Ranger

Chapter 5

Kroger

When I walked into the mess hall it got quiet and everyone started at me for a few seconds before turning back around. With my dog ears I could hear them saying things like 'animal', 'beast', 'freak', 'unnatural', and 'monster'. It was like being stabbed with knives. I took a plank of wood with a bowl of porridge and a chunk of bread on it like everyone else had and sat at an empty table by myself. I tried over and over to hold the spoon in a paw, but it was no use. I ended up having to hold the bowl down on the table with my paws and slobbering up the porridge with my tongue. This made everyone talk about me more. I was so embarrassed.

Then I joined everyone else in lining up out on a big dirt yard where Misha had shot the arrows. A tall, mean looking man walked along the line, giving us dirty looks.

"I know some of you think you're tough," he said, "but you're not. You will be when I'm done with you, but now you're just a bunch of wimps." I was fidgeting while he talked. What was he going to do to us? The man stood in front of me.

"Damn. You are the hairiest, ugliest thing I have ever seen. What the hell are you?"

I stared at the ground. "I don't know."

"You mean 'I don't know, Sergeant.' And speak up, boy. I can hardly hear you."

"I don't know, Sergeant." The way he was treating me made me feel bad.

"I bet your momma got rid of you, you're so ugly."

"No. She loved me, Sergeant."

"Did she die? Aw, that's too bad."

I felt like crying then. I was glad when Sergeant moved on to say mean things to the other boys instead of me.

"I guess you're here because you think war is some gentleman's game, huh?" Sergeant said to the one boy.

"How dare you speak to me in such a crass manner? Do you have any idea who I am?" asked the boy.

"I am well aware of what family you are from, Fancypants, but y'all are the same to me here."

"And why are we dressed like peasants?"

"That's your training uniform. Get used to it."

"This is preposterous!"

Sergeant made us do all kinds of running, jumping, climbing, and lifting the rest of the day. I was usually the last one to finish whatever we were doing, not because I couldn't have done it faster, but because it was hard and I didn't care anymore.

***

When we were done for the day I dragged myself into the barracks with my tail between my legs and my ears down and threw myself down on my bunk. I laid there whimpering. All I wanted to do was run to the end of the world and throw myself off. There was no point for anything. I was never going to be a ranger.

"Kroger?"

I looked up to see Misha standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came to see how your first day went. Looks like it did not go so well."

"No. It sucked."

Misha sat down next to me. "Why don't you tell me what happened."

"Nobody likes me. They won't sit by me or talk to me. Sergeant said mean things to me and made us do hard work."

"I cried my first day here, too," said Misha.

"Really? but you're so tough."

Misha smiled. "I was not always as strong as I am now. Being the only female in my class made me a pariah like you are now. I wanted to quit, but then I thought about what becoming a ranger meant to me. It was my chance to prove to my parents that I wanted to do more for my kingdom than marrying some pretentious prince and giving him heirs."