Jolene looked down in horror as the tiny fluffy foal gobbled down the flake of cayenne pepper. How could she be so stupid? How could she be so careless? How could she hurt the little thing with her neglect like that? Jolene was nearly in a panic when she heard a tiny burp from the table.
“Mummah! Hab mowf buwnies. Miwkies pwease!”, the little foal said to her. She looked like she was breathing a little heavy, but otherwise was fine. She wasn’t crying, or screaching. She wasn’t paniced. She was… fine? Recovering quickly, Jolene brought a bottle of milk for the foal who suckled at it eagerly, draining it quickly.
Once she finished, Jolene held the foal up to her face. “Ah’s so sorry little one! I’m so sorry I hurt you.” Jolene was tearing up, unsure how to make amends to her small friend.
“Mummah hab heawt huwties? Mummah cwy? Babbeh nu habe huwties. Babbeh am stuffed!”
“You… you’re OK? That pepper didn’t hurt you?”
“Mummah tawkin’ 'bout mouf buwnies? Nu huwties mummah. Babbeh wike mouf buwnies! Babbeh supwised is aww.”
Jolene had never felt more relief in her life. Her little fluffy was OK. Better than OK. She liked the spicy food. Jolene had never heard of such a thing before. Everything she had read said that spicy foods were dangerous to fluffies. That capsacin would inflict pain on them that they just wouldn’t understand.
Jolene set the fluffy back down on the table and gave her a gentle pet on the head. “Hold on a minute, sweetie. Momma needs to send an email real quick.”
“Mummah aways hab emaiws. Babbeh wiww hewp mummah wif emaiws. Mummah hab too much wowkies.”
Jolene sent a short message to Dee Dee at Little Miracles explaining what had happened, and asking advise. Within a few minutes, Dee Dee was calling her back.
“You didn’t have to respond that fast, Dee Dee. It’s the weekend after all.” “Jolene, I run a fluffy rescue. Weekends no longer exist for me as a concept. But, to your concern. Paprika’s foals tend to be sort of unusual in some way. Not defective or bad, or anything. They just tend to be different from other fluffies. If the little one you took home like spicy food, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me at all.”
“Do Ah need to take her to a vet?”, Jolene replied.
“I wouldn’t rush her there right away. From the sound of it, she liked the taste. But that was going in. Coming back out is what should really worry you. Make sure she isn’t hurting when she defecates and check her stool for blood. If she’s in pain, or there’s traces of blood, then take her to the vet.”
“Thank you, Dee Dee. I nearly died watching her eat that flake, thinking I might have killed the little girl.”
“You’re a good momma, Jolene. These things happen, so don’t beat yourself up too much. By the sound of the happy fluffy I hear in the background, I think you don’t have anything to worry about.”
The little foal had started dancing for Jolene, realizing that she was still upset. “Wook mummah! Am dancin’ babbeh!” The foal started singing the good-poopies song she had learned from FluffTV, and Jolene started cracking up and snorting.
“Thank you, Dee Dee. I’ll stay in touch, but this little lady is doing her best to make me feel better, so I’m going to give her the attention she deserves.”
“You take care, Jolene. Talk later, lady!”
Jolene hung up the call and returned to her friend dancing for her on the table. “Thank you, girl, you fixed my heart hurties.”
The fluffy sat backed down and clapped her soft hooves together. “Mumma hab happies! Wub mummah!”
Jolene gently petted the fluffy and continued. “Well, today Ah was going to give you your name. Ah’ve been thinking it over and over, and I couldn’t decide on anything. I wanted to do this a week ago, but I just kept ditherin’.”
The foal was even more excited. First sketties, and now namsies? This was the best bright-time ever.
“Ah was about ready to call you Fire-Butt, on account of your tail looking like your rear is on fire.”
“Fiwe-butt wub new namsies!”
“No, girl, that’s not going to be your name!”, Jolene replied, amused, and exasperated.
“Nu namsies fo’ babbeh?” The foal started to look sad.
“You are getting a name; it’s just not going to be Fire-Butt. Well, not officially. If you like that, I can still call you that sometimes. Your name is going to be Cayenne, for that pepper you ate.”
Cayenne was over the moon. Fire-Butt was a good name. Cayenne was an even better name. “Cawyenne wub namsies! Wub mummah! Wub mummah! Wub mummah!” Cayenne was on her rear hooves againg, full dancie-babbeh. After she settled down, Jolene picked her back up and hugged her close.
“Ah love you, too, Cayenne. We’re going to be friends forever.”
And thus completes the adoption and first month together for Cayenne and Jolene. More to come, some day down the line.