Abandoned Angel
Part 60: Time To Say Good-Bye
Time is a funny thing. People grow older by the day in the tiniest of incriments. Time erodes all. Changes all. Robert and Erin, fluffies and all. Several years had passed. Erin was expecting. It was still too soon to know the gender, but it didn’t matter much either way, they would love their child and raise him, or her, to be a good person. Angel and Brave aged as well. Robert and Erin knew that fluffies had a much shorter life span than a typical pet. Biologically engineered to have a somewhat short life span to create a forever planned obsolescence. Angel had lived longer than Robert had expected, a long and mostly happy life. Erin and Robert knew that their two oldest fluffies weren’t long for this world.
Angel and Brave had several litters during the years. They knew special hugs led to babies. They knew Robert and Erin couldn’t let them having babies all the time. Over the years, Robert and Erin let them keep two foals. Pizza was a fluffy from Angel’s first litter and not much younger yet more full of life than his parents. Robert and Erin both had wondered if the mental and physical abuse had aged them faster, as Pizza was much more vigorous than his fluffy parents. Pizza’s exuberance was a perfect match for his sister, Turquoise. Each had a good mix of Brave’s sweetness and Angel’s stubbornness.
It was a good family. It was a good life. Robert still kept the picture of Angel with the three brothers on her back on his desk at work, another copy kept at home as well. He still walked with a bit of a limp, a forever reminder of how fragile life could be. Every cold morning when his leg ached was a forever reminder of how Mary refused to let go of his life. Every morning he awoke next to Erin he was forever reminded how terrible things can lead to wonderful things.
Angel felt tired. She had been feeling that way for some time, many many bright times. She even started eating less. The nummies her mummah and daddeh gave her were very good, but, she just wasn’t hungry. Mummah would make sad faces when she didn’t eat, so even if she wasn’t hungry, she ate her nummies. It wasn’t uncommon for Angel to forget to eat at all. But she tried. And she would make sure to eat and each time she did mummah would have a saddie smile and call her a good fluffy.
“Daddeh, upsies?” She reached up for her daddeh to pick her up. Angel curled up in her daddeh’s lap. It was so hard to get up there now. Lately she had to as for upsies. Every time he gave her upsies her wings would flutter, but recently, not so much. Even her wings were tired. She loved her daddeh so much. She loved her special friend, Brave, too. Sometimes it gave her head owies if she tried to figure out who was best. She loved her mummah. She loved her babbehs… Even if they were adult fluffies, they would always be babbehs to her.
Brave, only slightly more spry than Angel, managed to make it up to the couch to lay next to Angel and Robert. For a blind fluffy he got around quite well and was never far behind Angel. After Robin had died, these two became inseparable.
“Daddeh?” Angel didn’t even look up at her daddeh.
“Yes, sweetie?” Robert gently stroked her fur, it was still thick and a beautiful deep blue with dark green. Erin sat Robert’s drink onto the coffee table, taking her place next to her husband.
“Daddeh… Is Angel gud fwuffy?” His hand continued to stroke her fur.
“You’re a very good fluffy.”
“Daddeh wub… Angel? Angel wub daddeh…”
“Of course I love you.” Robert and Erin shared a frown, as she had been acting like this for a few days.
“Mummah… Mummah wub Angel?”
Erin gave Angel a quick scratch around the ears. “I love you very much.”
Angel’s eyes were still closed. “Angel wub mummah… Angel… wub Bwave… and babbehs… Daddeh? Can Angel have sweepie times?”
Erin coverd her mouth with her hand, fighting back a heart wrenching sob. Robert kept petting her, as he had for years, “Yes, Angel… You can go to sleep.”
Angel chirped and a long, almost happy sigh, escaped her body for the last time. Erin couldn’t hold back, she bawled into Robert’s shoulder. His hand reached for Brave only to find his body still as well. Angel and Brave, inseparable to the end.
Robert and Erin buried the two in the back yard, forever sleeping together. Pizza and Turquoise sobbed as the earth claimed Angel and Brave, allowing them to join Bright and Robin in spirit, if not in location.
Time stops for no man nor beast nor fluffy. Erin had given birth to a healthy baby girl and named her after her sister, Susan. Even Turquoise and Pizza fell in love with the new child. They didn’t even mind the fluff pulling or the drooling. The winter following the birth, Erin returned from work to quite a surprised.
Robert had already made it home, she could smell dinner cooking. As she opened the door, Erin heard a loud CHIRP from the porch. She knew that sound from Angel giving birth. A foal, bright red fluff and a dark blue mane, curled and shivered in the snow. Quickly she snatched up the foal, it was young, it was tiny. A Pegasus. A female. She ran to the kitchen.
“Robert! Grab a towel and a bowl!” Robert didn’t argue, he didn’t even have to question once he saw the bundle in her hands. Once the foal was laying comfortably in the bowl Robert disappeared, searching for the box full of fluffy foal supplies. They kept it all together as they never knew when it would be useful again. Turquoise and Pizza stood on their hind legs, curiously reaching up towards the counter, but not willing to get in the way.
The baby chirped again, eliciting soft exclamations of “babbeh!” from both Turquoise and Pizza. Erin mixed the formula as Robert set up the heating pad for under the towel. Robert bathed the filthy foal, she only fought weakly under the warm water.
CHIRP “MUMMAH!” Her eyes opened. Robert wondered if she was a runt, was this the first time she opened her eyes? Not likely as she could talk. “MUMMAH! MIWK!” she demanded loudly.
“Hey, I’m your daddy. Daddy.”
The foal blinked. She blinked again. “DADDEH! MIWK!” Erin grinned and took the foal from Robert to dry it off. The foal looked up at Erin, “DADDEH! MIWK!” CHIRP!
“I’m mommy. Mommy.” Erin gently told the foal. She looked between Erin and Robert as if understanding that these humans were different. Did the foal just harrumph? “MIWK!” The amount the foal ate was impressive. Quickly the foal fell asleep on the warm towel.
Erin and Robert brought their two fluffies over, both were extremely excited to see the new baby. Turquoise sniffed at the baby, Pizza following suit. “Nyu babbeh gud babbeh.” Turquoise stated simply. Pizza echoed the sentiment.
“Are we going to keep her?” Erin asked, even though she already decided for Robert.
“Yeah, let’s keep her.” Robert stroked the foal’s back with his finger, she rolled over and grasped his finger in her hooves.
“Wats babbehs name?” Pizza asked. Every fluffy needed a name, even if it wasn’t a very good name. Good fluffies especially needed a good name.
“Angel.”
~
