Chapter 181 - Sixth

"Are you awake, Sheldon?"

Sheldon finds himself lying awake in an unfamiliar bed, stark naked. It is the middle of the ni- two 'o' clock in the morning, according to the alarm clock on the dresser at his right.

"Huh? Is that…?" Sheldon turns over, to face his partner in the bed. He finds himself looking into the eyes of Babe the bat, lying beside him. He utters a pronounced gasp. "Babe? What did we…do last

night?"

Babe extends an arm over Sheldon, and gently strokes his chest, one of her naked breasts pressed tightly against Sheldon's chest. Leaning closer to him, she whispers into his ear, "Everything."

An awkward smile forms across Sheldon's lips, but he can not shake the nagging feeling rising within him; the feeling that something was not right about this.

The curtains are drawn, so Sheldon's surroundings are consumed by the impenetrable darkness of the early morning hours, except for the errant red light of the alarm clock display..

It certainly did not feel like this was his bedroom: smelling a delicate mixture of odors unfamiliar to him; the smell of

flowers (carpet freshener), lemons (pine sol) and hot sweat (sex).

The hedgehog felt groggy, as though he had run an entire marathon and then went to sleep.

"So we did it last night?" Sheldon asks into the darkness, his voice squeaking a little out of how nervous he was.

Babe says nothing, though. The bed trembles when she wiggles closer to Sheldon, and clutches dearly unto his arm. A passing car's headlights light up the room for a brief second, but then the darkness returns again, unscathed.

A knot is beginning to form in Sheldon's stomach.

Sure, he had occasionally considered Babe as being more than a friend, but this all seemed so fast, it was making his head spin.

"Hey, Babe, I think I'll get some fresh air. Maybe go for a jog in the park."

…

Station Square Central Park is lovely in the early morning hours. This is a fact that Sheldon has been aware of since he was a child, when he would come here for a slice of serenity: after the picnickers, single mothers and barbeque-ers of the day had long since tucked into bed.

He is jogging along the sandy trail, and although he tries his hardest to stay focused on just the winding path ahead of him, Sheldon's mind continually wanders to thoughts of Babe.

It was a night just like this when they met, almost twenty years ago.

…

A younger Sheldon is standing alone in the middle  of a basket court, dribbling a basketball. His eyes are locked on the basket, but, having been  shooting hoops since the sun was still out, the

muscles in his arms are legs are sore and thoroughly exhausted. He is about to take another

shot, nonetheless, when a commotion across the  street catches his attention.

A girl Sheldon has never seen before has

stormed out of an apartment complex and is

crossing the road at a brisk pace, heading for his

basketball court.

Dismissing the incident as being just another day in

the projects, Sheldon tries again to even out his

shot. After so much practice, he was going for a

half-court shot this time, so it was imperative that

he block out all distractions –

"Hey."

Sheldon is caught off guard by the girl's greeting,

and misses the shot. Sighing, he turns to her,

looking unamused.

"I'm sorry, did I throw your shot off?" The girl says,

fidgeting with her fingers anxiously. "I can just go,

if you like…"

Sheldon grunts in response and walks away, to

retrieve the basketball.

"I've seen you practicing here a couple of times. She says, smiling sheepishly. "You've really improved since you first started."

Babe calls after him, causing him to pause halfway into lifting the basketball. He doesn't say anything to her, though, and reassumes his shooting position, hoping she would just go away. She doesn't.

"What's your name?"

"If I tell you, would you leave me alone?" Sheldon snaps back, glancing at her from over his shoulder.

She feints a moment of contemplation, and shakes her head. Sighing, Sheldon gives in to her presence.

"It's Sheldon. Sheldon the Hedgehog."

He keeps his eyes on her just long enough to see her smile and take a seat, on the cold pavement of

the basketball court.

"You can call me Babe."

…

Sheldon the Hedgehog has been jogging nonstop since he left his apartment, and the physical strain of it was beginning to show. He is not as in shape as he used to be – there's another story about his past in which he sprained his ankle and missed an

entire month of his basketball practice, and never

fully returned to the game because of it - so he had definitely lost his 'A' game.

He collapses unto a park bench, breathing heavily, still thinking about Babe.

…

After that night he met Babe, she would come to the same basketball court any time he was there, just to watch him make his shots. For the first few nights, there would be little talk between the two, until one night, when she showed up looking exceptionally flustered about something.

"Hey Sheldon, you live here right?" Without waiting for an answer, she continues, "Have you ever dreamed of achieving something more from your life? Of getting out

of this place?"

As usual, she is talking to Sheldon's back; however, this time he was apparently interested enough in what she has to say to stop what he is doing.

"Yes." He answers simply, after some thought.

"Let me guess, you're out to be the next Michael Jordan." Babe says in a snide tone.

Sheldon shoots Babe an inquisitive look. "Who's Michael Jordan, is he any good?"

Babe opens her mouth as if to answer, but then promptly shuts it. After a while she says, grumbling, "Never mind; forget I said anything."

Sheldon stands there, staring at Babe, with a mystified look on his face. There was something different about the way she dressed tonight. Her clothing was skimpier and more revealing than the norm. Funny, Sheldon thought, that I would come to expect a certain level of class from this strange girl.

"Aren't you cold, wearing something like that?"

Babe has a sad expression on her face. Even the aloof Sheldon could tell that something was weighing heavily on her mind.

"I've been homeless for weeks, so I had to find a way to get by."

Babe looks up at Sheldon expectantly, but his aura of indifference does not shift in the slightest.

He starts to dribble the basketball again.

Not intimidated by Sheldon's cold shoulder, Babe continues, "I'm trying to get into a junior college in the Academy District." She pauses, and sighs audibly. "My grades are good enough, but it's going to cost me an arm and a leg…"

"I'm not giving you any money." Sheldon breaks in, attacking her with a piercing glare.

She looks startled, but does not cry.

For a while there is nothing but the sound of cars racing by on the highway up ahead; the only highway that exited into this side of Morpheus. Alone together in the middle of that basketball court, hedgehog and bat; children of the projects, it seemed like they were trapped in this helpless void with little opportunity to ever escape it, no matter how hard they would struggle.

As if sensing this truth, an intense, new emotion floods all of Sheldon's senses as he lines up his next shot.

Overcome by this feeling, Sheldon says, "Because you have a dream Babe."

Sheldon makes his shot from half court – what may well have been his thousandth one that night.

"So you're going to have to give it all you've got to make it come true."

He makes the basket, with a dull thump, and the ball falls back onto the court; rebounds.

"Ain't nobody gonna help you."

It is a crisp, breezy Monday morning. Dusters the Echidna has parked his truck on the corner of Acorn Street and Ocean Bay road. Sitting next to him, in the front passenger seat, is Jake. With a pair of binoculars in hand, he is in the process of surveying one double-story condominium of the many lining either side of the street. They all looked similar in design, but were painted in different shades of "sea" colors varying from aquamarine to light yellow. What could possibly be so special about this one condo?

"Still nothing?" Dusters grunts while tapping his muscular fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. "Just one of these houses is probably worth more than I make in five years, and it kind of pisses me off."

He looks around. It is still early, and every now and then a man or fox or raccoon in a suit emerges from one of the condominium, dressed in a business suit complete with a tie, or in one case, even, a high-ranking military officer's uniform.

"Look, there's our guy." Jake says, handing the binoculars over to Dusters, who had been examining a big-busted echidna in her underwear waving out a goodbye from an open doorway.

He looks, and sees that Buzzy has emerged from the front door of the condominium the two had been watching for almost an hour. He is walking at a brisk pace toward his parked Toyota Hybrid. There is the brief bleep of his car alarm being deactivated, then as he opens the car door-

"Wait, who is that? Lanie?" Dusters shares an eyepiece with Jake.

They watch as Lanie runs down the same path behind Buzzy, and tackles him with an open arm hug before he can fully get into the car.

Jake leans away from the binoculars, rubbing his chin in thought.

"What could Lanie possibly be doing at Buzzy's house?" Jake says primarily to himself as Buzzy enters the car and drives it out unto the street.

"Hey, shouldn't we tail him?" Dusters starts, gripping the keys in the ignition.

"No. I think we should have a talk with Lanie, first."