Richard J. Ronayne

Novella

Phenix Publishing Ltd

Nation-X Project

Dozens of my stories are currently being illustrated for release by Phenix Publishing Ltd for their Nation-X project, a multi-year project for 4-8000 word educational novellas.

This series was designed for young adults and high schoolers across Chinese and American schools, harnessing anthropomorphism to help digest mature, dark or joyful topics, whilst reflecting life, and exploring real social issues in an exciting and educational way.

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Ask For Angela
By Richard Joseph Ronayne

CHAPTER 1: Monica’s Bar
The large crocodile had drunk too much, again. Missy, a small fennet fox, was used to this by now. She had been asking to go out on a date for months now, but Dyno, her crocodile boyfriend, always said that he didn’t want to. 
He repeated in his deep, snarling voice, “Why do you need to go out when we can do all the same things at home? It’s just a waste of money! I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. Why don’t we just go home and get comfortable, you know?” Pushing Missy up against a wall, easily overpowering her.
“But Dyno, you always go out drinking with your friends, but I never get to go out. You don’t like my friends, and I’m tired of sitting around the house. Come on, this can be fun, please, just once?”
 Monica was exhausted. She was working late in the bar she owned to organize her business’ records for the month. She resented the endless paperwork but took satisfaction in her success.
Sighing heavily, she decided she needed a break. Walking out front of the establishment, she could see that it was still reasonably busy.
Taking a moment to stretch her long slender leopard limbs and claws, she visually took in her success. The bar was indeed a popular location for the young women of Midland. Everything from the décor to the available drinks had been carefully considered for a feminine comfort factor. Which is not to say that men were not welcome, they just had many more options to visit for comfort in Midland’s buzzing nightlife.
Monica’s Bar was somewhere that women could visit and feel safe. Whether that was meeting with their friends before heading out to other destinations in the club circuit or somewhere they could meet their online date for the first time whilst feeling comfortable and empowered.
“Is everything ok out here?” Monica asked of her gnu bartender Tyrone.
“Everything has gone smoothly so far, boss. Michael’s set is about to finish, and Lightley might beat his record tonight—he’s already served two whole customers,” Tyrone replied in a deep and sophisticated tone.
“Wow, that is impressive. He may finally make it to three customers in a shift.” They both laughed. They received complaints at first about hiring a sloth as a waiter, but he wasn’t hired for his waiting skills.
Monica found that the sloth moved so slowly that most customers didn’t notice that he was there, and so he could keep an eye on the customers and alert the staff to any potential issues.
Knowing that the regulars were always here, she peered around the room at the tables and smiled as she noticed Sam Hipp on a date with a tough-looking sphynx cat. It didn’t look like the date was going well, Sam always went for the most extremely opposing women to himself, she wondered when he would learn that opposites may attract, but only to a point.
As she ordered a light beverage from Tyrone, Michael suddenly announced his presence by smacking his white cane into her leg, “I’m sick of singing these girly songs, boss! I don’t get why I can’t sing some death metal songs. I’m really good at screaming.”
Monica startled at the tiny mole man, not realizing he was standing at her feet. “Michael, stop sneaking up on me! I’ve warned you before.”
“Yeh, whatever, it’s not my fault if you don’t pay attention to what’s going on around here. I’ve finished my set for the night, so I’m taking off after having a drink. Unless that’s not ok with you, boss, and you’d rather work me to death?” he said with brutal sarcasm.
“Of course, Michael, it was another great set, because the songs matched the clientele. They don’t want to hear you screaming death metal, though I’m sure it is indeed lovely. Tyrone, could you get a drink for Michael too, please?” 
Then she noticed that Lightley was almost motionlessly waving for her attention with a look of concern on his face.

 
CHAPTER 2: The Crocodile Crisis
Lightley raised a foot to step toward Monica, and before he had placed it down, she had crossed the distance to him herself. 
“Is everything okay, Lightley? What’s going on?” she queried.
Lightley slowly turned his long neck round to look at her and took in a large breath as he prepared to speak, “Monica, there is trouble in the back corner.” Then gave a wide adorable smile.
Monica thanked him and approached the booths in the corner. She could see a slight female fennet fox in a small black dress sitting across the table from a large male crocodile, wearing a once white tank top, showing off his tattoo-covered scaly arms.
The fennet fox’s large ears were flattened back against her head as she looked down, looking extremely uncomfortable. The crocodile was waving his arms around in anger or frustration and was making quite a scene.
All the other customers had moved away from them to find more quiet tables to enjoy their evening.
Monica patiently stalked toward the disturbance so she could better get an understanding of the situation. The crocodile was gestating violently as his mouth snapped open and closed quickly whilst he spoke.
He was very large, even for a crocodile, his muscles rippled as his long, spiked tail swung backward and forward. There were a dozen empty beer bottles across the table, as the fennet fox clutched a scarcely touched cocktail.
As she got closer, she heard him speaking fowl things to the fennet fox, scarcely letting her get a word in reply.
Then he leant in close to her, as his tail whipped around and began pushing against the fox to move her against him. The fennet fox tried to recoil, and Monica heard her say “No” to the croc, who was clearly not listening.
“Excuse me, is everything ok over here?” Monica asked, quickly interfering, making sure to make eye contact with the fennet fox.
“Yeh! Everything’s fine. Ain’t that right, Missy?” The crocodile snapped, releasing Missy from his clutch and sitting back in his chair.
“Umm, yes, Dyno. Thank you, Miss, but…we’re fine.” the fennet fox almost whispered, looking back down at the table submissively.
“See! Now buzz off and stop harassing us! We’re trying to have a private conversation here!” Dyno said as he slammed his tail down on the floor, ending the conversation.
Monica stood, not taking her eyes off Missy. “Alright then. Well, the bar is over there when you are ready to order some more. The men’s bathroom is to the right.” She made sure to get the attention of Missy. “The women’s restroom is to the left of the bar and is fully stocked with amenities in the attached powder room. Make sure to help yourself to them. If you need any assistance, all of the staff would be eager to oblige.”
Then she turned on her heels, clenched her fists, and stormed back toward the bar, overtaking Lightley on the way.
Monica turned to the sloth and took the empty drinks from him, asked if he could go back and clean the unused tables in that area.
“Lightley, remember your training for these situations. Show your purple painted claw as much as possible to the fennet fox and press the silent alarm in your pocket if things escalate, okay?”
Lightley just nodded, which still took several moments, before making his way back over.
Monica continued to the bar, placing the empty glasses down for Tyrone, “Tyrone, there is a situation in the corner stall over there. A crocodile is sitting with a fennet fox, her name is Missy. He has had a lot to drink and is making her horrendously uncomfortable.”
Tyrone stiffened, letting out an angered snort. A large and muscular gnu himself, he lowered his form in closer toward Monica, across the bar, “Indeed. I hear you, Boss. We will stop sending service to the table with immediate effect, so he must come up and get his drinks from me. I will serve him as slowly as possible to help him drink slower. This will also enable Missy to have more time alone to potentially ask for assistance. I’ll show my purple nail off to her and discreetly slip her the assistance card if she comes up to the bar.”
“Perfect, Tyrone. Hopefully, it won’t get any worse, but I believe I made it clear to her that she can receive help from us or from the powder room. With any luck, this isn’t her first visit to our bar, so she knows what is available to her in there.” 
“I’ll keep an eye on them,” Tyrone said with confidence.
Monica knew Tyrone was very capable at carefully handling situations like these. He had helped her set up most of the available services for women who may need assistance. 
But she worried that the sheer size of the crocodile brute may be too much for even Tyrone’s imposing frame.

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