Fairground Fattening Pt5

Tamara excused herself past two oxen who were blocking her path, bumping into one as she did so. She apologized but only half meant it as she did so. She was hoping to convince Dale to get her on her way earlier than he had originally said, and the two massive furs were only delaying her further. Her demeanor only soured further when she reached the booth, only to find it was unmanned.

“Where the hell is he”, she asked out loud, searching each way before looking in the middle of the stand.

There was a little display with a clock, telling everyone that the booth was closed until 3, which was about 45 minutes from then. She was annoyed, but for some reason, not as annoyed as she would have been an hour ago. Sure, she had been seemingly getting jerked around a bit by this wolf, but it wasn’t like there was anything that could be done about it. He hadn’t caused her car trouble, he was just looking to make a buck, just like everyone else.

“I’ll just set my alarm for 3 so I can meet him back here. Hopefully he’ll change his mind.”

She pulled out her iPhone 10, furiously tapping the screen to get it to unlock. The phone was a little slow with the recent updates and did not run as well as it had when she had gotten it a few years ago. It was an older model and she had wanted to upgrade to the 12, but she was still paying off her student loans. Sure, she had been somewhat of a model student and had gotten a partial scholarship to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, but that was not like her parents or sister. It was seen as somewhat of a slap to the Hopkins family, one that had her on thin ice with them. Because of this, they chose not to support her at college, only agreeing to pay for her housing, NOT her tuition.

Being forced to work in college, even part time at a desk job, had been somewhat of a humbling experience. It had made her more understanding of people’s plight, though she did still forgot her place from time to time. Try as she might, Tamara was still a partially spoiled child, even though not to the degree as the rest of the family.

Still, as the now very plump tigress glanced at her phone, she hoped things would change once she got to Florida. A friend had recommended her for a real estate firm, and she was hoping that she could get in well as a paralegal before making the jump to underwriting associate. That’s why she had put all of her money into this trip, and driving down with all of her earthly possessions. Her parents, knowing this would probably be the last time they saw her, had gotten her a going-away present. It was a brand-new Honda Accord, another slap in the face seeing as how no one in the family drove anything that wasn’t German or Italian. They wished her luck in a sarcastic way and she had been off.

That was why it was imperative that the car be fixed and in a timely manner. She could ill afford to make a bad first impression. Doing so might ruin her life.

But, as she finished setting an alarm for 3, there was nothing she could do about it right now. She would just wait until 3 and talk to Dale again. Until then, she’d just enjoy his hospitality and see some more of what the fair had to offer. Her stomach was already rumbling by the time her phone was back in the pocket of pants that were becoming several sizes too small for her.

“Let’s go see what else this place has to eat, I’m starving.”