waiting your tables, Maude.”

The tabby topped off the fennec’s java. “It must have been a really rough night, and it can’t just have been the weather,” she remarked.

“Why do you say that?”

“Cecil, how many people are in here right now?”

The fennec glanced around. Besides Maude, Mel was at the grill cooking up his order. The tiger whistled as he worked to the sizzle of the food. The only other sound in the diner was the wind blowing outside. The rest of the restaurant was empty. “Oh,” he said, embarrassed he’d not realized the place was deserted.

“It’s still early, but the storm is keeping people indoors. It will be a bit before they start coming in.” Maude leaned against the counter. “So, what happened this time?

The fennec sighed. “The usual, but worse. We had traffic coming in all night for people wishing each other Happy New Year's. Things were coming in machine-gun-like from the West Coast for the first few hours, and before that could taper off, we were getting a flood of telegrams from Europe and Africa. It’s like the world doesn’t sleep anymore.”

The cat chuckled. “It doesn’t, but that’s just how it’s all changed. Each decade the din of progress seems to get louder, more intense, if you ask me. This new one is certainly off to a busy start, at least in your business.”

The fennec sipped his coffee. “You can’t keep going faster and faster. There’s a point people can’t do that no more.”

“It’s how it is. Little that we can do about it, but Mel and I will get you fixed up good.”

The fennec’s ears went down. “That’s sweet of you Maude. I just need some rest.”

Her tail flicked back and forth, amused. “Should I take that java from you?” she asked.

He shook his head, his big ears flapping with the motion. “No. I need to stop at the corner store after this. When that’s done, I can get some sleep.” The fennec fished his pocket watch out of his vest and looked at the time. “They should be open in about an hour.”

“Assuming they’re even open today with all that snow and it being a holiday. I haven’t even seen the newsies out yet this morning, so you might be out of luck. I’m sure the paper printed a special edition for New Year’s, so if they’re not out braving this, I doubt the corner store is even going to bother opening.”

The fennec glanced out the window of the diner and sighed. Snow was blowing past the window in the early morning light. “Yeah… It’s pretty bad out there.”

“This could go on all day.”

“I’ll see how it looks when I leave. You’re open at least.”

“People had to celebrate. Last call is coming though, so I’m sure many celebrated heartily while they still can. Once they wake up, they’ll be hungry, and that’s good business. When it warms up a little more, we’ll get some customers, even with the snow.”

The two lapsed into silence after that, and a few minutes later, Mel brought over the fennec’s breakfast, putting it down in front of him. “I did it up the way you like with some Tabasco,” he remarked. “Get your year started right.”

“Thanks,” said the fox, picking up his utensils. He was hungry and hadn’t eaten all night. Maude and Mel let him enjoy it on his own. He ate slowly, savoring the meal and the spicy flavors playing across his tongue, as his inner self curled into a warm ball. He was lost in his own thoughts when he felt the brush of cold air and someone tugging at his sleeve.

“Hey, you Mr. Cecil,” asked the young wolf.

The fennec blinked and had to swallow before he could speak. “Yeah.” He recognized the messenger from work. “What are you doing here?”

“Telegram,” said the wolf. “It came in after you left.”

“They’ve got you out doing deliveries in this?” he asked.

“Boss wanted to get people their letters,” the wolf explained. “He’s paying double-time today, so I took the shift.”

The job never stopped. “I guess that makes up for it a little. How did you know I’d be here?”

The messenger wolf shrugged. “Lucky guess. They said you sometimes come here after your shift, and I suspected you’d stop by before you braved the snow all the way home.” The young wolf held out an envelope to Cecil with his name written on it

“Thank you,” said the fennec, taking the letter. He flipped it around in his handpaws. He’d been receiving messages like this all night, but he didn’t expect to get one himself.

The messenger nodded and turned to head out of the diner.

“Look like work finds you no matter what,” said Maude, bringing back the coffee pot. She was going to poor more into his cup, but the fox waved her off.

“Apparently.” He tore open the envelope and read the telegram inside.

SAN FRANCISCO DEC 31 1919

ARRIVED AT AUNT GENEVIEVES WEATHER WONDERFUL HAPPY NEW YEAR MOM

“Good news?”

“Mom made it to San Francisco. She’s visiting her sister.” He looked at the send date. “Looks like she sent it as a night letter so it would arrive when I was working. The amount of traffic last night must have delayed it.”

“Well, she’s thinking of you.”

“Yeah,” he yawned. “I just wish connections like this didn’t require someone at the printer all hours of the night.”

The tabby cat held up the coffee pot. “Progress is rough, but I can at least get you going. Happy New Year by the way.”

He smiled. “Thanks, same to you and Mel. Here’s hoping the twenties are better than the teens. It’s already off to a roar at the telegram office.”