AVOCADO
A tribute to Carpdime’s Avocado
Chapter Four: Gwandaddeh
(continued from Chapter 3 )
“So, this is Avocado?”
He was an old man who had his experiences in life. He had gone through the rigours of education, the rigmarole of working life and the reprieve that a fulfilling marriage could provide. He had fathered two children in his time, and had taken care of two pets, a dog first, followed by a cat. And now his son, the young man, brought with him this new pet, this symbol of a modern age that he was getting out of touch with.
“That’s him, dad. I bought him because I was feeling lonely at the college. However, I spent too much time on him and, well…”
“Well what?”
Hanging his head in shame, the young man admitted, “I failed my first test.”
In the background, an episode of My Little Fluffy could be heard reverberating from the living room. Avocado was watching another episode of My Little fluffy, and his little squeaks of delight and excitement could be heard.
The old man sighed. “You’re always like this. Distracted so easily. It’s a miracle you managed to get into high school, let alone pass and get into college. Frankly, I don’t see why you didn’t put him up for adopti-“
“No!” shouted the young man in indignation. Despite only owning our little green foal for a while, he had grown very attached to the creature. Realizing his sudden outburst, he took a moment to regain composure.
“I mean, no. Avocado means a lot to me. I know he’s just a fluffy, or a biotoy as they call him but, he is a real companion to me. He kept me company and I just really like the guy.”
“Alright then,” said the old man, taking in a deep breath, “what do you want me to do?”
“Well, the daycare at the town near the university is not open yet. So, and until my grades get better, Avocado will be in your care. I’ll use the time to focus on my studies and, if I do better, I’ll take Avocado back.”
“Are you sure you’ll be able to handle it?”
“You always said I got to be more responsible, right? Let me focus on my studies first. Then, when I’m ready, and once the university daycare is open, I’ll take Avocado back.”
~
Not long after his owner spoke to him about his new home, the young man introduced Avocado to the old man. He explained to our little green foal that the old man was his father and that, for the next few months, Avocado was going to be staying with the old man so that he can attend the nearby daycare, while the young man attended his own “school”. After this quick introduction, the young man took his leave.
Avo looked up. Since he was still about the size of a hamster, the old man towered over him. He looked much like ‘daddeh’, but older, having grey hair and wrinkles. He was wearing a flannel shirt and baggy brown pants.
In a gesture of genuine friendliness, Avo greeted the old man with a “Hewwo nice mistah!”
The old man scooped Avocado up with his palm and placed him on the table. Avocado, being curious about what the young man said about this old man, asked the old man a rather innocent question.
“Mistah am daddeh’s daddeh?”
“That’s right, Avo. I am your daddeh’s daddeh.”
Unbeknownst to Avo though, the young man was hiding in the kitchen, watching to see how Avocado would reciprocate with his father.
“Otay, daddeh daddeh!”
Realizing the redundancy of repeating two terms, the old man knew he had to teach Avo something.
“Avo, the daddeh of a daddeh is called a ‘grandaddy.”
“G-gwandaddeh?”
“That’s right. Gwandaddeh. Or gwanpa.”
“And the mother of a daddeh is called a gwanma.”
That came from the old man’s wife. She came in carrying a dish, wish she placed beside Avocado. It was a miniature flour tortilla, with a little bit of lettuce, and other vegetarian fillings placed neatly inside it.
Avo thought about what the elderly couple said. And then, Avo understood.
“Gwandaddeh! Gwanma!”
And Avocado reached out his arms, wanting a hug. The old man lowered his body until his face was on the table and let
Avo hug his face. The elder woman placed the plate down.
Avo looked at the plate quizzically, and asked, “Dis am nummie?”
“Yes Avo. It is called a burrito.”
“Buwwito?
“Try it.”
Being small enough for his tiny mouth, Avocado took one bit of the burrito. Since it had a mild sauce for his delicate palate, and had hints of tomato sauce, one of the savoury ingredients found in spaghetti, or skettis, Avocado’s mouth was filled with a most savoury taste.
The elderly couple smiled, as they watched Avocado eat the little burrito happily. The young man smiled and took once last look at his little green buddy before making his leave.
~
It is Thursday.
Avo has already spent about a week with the elderly couple, and a spare room in the house was now Avo’s new domain. The young man had provided his parents with Avo’s pet bed, toys and Mr. Huggies as well as the Foalcan which had Avocado’s serial number. The young man figured that, if Avo was to be sent to a daycare, the serial number would come in handy.
Aside from watching FluffTV, Avo had spent his days mostly playing with his toys as well as interacting with the elderly couple when they weren’t busy. As they were both retired, they spent most of their time at home. And, this evening, it was the old man’s turn. With a remote control in hand, he looked in glee as he saw little Avocado chase after the toy car. Not too far from him was a pile of building blocks, which Avo had been playing with the old lady earlier.
“Nu wun awway, wittwe metaw munstah! Babbeh wan new fwen!”
As the RC car whizzed around the floor, Avo kept running, trying to catch the toy car. Sometimes, the old man would stop the car, and let Avo almost touch it, then, quickly moved the joystick, so that it would speed off again. Avo, in genuine enthusiasm, continued the chase.
After a good 10 minutes of this activity, the phone rang. Getting up to answer the phone, he placed the remote control down on the chair. With no one at the helm of the remote control, Avo caught up with the toy car.
“Haha! Avo got fwen! Huwwo, nice metaw fwen!”
The car did not move.
“Fwen? Hewwo?”
The car still did not move. Avocado placed his hooves on the car. It did move, and he could see the wheels move but, when he let go, the car stopped moving.
Upon finishing the conversation he had on the phone, the old man returned to his chair. Avo, looking a little concerned, approached the old man.
“Gwandaddeh, why metaw munstah fwen am sweepie?”
Smiling at his childlike innocence, the old man explained, “Silly little Avo, the little metal monster is not sleeping. It is just a toy.”
“A toy? Wat dat?”
“It is like a building block. See?”
The old man went to pick up one of the building blocks that Avo had been playing with earlier. Avo understood that building blocks could not move on their own, unlike the ball, which seemed to move on its own whenever Avo pushed it.
“Bu’, gwampa, metaw munstah can wun wike fwuffy!”
“No, Avo. It can move because it has a battery.”
“Battewy?”
The old man picked up the the toy car. Showing the underside of the toy car to Avo, he opened a compartment of the car, and revealed the two AA size batteries that powered the car.
“Oooh…. su, fwuffy hav’ battewy tu, wite?”
“No, Avo. You don’t have a battery, and neither do I. Nor do grandma or daddeh have a battery. Both humans and fluffies have nummies. Eating nummies is why we can walk and talk.”
Up to this point, Avo, like any other untrained fluffy, would see any moving object as a potential ‘friend’ or ‘munstah’. Or, as the big folk would call them, a ‘living thing’.
“Su…. Metaw munstah iz not a fwen?”
“You could say that, yes. He’s a toy. This block is a toy. This action figure is a toy. The stuffy fwen is a toy.”
“Toysies….
Bu… mistah Huggies gib huggies!”
“Does he Avo? Or are you actually hugging him?”
Avo starts thinking about this. With his hooves on his head, he starts to exhibit the first signs of a headache as he frowns. “Avo hab head huwties, gwampa.”
The old man smiles, as he relates, “It is quite difficult to explain. But I’ll teach it to you slowly.”
~
“Whewe am gwampa goin?”
Avo is currently at the back of the old man’s car, residing inside his pet carrier. It was in the later part of the Friday afternoon, and the old man was a little frustrated. He had to check if the address was right – the daycare was placed in some part of the town that he had never visited.
“We’re going to your school today, Avo.”
Avocado remember that his owner talked about going to school. He too had been watching the My Little Fluffy episodes, that featured the younger fillies attending a school.
“Skool? Just wike daddeh?”
“Yes, Avocado. Just like your father’s.”
“Oh guudy!”
The old man silently cursed his son for the minor inconvenience of making him drive all the way to the other side of the town just to send this tiny little hamster-like creature to their equivalent of a kindergarten. In addition, Avo kept singing the songs from the radio, as well as random songs from the My Little Fluffy cartoon. It was cute at first, but after an hour of hearing a little hamster creature sing such songs in a childlike manner it got a little monotonous. Thankfully though, and with an hour to spare before its closing time, the old man had reached the daycare.
“Hello, I’m here to register a fluffy for your classes.”
The daycare seemed to be a rather simple affair. There was a front desk, with a receptionist handling the usual paperwork and calls. The old man peeked behind the receptionist, and saw a young auburn-haired woman standing before a herd of foals in one of rooms. Besides her was an adult fluffy, a mare.
“Okay babies. There’s a nice mistah who wants to talk to Mama. While you wait, Candy please teach the babies.”
“Otay mummah!”
The old man then sees the adult fluffy address the foals.
“Otay babbehs! Wets sing da Awfabet Song!
A B C D E F G-”
As the fluffy mare sings the Alphabet song with the foals, the daycare teacher approaches him.
“Well hello sir. And hello little fluffy!” she says, as she waves her hand at Avo, who is seated on the reception desk.
“Hewwo nice miss!”
“I’m here to register this little boy for your class.”
“Sounds good.
Do you have any documents? Like, which breeder or shelter he was purchased from?”
“Yes, one moment, please,” says the old man, as he opens his bag. He presents the empty Foalcan to the teacher.
The daycare teacher sighs. Avo was not the first fluffy of his kind at this daycare, but the daycare teacher was one of these people who preferred normal fluffies, and not the ones that were distributed by Foalcan Inc. Nonetheless, and being the professional she was, she tried her best to mask her disapproval.
“Oh. A foalcan.”
“Why, is something the matter?”
“No, nothing is wrong. Just, I’ve been getting a lot of foalcan fluffies lately.”
She proceeds to look underneath the foal, searching for the serial number of the can. She then reads out the serial number. The receptionist, following the identification number, then reads it out to the old man.
“According to the record, your fluffy A dash 5143-“
“Avocado, that’s his name.”
“I see.”
The receptionist typed away at the keyboard. Since foalcan fluffies were sold in a can, they usually did not have a name registered compared to fluffies bought from a breeder or a shelter. However, and since Avocado’s can was claimed, updating the registry was an easy process and, within a minute, Avocado’s name was formally entered into the registry.
“Well, Avocado is about two and a half months old, according to this record,” noted the receptionist, viewing the updated record.
“Is that bad?”
“Nothing wrong with that sir, it is just our policy of keeping track of the foals age. Fluffies grow fast, so we have to tailor lessons in some cases. However, Avo should be able to fit into our current lesson plan, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”
The daycare teacher then brings her face down to Avo and gives him a big smile. Even though she disapproves of Foalcan’s practices, she sees the value in all fluffies regardless of background.
“Well, Avocado,” says the nice lady, as she addresses him, “I’ll be seeing you soon. I’m the mummah at this school, and I will help you learn!”
Avocado, in a rush of enthusiasm, jumps for joy. Standing on his hind legs, he rushes to her right arm and gives a quick hug around it. The daycare teacher blushes a little.
I adore Avocado so seeing a story with him just fills me with such joy. I love gwanpa and gwanma too.