The Wolf, Tiger, and Wolf pup

Chapter 5

"ARE YOU SERIOUS? That happened?" gasped Antony.

"Yeah, my mom threw the tennis ball ten meters away from my dad and hit the shed roof twice before hitting him on the head. And not to mention HARD on the head," said Rudra.

"Geez, that must have been such a sight to see the ball flying around; your mom must have been proud of that throw," said Antony.

The two mammals had been chatting for almost an hour and a half and were down two drinks each.

Mark had been busy reading a book he had recently and left the grey wolf and Bengal tiger to chat. Rudra was telling Antony a story about his mother, and judging by how she described her in that story, and she seemed to be a gentle but vicious tigress.

"Your parents sound fun by the amount of stuff you've told me just now; do you still talk to each other?" asked Antony.

Rudra silently drank his beer. "No, they died when I was 14," he said.

The mammals went quiet momentarily, and Antony's body fell stiff with embarrassment; the grey wolf didn't know his parents had died but felt awful for how he asked him.

"Ay dios mío, I'm sorry for asking you about that. I.. I didn't know about that," said Antony weakly.

"It's fine; I've gotten over their deaths now and just living as normally as I can," said Rudra.

"So what kind of things do you get up to nowadays?" the grey wolf asked.

"Well, after I finish work, I go down to the coffee shop in town and order a hot honey milk. Then I find a window seat and chill out for an hour; sometimes, I take a book I like and read it to myself."

Antony wondered if Rudra was talking about the Meow Bao café on the other side of town since that was the only cafe around that had windows. He remembered he and Lucas going once how the drinks they ordered weren't all that great. He continued to listen to more of the tiger's story.

"The weekends for me are the ones where I try to do something out of my comfort zone, like going out to nightclubs and to more crowded areas. I have been struggling with myself recently about not being as social as others, but I am trying to become a better cat for myself."

"That's thoughtful and brave to do that," said Antony. "It must have been scary when trying it out for the first time."

"It was, but it gets easier every time if you have the willpower to keep going, so that's what I did from there."

Antony watched Rudra take another sip of his beer while thinking of something else to say to the tiger, not too personal but casual and simple.

"Um, you can tell me to stop if you want, but do you mind me asking? All those times at work, we would chat for a small bit for around two minutes and then go on to our daily routines as usual. I'm not saying anything was wrong with that, but it always stuck to that 5 minutes and never beyond that," said Antony. "Was there a reason why?"

But a loud siren came outside the bar before the tiger could answer. Everyone in the bar was confused, and some went out to see what was happening; Mark glanced up from his book with a confused look.

"Is there something happening outside?" asked Mark.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't go out to see it," said Rudra. "You two coming with?"

The three mammals went over to the crowded entrance to see what was happening; Antony could see some cars driving past the bar but couldn't distinguish who it was due to how packed the front door was. The grey wolf carefully walked past a couple of people and animals to see appropriately; his fur stood up as he saw the C.H.A.N.G.E logo on the cars.