Something delicious

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It was a windy day and there was an electric tingle to the air. Rocky could smell it from the moment they stepped out the door and it excited him. He bounced and ran, his metal leg clicking loudly.  Lotti laughed at his antics and clipped the leash onto his collar with some difficulty.  The powerful dog strained on the leash and forced Lotti into a jog.  She carried a picnic basket under her arm, packed with all sorts of goodies for both human and canine.  They reached the picnic ground and big drops of rain started to fall.  The playful pair dove for the cover of a roofed area near the cafeteria and waited for the rain to stop.  Lotti passed Rocky a large beef jerky and he pounced upon it with gusto.  The rain eventually petered out and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds.  Lotti spread the picnic rug and lengthened Rocky's lead.  She set out a bowl of water for him and a bowl with a variety of wet and dry feeds, jerkys, bits of meat and some carob dog chocolate.  Some people may say she spoils Rocky, but she doesn't care.  She laid out the picnic food and made herself a salami sandwich that she was a obliged to share with Rocky when he used his soulful stare on her.  Ok yeah, she spoils him a bit.  She lay on her back, Rocky laying on his back beside her, and looked at the clearing blue sky.  "Es gibt etwas Leckeres über den Geruch von regen, Rocky" she asked him, grinning.  He grinned back, that classic, adorable pit bull grin.

"There's something delicious about the smell of rain, Rocky."

[Richard Stone]

Richard had been busy marking papers, and if it hadn't been for his stomach, he probably would have worked until dinner, though his stomach rumbled rather audibly for the second time, and the man knew that he couldn't deny himself food for much longer, else his stomach was going to take itself to the cafeteria. Placing the paper into his briefcase, he rose to his feet and left the classroom.

Between the academic building and the cafeteria, the English teacher found himself caught in a deluge of rain, and only had his briefcase for protection against the downpour - which he didn't want to fully expose to the wet weather in case some of the water seeped through and ruined the papers inside.

Finally arriving at his destination, and it had stopped raining by then, he walked in, selected a chicken wrap, container of yogurt and a bottle of iced tea, swiped his card through the machine and then made his way out of the building. Yes, it had been raining moments earlier, but he enjoyed sitting out in the sunshine whenever he could - he spent enough time indoors to ruin a chance to sit in the sun.

Approaching the picnic area he caught sight of a woman lying in the sun with a big canine - big in stature, rather than size - with a picnic basket beside them. "Nothing beats the smell of wet grass and damp fall leaves." He said as he brushed down the sweater vest he was wearing, knowing that there was no point in doing it as it was saturated from the earlier downpour.

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Rocky barked agreement to her words and licked her chin.  She shoved his nose down playfully and tickled him.  She noticed another teacher had made his way out for lunch.  He was one of the academic teachers, most of whom she didn't know yet but was eager to make friends with.  Hopefully she would be at the academy for a while so she may as well befriend all the teachers and students she could.  Already she felt her relationship with her pupils was growing fast.

"It is quite a pleasant smell.  I love the feeling after it rains and everything is damp and full of life." she smiled and pushed aside the picnic basket.  "I am Lotti Adler.  I'm kind of new." she said, introducing herself politely.  Rocky stood up and walked slowly forward a little "Oh and this is Rocky." she added, knowing Rocky was just waiting to be introduced too.  "He likes anyone, even if he's never met them before." she said and petted the big pit-rottweiler mix.  Despite the fierce reputation of both breeds, he was the friendliest dog on earth.  "That's why he's such a terrible guard dog." she said, speaking more to Rocky than to the teacher.  She pinched Rocky's wrinkly cheek as he walked, slightly bow legged, a few more steps toward the man.  She certainly hoped the man wasn't afraid of dogs, though he didn't seem to be.

[Richard Stone]

Richard smiled as she replied to his comment and then introduced herself. "It is lovely to make your acquaintance, Ms Adler." He said with a warm smile. "I'm Richard, not so new." There were times that it seemed that he had been teaching at the Academy for more than the few years that he had been here, but what else would one expect when this had been his first placement after leaving Boston with a doctorate in education and a Master of Education in English and Language Arts Education, of course, not including the fieldwork he had done during his study.

He extended his hand toward the canine who was cautiously approaching him. Although he'd never owned a pet; his family had barely been about to afford the live on the basics, without adding a family pet to the equation, and then when he had been awarded a football scholarship for BU, there had been no time for a pet. Even so though, he'd never had any bad experiences with animals so he wasn't afraid of them - he just didn't like yappy dogs, the little ones that you just wanted to kick (not that he would ever dream of doing so). "Ah, a dog more likely to lick you to death then. I think I can handle the terror of that thought." He rubbed the canine behind her ears. "How did he lose his leg? If you don't mind my inquisitiveness, of course." Richard could think of possibilities on how it may have happened, but he wasn't one to instantly think everything bad was as black and white as it seemed.

He sat down on one of the benches, not caring that his slacks were now wet, he removed the cover from the wrap and started eating, only then realising how hungry he was, though he forced himself to eat slowly. After all, he didn't want to set a bad impression toward a woman he had just met.