Chapter Text
You woke up with a yawn and sat up with a stretch. You woke at the same time everyday and started it the same way you did every day. You heard your dog, Ranger, groan in his sleep and stir as he heard you get out of bed. He, too, stood and stretched as if he was doing yoga before looking up at you and wagging his tail. You got out of bed and stretched your arms over your head before you knelt to pet Ranger. Ranger always loved getting pets. He sat there wagging his tail harder and panted as he received the pets you gave him. Ranger was a happy boy.
You reached over to your green backpack, digging through it to find Ranger his favorite food. You fed him his apples, cauliflower, dry pasta noodles, and popcorn. Boy, he sure loved popcorn. You started to do this thing where you would toss Ranger a piece of popcorn, and he would snap his mouth and catch it. It gave you joy and made you do the thing humans called a chuckle. Once Ranger finished eating, you took your bag to your kitchen table and sat at it while you dug through it and got your food out. You ate a multitude of different foods. You would use your sharp teeth to rip through the plastic and box containers to get to the food inside.
You ate until you were full, then packed away your extra food and looked around your abode in thought. You decided to check your work schedule on your new computer to see what tasks your company wanted you to do. With Ranger walking alongside you, you sat at your computer and turned it on, waiting for it to boot up as you stared at the screen. You saw your reflection on the glass monitor screen and looked yourself over in it. You reached up and tapped your nail on the glass to hear the soft tink noise it emitted. You looked at yourself and started to inner monologue about yourself.
You are Samsquatch. Though, everyone you know calls you Sam. You are a Sasquatch living in a comfortable cabin at the edge of a campsite with your dog and woodland friends. You vaguely remembered the first time the camp rangers discovered you and went into a frenzy to try and figure out how to keep you safe from the outside world. Try as they might; there was nothing they could do to keep you from being exposed to the outside world. It made it even harder when people would come from all over the world to try and prove your existence. Nevertheless, the rangers worked as hard as they could to keep you safe. You thought that, had it been any other camp rangers, you would not have gotten the same treatment, and suppose you were one of the lucky ones.
Your inner monologue got cut short as your screen brightened to show your home screen. You got busy using the mouse to click on your work schedule to see what the day had in store. You had to sign some papers at noon and then had a two-hour meeting from three to five. You looked at the clock and saw it was only eight forty-five. You scratched your chin in thought as you tried to figure out what you could do after work. There was that new delivery man job you could apply for or see if the new museum needed anything. You could work at the docks or even your newspaper job you have been neglecting. You clicked out of your schedule and shut your computer down before going to your bedroom and putting on your executive suit. You finished your ensemble with your favorite pair of sunglasses before grabbing your backpack with Ranger following you out of the cabin.
You looked out over your yard and watched the ducks swim with their oversized hats and constantly bump into each other because of it. Ranger hurried past you to run around in the grass, lapping up any remaining dewdrops from the morning as you shut the door. The concept of locks meant nothing to you, and if anyone dared to try to get on your grounds, they would have to answer to the woodland animals.
You turned and went over to your light blue chopper and mounted it before calling Ranger over. Ranger happily ran over to you, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, and jumped up to sit in front of you on the chopper. You gave him a good scratch behind the ears before kicking up the kickstand and starting the motor. You revved it a few times before you drove forward and down your driveway.
The drive to work was the same, but the sight of the new billboards was a refreshing change. Ranger got his picture on the pet shop billboard, and you felt elated each time you saw it. You made your way past the strip mall and into town when you eventually made it from the drive and pulled in front of the R Corp building. They never gave you a key to the parking garage, so you parked in front of the building. You let Ranger hop down first, then you got off your chopper, kicking the kickstand out and leaving it there.
You walked in with Ranger behind you and greeted Ol' Bobrick Jr. He was the receptionist at the company seated behind the front desk. He never looked happy to see you. You tried to talk to him once, and all he asked in return was why you were not up in your office working. He then suggested you ask the HR manager what you should be doing, ultimately terminating the conversation.
You waved at him, and he half waved back as you walked through the glass doors to the elevator. You pressed the button and waited for the elevator, glancing up to watch the number screen count down to one. You and Ranger rode the elevator to the fourth floor and made your way to your office. You took a seat, booted up your computer, and checked your things while you waited for the papers you had to sign to arrive. It was five after twelve when Ol' Marv came rushing into your office and sat hastily in the chair in front of your desk.
"Hi there, Sam," Ol' Marv started, "I was wondering if you could sign off on this for me?"
You reached across your desk and grabbed the clipboard from him, reading the contents on the paper clipped to it. It read as such: Canned green beans for Ol' Marv. Salary Increase for Bobert Jr.
There were two boxes below this, one for approval and one for rejection, and a place to sign your signature. You thought about the submissions given to you. Green beans were good, especially how camp counselor Malinda made them at the ranger station. Ultimately, you checked off the approved box and signed your name. You liked to make the letter A in Sam look like a star, and you did this every time you were required to sign paperwork. You handed the clipboard back to Ol' Marv with a smile, and he looked it over, smiling as well when he looked at you.
"Thank you!" He exclaimed, sighing in relief, "I didn't think that would get approved."
Ol' Marv then took his leave from your office, and you reached down to pet Ranger behind the ears. He wagged his tail happily before laying at your feet. You looked at your work schedule again and decided to go around and work on whatever tech support needed your attention before your long meeting ahead. You took time and helped various coworkers turn their computers back on, reinstalled software programs, and removed pizza slices from disk drives. You accomplished all these tasks in time for you and Ranger to make your way up to the fifth floor. The two of you entered the conference room and took a seat, waiting for the other workers to arrive, passing the time by petting Ranger. The others came in immediately on time and started to discuss one topic after the other.
"Can we talk about how we keep finding hair all over the place? It's everywhere," Guggins asked, jabbing his finger repeatedly on the table to punctuate his point. You shifted your eyes to the floor as you sat rigidly and still in your seat. You knew it was probably your hair they were finding, but there was nothing you could do. You were shedding your winter hair; it was liable to get everywhere.
"That's not the important thing right now," Ol' Bobandy said, waving Guggins off. "We need to talk about last month's losses."
You were glad the conversation shifted to something more important, and you tried your best to pay attention. Before you knew it, the meeting was over, and it was time to go home. You and Ranger made your way down to your chopper, and you decided you wanted to go to the bank to see how much your paycheck was for the pay period.
You made the short ride to the bank, dismounted your chopper, and strode into the bank and right up to the ATM. You inserted your card, entered your log-in information, and were ecstatic to see you were able to remove a thousand dollars from your account. You did just that before placing your money and things away and turning to leave. As you looked up from your backpack, however, you noticed a young man from beyond the glass panels, waiting in the lobby and sitting in a chair.
The young man was looking at the bank teller, biting the inside of his cheek as he bounced his leg quickly and wrung his hands together. He seemed... nervous. You thought that was what the humans called it anyway. You were still getting used to human emotions and what the names were. You watched the young man suddenly perk up as the bank teller announced something to him from where she stood behind her counter. You turned your attention to the teller for a moment. When you looked back at the young man, his expression had fallen, but he nodded his head before turning to his things dejectedly. You looked back at the bank teller before looking at the young man, and you decided to go into the second glass door and over to the man to see what was going on.
You approached the man, giving him a small wave as Ranger gave a small ruff, and the man suddenly turned and looked at you two, a bit... startled. You think that's what it was. The young man gave you his best smile, though he looked like he was hiding something, and stood from his seat.
"I'm sorry if I'm in your way, I'll be leaving here in a moment," the young man said.
You shook your head and waved your hands at him before pointing over your shoulder with your thumb and simply saying, "What?"
The young man looked at where you were pointing and smiled... sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck before playing with one of the piercings in his ear before speaking.
"I'm trying to get a loan for my spaghetti-based startup, but the bank keeps saying that my idea isn't economically viable. Whatever that means." The young man said, with some irritation in his voice. You did not understand what those words meant, but you did know that you felt the young man should get his loan. Was that not what banks were for anyway? The man continued to talk as he gathered the rest of his belongings and got ready to leave.
"All I need is a thousand dollars. If only I knew someone with that kind of cash," the young man pondered... thoughtfully. He turned back to you, but this time his eyes looked you up and down, and something came across his face you could not put your finger on. A faint smile crept on his lips as he began to talk again. "You look pretty successful; you must have a lot of job experience!"
You noticed the young man looked more... excited the more he spoke, but you did not know why. You did have a lot of business experience since you started at R Corp, but what about you made you look successful?
"Do you want to invest a thousand dollars in my spaghetti business?" the young man asked hopefully.
You thought about what the young man asked you over. Spaghetti? You had heard of it and were almost sure that maybe some rangers back at the ranger station made it but not very often. You did not combine food that often and had only just used your oven for the first time the other day. You made steak that you were pretty sure was burnt, but it was good nonetheless. You had started to drift away from meat since you got Ranger because he only liked fruits and grains and maybe one or two kinds of fish, and you were okay with this.
You thought of the components of spaghetti. You remembered long noodles and something red. Maybe the red stuff was ketchup or hot sauce, but the red sauce was the least of your concerns. You remembered noodles. You knew Ranger loved noodles. If this was something you and your beloved friend could enjoy, then you thought that maybe it was something worth investing your money in.
You shook yourself from your thoughts and looked down at the young man, who had been watching you the same way he did the bank teller earlier. You looked down at his hands and reached down to shake his right hand before nodding.
"Yeah," was all you said in response. Human language was still new to you, but your friend Raccoon and some of the rangers back home were helping you improve when they could. You continued to shake his hand the same way you did everyone else, a sturdy handshake that made his arm look like a noodle. The young man had to use his other arm to steady his right arm but eventually smiled in... disbelief. Was that the word? Nevertheless, he smiled wide up at you, showing off his teeth as he did. You, noticing his smile, noted how small and dull human teeth were to yours.
"You won't regret this! With your help, I'm going to revolutionize the spaghetti industry!" The second the two of you stopped shaking hands, he immediately sat down and dug through his things to retrieve a small paper pad and pen. The young man jotted down something on the paper before ripping it off and handing it to you. You glanced at it and saw it was a receipt saying you gave him the thousand dollars. Oh, yeah. You probably should give him the money. You reached around to get the thousand dollars you had just withdrawn from your account and handed it to him. The young man accepted your cash from you and appeared to be restraining himself from jumping up and down. What was it the humans called it? Was it called overjoyed?
The young man gathered his things again and gestured for you to follow him as he started for the door.
"Come with me; let me show you something," he said, and that was how you and Ranger found yourselves following the young man as he talked on and on about the new business. You only comprehended half of what he said, but you did manage to find out that the red stuff in the spaghetti was tomato sauce. That meant ketchup, right? Even so, you were just happy to see the young man happy. You did not like the look he wore at the bank when the bank refused to give him a loan. It made you feel... upset that he was upset. You were not sure why. Maybe it was because you did not like seeing someone so passionate about their dream that it made you sad seeing others crush his hopes. You gave him your best smile to indicate you knew what he was talking about, even though you did not half the time, whenever the two of you chanced to glance at each other.
The young man led you to a small building behind the local café and stood in front of it as he gestured to it... proudly. You think that was the right word. He smiled at the building with such optimism that his smile was infectious, and you smiled up at the building too.
"This is where I'm going to start my spaghetti empire! It doesn't look like much, but I'm going to turn this place into something special.” The young man had declared as he placed his hands on his hips while still looking up at the building. He turned to you after a brief moment of silence and smiled warmly. He extended his hand to you again, and like before, you shook it, though he was ready for it this time. The two of you retrieved your hands, and he dug in his pocket for something.
"Come back tomorrow morning, and I'll have the business up and running!" The young man exclaimed. He took a key from his pocket and walked to the door, using it to unlock it. He turned to you before entering the building and put his hand to his chest. He began to call something over to you, but as he did, a loud truck drove past and screamed over his voice. If you had to guess, you assumed he was introducing himself. You mimicked him by placing your hand over your chest.
"Sam," you called to him, feeling your English was getting better. The young man smiled and nodded to you.
"It's nice to meet you, Sam. See you tomorrow," the young man called back to you before disappearing into the building. You were not going to lie; you wanted to see the inside of the building since you invested your hard-earned money into it, but it would not be long until you could.
The sun was over the trees now. The street lights flickered on, and the frogs croaked from deep in the woods. You looked down at Ranger in thought and reached down to pet him before the two of you went back to your chopper to drive home. You and Ranger walked into your home, and immediately your attention focused on the clattering atop your stove.
"Samquatch! What on Earth did you cook in your oven? It's caked all on the bottom!" A voice boomed through the room, startling Ranger, making him bark low. You shushed Ranger and reached down to give him a reassuring pat on the head. The voice belonged to your friend Raccoon. He crawled out of the oven to pull himself onto the counter above. He dipped his cleaning rag into the sink full of warm soapy water and rang out the excess. He was one of the only ones that called you by your full name.
"Steak," was the one-word response you gave him as you sat your backpack on the table, and Ranger hurriedly went over and started to sniff Raccoon happily. He barked a few times and wagged his tail before spinning in circles and barking again. Raccoon dipped and wrung out his rag again before stopping suddenly to look at you.
"You met someone new today?" Raccoon asked, having understood what Ranger said to him. You nodded and opened your backpack to get a treat out for Ranger and a snack for you before planning on playing solitaire before bed. It was your favorite computer game. Ranger barked again and then came over to you and sat politely to eat the cauliflower you placed in his food bowl for him. As you dug around your backpack for a snack for yourself, Raccoon kept talking.
"Who were they? What is their name?" Raccoon asked, making you feel a little interrogated. You almost shrugged, but then you spotted a bottle of relish at the bottom of your backpack, giving you an idea.
"Relish," you answered with... uncertainty. You were sure that was the right word. Raccoon cocked an eyebrow toward you.
"Relish? That's his name?" Raccoon asked disbelievingly.
You nodded slowly before confidently and repeated yourself.
"Relish," you said, trying to sound more confident. Raccoon studied you for a long as he watched you grab a bag of chips from your bag and walk over to your computer. You slowed your steps to a halt and looked back at Raccoon, and the two of you locked eyes. You two stared at each other and only blinked once or twice before Raccoon turned to the sink to wet his rag again.
"Odd name for a fellow, but alright," he said. You nodded, walked to your desk, and sat down, turning on your computer. "I'm making lasagna after this, Samquatch; do you want any?"
"No, thanks," you said, proud of yourself for replying in proper English.
"Suit yourself," Raccoon replied and continued cleaning. He made his lasagna, and you played your game as Ranger chewed on one of his tennis balls.
After Raccoon ate and left, you and Ranger got ready for bed. You undressed and climbed into bed, settling under the covers with a sigh of contentment. Ranger curled up in his bed at the bottom of your bed and groaned before yawning. You thought about the events of that day and what Relish was doing with the building. You hoped it would be worth what you invested into it.
You yawned and turned on your side, pulling the covers around you more, falling asleep to the night noises outside your window.