The next two week passed uneventfully; Martha made sure of that. Bella briefly thought about tattling on gwandmummah for killing her bestes babbehs but gwandmummah had made sure to tell her that telling mummah would give her the biggest heawt huwties and make her get rid of Bella to not feel sad. Bella didn’t want to make her mummah sad or go away so she kept all of her own heawt huwties to herself.
Bella was jealous of all the attention that Dakota received from her mummeh and tried repeatedly to get her to see her point of view in spoiling the fillies. To no avail Marie continued to dote on her “prize” show fluffy and forget all the wonderful tea parties with nummie cwumpets that they use to have.
This culminated with Bella luring Dakota while playing to the top of the stairs while Marie was taking a bath and “accidentally” bumping into him. After all, the blinky boxes were in the kitchen, not out here. He fortunately only fell a few steps down and walked with a limp for the next two days. The colt immediately forgave his mother for her “accident”, his love only making her hate for him more bitter.
After Martha found out, she told Marie that Bella could no longer get help to climb the stairs as she needed the exercise. She made sure to continue secretly fattening the mare as well. This consigned Bella to sleep in the kitchen on the dirty birth towel instead of her pretty mummeh blankie.
The first night after Dakota’s fall, Martha came into the kitchen, muzzled then bound Bella. Martha then set up her folding chair and smoked a pack of cigarettes all night. She put each one out in an ashtray right next to Bella’s head while rocking the helpless fluffy with her foot. She didn’t say a word, but she didn’t need to. Bella knew Gwandmummah could see everywhere.
Martha had lost a lot of sleep these past few weeks, constantly watching the baby monitors on her phone while she did farm work. He neighbors were nice enough and more than happy to help her with some of the more time consuming animal care while she watched her Granddaughter’s mare and her litter. She knew Bella well enough that at this point she didn’t even need the monitors to tell when she broke a rule.
Dakota loved the pretty mummah blankie so much and made a fluff pile with his three sisters. Bella cried herself to sleep every night as she heard Marie reading bedtime stories to her foals upstairs. Her pretty fillies wouldn’t come into the kitchen to fluffpile with her anymore now that she smelled like yucky buwnie sticks. To rub salt in the wound, her poopie colt would come to visit and give her huggies and tell her he loved her. She would fake a smile and thank him but make sure not to hug him tightly back, not ever.
One night Marie was talking on the tewefone to Dan on the house phone in the dining room. Bella overheard her talking and got excited, she remembered daddeh telling her in the vroom vroom mustah fowebah agos that he would come to pick them up from grandmummah’s house.
“But daddy! They’re soo cute!” He listened to his daughter’s please, but his house was too small as it was for one fluffy, let alone five. “Look sweetie, I already spoke to grandma and she said she would watch the rest. Then you can see them on Christmas and summer vacations. Ok?” Bella was dejected “Fiiiine, just one fluffy.” She had to beg dad for a week just to get him to let her keep Bella after receiving the filly as a surprise birthday gift.
Bella was so excited, daddy was coming and he was just going to take her and mummah home. No more poopie babbeh! She felt sad for a moment thinking about her fillies that would get left behind. But then she remembered her special friend and remembered she could make more babbehs. She might even get another orange bestes! No more poopie babeh! No more poopie babeh! She hummed to herself all week. Martha noticed she was in a bright mood but couldn’t figure out what she was planning.
Bella spent most of her time waiting on the back of the couch by the front window. She was waiting for daddeh and his vwoom vwoom munstah to come and take her back to her soft room and delicious canned fluffy food and her walkies around the neighborhood where she could smell all the pretty flowers that grew on the bushes.
Then the fated day came, she saw it. The vwoom vwoom munstah scared her. It took her to the vet, it shook her around too hard sometimes, and it made big scawy honk noises. But today none of that mattered, it meant she was going home. Dan got out and walked up to the front door with the sowwy box. Bella would be a brave girl for mummah, just like when she first got in the sowwy box as a filly for mummah last hot time.
Mummah ran up to the door and let Daddeh in. “Are you excited for your birthday party this weekend?” He asked his daughter with canned enthusiasm. “Yes, I can’t wait to show all my friends my new fluffy!”
“Nyu fwuffy? Bewwa nu am nyu fwuffy?” Bella protested to deaf ears as they walked past her and up the stairs talking about packing and other things she didn’t understand, she was Marie’s present last year. She already knew all of Marie’s friends back home.
“huu huu huu Dakota wiww miss bestes sissies” His sister’s all huu huu’d their hearts out as they hugged Dakota in a big fluff pile. All three fillies loved their brother, despite him being doted on the most by their new mummah. Dakota took great effort to share attention with his sisters and make sure his mummah got to give them as much huggies and wub as he did. Bawwawina was the best dancie babie and could even stand on just her front weggies. Spiwit couldn’t weawy make her horn glow but she never stopped trying, it was ok tho, they always had a night light. Wiwy really was a smarty, she could name all the colors and count past ten.
“Ok, Dakota, are you ready to go?” Dan asked. Dakota thought for a second, he was going to miss all the huggies. “Oh, I awmost fowgot!” Dakota bolted out the door and down the stairs, zig zagging around the bottom floor before making it to the kitchen, mummah wasn’t there. But for a second, he looked at the mummah pictures taped up to the cabinet doors. His gaze lingered on a coloring of an orange and green foal.
He felt an intense sensation of sadness and longing like he missed someone. Buh dat nyo make any sense he thought, who could he be missing.
He collected his thoughts then he turned around and ran to the front room. He finally found his mummah. “Bestes Mummah, Dakota gun miss yuu suu much” Dakota bawled climbing up onto the couch to embrace his mother just as he remembered her hugging him as a chirpeh babeh.
“Mummah nu gun miss dummie poopie babeh” she finally let the act drop. It didn’t matter anymore. In a moment she would climb in the sorry box and be taken far away, somewhere mustah gwanmummah wouldn’t be able to hurt her.
“Huh? Whu mummah mean? Mummah wub Dakota.” The colt was confused. “Stupid poopeh, Mummah nebah wub poopie babeh. Mummah wub poopie’s bestest bwuddahs tiww poopie gib dem fowebah sweepies. Dumb poopie babbeh am wowstes babbeh. Mummah Hatchu! Hatchu!”
Dakota’s heart was ripped in half. “Nuuuuu” he cried, tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, he leaned back away from her in shock. She used this opportunity to push him backwards off the couch. Dakota managed to twist himself as he fell to catch himself and limped away from his mummeh as fast as possible. As he made it to the doorway from the front room to the hallway both Dan and Marie came walking in with the sorry box. “Hey bud, whats wrong?” Dan asked. “Dakota say goodbyes, am weady…” He sniffed.
Dan set the travel cage down and opened the door. Seeing this as her cue, Belle hopped down from the couch and began to trot towards the sorry box, her nose was turned up and her eyes were closed as she smugly planned to leave her poopie foal behind without so much as looking at his disgusting fur. Then her face ran into a hand. “huh? Why stuwpid not hoofsie bwockin Bewwa?” She opened her eyes and saw Dan’s hand blocking her face as his other hand guided Dakota into the sowwy box.
“Nuu, nuu!” It all finally started to click together for Bella, “Nuu faiw! Nuu faiw! Bewwa nee tu escape fwom meanneh gwanmummah and get tuu sweep in mummeh’s bed agaiwn.” She began hitting Dan’s arm with her hooves. “Nuu faiw, dummie ugwee poopie nuu desewbe mummeh wub ow huggies! Poopie desewb fowebah sweepies! Nuu faiw! Bewwa nee mummeh’s wub an huggies!”
No matter how hard she protested, as they lifted the sorry box with Dakota in it, as they walked out the door careful to kick Bella back in as she tried to squeeze her way outside, or as they got into the vwoom vwoom munstah to drive away. She looked up into her mummeh’s eyes as she walked out, and Marie looked back down at Bella with disgust and sadness.
Dakota cried silently to himself as they drove away, he thought about what his mummah had said to him. Marie tried to cheer him up by singing but he didn’t hear her. He sobbed silently as a sea of half forgotten emotions and memories washed over him. “Dakota nuu gibe bwuddas foweba sweepies. Dakota wub bwuddahs.”