Ahh, here we go. Round two.

I guess this is going to be an exercise in how far $25 from a middle-class teen boy can go. I wonder if Ely will ever tell Spencer to stop spending money on gifts that don't matter as much -- at least, so that he might spend them on gifts that do. But that might require too much talking, so who knows.

How do these guys have relationships with each other? They never communicate anything beyond bare essential information.

Looks like Ely still likes bugs. (Maybe he appreciates that they don't try to talk to him.) It's interesting to see the animal behavior shine through in these two. Even with one of them being hopelessly drug-addled and the other being emotionally shut down. They're still rats. Which maybe the restaurant staff doesn't appreciate here, but hey, we didn't get these hard-earned civil rights for nothing.

This might be the first time I've read a food porn story for a mid-range American-food restaurant. It's seafood and potatoes. But clearly for, Ely and his mother, it's the culinary high point of the year. Important bit of perspective. Just in case I get lost in the luscious descriptions.

Another amusing rat moment when they get jolted out of their food experience by the dish-noises. If they talked as much as they twitched, no one would ever shut them up.

Man, I don't even like shrimp. Ely can have my share of it.

So a group of customers comes in, and Danny's first response is to bolt for the bathroom. I wonder what's motivating her to do that, because it's a very specific, spontaneous sort of reaction to that. Is she that uncomfortable around groups of strangers? ... Did she want to go the bathroom to go get high on something to cope with the sudden stress? That's messy. Even if she didn't bring anything to do it with.

OK, so, I guess I was right about that. One phrase is sticking out for me. "... and for as much time, Danny had turned away from conscious thought for this very reason." OK, so, she's been self-medicating for years, that's been established, but what's she saying the reason is for that, exactly? I missed what she's saying the reason is.

... Oh, great, the staff thinks they just dined-and-dashed. These rats, man. Can't trust them for a second. Those people just want to steal any little scrap they can.

That's a very touching origin story for the skateboard. It's abundantly clear that Danny's unfit to be a parent to anyone -- but she's unfit to do anything, really, at her point in life. Of the few things she can do, being a good mother to Ely looks to be near (or at) the top of her list. Trying to give him a good life, as much as she can, despite being unequipped to join it herself. And I suppose it might also give another dimension to Ely's sticking with skating for the better portion of his life. It's something that Danny gave to him, and he's making the most of it.

Yeah, that was definitely a good bit of backstory. Kudos.

Wait a minute. How can Ely take the online survey? He doesn't even have a computer. Oops. ... Maybe he could give the receipt to Spencer and let him take it. Guy seems to like his soft drinks.

"For being a mouse." I can't tell if that's a normal compliment or a backhanded one. Presumably, Jamie will either interpret it as the rats trying to be nice with what little money they have, or the rats stiffing him with a 5% tip and leaving a spiteful note for his trouble. Either or.

Heeheehee, spiky wet rat fur. That's cute.

I guess that's the ending. Sitting on a bus, contemplating the five-ish species of anthros to compose the city, and how they're distributed on public transportation. Feels like a bit of a non sequitur from the dining experience, but I guess that's life for you. ... And you know everyone on the bus is going to observe that it now smells like seafood.

I guess the italicized bit at the end is the remainder of what Ely wrote on the napkin. That's a real monologue for such a taciturn anthro as he. Especially to write on a napkin with a marker. ... In fact, I think that's a pretty good standard for how much the rats communicate. If it'd be too much trouble to write down on a napkin with a marker, they're not going to say it out loud.

So that means the rats were nice after all. I wonder if that'll change anything for Jamie there. Maybe, maybe not.

I'm not sure what feeling I have, coming away from this. It was definitely an evocative story, and I felt a lot for the characters in it. I know Ely wouldn't want pity. People generally don't. ... yeah, I don't know what else to say. Good story.

Thanks again for reading. I'll clear some of this up for you.

That sentence you pointed out "And for as much time..." I think I was saying that since Ely had learned to fend for himself, Danny had decided she no longer had to remain sober to look after him.

I don't really establish this in the earlier chapters but the italics represent the thoughts that Ely writes down on the bottom of his skateboard. You don't see it until the end because he couldn't have written it until he got home.

Ely doesn't have a computer but Jamie doesn't know that when he suggests it. Simple as that. Ely's not one to point out that it's not necessary.

The "For being a mouse" thing was kind of Ely's way of saying he was being rewarded for being what he was, a creature that society seems to more or less like, unlike the rats who are apparently just trouble. "You're a mouse and we're not, good for you, here's a dollar," was the basic idea.

The bus ending is just kind of an observational transition, where Ely and Danny have gone from a place where they were definitely the outsiders to the bus where everyone inside is, briefly, basically the same. Just people without cars.

I'm glad they got to have a little luxury, if only for a while. Ely looks after his mom a lot, but I guess he's had to grow up fast. Poor kid, talk about missing a childhood. I hope he gets into a better situation with his mom someday.