Montgomery forces the bear off of his lap as he hides his plans back in his pocket. The bear must have been at least half a meter taller than him as he admires his figure. He wonders about the bear's innocent, sleepy eyes that stand out against his worn, rugged face. He resumes his planning but closely watches the handsome bear as he chats with a mongoose.
"How do you do?" The bear says in his Southern sing-songey voice.
He uses the same pickup line for everyone! He thought. He was jealous and intrigued at the same time.
"Whaddya want?" the tired mongoose asks.
"Just wanted to get to know you all better" the rotund bear replies.
"Course he fucking does" the mongoose murmurs.
The tired-eye bear goes on
"Name's Calvin T Burnside." He offers his paw as his unamused neighbor ignores him.
"Ah…not into social contact and such" Calvin says adjusting himself to be more comfortable next to the cell toilet.
He states and admires in awe all the graffiti and drawings on the walls, floors, the bench near him, and the lone toilet on his left.
"Ooh. That's a Parenti quo-"
"Fuck off" a cougar interjects as he tries to sleep.
He tries to chat up other people in the crowded drunk tank but is rejected, insulted, and ignored as he stares off into the decorated toilet. He traces his finger on a drawing of a stick figure holding a machine gun and shooting other stick figures as he remembers how friendly people were back home and wishes he wasn't so slow all the time. The colonel stops his scheming and moves himself close to the sad bear, stepping on the toes of some people along the way, and the guards yelling at him to sit the fuck down.
Stolen story; please report.
"Calvin T. Burnside was it?" Montgomery asks the bear
"Why, you have such a good memory" Calvin is impressed and adjusts his seating to face the mystery fox.
"Folks call me Colonel Montgomery J Klaxon" he shakes the hand of the bear. Calvin's grip was unusually soft and gentle; almost like a firm, worn pillow like the ones he slept in.
"A real-life Colonel in the flesh. Amazing" Calvin's eyes light up like a sunrise while Montgomery thinks about "forgetting" to tell him that Colonel is just his first name.
"No, Colonel's just the name I was born with. My father wanted me to join the military" he says.
"You'd sure make for a fine soldier," the bear says. Montgomery blushes
"Why ain't you a little sweet talker?" The small fox elbows his new bear friend.
"My pawpaw always taught me to be courteous and all that" Calvin says with a tint of sadness.
"But it's hard when people can be so mean " He gives an evil look at the two guards ignoring the chatter behind the cell.
"Aww. Don't put yourself down. This whole city is covered in potential new friends" Colonel moves himself closer to Calvin as the feds dump a group of frat boys on the other side of the already cramped cell.
"Just be yourself and you'd be bound to have someone to rely on" he says into the bear's left ear.
"You really think so?" Calvin asks. "I know it'll come true." He gets squeezed by a grey wolf.
"You're the first nice person I met in this town" Calvin sheds a few tears "Think I made a real friend" he sniffs the fox's hat
"Might be the liquor talking, but this might be the best day of my life" Calvin says
"Mine too" Colonel side hugs Calvin Thomas tightly.
"They really pack us tight, don't they?" Colonel asks
"Can barely even move" Calvin responds. They breathed in their presence in silence as they ignored the cold around them in favor of the warmth they found within themselves. Their brains are flooded with doubts, dreams, and delusions about the past, present, and future they'll create now that they found each other in this temporary cell while they lay next to each other and sniff hints of each other's boozy, masculine scents. They eventually slept in warmth while having dreams sweeter than the sweetest sweet tea.