Regularity was pleasant. A steady rhythm. A constantly recurring constant. Even one as mundane as a daily nine-to-five could give that pleasant regularity. Or a daily twelve-thirty-to-five, as the case might be in a part-time job. At least one still knew what they were up against every day.
Except when working for a certain bright orange and white vixen with contrasting blue hair and skin by the name of Monique Winters, at her enterprise Fox Body Garage. The theoretic work times might show a pleasant regularity, but they could differ quite significantly whenever something came up during the afternoon. And the sand-colored serval woman Doto van der Vyver certainly had found out that if there was one thing she could be certain of while working for Monique, it was that she had no idea what she might be up against from day to day.
It had started with that phonecall on the very day Monique had offered her the part-time job. Removing a car from an old shed had turned out to entail removing two additional cars from that shed, one of which was an ancient Fiat from the nineteen twenties, the other one being a Hudson race car from the early nineteen fifties. And of course the early nineteen fifties Ford it had all started with.
In the weeks that followed, every afternoon Doto had showed up at the garage, Monique had been working on one of the three cars, and there didn't seem to be any logic to it. Pulling all of the interior out of the old Ford. Pulling the wheels and brakes off the Fiat. Washing the Hudson? Not just a blast with a hose or a pressure washer, but actually washing it by paw, with a bucket of warm water and soap. Weird. The car didn't even run yet.
And now it was three weeks later. Thursday afternoon. After parking her 1984 Alfa Romeo 33 station wagon and getting out, Doto perked her ears sharply while she closed and locked the door. What would it be today? Where would Monique be this time, and what would she be doing this time? The lack of sounds from around the garage building told Doto her vixen friend was at least not behind the building doing something. So she would most likely be inside. The serval woman checked her phone. Twelve-twenty. She was a tad early. Alright, then there would be a good chance she would find Monique inside to have some lunch, naked or at least with the top part of her coveralls pulled down to her waist. At least that was a recurring constant.
Stepping into the building and looking around, Doto flicked and swiveled an ear again. The office. Monique was in the small office, talking. One-sided, so on the phone, most likely. The serval woman stepped over to the office door and looked inside, getting a cheery wave from Monique who was indeed on the phone, sitting naked in the chair behind the desk. Sure enough.
"...be great, thank you so much. Yes, we will be there in a little while. Alright. Yes, I will. Thank you again, and see you soon." She put down the phone and sent Doto a smile. "Heya sweetheart."
"Heya exhibitionist," Doto responded with a cheerful smirk. "Do you really have to sit in your office like that to make a phonecall?"
"Yes," Monique said simply, with a short nod of her head. "And in this case, it even has an extra reason."
"And what would that be?"
"Gotta change clothes, we have an appointment in a bit."
"We..?"
"Yep." Getting up from the chair, Monique playfully ran a finger along Doto's chin and muzzle as she stepped over to the other side of the office. "So no need for you to change, sweetheart, you can come as you are, and we're leaving in a minute or two."
Doto twitched her whiskers and curled her lips into a playful smirk.
"What are you getting us into this time, hm?"
"A history lesson," Monique chortled, grabbing a set of clothes that was draped over the corner of a filing cabinet.
Doto opened her mouth and started raising a finger, then thought better of it and lowered her paw again while giving her head a short shake.
"...You know what, I'm not even gonna ask." The playful smirk returned to her face. "It must be something special though, if you're putting on panties for it." She suddenly blinked. "Ohmigosh Momo, seriously?!"
The bright orange and white vixen was indeed stepping into a pair of panties, and as she pulled them up over her hips, it became clear it was a pair of Hello Kitty panties. With prominently on the front, a picture of Hello Kitty. In leather fetish gear, holding a three-tailed whip. Monique let go another light chortle while she stepped into a short blue skirt.
"What?"
Doto turned her smirk into a mild grimace and shook her head.
"You know what, never mind."
"Good, in that case, can you do me a favor, sweetheart?" Monique smiled, nodding at the desk while she grabbed a matching blue and white striped shirt. "Can you grab that binder over there, please?"
"Sure, whatever, I'm not even gonna ask what's in there," Doto shrugged.
She took a fairly sizeable binder filled with some kind of paperwork from the desk and tucked it under her arm, while Monique pulled the shirt over her head and down her sides. A moment was taken to pull her hair out of the collar and smooth it out a bit, another moment or two were taken to fill the pockets of the skirt with everything the vixen needed to bring with her. With a smile, Monique put a paw on Doto's shoulder and started leading the serval woman out of the office, locking the door and leading Doto further out of the garage building. She also locked the outer door and put the 'Closed' sign on it.
Doto calmly followed the vixen across the yard, tilting her head a bit as they walked over to Monique's light blue 1971 Fiat 125 Special instead of any of the lilac-colored company vehicles. She gave a light shrug again as Monique unlocked the passenger door and opened it, getting into the car and looking at the vixen walking around the front of it and getting behind the wheel. Still she didn't say a thing as Monique started the car, backed out of the parking spot, drove off the garage yard and headed in the direction of the town of Birch Brook. She even remained silent as they made their way through town, only quirking an eyebrow in wonder when they turned into one of the small residential streets at the south-east part of town.
About halfway down the street, the serval woman's quirked eyebrow came back down as Monique turned into the driveway of one of the houses, and on that driveway was sitting a quite familiar dark maroon-colored 1986 Volvo 244 GL four-door sedan. As Monique parked her light blue Fiat sedan behind the maroon Volvo sedan, Doto looked aside with her head slightly canted.
"So we're visiting the old lady?"
"Sharply observed, sweetheart," Monique nodded, killing the engine and taking the keys from the ignition. "You got that binder with you?"
Doto lifted it a bit.
"Right here. So what is..."
"You'll find out, sweetheart," Monique interrupted with a light chortle. "C'mon."
She got out of the car. Doto shrugged again and also got out, tucking the binder under an arm again. Deciding to just let Monique do the talking as this seemed one of the vixen's plans anyway, she silently followed Monique to the front door of the semi-detached single-story house and waited while Monique rang the doorbell.
A few moments later, the door was answered by the elderly Woodmouse woman who sent them both a friendly smile.
"There you are, miss Winters! Ah, and you have brought your friend?"
"She works for me now, missus Tenderson," Monique nodded with a smile, taking one of the elderly mouse woman's paws in both her own. "And thank you for taking the time to see us."
"Oh, that is very nice! Very sweet of you to give your friend a job, miss Winters," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "And of course, it's not a problem at all, I'm glad to. Do come in, please." She led the way into the house. "Would you both like a cup of coffee?"
"Thank you, missus Tenderson, that's very nice of you," Monique nodded with another smile.
"Ah... yes, thank you, missus Tenderson," Doto said.
"Good good, do make yourselves comfortable, dears, coffee will be up in a minute," Mrs. Tenderson smiled, gesturing in the direction of the living room while she herself stepped into the open kitchen. "So do have a seat, dears, have a seat."
Monique smiled and took the few steps further into the living room, sitting down on a sofa with twirled legs and armrests and a back and seat that appeared to be upholstered with muted pink brocade. Her smile deepened into a mild grin as she looked at Doto also stepping into the living room and almost stopping short to look around her with a surprised expression. Which was, in a way, understandable. The furniture might seem like delicate antiques, the wall art and decorations were anything but.
Against the far wall was a massive breakfront cabinet with glass doors, and on either side of it were large glass display cabinets. All shelves behind the glass doors were filled with gold-colored and silver cups and trophies, most of them with models of both an old car and a fairy on them. Large and smaller framed pictures and photographs filled the walls, and all of them showed vintage race cars, mostly Minis and BMW Isettas, either in color or in black and white, and with the cars were either a Fieldmouse man or the Woodmouse woman dressed in a racer's outfit, sometimes other people as well, and some of them showed scenes of award ceremonies where either the Fieldmouse man or the Woodmouse woman were given one of the trophies that were displayed in the cabinets.
Doto was still standing in the middle of the living room by the time Mrs. Tenderson also stepped into the living room with a tray holding cups of coffee, a small plate of cookies, a delicate wide cup filled with sugar cubes and a matching little jug of cream.
"Are you surprised, dear?" she smiled at Doto while setting the tray down on a Victorian coffee table.
"Uh... quite," Doto said with a light nod. "I mean... Monique had told me more or less about all this, but..."
"It kind of overwhelms the senses when you see it in person, does it not?" Mrs. Tenderson smiled, handing one of the cups of coffee to Monique. "But do have a seat, dear, make yourself comfortable."
"Yes, rather," Doto nodded, finally sitting down and accepting the cup of coffee Mrs. Tenderson handed her. "Thank you."
"When you are not aware of the history of this town and the people living here, it can be quite hard to believe when you hear some of the stories," Mrs. Tenderson nodded with a smile, offering both women a cookie. "Especially when most of the stories you may hear do not fit the image of the small and frail-looking elderly lady many of the stories are told about."
"I... didn't want to say it, especially not like that, but... yes, that's exactly right," Doto nodded, stirring a sugarcube and some cream through her coffee. She blinked at the amount of cream Monique was pouring into her coffee, but right away understood the reason why when she took a sip of her own coffee. "Ohmigosh this is strong!"
"You might want to add some extra cream, dear," Mrs. Tenderson smiled with a slightly raspy but high-pitched chortle. "And miss Winters, please do tell, what can I do for you? What might be the reason you asked to speak with me?"
"If you'll pardon the expression, missus Tenderson, I wanted to pick your brain," Monique smiled with a short chortle of her own. "A little while ago, I came across something rather unexpected, and I was thinking you were the perfect person to take me on a stroll down nostalgia boulevard."
"Oh my, well now, that sounds rather exciting, miss Winters," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "What is it that you have come across?"
"Well, you see, missus Tenderson, a few weeks ago I received a telephone call from a mister Janson, who has purchased the former Frankovic farm just outside of town," Monique smiled while sitting back. "There was still a fairly large shed on the premises that needed clearing out as it had to be removed, and he had found a car in the shed, which is the reason he called upon me to remove this car."
"Frankovic, you say?" Mrs. Tenderson nodded, perking one of her large round ears. "That property has been sitting empty for quite a while, has it not? It's good to hear it has been sold and will be in use again. But were his vehicles not sold in the estate auction? I remember attending that auction to buy some preserve jars and kitchenware."
"The current vehicles were indeed sold at the estate auction, yes," Monique nodded with a light chortle. "However, the auction house had not accessed that large shed, which was quite securely locked, and in it was the family car of old mister Frankovic senior. Amongst others."
"The dark green Ford? I remember them coming to church in town in that car," Mrs. Tenderson smiled.
"That is correct," Monique nodded. "However, that was not the only car we found in that shed. Doto, could you hand me that binder, please?" She smiled as Doto gave her the binder, opened it and took out a paper with a picture of the 1951 Hudson Hornet with the teal-colored racing livery she had printed out, leaning over to hand it to the elderly mouse woman. "We also found this."
Mrs. Tenderson took the paper and adjusted her glasses, which magnified the twinkle sparking in her eyes as she looked at the picture.
"Oh my! You are right, miss Winters, that does bring back some nostalgia," she chortled softly.
"I had a feeling you might recognize that car," Monique nodded with a light grin. "I also have a feeling you might be just the person to tell me about the history of that car and why it was stashed away in the back of a shed on the Frankovic property."
"Why, of course, of course!" Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "You see, good old Philip Frankovic became quite interested in racing cars when he helped his father Joseph on the construction contract for the Fairy Ring track back in the day."
"A farmer built that track?" Doto asked with surprise.
"No no dear, Joseph was asked to help with the earthworks as he had some heavy grading equipment," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "He did not build the track, he just assisted with some of the heavy work. And his son Philip assisted him as well."
"Oh, okay," Doto nodded, canting her head a bit. "Why was it called Fairy Ring though? I've been wondering about that ever since I first heard about it, because it sounds... well, weird for a race track."
"Ah, you see, the authorities of Birch Brook decided to construct a dirt racing track in the late nineteen forties, because dirt track racing was seeing a very rapid spike in popularity in those days," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "The most suitable tract of land they could find for it was near the Fairy Pond, which is so named because in the years BC, it was actually home to a colony of fairies. And nearby this hill was one of the largest toadstool rings in the area, also known as a fairy ring; the track they created more or less follows the shape of this original fairy ring of toadstools, hence why they named it the Fairy Ring track."
"Alright, that makes sense," Doto nodded again. "I do know of the history of elves and fairies this country has, so that does in fact not surprise me. It's still a bit of a strange name for a race track, though, if you ask me."
"Considering the lore was that fairies danced to create those toadstool circles, that does seem a bit unusual, does it not?" Mrs. Tenderson nodded with a cheery, raspy chortle. "But it did give the place a nice bit of history, as well as a somewhat unique quirk. I can tell you, after the track had been opened, we made our cars dance around that circle as well."
"And was it Joseph or was it Philip who joined in the dance?" Monique chortled.
"Oh, Philip was more of a line-dancer," Mrs. Tenderson said with another raspy chortle. "But he did join our circle dances indeed. If my memory is serving me correctly, he bought this fine car in nineteen sixty or sixty-one, in Easton I believe, and he prepared it quite well."
"I remember my uncle telling me stories," Monique nodded. "But from his stories, I deduced the Frankovics were serious farmers and hardly spent their precious time on frivolous activities like racing cars. So did Philip Frankovic race seriously?"
"Not on the level of my Bert and I," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "We participated in the professional class and traveled to several tracks further out in the country for races, but Philip participated in the, what you could call, amateur class. He only did the shorter races on the Fairy Ring track, and only in the periods of time between harvest and planting seasons."
Monique's smile slowly started turning into a light grin again.
"Did he ever race against you or your late husband, missus Tenderson?"
The twinkle behind the elderly Woodmouse woman's glasses grew a spark brighter.
"There were local races that did not count towards any points standings, which everyone with a license could enter," she smiled cheerfully. "It has happened several times Philip was in the same line-up as my Bert or myself, even despite our cars being so different in class." A raspy but cheerful high-pitched giggle escaped Mrs. Tenderson's lips. "He competed bravely, I must give him credit, but he could never manage to take a victory over us."
Monique's grin grew even wider.
"Now now, missus Tenderson, are you absolutely certain? Is it perhaps possible your memory might not be serving you entirely correctly?"
An even wider and more cheerful smile accompanied the twinkles in the elderly mouse woman's eyes.
"What makes you think that, miss Winters? Are you perhaps implying I might not be telling the full truth?"
"Oh, I would never accuse you of something like that," Monique chortled. "However, you are not the first person I have turned to for finding history on this specific car, I have also delved into the archives of the Fairy Ring track to see what might be on file there. I did find lists of race results dating back to nineteen fifty-eight, and..." She leafed through the binder and pulled out another paper, grinning cheerily. "According to this list right here, during the weekend of twenty and twenty-one September of nineteen sixty-three, six races had been held, three on Saturday the twentieth and three on Sunday the twenty-first. And I read here..." She made quite a show of lifting the paper to her face and scanning her eyes across the page. "Saturday, twenty September nineteen sixty-three. Race two, class unspecified, starting time fifteen hundred fifteen hours. Finishing order; first place, Philip Joseph Frankovic, nineteen fifty-one Hudson Hornet; second place, James Palmer, nineteen sixty Fiat-Abarth seven-fifty; third place, Bertrand Henry Tenderson, nineteen sixty-one Austin Mini Cooper." She lowered the paper and lifted her head to look at the elderly mouse woman with a cheery grin. "You are not even in that same list, missus Tenderson, however you do appear as the first place winner of race three on that Saturday."
Doto held a paw over her mouth to hide a chortle, and Mrs. Tenderson looked back at Monique with an evenly cheery grin and even brighter twinkles in her eyes.
"Oh dear, I do believe you have caught me, miss Winters. Might I redeem myself by modifying my statement to say Philip never claimed a victory over me specifically, and that this was because we did not compete in the same races together? But yes, he did once or twice beat my Bert in those minor races on the Fairy Ring track."
"I shall accept that, missus Tenderson," Monique chortled. "For I have indeed found more results that show this specific car was driven to victory by Philip Frankovic, however after nineteen sixty-five it shows that any races in which both he and your husband participated together, your husband usually claimed the victories in a nineteen sixty-four Austin Mini Cooper S."
"Ah, yes, the updated thirteen hundred cc class Cooper S that was available to the public, Bert jumped at the chance to get one of those," Mrs. Tenderson nodded with a raspy chortle of her own. "It was quite an upgrade and proved virtually unbeatable on the dirt tracks, I remember it well and fondly."
"The records certainly seem to confirm that," Monique nodded while putting the papers back in the binder. "There were not very many mentions of Philip Frankovic though, so did he just not do a lot of racing, or was he not very competitive?"
Mrs. Tenderson giggled softly behind a paw.
"Far be it from me to badmouth former opponents on the track, miss Winters."
"So that means he was crap at it," Monique grinned.
"Now now, miss Winters, you should not jump to conclusions," Mrs. Tenderson admonished with a giggle. "Some people simply did not get a lot of opportunities to put in enough track time to perfect their skills. Philip still ran a farm during the week after all, whereas Bert and I put all our time into becoming and staying as good as we were on the tracks."
"That's fair, you have a good point," Monique smiled. "And after all, like I mentioned, I did see that in the records of before nineteen sixty-five, he did get a decent number of victories." She grinned again. "So did he ever give either of you a good run for your money?"
Mrs. Tenderson hid another light and raspy giggle behind a paw.
"He was a very decent driver, and he knew how to toss that Hornet around on the Fairy Ring, I will definitely give him that. And once he managed to get past Bert, he had his ways to make that car very wide, too." Her own smile started slowly turning into a cheerful grin. "Am I to understand you are now the owner of that car, miss Winters? Is there a possibility we may see it back on the track?"
"Haha! Well, you never know!" Monique chortled. "I do indeed own that car now, and I have been going back and forth between either more or less restoring it to the way it was when Philip Frankovic drove it back in the day, or make it a secondary race car for myself."
"If your aim is to enter it in any type of race on the Fairy Ring track or that new track they built around it, my advice would be to make it your own, miss Winters," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. "It would certainly benefit the car if you were to upgrade some parts of it, such as the brakes and the dampening of the suspension, with the modern parts that are available nowadays." She giggled behind a paw again. "Also, I think it would look very nice in that light purple color you use for your vehicles." She raised and waggled a finger with her eyes twinkling cheerily. "But either way, I insist that you take me for a spin in it when it's operational again!"
Monique laughed cheerfully.
"Missus Tenderson, you can be certain that I will, and it won't even be on my test track either; I'll be glad to let you ride shotgun while I'm doing the first test laps on the Fairy Ring track."
"Oh I will so take you up on that, miss Winters, and don't you hold back either!" Mrs. Tenderson giggled brightly.
"You would seriously ride with her in that very uncomfortable thin plastic seat that's in that car?" Doto said. "And let her go all out too?"
"Oh yes, it has been way too long since I last had the chance to tear around that track, dear," Mrs. Tenderson nodded with a smile. "And that seat will do just fine, miss Winters will need to update the harnesses to new ones anyway to even get the car through tech, and me becoming old does not mean I also turned into glass, you know. I can still very well hold my own and take a shaking."
"I told you, sweetheart, many people in this village should not be judged by the way they look, their age or how they carry themselves, especially not the older ones," Monique chortled. "This town may look like any of the other agricultural towns out there on the surface, but when you've lived here and grew up here, you know of what secrets lie under that surface."
"So I'm finding out more and more, yeah," Doto nodded. "I guess I should try to stop being surprised about things like that, huh?"
"You'll learn that soon enough, sweetheart," Monique chortled again. "Now that you work for me, you will see plenty of the townsfolk coming into the garage and learn about them, I can assure you that."
"Right," Doto shrugged, curling her lips into a half-grin. "Just don't expect me to flash my boobs at them all the time like you do."
A louder, high-pitched raspy giggle made the serval woman look around and quirk an eyebrow at Mrs. Tenderson who sent her a cheery smile.
"And why not, dear? Are you uncomfortable with the small size of your bosom? You shouldn't be, with your figure they're a very good size and I bet they would be quite appreciated when shown off."
Monique laughed loudly, and Doto managed a playful smirk.
"Thanks... I guess..? Though I doubt I would ever get used to hearing stuff like that from an octogenarian."
"Well you should, dear, because we just as much enjoyed having sex and talking about naughty things like your generation does," Mrs. Tenderson giggled. "And becoming old does not change that either. The age may restrict the having of it, but it does not take away the enjoyment in talking about it."
"Doto enjoys it as well, missus Tenderson, believe me. She is always talking about mine being out," Monique grinned.
"Because you do it at work all the time, where strangers can walk in at any moment, Momo!" Doto smirked. "And you even prance around fully naked in your garage way too much, too!"
"There is nothing wrong with that, dear. In this country, it's purely natural to go around like that, and in many cases even a necessity," Mrs. Tenderson smiled.
"You would have learned that as well if you had grown up here, sweetheart," Monique chortled. "And I mean, come on, you had a very similar climate where you lived in Africa, wasn't it common there to go around naked?"
"Not in public like you do all the time, Momo," Doto said with a light huff.
"Well, that is just their loss then, is it not?" Mrs. Tenderson chortled. "We did it all the time in our days as well, and there was nothing provocative about it."
"At least that is not something you need to get nostalgic about, missus Tenderson, as it is something you can still freely participate in these days," Monique laughed shortly.
"That is very true indeed, and I can assure you that I still do so regularly," Mrs. Tenderson nodded with a raspy giggle. "And I do want to thank you for bringing back a number of other pleasant memories about Bert's and my glory days to me, miss Winters. Do let me know as soon as you have Philip's car back up and running, now!"
"I have hereby made it the top priority of the three cars we pulled out of that shed, missus Tenderson," Monique chortled. "And let me thank you for answering the questions I had as well."
"It has certainly been my pleasure, miss Winters," Mrs. Tenderson smiled. She walked Monique and Doto to the door after they had all gotten up. "It was very nice speaking with you about these memories, and I will be looking forward to hearing from you again soon." A new twinkle flashed up in her eyes. "Do you think there might be a possibility you may have the car ready for testing by the time the next oil change for my car is due?"
"I'll try my best, missus Tenderson," Monique promised with a cheery laugh.
They said their very cheerful goodbyes and waved as Monique backed her car down the driveway after she and Doto had gotten into it. Doto slowly shook her head as they drove back through town.
"She is one unusual lady. But I have to admit I was impressed by all those trophies and stuff."
"I told you, she was one rapid mouse back in the day," Monique chortled. "And her mind is still as keen and quick as it was back then."
"I kinda wonder though, why does she drive that old Volvo? Wouldn't she still have any of her cars from back then? It seemed like she was very proud of them," Doto remarked.
"She still has them, yes, they're in storage to preserve them," Monique nodded. "And those Volvo two-forty series were actually pretty capable race cars back in their day too, that's why I'm confident enough to blast hers full tilt down my test track."
"Right." Doto sagged in the passenger's seat a bit and ran a finger through her whiskers for several silent moments. "Well, this has certainly been a very interesting experience, that's for sure."
"Was it a positive experience?" Monique chortled.
"Yeah... yeah, yes it was, actually," Doto nodded slowly. "All joking aside, I did actually learn a thing or two."
"Good, I'm glad about that," Monique smiled, taking a paw off the steering wheel to lightly pat one of Doto's legs. "In all seriousness, sweetheart, while I may joke around and tease and stuff, I really do want to help you gain a bit more understanding about the customs of this country and the people of this sweet little town. And it really does help if you keep an open mind, sweetheart, believe me."
Doto looked aside and smiled.
"You know, I'll try my best, I promise."
All in all, it had been a good and productive day - even if they had not done anything.
