Diana Nevidal "The Door"

At least, that’s what Clio then thought.

CHAPTER 3: Meet the Cranz family

About Arthur

в—Џ Appearance:

Eyes: Sky blue,В big

Hair: Light blonde, golden,В wavy

Skin: Tanned

Height: 189В cm

Body build: Sturdy, tight-built

Arthur’s appearance is best summed up in one explanation, rather than describing each point individually. Take any old slavic legend, find an illustration of a great hero, bogatyr, there – bingo!

Thur does indeed resemble a hero from a myth or a fairytale – a lively, blue-eyed giant with huge arms, shaggy golden locks and a kind smile.

His tanned skin adds colour, as if all he does every day is ploughing fields and sowing rye. All he’s missing is his armour and his horse. But he has, as he should, a beard.

A belly, the herald of a well-fed family life, blurs the picture a little, but in the context of the overall enormity of this character, it doesn’t really stand out that much.

Age:В 32

Date ofВ birth: 20В June

There is an expression В«sweet summer childВ», which is used toВ refer toВ people who are bright, naive and unencumbered byВ the harsh realities ofВ our world. For the most part, this could apply toВ our protagonist. We do not know whether the fact that he was born inВ summer has anything toВ do withВ it.

Zodiac sign: Gemini

Arthur had never shown any interest inВ horoscopes, so it was hard toВ say whether he would have considered himself aВ typical representative ofВ his sign. Rather, the horoscope would have made him giggle inВ aВ boyish way and tell some typical dad joke:

«– Darling, I can’t take out the rubbish now, ask the other one.

– Who?

– Well the second one, I’m a Gemini, it’s represented by twins. The rubbish is on my twin then!»

Education: Veterinary College

Ever since he was aВ child, Arthur was overwhelmed byВ an immense love for all living things. How and why exactly this happened is unknown. Maybe it originated from the fact that his parents never allowed him toВ have any, even the smallest and the most odourless pet. This love was leading Arthur byВ the hand throughout his life and has finally led him all the way toВ becoming aВ veterinarian.

The rose-coloured glasses shattered rather quickly – this profession turned out to be quite different from what it had seemed when he was a child. At least somehow our hero hadn’t thought about horse enemas and cow births before, about the blood and pain that all vets have been immersed in since their first training days. But in spite of this, Thur decided to stick with it so that he could be able to help our little fur brothers.

During one of his toughest exam preparations, Thur suffered from a lack of exercise and action in his life. That all changed when a one of his buddies invited him to a LARP party – to run through the woods, to swing swords. The rest of his college years went very differently for him.

Job: Veterinarian

At work in the big city, fewer and fewer freshly hatched calves passed through Arthur’s hands than in his studies. The city was having more and more cases like an overeating hamster or a depressed parrot.

He didn’t start thinking less about his profession, though – help is help. And if they come to him for help, he will do everything in his power to bring the animal back to normal. What can we say, the small private clinic, where he has settled in, appreciates him as an employee.

в—Џ Hobbies: LARPer, dog groomer

At this point, not quite morally mature people might start giggling at how incongruous our hero’s interests seem. But if you think so, take a step back and look at Arthur from some distance, then the bigger picture emerges. And now it’s clear that anything else would be even silly to expect.

The fact is that after about five hundred dogs had been examined and cared for, aВ new passion began toВ take root inВ Arthur. Seeing his patients happy was the highest reward for our personal Dr Dolittle, but it is hard toВ see them happy if they are all covered inВ tatters and tangles.

And then, all of a sudden, there was a mad desire to see them clean and neat as well. That’s how dog grooming – the art of haircuts for pets – came into Arthur’s life.

Not without the support of his superiors, Thur decided to ask the owners of his most shaggy clients for permission to «chop them up a bit». «Literally snip just the very tips,» he said to the delight of not the most mature of readers and not the most mature of his clients. There were more castration jokes after that phrase than we all would have liked, but that smile was Arthur’s pass to a new hobby.

After aВ while, people started asking the handy vet for this extra service themselves. After that, their friends, friends ofВ friends and eventually some strangers inВ general started coming.

The owner ofВ the clinic, being aВ clever man, was quick toВ make sure that such aВ talent would also bring inВ an extra penny. He gave Thur aВ small storage room toВ use, helped with the initial materials and even added aВ small poster at the entrance announcing the new service.

However, it cannot be said that dog grooming has become aВ second job for Arthur. For now, it is still aВ hobby: he has complete creative freedom, no schedule and no plans toВ follow, no check-ups and inspections from his bosses. He does it for himself and for his furry friends, who, after such aВ beauty salon, come out looking happy and smiling.

в—Џ Outstanding personal qualities:

Kindness: Do you know people who, instead ofВ crushing aВ spider with whatever is at hand, gently take it outside and let it go inВ peace? If not, meet Arthur again. Given that touching the creature, which has eight paws, with his own hands is beyond him, our hero chooses the path ofВ love anyway and rushes off toВ find aВ glass and aВ piece ofВ paper toВ help the spider with the move.

Empathy: Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is a tricky skill, but Arthur manages it. It’s what nearly destroyed his career in medicine. Thur gave his first injection in tears – he himself had experienced the fear and pain of his patient.

He almost fainted, and after the whole study group leaned him up against the nearest wall and gave him some water toВ drink, he seriously wanted toВ go and quit his studies right away.

Arthur is sympathetic toВ all animate objects. All inanimate objects he animates and then shows sympathy for them as well.

Whereas for most people on this planet it might just be an old spoon, for Thur it will be good old Bon-Bon – practically a childhood friend whom he purposely took away from his parents’ home as soon as he started living on his own.

Thanks to this he has a large family – in addition to his wife and son, there’s also the diva, called Prima Donna, a wayward washing machine, and his faithful four-wheeled friend called Jürgen.

Calmness: It’s not an easy task to get Thur to lose his temper. He is a big man, and given his size, no one has ever tried to make him do so. So Arthur’s nervous system is practically brand new, undisturbed by the people around him.

Conflict-free: Arthur has aВ big problem with confrontation. He avoids conflict at all costs. Our hero is not the type toВ bang his fist on the table and bark for everyone toВ calm down and shutВ up.

InВ emotionally heated situations, it is usually the wife dealing with the problems, while Arthur stands silently behind her back, instilling his (or at least trying hard) the most serious face expression.

When conflict situations arise with his wife, however, there is no escape for him. So he tries toВ keep his wife happy, content and well-fed. Not only because ofВ that, ofВ course, but also because he loves her toВ pieces inВ aВ puppy-dogВ way.

Fun: Arthur also likes toВ laugh aВ lot, and he does it very infectiously. So not only does he make his own jokes and laughs at them, he also drags everyone around him along with him into this maelstrom ofВ incessant hilarity.

Some people seriously avoid spending too much time with him simply because their jaw and stomach muscles ache inВ the morning after aВ session ofВ hysterical laughter. But there are far more people who, on the contrary, want toВ spend their time this way, so Arthur is aВ welcome guest at any gathering ofВ even distant acquaintances.

About Agatha