Tourquai Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted to help create a better society; he himself wanted to be a better animal. But despite valiant efforts, he didn’t measure up. You have to start with yourself, he knew that. Therefore he followed the rules, the written and unwritten rules of life. He went to church on Sundays, he knew portions of the Proclamations by heart, and he lived as they taught. In his co-op association he was in charge of the laundry room and rose beds by turns, and yet he had time left over for his aging parents. He made friends, but for some reason these friendships never lasted very long. He was never stingy, and he gave the animals around him space and trust, and even showed his weaknesses, just as he had read that you should do.
    Yet it didn’t really work out.
    Falcon didn’t know why.
    The laundry room was clean and tidy, the roses bloomed, the deacon in the church blessed him, and none of his friends had anything bad to say, not even when he called them later and asked what he’d done wrong.
    He had always wanted to be a police officer. For an animal like Ècu the choice was between the police profession and becoming a prosecutor. It was a choice between an intellectual life and a more physical one, and Falcon was better suited to the latter. He thought that within the police corps he would finally feel at home together with stuffed animals who shared his way of looking at life.
    But it didn’t turn out that way.
    The hard-to-define awkwardness of which Falcon had always been aware created a distance between him and his colleagues. That had been the real reason he moved up to Tourquai and WE. Things had become impossible in Amberville, and he needed a second chance.
    Unfortunately, though, things seemed to be going the same way with Larry Bloodhound.
    But he was lucky to have Anna Lynx as his partner.
    At first Anna seemed just as irritated as any other police officer with Falcon as a new partner. He no longer took it personally. No one wanted a new partner. The interplay between two colleagues was far too important for anyone to want to start with a newcomer. But Anna had showed her irritation in a different way than Falcon was used to. She had been frank. This had both shocked and disarmed him.
    “C’mon, it might not be easy, but let’s give it a try,” she had said. “Who knows, it might work out.”
    Even then there had been something in her charisma that made him slightly better than he usually was. He could feel it clearly. And for the first time since he had started as a police officer, Falcon thought it might work out.
    “It looks like it’ll be you and me in the first match,” Field Mouse Pedersen said as they were on their way up the spiral staircase from the locker room.
    “Oy,” Falcon answered without turning around. “Well, then I’m lucky it’s group play. I haven’t recovered since the last time.”
    “No false modesty, Falcon. Besides, you had your racket restrung, didn’t you?”
    “It was necessary,” Falcon answered quickly, blushing slightly. “It wasn’t easy to—”
    “But of course you should restring it,” the field mouse interrupted. “Nothing to apologize about.”
    “Just so I don’t have any excuses,” Falcon explained.
    They went out to the court together. Play was going on everywhere; the red foam rubber balls flew like missiles back and forth over the nets. Without wanting to, Falcon felt his competitive instinct awaken. He knew he didn’t have a chance against Pedersen. The last time they played he won only two games in the second set. But Falcon knew exactly what he’d done wrong that time. If only he’d played more aggressively. If only he’d dared go to the net on Field Mouse’s second serve.
    “This is going to be a real battle,” said Pedersen, taking the cover off his racket.
    “This is going to be a warm-up for you,” Falcon replied. “But I’ll do my best.”
    “Just remember to bend your knees,” said Pedersen.
    But Falcon Ècu was not good at bending