[石炭紀]A Day in Carboniferous

[MINE]

說在前面--

前兩天終於把這篇短篇小說趕出來，也交上去了
在期中本來只有三頁的
在這半學期每個星期逼自己去找老師修文章
最後增加到14頁....只能說有志者事竟成"

這個"石炭紀"故事的內容
其實早在三年前，我還沒在美國唸書前就已經成形了
雖然那時我並沒有迷獸人，不過已經有自己是貓人的自覺了
所以就先創了奧圖(Otto)這個阿比西尼亞半貓人，做為自己的形象代表
那時又很迷柯南的灰原
就以她當基礎，創了嘉娜(Karna)這個角色跟奧圖一起
(不過這三年我經過了不少事，嘉娜的個性改得跟灰原差很多..."")
開咖啡店又是當時覺得"人生應當如是"(笑)的事
把他們摻在一起做撒尿...嗯"...就是石炭紀的雛型了

幾個小資料:
1."石炭紀"標題的由來
因為要記得以前是唸生物的事，警醒自己，所以要挑一個跟生物科系相關的名詞
高中時期的生物老師，曾經教地層時代的順口溜來背，所以就用"石炭紀"了

2."奧圖"名字的由來
曾經在屈臣氏打過工；屈臣氏自己找廠商做的東西上面，很多都有仿HELLO KITTY
的"MOTO"兔。就像KITTY有DANIEL，MOTO也就有一個"OTTO"當男朋友...是滴，那
時我想不到好名字，所以我就用OTTO=奧圖當名字了
除此之外...奧圖也是鄂圖曼帝國的皇帝名之一，也因此其他半獸人角色也大都是
皇帝的名字
比方說奧圖的哥哥叫"彼得"(俄國彼得四世)
奧圖的妹妹叫"凱西"(俄國的凱塞琳女皇)
花店的"愛莎"(Elsa)(英國的伊莉莎白女皇)
番外篇的"亞瑟"(亞瑟王也算吧XD"")

3."嘉娜"名字的由來
富堅義博的名作"LEVEL-E"裡，王子女兒的名字

4.故事以後的走向
雖然說奧圖是半獸人，嘉娜跟灰原一樣是逃走的天才科學家；不過，這是生活的
故事。主角們並非勇者，只是平凡生物而已。所以什麼都很淡淡的平靜的為主。
這倒是受到個人很喜歡的"橫濱購物紀行"的影響。不過我沒有那位作者那麼好就
是了(邪笑)

[MINE]

BEGINING--


A Day in Carboniferous

When I open my eyes, I notice the lights from the Television. It’s on.
“Again?” I complain. I fell asleep again to this video game. In these
days, this situation happens frequently. It’s doesn’t mean this game is too
boring to me. In fact, I think it is interesting. I was just a little too
tired.

I look at the clock. It’s just five thirty. The sun has not risen yet.
My window faces west; I think that’s why the sky still looks like midnight.
Maybe the opposite side of the sky is whiter than here. Suddenly my body
shakes itself, and I notice that I am just wearing a T-shirt and thin boxers
in such cold weather. I open my comforter on the bed, and dive into it. I
still feel my ears, my nose, my paws, feet, and even tail cold. I grab the
hair dryer, put it into the comforter, and turn it on “HUUUUUU….” As the
noise comes out, the warm air fills up the space around me. I feel better.

Now let me handle the video game. I tuck myself up in the comforter. I
noise comes out, the warm air fills up the space around me. I feel better.

Now let me handle the video game. I tuck myself up in the comforter. I
think I look like an omelet, a really BIG omelet. I crawl to my 19’
television. The screen stays at the moment I fell a sleep. Now my heroes are
having a battle with green, craggy faced orcs. I tilt my head, and twitch my
ears to try to recall what happened last night to my characters. However, I
don’t remember anything. Whatever. At least I know what I can do now. I use
the controller to move the cursor to the command “Fight.” And then click
the “O” button.

[MINE]

PART I

Someone knocks my door, “ Otto, Otto?” I turn off the television but
keep the PlayStation 2 on. I stop most of my every movement, pull back my
ears, and puff up my tail. I am trying to make her believe I am still
sleeping. A few seconds pass, and Karna, who stands out side my door
says, “ Otto, I know you’re playing the game the whole night again. It’s
time to help us have breakfast, or do you want me to turn your room’s
electric power off?” Damn! Why this girl is so smart and so cruel! How can
I forget what she did to my game record about two months ago? She just
pressed one click, and my records were all doomed. What I could do? Yell at
her? Beat her? She’s just a 16- year-old girl. And I am a catman. It is
incorrect for a man, even a catman, doing those terrible things to a girl. I
think she probably knows I can’t do anything to her.

“Otto,” She doesn’t wait for my response, “I would like two pancakes
with strawberries, two sausages, two strips of bacon…”

“And two eggs, sunny side up, right?” I open the door and interrupt her.

“No,” She glares me, “Scrambled, today.”

“Doubleshot Sumatra espresso?”

“Triple.”

“Hun?”

“The noise from your room was annoying me all night!”

“…”



I put milk and cream on a pot on the middle fire. I shave some dark
chocolate and wait for the milk to boil. After pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon
apple sauce, and Haagen-Dazs pure vanilla topping, a smooth, rich, hot
chocolate is the only one choice for me. “A perfect day begins with a cup of
perfect hot chocolate.” I’ve always told this to my customers who buy
coffee in the morning. As the milk bubbles, I put in the chocolate and cocoa
powder right away, reduce the fire, use a long wood spoon, and stir slowly.

“Otto,” I turn my head towards the restaurant, but my hand keeps stirring;

Karna sits there. She just finished her dish. Like usual, she takes out the
fat of bacon on her plate. “What did you do last night?”

“Uh…Huh?” I pause for a while. Why does she ask this? My eyes gaze on
her. She holds her mug; drinks a sip of the super dark and sour black water.

“Last night, you went to Elsa’s place, didn’t you?” Her blue eyes look
over the mug. She looks like she is watching something in front of her, but
nothing is there.

“Hmm…Yap.” I say, ”I think you’ve known that.”

She nods, “Mmm…I mean, what did you do there?”

“Ah…you know. I’m helping her to fix the banner. I designed a new
graphic for her, and…that’s it.” I don’t want to say too much; such as I
was treated with two delicious cheesecakes and had a good talk with her.

“You came back after ten, you know.”

“I couldn’t help it. I went too late, you know? I promised her I would
go to her flower store at four but …” I picked you up from school, drove
to the mall and carried your clothes and shoes and purses while you were
shopping. I don’t speak those out, either.

“‘Cause me, right?” Her eyes turn towards where I’m standing.

“Mmm…not…really.”

“Hun~~” She changes her static face; squints her eyes, and furrows her
brow; I say, this is the normal face I am used to seeing everyday.

“I think you should have finished the store work before you left to
Elsa’s place, or, any other place. I turned the sign from ‘open’ to
‘closed.’ It would be very bad if anyone came in that time….”

“Okay, okay, I know.” I’ve heard those words a hundred times.

“No, you don’t.” She says, “Priority, yes, you’ve always not known
what your priorities are and not kept your shifts on your schedule.
Think, what’s more important? My shopping? You could put that aside. I could
have called Feng if I knew you would help Elsa. That banner will help her
business, won’t it?”

Ha Ha, I’m sure what the priority is between your shopping and Elsa’s
banner. If I went to Elsa’s Florist instead of your shopping, the situation
this time would be even worse than losing the game record! I keep looking at
her, but say nothing. Karna stops speaking, and looks at me, too. In this
moment, I feel everything between Karna and I is frozen.

Bang! Suddenly, she puts her mug down on the table, stands up, and walks to
the stairs.

“Your coffee…”

“Keep it.”

“But…”

“I’m going to wake Feng and Asta up.”

“Karna, I…”

Dong, dong, dong, dong, dong. I can’t see her anymore.

“Yo, Otto!”

“Asta?!”

I turn back, and a young lady is standing against the opposite side of
the counter with a white cat. She is wearing all pink - pink kitty pattern
pajamas, pink furry kitty head slippers, pink kitty paw gloves, a pink
sleeping hat with a white ball on top, and even pink hair. Her green eyes are
twinkling and look around me, like something interesting happened to me.

“When did you get here?” I say, “What will you have?”

“A while,” she says, “Chocolate.”

“Ah?” This is not what she usually wants; especially because she is
dieting in this week. ”You want a cup of chocolate for breakfast?”

“No, just salad as usual.” she says.

“Ah?” This is not what she usually wants; especially because she is
dieting in this week. ”You want a cup of chocolate for breakfast?”

“No, just salad as usual.” she says.

“So…what chocolate are you talking about?”

Her chin moves several times toward my right hand side. “THAT chocolate.”

And I look there, “No!!!!!!”

My chocolate has boiled over.

[MINE]

PART II

It is 2:13 PM.. It’s a pretty sunny day. You are going
to a coffee shop with Henry, a guy you just met. You go
with him because you said you’re thirsty when you
were waiting in the D.M.V.. Henry sat near you and
suggested you could go with him and have a nice coffee.
Your number was 2153, and it just went to 1582. You
agreed with him.

Now you are standing outside of a house and the
banner says “Carboniferous.” “Is this a coffee
shop?” you think, and you don’t even know how to
pronounce the word. Henry looks at you with a smile
and says, “This is the best coffee shop in Alhambra.”
You nod and go into the karboni-whatever after him.
When Henry opens the door, something immediately
dashes out. That scent dives into your nose with strong
power. It innervates all of you. The electric flow on the
nerves mightily impacts your brain. In this moment, your
brain is full of information, “It’s coffee,” “It’s
coffee,” “It’s coffee,” “It’s coffee,” “It’s
coffee…” When your brain returns to normal, you find
yourself standing in the middle of the entranceway.
Everyone in the shop is smiling and looking at you. You
feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. You walk quickly
following Henry.

“Just coffee,” You have a seat and say.

“Just a regular coffee? You’ve never seen the
menu, my friend.” We are NOT friends, you think.
“There,” he points to the menu, “Latte,
cappuccino…” You don’t really hear what he says.
You guess he may be the spokesman here.

You insist that you just want the “though it’s
great, too, but you should have a better one” coffee.
Henry goes for the order. And then you have quiet time
to look around this “Kar-blahblah” coffee shop. You
are sitting near the right hand side of the door. The shop
looks about 150 square feet, and the door side is a little
longer. Lying on the floor are orange tiles. You don’t
see any flaws or scratches on them. The walls are
paneled widthwise with dark planks. They make you
feel you are in a log cabin. The tables and chairs are
wood, too. You knock the table, and it sounds solid and
fine. You keep looking. There is a waitress in the back
of the room. Holy cow! Her hair is as pink as her dress.
You don’t understand why young people like to put
strange colors on their heads. The thing under the hair
is more important, you think. The waitress is carrying
some cookies on a plate. You look towards her. There
are two boys sitting on the table, and, a furry.

Anthropoid, wereanimal, and furry are words to name
these things which are half human and half beast. After
Would War II, your government made some laws in the
UN. The laws allowed genetic engineering and protect
the rights of those creatures, especially those things
with similar intelligence as humans. “Hum,” you
don’t believe their IQ really is as high as yours. In
these twenty years, they are getting more and more.
Now it is like they are everywhere; even when you just
want to have a cup of coffee. It didn’t occur you to
notice if this shop was for humans only or not. The furry
sitting with the two human boys looks like a white
weredog, and maybe is the same age as them. You
sniff the air; you seem to smell the smell from that dirty
beast.

“Coffee’s hereeee.” You turn your head; Henry
walks to you with two cups of coffee, three pitchers, and
four powder shakers. You look behind him; a
yellow-brown werecat in a waiter uniform is making
coffee behind the counter. This catman supposedly
made your coffee, you think. “This cup is for you. This
cup is for me. See, mine is espresso con panna! Here
you go. This pitcher is the soymilk; this is the half-half,
and this… Oh, no, I forget to bring the low fat one!”

“That’s okay,” you say. You take your coffee and
watch the surface, “Hmm… No hair…“

“Huh? What did you say?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Well, these are for you, too. Chocolate powder,
cinnamon…” Henry keeps pushing those bottles to
you, but you just try the coffee. Fortunately, there is no
cat’s smell. And then, you still add a lot of whole milk
and cinnamon in it.

“It… it’s too much…” Henry’s eyes widen.

You look at those kids again. They are quarrelling.
The white dog boy holds a Game Boy, and the other two
are shouting at him.

In your mind, a voice comes up, “It is not right…
Animals can not disobey humans…” Then many
messages and images appear, like bubbles from the
abyss of your spirit.

“Beasts attacked in the Furry Pride parade…”

“A human sued by an animal…”

“Human police attacked one furry…”

“Furry commotion in Los Anglos…”

“The Martin Luther K. of the Anthropoid to be
killed…”

…

…

…


“Hey!” you are shocked by this sound; the human
boy with brown hair yells at the weredog boy and
presses on him.

“I said NO!” the weredog boy raises the Game Boy
in his right hand, his left hand grabs some pieces of
cookie, and he just throws those out. The cookies
don’t hit the brown hair kid, but hit the other black hair
one.

“OUCH!”

As the yelling continues, something hot, bouncing,
and surging happens to your heart. It is like the magna
and gas under the volcano. Then that emotion breaks
the bottom of your heart, seethes and fills into it. In two
heartbeats, that emotion seems to have already
disseminated into all of your blood vessels, no matter
arteries, veins, or micro vessels. You feel your body
move with the power from the emotion; you stand up,
move, and grab the weredog boy’s right hand!

“AAAAWUUUUU!” He yells. His paws open.

Dang. The Game Boy drops on the table.

And then someone holds your shoulder from
behind, “Let him go.” You turn your head; it’s the
yellow-brown catman. His fur puffs up, his ears pull
back, his eyes narrow, and his brow furrows. You feel
the power lessen. You can do nothing, except look at
him.

“WAAAAAA!” The weredog boy you are grabbing
starts crying.

“I Said… Let him go…!” The catman says. You
feel he puts more strength on his hand. The pink
waitress comes to take care of the other two kids. Henry
comes, too. He looks at you, looks at the catman, and
tries to put a word, but he has no ability to say anything.
Other customers start crowding.

You look around, and try to find anyone who can help.
However, everybody just looks at you. Your hands
sweat and shake.

Suddenly, you notice you still hold the cup of coffee.

And then, you throw it towards the catman’s head.

[MINE]

PART III

Here is Alhambra, a city near Los Anglos in California, USA. The time
is 4:47 on November 17, 2002. There is a coffee shop at the corner of
Main St. and Garfield St. The name is “Carboniferous.”

It is a three-story house. The outside is covered with layered dark
wood siding. The eaves and the roofs are wine red. The whole building
looks like a villa from Switzerland. Otto is wearing a T-shirt and
boxers, standing on the third floor, and leaning forward on the railing.
He is a catman, which has a human body but a cat’s fur, face, eyes,
ears, tail, etc. His fur is mixed from orange, yellow, and black, like an
Abyssinian cat. Now, he is looking at the sky. The sky is very
wide, clean, and colorful. The eastern half of sky is purple. As it moves
closer to the west, the color changes to blue, green, yellow, orange, and
red. Otto keeps watching the gradient sky. His tail waves slowly and
naturally.

Dong. Dong. Dong. Dong. The sound comes from the iron stairs on
Otto’s right hand side. Pong! Asta, who is the waitress with pink
hair, opens the door behind him. “Wanna doughnut?” She holds a
white box with green and red slash lines. When she sees
Otto, “Don’t you feel cold that you are just wearing these?” Otto
turns his whole body around, and points to her left rear side. She looks
backwards. There are a white shirt, black trousers, a brown vest, and a
red bow tie drying in the air. “Oh,” She says. In the early
afternoon, a costumer splattered Otto with coffee. She walks to Otto, and
a white cat follows her. “Nm, doughnut. “

“ Krispy Kreme’s. You bought them?” Otto looks inside of the
box. Seven doughnuts are disorderly arranged.

Asta says, “No, Henry.” Henry is a regular customer here, and he
is very enthusiastic to help this shop. However, he made a lot of
trouble in helping. For example, he brought the customer who
splattered Otto.

Otto picks a chocolate iced doughnut. “Have the kids had them?”
he asks.

“Yap.”

He has a bite. The rich chocolate icing breaks in the pressure from
his teeth, and melts in his mouth with the soft, sweet doughnut. The
crme splashes out of the doughnut and mixes them together. Otto
keeps chewing, closes his eyes, and smiles.

“Hehheh.”

Otto opens his left eye to look Asta, “What are you laughing for?”
He has the other bite and finishes the doughnut.

“I am enjoying watching you eat.”

“Oh, yah?” He turns his head to the other side to prevent her from
watching.

“Want more?” She pushes the box to him again.

He turns back, “Leave them to the others. Karna likes this key lime
one, doesn’t she?”

Asta smiles, “But she said, keep the chocolate and key lime ones
for YOU. You like them, don’t you?”

“Ah? Oh…” Karna is the girl that Otto brought to “Carboniferous”
on a cold rainy day about one year ago. In the rear of the coffee
shop, there are rooms for lease. The owner of “Carboniferous”
helped Otto when he just left the laboratory. The owner gave Otto a
room, a job, and taught him everything useful in this world. One day
the owner left a letter and requested Otto to take care of
“Carboniferous,” Asta, and her white cat. Then he disappeared. Otto
decided to help people like what the owner did. That’s why he helped
Karna, a genius scientist who escaped from the same laboratory as
Otto, and let her live in “Carboniferous.”

“ ‘She said’… So, is Karna back?” Otto asks Asta.

“Yap, she’s in the restaurant.”

“Mmm… Did she say anything… about…uhmm…” Otto touches
his nose and says.

“Doughnuts?” Asta shakes the box a little.

“No…” Otto thinks for a second. “You know what happened to
us in the morning, right?” She nods. “I’m afraid she’s still angry
with me.” Otto says, “Did she say anything about it?”

“Hmm… Nope.”

“Oh…” Otto puts down his ears, whiskers, and tail. He picks an
original glazed one, takes his clothes, and walks to the stairs.

“Are you going to Elsa’s place?” Asta asks. Elsa is a genetic
engineered creature like Otto. She is half human and half plant. Elsa
looks almost like a human, but she has green hair, and green skin.
Some humans broke the banner of her flower store one afternoon in
broad daylight. Otto offered to rebuild a new one for her.

“No… I am going to close the shop, and help you guys have dinner
. I don’t want Karna to scold me again.” Otto stops, and turns his
head to look at Asta, “Why did you ask?”

“Hmm…” she gives Otto a smile, “Nothing.”

“…” Otto says, “Sometimes I really don’t understand you and
Karna.” Then he leaves. Dong. Dong. Dong. Dong.

Asta just keeps smiling.

“Carby, here.” She calls the cat and leans on the railing.

A star is twinkling on the east of the sky.

[MINE]

ENDING--


What a day! I am moving on the stairs to my room, almost
crawling. Asta the [bi----]!!! How could she tell Henry I’m
helping Elsa? His enthusiasm almost ruined the new banner!
Now I have to spend more time to fix it. [Bi----]!

I look at my watch. It’s five after twelve. If Karna knows that I
am back so late, she will be mad like the crazy dragon I’ve
met in that game. Now I just hope she is asleep already.

When I open the door from the stairs to the corridor, I see
Karna sitting in front of my room. No way! I immediately step
back to try fleeing from her.

“Where are you going?” She turns her head to me and
tries to stand up. “Awuoo… My legs…” She raises her hand
to lean against the wall. A bag falls from her.

I walk to her quickly and help her up, “Are you okay?”

“Nmm…” She tries to shake her left leg. “You made me
wait here so late,” she says, “It’s been over twelve…
Awuoo…”

“I am sorry… ” But I didn’t want you waiting for me, I
think.

“You don’t have to say sorry. Sorry is useless.” She
says,” Hmm… Hey, where is the bag?”

“That bag?” I grab it. “What is it?”

“I bought it for you this afternoon.”

“Oh?” I say. It is rare that she bought gifts for me. “Can I
open it?”

“Sure.”

It is an earphone set for furry use only. I look at her.

“Even though you will not disturb others, I still don’t like
you playing video games all night.”

“Thank you…” In this moment, I don’t know if I should be
happy, sad, or angry at this surprise.

She walks inflexibly to her room. “I’ve never stayed up so
late…”

Oh, God. I know what she’s gonna say. She will begin
abusing me. I’d better apologize first.

“Otto.”

“Karna, I’m so…”

“I can’t wait to see the new banner. Did you finish it?”

“Ah…?” I can’t believe what I just heard.

“Will you go there tomorrow?”

“Ah…” My brain is stunned.

“Hmm?”

“Ah… Oh, yes, I will”

She says, “Don’t work too late like today. Elsa and Henry
will feel bothered.”

“Hun?” Henry? How did she know?

She stands in front of her room. “One more thing I have to
say…” Her blue eyes gaze at me. “I’m sorry for treating you
like that this morning.”

“Ah… That’s fine…”

“Good night, Otto.” She enters her room.

And I just lose my mind standing there.



I plug the earphone into the television and wear it. It does not
look very different from the one for human use; just the handle
part seems shorter and thicker. I take the controller to the bed
and turn on the hair dryer to warm the comforter. In such a cold
night, playing video game in a warm bed is very comfortable. It
would be even better if I had hot chocolate. However, kitchen is
too far for me. Wu! The dryer is blowing on my tail directly. It’s
hurt. I turn off the dryer and start playing.

Ah… As my heroes step out of the save point, they meet some
enemies. Hun, they are just some goblins, the weakest monsters
in this game. Their faces recognize the person who splattered
me coffee. I use the controller to move the cursor to the command
“Fight.” And then click the “O” button.