Thru the Badger Hole Read online

  She had been the first one to volunteer to go into the milking stall with the museum staff. The first one to sit down and try to milk. She had crooned to the cow the entire time she was sitting there, giving it a running commentary on what she was doing. She had been such a precious little girl.

  Madrik’s grief had slammed him unaware, tightening his throat with a futile attempt to control his tears. The BHB sent reassurance, but the poignant grief would not be denied. Madrik had to just let himself feel it. There was no reason to stifle it, no reason to keep a stiff upper lip. His little girl was gone, and he missed her.

  He had sat there for a time, letting his tears fall where they would. The BHB was there for him, humming comfortingly through their bond and warming the room with the cheerful fire. Such grief was not sustainable. The intensity would wear the bearer of that grief down to a nub quickly. Madrik was no exception to that tendency. When his eyes were raw and his throat sore from the tearing sobs, he gathered the pieces of his composure back together and straightened up. Grieving would not bring her back he knew, so with a soft sigh, he focused his attention on doing something concrete. It was time to lay out a plan for the bar. At least, this was something he had control over.

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  The beginning plan was easy to lay out. In essence, there were only a few major steps. The first one was to get the bar supplied, closely followed by hiring staff and training them. The next big step was to organize and hold the grand opening.

  The plan was simplistic but summarized what Madrik wanted to do. He didn’t see a reason to spend a lot of time futzing with things. He could feel the BHB’s agreement along their bond. It really helped that the mental discussions that they had included a give-and-take dynamic that had been reinforcing instead of divisive.

  Back in a focused workability mode, Madrik had moved rapidly around the barroom, notebook, and pen in hand. He was relieved to see that there had been no other major changes in the bar while he was experimenting with the chairs. Perhaps, he was getting more in tune with the bar and subject to fewer surprises. The gleeful shadow that slid across their bond, however, told him the bar knew more than he in this area. That did not reassure him. Madrik supposed that there was just more aggravation and surprises coming and he might as well just take each thing as it came.

  Madrik felt a major sense of accomplishment when he finally got the chairs to look the way he wanted them to. Keeping that final image in the forefront of his mind was the key to achieving something that matched his vision. He had the bar reabsorbed all of his mistakes except a few.

  One of them was the stool that reminded him of Rachel, while the other two were benches. One of them was comfortable for him to sit on since it kept his long legs from having to fold more tightly than was comfortable. The other one was very strange looking. Wider and deeper than Madrik was used to seeing, it had a semicircular chunk out of the center of the back. He had no idea what that was for, but the BHB seemed to think that it was important. Needless to say, that piece of furniture stayed.

  This is starting to look like a pleasant and useful place to grab a drink or food, or even just chat with friends. I wonder what else I could do right now that would make it fit its own peculiar niche.

  Realizing that this bar was becoming a cross between a coffee shop and a drinking establishment, Madrik could feel a bubble of laughter trying to make its way up out of his gut. Even more amused at the idea that he was about to belch a laugh, he instead pushed an image of a couple of outsized, highly-padded couches to the BHB. Talking to himself once again, Madrik muttered, “I guess it’s just my homage to that Seattle coffee company. I loved their comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace, and, other than cleaning, I don’t see any reason that we can’t do the same sort of thing here. If they get too wrecked up, we can just stop providing them.”

  The couches were arranged to one side of the fire, keeping an open pathway directly to the fire from the rest of the barroom floor. Madrik didn’t want to have waitstaff tripping on legs extended from couches any more than he had to.

  The overall appearance of the walls and floors was the next area that the determined man tackled. After much trial and error, he managed to get the BHB to implement a fairly neutral color scheme. Who knew, he said to himself, that a sentient bar would adore bright colors?

  The final appearance included a combination of gently tinted off-white walls and surfaced brick. The floor was sanded and sealed, looking like an expensive dining room floor on Earth. The BHB had reassured Madrik that there would be no problem with spilled drinks and the man had to agree that the appearance was awesome. The deep orange-brown of the floor complemented the reddish-brown tone of the brick, and the creamy wall color kept the whole combination from being too depressing.

  Madrik had been unable to design or visualize lighting fixtures. For now, he left the BHB in control of the lighting, although he knew that was not a good overall solution. Others would need to be able to control the lights, and he had a feeling the bar would not listen to any of them. So that open issue went on one of the pages of Madrik’s notebook. It was written down. Therefore he didn’t have to worry about it.

  Madrik was just starting to feel hungry when a knock on the door broke him out of his workability tunnel. The splash of pleasure that came along the BHB’s connection told Madrik that Emesh was once more outside his door.

  With a pleased spring in his step, Madrik hurried over to the door and flung it open, calling out “greetings, Emesh! Come on in and tell us your news.”

  “A good day to you also, Madrik. You sound much better today, and I am pleased to see that the bar is looking healthier as well.”

  Madrik didn’t pause in his headlong charge back into the barroom even though he noted the strange phrasing that Emesh had used. He was excited for Emesh to see the changes that he and the BHB had made. Flinging his arms wide to encompass the entire room, Madrik asked, “Well? What do you think?”

  “Very impressive. You and the BHB must be getting along quite well to show so much progress.”

  “I think we are and he seems to agree. There were some moments of frustration and obviously some mistakes, but overall we are starting to work well together.”

  Emesh stared at the strange looking stool and the two benches with a smile on his face. He looked carefully around the room before focusing on Madrik’s face, saying, “I don’t see any mistakes.”

  Madrik laughed and said, “well the weird little stool and the two benches were not exactly planned. But for some reason, I just couldn’t throw them away.”

  “Obviously, you are planning for a wide variety of patrons. The stool will be perfect for at least four races I can think of, and the two benches would admirably suit many general body shapes and one specific, large form that has a tail.”

  Madrik stared at the man who’d been a stranger just a day ago in startled wonder. When he was working, he was so focused that he forgot what a strange place this was. Emesh and his comments had forcibly reminded him that where he was right now was not Kansas and that there was no normal, as he could recognize it.

  Realizing that he was staring at Emesh with his mouth hanging open, Madrik shut it with a snap. A smile flashed across Emesh’s face before he handed Madrik a basket that was full of food. As the man started to sort through it, the gardener explained what he had brought.

  “You can see that there are a bunch of different provisions in this basket. Although I brought you some more of the fresh produce, I also brought you a variety of cheeses, several dozen eggs, and some baked goods courtesy of Minerva.”

  “Thank you very much, but who is Minerva?”

  “A friend who offered to provide you with some baked goods until you make other arrangements.”

  “Please thank her for me.” Madrik stopped as if struck, frozen in place and not sure what else to say. The BHB reacted to the consternation that Madrik was feeling by a flare up in the fireplace and the slamming of the front door. Emesh
looked startled and asked in a concerned voice, “What is the problem?”

  Madrik almost stuttered as he answered, saying, “I don’t know how I’m going to pay for all of this. I have no idea how I am supposed to afford the bar let alone pay people or for supplies.” He looked in a wordless plea at Emesh.

  The older man answered Madrik in a soothing tone, “The world that you have ventured into works on a different basis. Yes, some goods or services have to be paid for with a physical exchange of either goods or some other value. But for the most part, you will not need money here.”

  “But then how does it work?”

  “I guess you will just have to see.”

  Chapter 9 – Small Details

  Madrik had fallen into bed exhausted the night before. It seemed like the day had run by on pattering little feet. There were so many things to try and do, and he was trying to cram them all at the same time.

  Emesh had been very complimentary on what he and the BHB had accomplished. Madrik had been somewhat reassured about what it was going to take to operate the bar but he still truly didn’t understand. At this point, he was taking it on faith that Emesh was telling him the truth.

  Back on Earth, Madrik never would have extended that level of trust. However, the BHB’s presence was a constant support for any decision-making that Madrik made, and that unquestioning backing helped him relax control and just go with what felt right.

  The older man had also informed Madrik that other suppliers would be delivering goods to him starting over the next week. While he was relieved, the younger man knew that he couldn’t do it all by himself. Thinking about that now, Madrik said to the BHB, Good Lord! I never thought I would say this, but I miss my old crew from when I managed the bar. At least there I didn’t have to do everything, I just had to step in where necessary and perform overall management. The bartender and waitstaff handled most of the customer interactions while the bouncer handled conflict. Overall, it was a good team. How am I supposed to assemble that sort of team now? How will they get here?

  A wave of wordless encouragement flooded Madrik’s senses as the BHB tried to reassure him that together they could do this. Feeling less alone, Madrik went back to making his lists and obsessively prioritizing all the different things that he knew had to be done to get the bar ready for its opening.

  He was dreading his next hurdle because he was coming up blank when it came to rhyme. He needed glassware for the bar and flatware. Those were just a few of the myriad things that the bar would need to have, and he didn’t know how he could think up the rhymes for so many different items. It was starting to give him a headache which was absolutely the last thing he needed on a busy day.

  Oh, and he needed cookware and kitchen equipment, and God alone knows what else. He just felt totally inadequate to figuring out everything he needed.

  Madrik was lost in circular logic and the peculiar spinning that an overloaded mind would go into when too many things had to be considered. He felt like he had been caught up in a tornado of logic and indecision. One that would keep him spinning forever.

  Slam! It felt like he had been slapped across the face. Ears ringing, his entire skin smarting. Madrik had just discovered one of the disadvantages of having a bonded companion. Well, I think I just got knocked out of my funk, he thought to himself.

  Okay, Badger. I got the message. I will stop spinning in place. It just seems like my list has grown to the point where it covers eight pages and I know I’m forgetting things.

  Bam! This time, his butt hurt like somebody with combat shoes had just kicked him in the ass. I think I’m missing something! I would like to figure out what it is because even though he’s not physically here, he certainly is making an impact on my body.

  Thinking past his growing worries, Madrik reopened the channel that he had not realized that he had closed off. Sorry about that, I didn’t realize that I was creating a wall. I never meant to keep you locked out.

  Madrik could feel the sense of abandonment that the BHB felt. He had frightened his companion, and that was something he never meant to do. The man knew that the Badger could feel his apology because the distress on their bond eased.

  A series of images played out in Madrik’s mind, obviously coming from the BHB. The first of them was a zoomed in detail shot of many plants. Little flags appeared next to each of them randomly and then rearranged. The flags had different numbers on them, and they moved from plant to plant and sometimes back again in a random, chaotic order. After a few seconds of this, the image changed. Instead of a zoomed vision of the individual plants, it was as if he flew over a field in a balloon. Madrik could not see each of the plants, but he could see the fields. The fields were tagged with larger flags that didn’t seem to change.

  Madrik had a lightbulb moment. Now, I see. Thank you so much!

  Rather than trying to deal with every single little thing that he needed to open the bar, the BHB was trying to tell him that he just needed to articulate the general requirement. He had turned into a micromanager. How he had hated people like that when he had to report to them. Inevitably, they couldn’t remember everything and then they would blame the workers.

  Deciding to act on the suggestion and see where it led, Madrik sat down for a few minutes and dashed off what he hoped would be a decent way of describing what he needed. After all, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t redo it again if he needed to.

  He fussed and fumed over the small poem for a while and then decided that he might as well just stop fretting and start talking. Taking a deep breath and holding the clear image of the bar that he had worked in before in his mind, Madrik closed his eyes and said:

  “There once was a barroom named Badger,

  That had a general bar manager,

  He needed it set up,

  Just like his old getup,

  So, he asked for similar barware.”

  Even through the lids of his closed eyes, Madrik could see a series of flashing lights. He felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and a flood of energy ebbing back and forth between his body and the BHB. He could feel the drain on both of them as the light show ceased and quiet once again filled the barroom.

  He was almost afraid to open his eyes. What on earth had he done? The BHB was quiet for just a few seconds longer before a deep sense of satisfaction and a sparkle of pride in their success trickled over their joint connection bond. With that reinforcement, Madrik opened his eyes and looked around. Oh, dear God in heaven! This is amazing, but I don’t even recognize part of what’s in here.

  The BHB sent a tendril of thought to his brain, saying in a small, rusty little voice, That was me. I know those things, and I could help.

  Madrik was floored. As great as the transformation was inside of the bar, the fact that he now could actually hear the BHB made a huge difference. Instead of a faceless entity, a spirit that had some degree of anonymity, there now was a voice to go with the feelings. The BHB had just become a different sort of friend than it had been before. Madrik knew that it was sort of weird to feel that way, but he did. They had taken one more step toward being a full partnership and the closer they got to that the better he felt.

  Uncomfortable with any more thoughts about their growing relationship, Madrik looked around the bar. It had transformed into a close match to what he had seen in that snap vision. The bar looked like it had been operating for a long time. The shelves were filled with bottles of all sorts, many that he didn’t recognize. There was glassware lined up on the bar and on the counter behind the bar.

  Madrik could hear the sound of something that sounded like a quiet dishwasher. He remembered at his old bar that the dishwasher was always going. There were always more glasses to be washed. And if there wasn’t demand from the customers for clean glasses, he was always supposed to make sure that no glass had any dust left on it. That meant cycling glasses through on an ongoing basis so that no drink was served to patron with a dirty-looking vessel.

  Even the amazin
g stein wall was there. It wasn’t exactly like his old bar, but it was close. The mugs were different, but the overall style was the same. He saw some pretty cool looking German steins there, but there were others that were more fantastical in appearance. He longed to go over and investigate them, but he had a sense of a rapid collision approaching that was making him extremely tense.

  Alcohol was there, glassware was there, he could even see the drink setup containers sitting on the one end of the bar. It looks like everything was ready for business. Turning, he was startled to see on the one wall a dartboard and what looked like a knife-throwing target. Different strokes for different folks, I guess, he thought to himself.

  Madrik knew that something was missing, but he wasn’t sure what it was. It felt like there was a hole somewhere and he couldn’t figure out what would fill that hole. Oh well, I’m sure that it will come up and we can address it then.

  There was a knock on the door and Madrik headed over to open it. It didn’t exactly sound like Emesh’s knock, and the BHB was sending him messages that were slightly different than when Emesh had visited in the last couple of days. Perhaps it was one of the other suppliers, coming to call like Emesh had promised.

  As Madrik approached the door, he realized that he had not shot the bolt last night. Obviously, he was getting more comfortable staying in the BHB. After all, no one had attacked him here, at least yet. The only negative part had been that nasty, clammy fog that he never wanted to touch again for the rest of his life.

  Pushing the door open, Madrik didn’t at first see anybody, until a small sound made him look down. There was a woman there, staring challengingly up at him. Only about 3 ½ feet tall, the overall impression of her was brown. Her skin, eyes and even her clothes were shades of brown. Tan, reddish, chocolate. The mixture of the color in all its possibilities was part of her personality.

  “Good day to you, Lady. I am Madrik, the new manager of the bar. May I help you?”

  Her confrontational look softened when he made no comment about her other than a courteous greeting. Looking him deliberately up and down, the small woman said in a surprisingly deep voice, “Emesh said that you’re going to be opening the bar and that we should start to resume provisions for you. Is that true?”