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The prof looked up from the whistling kettle when Cabanela had gone quiet for a little too long. It was no surprise to find him staring at the coat—Jowd’s coat that was. Somewhere along the line it had become the definite article, which if he allowed himself to sink into a moment of sentimentality, was not entirely unfitting. It was their shared fixed point, after all; ‘The Coat’ lent its weight.
Then there was the strange character, probably human, himself that the prof had been coming to know these past couple months.
He filled two cups with tea and a bowl with seeds for Lovey-Dove to peruse through.
“When did you last eat?”
“Twelve twenty-threee.”
The professor snorted. From someone else such a precise answer might raise his suspicions for being too calculated for honesty. However, Cabanela, he had come to learn somehow lived in a place of easy-going intensity where such precision was simply a matter of course. Of course, such things came with their own loopholes, and he would never be entirely satisfied if he didn’t prod.
“Today?”
With a flippant flip of his wrist Cabanela pivoted to fully face to him. “Of couuurse. I wouldn’t be much use to Jowd now would I if I was keelin’ over or,” here a flash of disgust crossed his face, “gettin’ sick.”
So, the fool wasn’t entirely self-sacrificing if one discounted the whole plan, but the prof could hardly throw stones there. Still, it was a comfort.
“Some added tea won’t hurt. Come sit down.”
Even sitting was a display, a dance or simply legs everywhere when the prof was feeling more disgruntled. Ridiculous. Yet, he couldn’t help a faint smile as Cabanela leaned over to hold a hand out to Lovey-Dove. She bumped up against him with a soft coo and Cabanela flashed him a grin before showering her with compliments.
A warm comfort settled over the junkyard office and one the professor was a bit startled to find himself relishing. A strange partnership had appeared to evolve into a strange friendship and more strangely, the prof realized, as he took a sip of his tea while still watching Lovey-Dove bask in Cabanela’s attention, he was entirely okay with this change of circumstances.