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Welcome to Part 2 of "Catch a Falling Star". When we left Lhuwhon at the end of part one, he had $153 to his name, although he had set himself up reasonably well in a simple home. He was finding his life was somewhat lonely, though...
Mostly I found rocks and bones, but I did find the odd bit of detritus from other times. It's a good thing I was being carful as I dug, because I nearly broke what ended up being my best find of all... An unbroken Greek vase. Once I cleaned it, it was beautiful. It was vastly different than the art of my own people, but it was obviously an example of superior human worksmanship. I thought about keeping it, but once I had it appraised and got an offer for $5000 for it...well, I was not so wealthy that I could afford to pass up an offer like that.
I took the money and bought an interest in the construction company for which I worked. I was not particularly suprised to find that the humans did not like that, and many of them walked. I was, however, surprised to find that the Fey stood behind me. My interest in the company made it Fey-controlled, and they asked me to be the head of the thing!
$6444 Being the president of a small construction company didn't exempt me from manual labor, however - the company struggled, so I was still making a large portion of my living from my garden. So I took the chance and expanded further. I also made my garden all organic, which seemed to sell better at the farmer's market. I was, by this point, making a good living.
I was still lonely, though. I was unique - something no one had seen before, and so it made people hesitant to get close to me. At least, I hoped that was the reason. People were friendly, yes, but I could sense a hesitation to be anything more. I ended up studing the nature of this world more and more.
$3627 I went on long hikes....which taught me much about this world...including the fact that some of the plants, such as "poison ivy", fought back. Stung, quite literally, by the flora of the world, I turned to the fauna. Only to learn that had its dangers, too.
I had not encountered such things before, for my own world had long since eliminated most of the non-sentients, other than the ones we kept for pets. This world still had a functioning ecosystem, unlike my own. I did enjoy studying it, although I could have done without the stinging. I began buying plants and improving the area around the small pond near my home. I had read that the fish preferred having plants among which to live. I had hopes that would make more of them spawn, to make for some variety and more freshness in my diet. I was finally rewarded one evening with a small trout. Of course, once I caught it I had to learn to clean and cook it, but even so it was one of the best meals I'd had in a long time. I was beginning to see the appeal that some humans, and Fey, found in self-sufficiency. We had not been such on my world for some time - we relied on colonies to feed us. I was reminded of that the next morning when I caught the carpool to work. I still could not drive. I could pilot a spaceship, but I could not drive a vehicle. I decided to remedy that, but first, I had to get a vehicle. New vehicles were beyond my financial reach, but I recalled my days scavenging from the dump and purchased a junker and the parts to restore it. I had been a ship's navigator and engineer, I could surely repair this vehicle, with its simple internal combustion engine.
$2444 Things are never as simple as they seem, of course, and so this "simple" engine took almost all of my free time. I eventually finished the engine and went to work on the body. I learned a great deal from my work on the body of that car, enough that I realized I was dissatisfied with work at the construction company. I wanted to do something more creative. So I took courses, both in person and on-line, at the local community college. By now I had enough history that my identity had been established, so it ended up being no problem at all. To my delight I found I had an aptitude for drawing, so I decided to study architecture. My time working in construction taught me what I needed to know about making buildings practical, and the fact that I was from another planet - thought that I kept to myself - gave me a new design perspective. I graduated with an associate's degree and stepped down as the head of the construction company, going to work as an architect's apprentice.
$5742 I enjoyed my work a great deal. I found I was drawing at every opportunity, and while some of my ideas did not fly - too alien - some were very well received.
When I wasn't drawing I was gardening or working on my car. Work on the car was going slowly, but the garden was growing well. I had almost more produce than I could carry to the farmer's market.
$15262 I continued to upgrade my small home. I realized that I did not precisely *need* an oak dining set, but it was such a far cry from my "road sign on a barrel" first table that I just had to get it. I justified by saying it was my gift to myself for being made a staff architect at the firm.
$17,589 My *real* gift to myself, though, was turning my cobbled-together still-mostly-a-shack into a real home. I still had all my construction contacts, and I leaned on them heavily. It cost almost all my money ,but I turned my garden into an attached greenhouse, and built a real driveway for my car, which I had finished...although I still couldn't drive it. So much traffic! In space there was so much more...space.
$600 So I sold it. I had so much fun working on the old one, though, that I immediately bought another junk car to repair. All my life we'd had machines to do everything, and now I was working with my own hands...and I loved it. The only thing missing from my life was companionship.
I confess it never occurred to me to seek a partner among the humans or the Fey, at least, not at first. I was Sthlia, and they were Other. As hospitable as this planet was, I had not forgotten my home. I often searched out my home star with my telescope, though I was careful to only use an optical model in order to escape notice. I did not want to be taken back onto the ship. The captan had been less than pleased with my decision regarding the human woman. I'd had to release her, though. Honor demanded it.
$5800 Still, it was lonely. I had some humans that I was glad to call friend, but more than that never occurred to me. That perhaps influenced my decision to befriend a dog that had been coming around. I usually saw her at night...but then I worked during the day. She was a beautiful specimen, or so I found once I did some research. She had been someone's pet, I was sure. I began putting out food for her, which she eagerly gobbled up. On this world, much like my own, food seems to equal love, and in no time at all, she was as devoted a companion as I could hope for. I put up some "found dog" posters, but no one ever claimed her, so I kept her. I named her Orela, which loosely translates to "small black one" in my language. She seemed to like it fine, though I suspect she liked the soft bed and bowl of kibble even more. She did, however, make a point of coming and getting me when I was engrossed in my drawing to the point of neglecting myself. She usually came carrying her leash, begging for a walk about the time I needed to stretch. She was an intelligent one for her species as well. I purchased a book on dog training, and she took to it so well she must have been previously trained. I highly doubted it was my skill as a teacher. In fact, she seemed to be such a natural performer - almost a "ham", as the humans say, that I decided to see if she might be desired as a pet in television commercials and the like. To my delight, she was gladly accepted, and Orela began earning her keep. Still, though, most of her job was to keep me company, and she did it very well. She filled most of that void in my life quite nicely. As for the rest...well, I'd never expected to mate in any case. Females of my kind were rare enough that only the best and brightest males managed to win a mate...and I had never deluded myself that I was one of those. That was one thing I did like about this world - so many more opportunities for a mere male to excel.
$2981
So ends part two. Lhuwhon continues to improve his standard of living, although often at the expense of the longer-term goal. Will his enjoyment of pretty things make him lose sight of the 100k prize? Time will tell.
Thanks to all of you who read and commented on part one!
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19 Comment(s) posted so far
On Aug 21, 2008 lilyjul96 wrote:
Great. I rated 5.0
On Aug 21, 2008 kezsridg wrote:
And I wasn't disappointed
Great update deagh! Okay so no one signs my guestbook for a whole year and then you guys come and start a guestbook war, lol. I don't mind it was looking a little bare there
On Aug 21, 2008 SnowiJingleBells wrote:
On Aug 21, 2008 Alathiel wrote:
On Aug 21, 2008 mini me3393 wrote:
Aww, his dog is so cute! I can't wait to see how he's going to do on this challenge. I really like that you're splitting it up into parts, that just makes it longer and more enjoyable!
On Aug 22, 2008 joker52455 wrote:
I can't even describe how great this was
On Aug 22, 2008 eshuff wrote:
Very well done! Intelligent and well written and flat out interesting! and I love your shots!
On Aug 22, 2008 lug12 wrote:
On Aug 22, 2008 juliaissexyxoxo wrote:
I love your shots. Better than mine, lol enjoyable story
On Aug 22, 2008 wickedgoddess_athena711 wrote:
yay! He found a companion. Hope his family will keep expanding!
Wonder what he'll be up to next.
On Aug 22, 2008 SuperStar94 wrote:
"Will his enjoyment of pretty things make him lose sight of the 100k prize?"
Sounds like us humans. Love the story! 
On Aug 22, 2008 TrailRunner782 wrote:
What a cute dog! I feel bad that he had to get poison ivy and stung by bees though during his study!hehe Great job again!
On Aug 22, 2008 candy820 wrote:
I really liked this chapter. The dog is so cute.
On Aug 25, 2008 wrote:
Great story I hope he finds a more suitable companion
really great story so far though
On Aug 31, 2008 fizz bomb wrote:
Loving this episode
I thought he may be the kind alien
On Nov 12, 2008 denishaclay wrote:
That was great! Whats Next?
On Dec 6, 2008 wrote:
WOooo!!! I get so engrossed in your stories!!
I'm soooo glad you've done this one 
It's great!!!!
On Apr 1, 2009 Vanilla Sim wrote:
I'm hooked...I love the story line and where it is going..though I feel so sorry for him and is loneliness.
On Apr 4, 2009 YrS92 wrote:
This is such a great story