Maple woke up some time later, her body still hurting. She was wrapped in something warm, which while pleasant also meant the positive part of the numbing cold was gone. She groaned quietly as she opened her eyes, looking around her. As her mind gained awareness of her surroundings, she realized she was a little bit wet, wrapped up in a steamed towel on the man’s kitchen counter.
“Huuhuu… Maypo hab so many huwties…” she cried quietly to herself. At this sound, the man who rescued her popped his head up from the other side of the counter, springing to his feet.
“Yer alive!” he said with a bit of excitement and optimism, a slow smile crossing along his face. He came around the counter, dropping down to his knees to look at her at eye-level.
“I was hopin’ warmin’ ya up would do the trick. Yer still hurtin’ though, huh?”
“Yes nice mistuh, Maypo hab wots of huwties buh Maypo buh awso hab happies fo’ wawm housie an’ nice mistuh.” Her big eyes opened wider as she looked him up and down, his face close enough that she could easily focus on him now. He looked like her old daddy which wasn’t nice, but much older. His skin was a little wrinkled and his hair was mostly grey with only a little black left in it.
“Aww…” he started, he couldn’t help but to smile at her evaluation of him. “Yer welcome here for now, but we’ll find out how well we get livin’ together with some time. I didn’t clean up yer wounds yet, I still need ta do that, but warmin’ ya up was the first priority.”
Maple quietly nodded to him, submitting herself to this man’s judgment and care with recognition that she had no other options.
He picked up her with a gentle grip, carrying her over to a washbasin. “Ya know, it’s awful convenient bein’ able ta talk to an animal yer tryin’ ta help out,” he told her, carefully lowering her down and unwrapping the towel around her enough to dip her hoof into the water for a moment. “That too hot fer ya?” he asked.
She squirmed a little, but not because of the temperature. This washbasin looked much deeper than the bowl her little mommy used to give her baths in. “N-nu! Wawa not too hot buh Maypo nu can swim!”
He laughed quietly at her, patting her on the back as he unraveled the towel, holding her in his hands as he lowered her slowly into the water, up to her shoulders. She shook and shuddered, her eyes going wide as he felt a warm rush against his fingers on her backside. “Err… take it easy, now. Ya don’t hafta swim. I gotcha, little one.”
The smell afterward made him grimace. “Oh, goodness, this water ain’t gonna work anymore,” he told her, lifting her up and dunking her backside a few times to rinse her off as she clung to his wrist, terrified of being dropped in the water.
“Maypo su sowwy! Maypo nu mean to make bad poopies and bad peepees!” she told him, looking up into his eyes and pleading her innocence.
“There there, I ain’t gonna get mad atcha fer it, jus’ gotta get ya some new bathwater.”
He set her down, on the towel from before, wrapping her up again and setting her by the woodstove. “Stay right there, okay?”
“Otay…” she said quietly, her eyes looking down at the floor, but eventually wandering back up to stare at the pretty flames dancing in the wood stove.
He left the house, and for the moment the door was open she felt the cold wind and was a little more grateful to have been taken in. After a few minutes he came back in with the basin, picking up a little bucket on top of the wood stove and pouring in more water, just a little at a time as he poked his finger into it.
“You said yer name a moment ago, right?” he asked her, trying to change the subject to ease her embarrassment and fear of punishment. He unwrapped her again and lowered her in slowly, one hand under her while the other carried the warm water over her back and rinsed her off.
“Y-ya… am Maypo…” she responded weakly, though shaking a bit less as her body began to relax.
“There ya go… so yer… Mapo? Am I sayin’ that right? How do ya spell it?”
Maple’s little brow furrowed as she thought about it. “…Maypo… nu know how to speww.”
“Huh. Alright. That’s okay. Mapo it is,” he told her, thinking about it as his fingers worked into her fluff, cleaning her wounds a bit. She was being a lot more cooperative now as he carefully rubbed along her limbs, paying attention to what made her wince to get a good idea of how to help her.
“Nice mistuh… tankyu fow hewping Maypo…” she told him, nuzzling his wrist with her little nose.
“Yer welcome, dear,” he told her, patting her on the back as he slowly lifted her up again and wrapped a clean towel around her, bundling her up and holding her in his lap as he sat down into his rocking chair. “Also, you can call me Roger,” he told her, patting her dry in a way that made her body feel nice and remember her old mommy, but this magic chair that made her shift back and forth made it even better.
“Otay, Wogah…” she sleepily said. Somehow, this magic chair was also making her very sleepy, her eyes slowly closing in an unexpected moment of peace.
When Maple woke up again, she felt the warmth of the wood stove, laying on her side in a little makeshift bed of folded washcloths with another one draped over her as a tiny blanket. She lifted her head up and noticed she was hurting less, her natural recovery having had a good chance to work its magic.
Across the room, Roger was reading a giant piece of paper, folding it and turning it around every few minutes as she quietly watched. After a few pages he lowered the paper to look over and check on her, squinting and leaning closer when it looked like her head was raised up.
“Mornin’ Mapo,” he said with a nod, lifting up his steaming cup and taking a sip of his coffee. She could smell it across the room. She always did like that smell, but Roger’s smelled even better, her little nose lifting up and sniffing at the air. “Ya slept for a long while, but I bet yer body needed it. I tried to make ya a decent little bed, ya happy with it?”
“Gud mownin’ Wogah,” she told him, rolling around slightly for a moment and noticing that her hurties were almost gone. “Maypo wub nu bed, tankyu Wogah, buh Maypo hab tummy owwies an’ needs nummies.”
His brow wrinkled for a moment as he considered what that meant. “Yer hungry, right?”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“Whattaya usually eat? Like I toldja before, I don’t know much about fluffies.”
“Ummm… Maypo eat kibbwe, sketties, appow, nana, stwawbewwy…”
Roger stopped listening after he realized he barely recognized any of what she was trying to say, but he did get up and head over to a cooler to get out a few eggs. Maple watched with fascination as he brought a cast iron pan over to the wood stove, setting it on top with a spoonful of butter in it. Her tummy rumbled as she listened to the sizzling and watched him cook, and after a few minutes he had a big plate of fluffy scrambled eggs with salt and pepper sprinkled all over it. He took a fork and a little bowl, portioning off some of it for her and setting on the ground near her bed. “I don’t know if you said eggs in that whole list ya were givin’ me, but that should do the trick.”
Maple loved the smell, and loved the look. “Yes Wogah! Maypo wub eggies!” She carefully got up in her bed, walking over and began to eat. It was soft, warm and delicious, easy for her teeth to chew. They didn’t have any cheese on them like they did when her old mommy made them, but Maple wasn’t going to complain. The hungry girl ate her entire bowl and walked across the room over to sit down by his feet. “Tankyu Wogah… Maypo nu hab tummy owwies nu mowe, buh can Maypo hab a wittwe mowe eggies? Maypo am soon mummah an’ need mowe nummies fow tummeh babbehs.”
Roger’s reached down, petting her mane with his fingers as he felt her soft fluff and listened to her, but just as he stood up to bring his plate over to her bowl to give her a bit more he paused. His smile faded, his expression just a cold, stonewalled one.
“So yer pregnant.” He stared at her for a moment as she froze in fear. Was this daddy also going to hurt her for being a soon mummah? Her eyes teared up, her body slinking to the floor as she shook and shuddered, covering her eyes with her hooves. She felt the cold wind of the front door opening, then stop again. When she opened her eyes, Roger was gone, but in the corner of the room he did fill her bowl with more eggies.
“…Mebbe Wogah nu gib Maypo huwties?” she asked out loud, looking around before cautiously walking over to the eggies, chowing down and quickly emptying that bowl again. She wiggled her way under her blanket again, getting in her bed and hiding for now in the safest place she knew.
remains safe!