Mummah hab chiwi fo’ Cayenne?
Chapter 1 - Unexpected Return
It was Friday again, which meant chili night. Hot, beefy, tomato-y chili. No beans, though. Cayenne didn’t handle beans well, and Jolene never cared much for them. No, it was a night for celebrating the both the inner carnivore and the inner masochist with sheer amount of heat Jolene and Cayenne were piling in to their slow cooker. For the next eight hours they would enjoy both the smell and the mild eye water that marked every Friday as special for the two of them.
“You excited fer dinner tonight, Cayenne?”, Jolene asked fluffy friend.
“Yes, mummah! Cayenne wub nummie mowf buwnie chiwi! Mummah hab best mowf burnies!”, Cayenne replied. She was standing over the cooker, taking deep sniffs of their concoction.
“We made a real sinus cleaner this time, didn’t we?”, Jolene said. “Really clears your head.”
“Dat wite, mummah! Cayenne smeww-pwace nu hab stuffies!”
“All right, Fire Butt, momma’s gotta do work. You good to hang out in your safe room for a while?”
“Cayenne wiww pway wif Cayenne sewf. Workies am impowtant! Need monies fo’ mowe chiwi!” Cayenne took another whiff of the chili pot, and then hopped down her step ladder from the counter to the floor.
“Right on, baby girl. Ah’ll put on some FluffTV for you as well so you don’t get bored.”, Jolene replied as she walked with Cayenne to her safe room.
Jolene turned on the TV in Cayenne’s room, while Cayenne busied herself with her crayons and drawing paper. Jolene put on a wry smile. Cayenne was working hard at her ‘art’ every day, and she was getting good enough that the blobs on the paper were starting to look like… something. She could at least tell Cayenne was the deep red blob, and she was the pink blob.
Jolene went to her office and dove head first in to her latest research assignment. This time around she was digging in to military procurement numbers. While dry, Jolene at least got to enjoy looking up tanks and rocket launchers all day so she could tie the seemingly arbitrary designation numbers to actual objects.
Before she knew it, lunch time had rolled around, and she was far enough along in her work that she could keep Cayenne in her office the rest of the work day. She went to the safe foom, gave Cayenne some good upsies, and carried her to the kitchen. Jolene made herself some hot dogs in the microwave, and set a bowl of milky-kibble for Cayenne to eat. They both sat at the kitchen table and enjoyed a nice chat over their meal. Cayenne was excited to talk about everything she saw on FluffTV, and Jolene made mental notes that she needed to set up Fluffazon Stream in the safe room, because about eighty percent of the conversations revolved around new products advertised to impressionable fluffies.
Jolene was washing up the dishes and getting ready to carry Cayenne to her office when she heard a rapping on her read door. The small hollow ‘thunk’ sound that comes from tapping on glass.
Cayenne still in her arms, Jolene went to see about her visitor.
Approaching the door, Jolene opened and slid the blinds out of the way. As she did so, she realized there was nobody there. Then she heard the tapping on the glass again and looked down. There was a red fluffy. And not just any red fluffy.
Jolene thought about just walking away and finishing her day, but she really didn’t want her yard all covered in fluffy shit again. She undid the latch and slid open the glass door.
Jolene stared down at the fluffy, giving him a withering look. Cayenne, cradled against Jolene’s chest, gave an adorable scowl at the red fluffy.
“Ah thought Ah told you and your herd to git.”, Jolene growled at the red fluffy. No, she thought, the smartie. The demanding, gardend wrecking, distinctly non-flying smarty.
The smarty stared up at Jolene, meeting her gaze. He was trembling, but remained defiant. Looking out in her yard, Jolene saw his herd lined up in rows behind him. It was bigger than the last time. It looked like the pregnant mares had given birth, and the babies had grown. “You were much smarter staying away these past few months. Looks like you came back with an army. Doesn’t matter. I’ll pitch each and every one of you over–”
“SMAWTY SOWWY!”, the red fluffy yelled.
Jolene stopped; her face now puzzled. “What was that?”
“Smawty am sowwy! Smawty am bad fwuffy an’ twy gib sowwy-poopies and sowwy-hoovsies. Smawty sowwy twy gib huwties to wady. Sowwy twy take wand.”, the smarty replied.
Jolene was even more confused. This was a smarty. They didn’t apologize. They were little fluffy nightmares. This was… unexpected.
Jolene waved the smarty back so she could step outside. She took a seat on one of her patio chairs and set Cayenne on the table next to her. The two of them staring down imperiously on the smarty on his herd.
“Whowe hewd am sowwy!”, the smarty declared, and at that his bowed his head to Jolene. Jolene watched in amazement as the whole herd followed his lead.
Jolene raise an eyebrow. “All right smarty, you tell me what this is all about now.”
“Aftaw wady fwow smawty, smawty hab wowsted weggies huwties. Hewd hewp smawty. Hewd wib in gwassies. Bwing smawty gwassy nummies. Nu taste pwetty, bu’ am nummies.”
“Yeah, I saw some of your herd skulking around my yard. Smart of them not to tresspass.”
“Hewd am scawed of wady. Nu wan’ fwy and hab weggie huwties.” Jolene looked closer at the fluffy. She realized his trembling was due both of a fear of her, and the rough shape of his poorly healed legs. Looks like that throw busted three of the four on the landing.
Bu’ hewd say wady gib nummies. Fwuffies hab pwenty nummies, an’ mummahs hab gud miwkies fo’ babbehs. Wady am nice an’ wady am scawy.", the fluffy said.
Jolene was aware the smarty herd was in the field behind her property. They didn’t try to cross the fence of eat her flowers, and she didn’t want them to just starve. So, she’d toss food leftovers in the field and they could scavenge as they wanted.
“Smawty weawn wady wub fwuffies. Wady wub buwnie fwuffy, an wady nu gib hewd fowebbah sweepies.”, the smarties continued. “Wady am scawy, bu’ wady sabe hewd. Smawty sowwy for bein’ dummeh.”
Jolene thought the smarty was being sincere. Ferals had an extremely rough time of it, and she imagined abusers had probably preyed on this herd in the past. It was true she hadn’t killed any of them when she evicted them from her yard. And she had fed them. Better some banana peels, apple cores, and salad leftovers than just the prairie grass they had to eat in the field.
“Ok, so, you’re welcome, Ah guess. But what are you doin’ here now?”, Jolene asked the smarty.
“Smawty am ask fo’ hewp fwum nice wady. Am cowd time soon. Hewd nu hab nummies fo’ cowd time. Nu hab warmies fo’ cowd time. Hewd nu wan’ fowebbah sweepies! Hab babbehs! Smawty nu wan’ be bad fwuffy. Smawty twy be gud fwuffy fo’ hewp hewd.”
Being early October, the fluffy had a point. Winter was on its way, and in this part of the state, the snowfall was going to be bad. Being right alongside a major river tended to do that.
“Well, I can’t take you all in, but I might be able to do… something. Right, first, let’s finish this peace conference.” Jolene stepped inside the house and brought out a couple big bags of kibble. She sliced along the sides and let the kibble spill on to her patio.
“Y’all came here as guests instead of as invaders. Please, have some food. I promise it’s not ‘burny’ this time.”
The smarty walked up to the kibble first, and had a few bits. “Am nummies!” he called. The rest of the herd trotted forward and began to eat. “I’ll get some bowls with milk to soak the kibble for the foals who can’t chew it.” Jolene returned with a few plastic bowls from her cupboard, filled them with milk, and added some handfulls of kibble to each. “This is for the talky babies.”
The mummahs of the herd walked up to the milky kibble, and laid in front of the bowls so their talking offspring could climb down and eat. Jolene was somewhat amazed by the coordination and good behavior of the herd.
“You’re herd really listens to you. Ah’m actually impressed.”, Jolene told the smarty.
“Hewd watch wady and buwnie fwuffy. Hewd weawn. When smawty weggies nu hab huwties, smawty weawn. Buwnie fwuffy am gud fwuffy. Buwnie fwuffy hab nummies an’ huggies and namsies. Smawty an’ hewd wan’ nummies an’ huggies and namsies. Smawty an’ hewd be gud fwuffies.”
Jolene was especially surprised by this. Apparently, she’d put the fear of God in to this herd, but the food and otherwise leaving them alone had gotten them curious enough to watch and learn.
“Right. Ah’m gonna make a call. We’ll see about getting y’all a place to stay.”
Smawty am sowwy!
Chapter 2 - Expert Opinion
“Hi! Thanks for calling Little Miracles! This is Scott. How can I help?”. Scott was working the reception desk at Little Miracles while the normal receptionist had the Friday off. He was glad to pick up the extra shift, as he didn’t enjoy otherwise being a broke college sophomore.
“Hey there, Scott. This is Jolene. I don’t think we’ve talked before. I’m Cayenne’s momma. I adopted her from Little Miracles about a year back. She was part of Paprika’s last litter.”, Jolene said.
“Hi, Jolene! No, we haven’t spoken, but Dee Dee told me about Cayenne, the weird spicy-food-loving Fluffy. Is there something wrong with her?”, Scott replied.
“Nah, nothing wrong with Fire Butt. I’ve got a weird problem with a smarty and his herd though. Is Dee Dee around? I was hoping to pick her brain. And by pick her brain, I mean dump a whole weird feral herd on her.”, Jolene continued.
“Oh boy. She’s going to love that. A whole herd AND a smarty coming our way? Yeah, that sounds like a fun time. Let me transfer you to her.”
“Thanks Scott, you’re the best.”
As Scott transferred the call to Dee Dee’s desk phone, a little voice called to him from next to his computer monitor. “Who am dat, daddeh? Nu fwends am come hewe?”
Scott looked to his fluffy foal resting in his tiny bed on the desk. Treasure had been one of Dee Dee’s feral finds, and was fortunate to still be alive. Scott came across his picture while posting the new adoptables to the shelter web site, and immediately fell in love with him. He stopped everything, rushed to Dee Dee’s office and (politely) demanded to know why he hadn’t been informed that there was a pirate fluffy up for adoption.
Dee Dee burst out laughing and took Scott to meet Treasure on the spot. "I figured a white ‘X’, eye patch, and ‘peg leg’ would get him adopted quickly, but I didn’t expect it to be before he was even listed.
Meeting the disabled colt in person, Scott’s heart melted and he offered to be Treasure’s new daddy right away. Treasure was over the moon, waddling in little circles, making his distinctive 'pat, pat, click, pat" sound as he three hooves and prosthetic leg touched the ground.
“We’ll see little buddy.”, Scott told his fluffy. “Sounds like a whole herd might be coming our way.”
Tresure’s ears perked up and his eyes sparked. “Wots an’ wots ob fwens!” Tweasuwe hab happies!"
Scott gave his fluffy a vigorous back scratch and thought about what special Hell Jolene would be putting poor Dee Dee through.
“Ok, you say you have an apologetic smarty asking for help? Like, actually asking and not demanding?” Dee Dee said in to the phone.
“That’s right, Dee Dee. I kicked him and his herd off my yard a few months back. Apparently, they didn’t go far, and the food scraps I’d been tossing in the field made them think staying close was safe, even if coming in to the yard would end badly for them.”, Jolene replied.
“Wait, is this the same herd that you drove off with spicy chili and a strong throwing arm?”, Dee Dee asked.
“Yup, the exact same. Looks like a firm toss and some ghost peppers did them all some good. Let me tell you what he told me…” Jolene recounted the smarty’s story, and how he and the herd were terrified of the winter and were actually asking for a home.
Dee Dee rubbed her eyebrows with her thumb and index finger. “Girl, you just end up with all the weirdos, you know that right?”
Jolene sighed in to her cell phone, “Don’t Ah know it. But yeah, can y’all take them? This seemed weird enough to appeal to you and your whole helping the unwanted cause.”
“As luck would have it, yes, I can. We’ve finished construction in the next section of the strip mall, so all the tech and offices are in a properly dedicated space. The whole main building is safe rooms, including a couple herd-sized rooms. Can you give me a headcount?”, Dee Dee asked.
Jolene looked over the herd and pointing her index finger at each one as she counted, she replied “Looks like about eight adults, including the smarty, and about sixteen foals.”
“Man, that’s going to be fun to haul up here. I can get a truck down next week to pick them all up for you.”, Dee Dee said.
“Nah, don’t worry about that. I thought a road trip could be fun. Cayenne ain’t ever seen Mustard and Paprika, since I adopted her when she was still just a chirpy. I bet she’d love to meet her fluffy-momma for the first time. I’ve got that big ol’ landship of a station wagon and enough plastic totes that I should be able to haul the whole herd up tomorrow if you are ready for them.”
“For real? That would be perfect. And yes, I know Paprika and Mustard would love to see Cayenne. We’ll see you tomorrow then. I’m going to browbeat our doctor in to being here tomorrow, too. This smarty sounds especially interesting. I’ve met plenty of smarties, and a few that have, well, the smarty beaten out of them. But I’ve never met one who became a good-smarty pretty much on his own. This should be an eventful Saturday.”
Jolene smiled. “To say the least. OK, thanks for taking them in. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
“See you tomorrow!”, Dee Dee replied and hung up the phone. She sent a text to Nikki letting her know that she’d be needed the next day to run checkups on an entire feral herd. Nikki replied with a series of frowny emojis. Dee Dee raised an eyebrow, and texted back. “The herd is be led by a good-smarty.” Nikki replied instantly with a series of surprised emojis, and a thumbs up. Right. That was settled at least. Dee Dee got up from her desk and headed towards reception.
“Scott, you’re on the schedule for tomorrow, right?” she asked her IT intern.
“Yup, Treasure and I will be here bright and early.”
“Good, because Jolene will be bringing a whole herd in. Eight adults plus sixteen foals.”
Scott whistled at that. “Man, she said a herd, and she wasn’t kidding. And she’s going to bring them in?”
"Yeah, a station wagon full of fluffy totes. Before you head out tonight, make sure we have air fresheners ready for her tomorrow. She’s going to need her poor car decontaminated.
Jolene waved to the smarty to come over so they could talk. “Well, I’ve got good news for you. I found a place that will take you in. And will try to find your herd human homes.”
The smarty was dumbfounded. “Hab houses fo’ hewd? Hab mummahs and daddehs?”
“That’s the idea. But we have to travel very far to get there, so I’ll be taking you and your herd there tomorrow. We’re going to ride up in my car. But that’s going to be difficult. I can’t have y’all makin’ poopies in my wagon, so you’ll have to ride in totes.”, Jolene told the fluffy.
“Wut am tote?”, the smarty asked.
“It’s like a sorry box, except you aren’t being punished. I’ll put each family together in their own tote, so they don’t get lonely or scared.”, Jolene told the smarty.
“Smawty unnastan’. Wady nu wan’ poopies in metaw monstah. Smawty teww hewd. Hewd wiww unnastan’.”
“Right, you tell the herd, and I need to get back to work. I’ll be back out to check on y’all in a few hours. You can rest in the yard, just don’t go munchin’ on my garden again!”
“Hewb am gud fwuffies. Nu nummie fwowahs.”
Jolene carried Cayenne back inside, closed her patio door, and returned to her office. She set Cayenne on the floor, took a seat, and faced her fluffy.
“What do you think about all this, little girl?”, Jolene asked her companion.
“Mummam am gud mummah. Hewd nu wan fowebbah sweepies, an’ mummah nu wan’ hewd take fowebbah sweepies. Nice mummah hewp hewd. Smawty am dummeh, bu’ smawty am gud fwuffy. Smawty wub hewd.” Cayenne told her momma.
“Yeah, I don’t want to just abandon them out there. And a smarty apologizing is just so strange that somebody should be looking in to him. Right, I’m going to finish out my work day, then we’ll get ready for tomorrow.”
Four hours of military equipment research and cataloging later, Jolene stepped back out in to her yard to see what sort of damage the herd had done in her absence. To her surprise, everything was still pristine. The fluffies had made poopies under the shrubs and bushes, and none of her flowers or vegetables had been eaten.
“You’ve got a good herd, smarty. They listen to you. I’ll give you credit, you seem to be a good leader for them.”
“Smawty wub hewd. Smawty hewp hewd am gud fluffies. Hewd wan’ hooman mummas an’ daddehs.”
“Makes sense. OK, would you like to introduce me to your herd?”
The smarty’s eyes widened at that. He smiled and nodded his head. He called for her herd to come over with each family standing together. The smarty walked down the line and introduced each group. There were four family groups in total. None of them had names, so there was a lot of ‘dis babbeh’ and ‘dat babbeh’, but Jolene got the idea. Eventually he introduced his own special-friend and their foals, snuggled in to the fluff of the mare’s back. It looked like their eyes had just opened in the past few days. The smarty’s mate was a pale gray color, with a dark blue mane and tail. Their four foals were all sorts of colors. Jolene thought some of them were valuable colors. Not that she was looking to sell these fluffies, but she was happy that some of them would probably find homes quickly.
All the herd’s babies looked decently fed, the prairie grasses and the food waste Jolene had been tossing to them keeping them well stocked up. The fluffies looked to be in good spirits and they were excitedly talking to each other about new homes and new mommies and daddies.
Jolene brought out one of her large clear plastic storage totes and lined the bottom with old newspapers. She got the herd’s attention and showed them how they would be travelling.
“Right, each family will get a tote.” She lifted up Cayenne, “Upsies!”, and set her back down. She was mostly visible through the translucent plastic, and the fluffy herd seemed relieved that they could see out. Jolene lifted Cayenne back out and set her on the table. She bought out another couple bags of kibble for the herd, and refilled the milky kibble bowl for the foals old enough to eat it.
She continued talking with the smarty. “Right, tomorrow morning Ah’ll come get you all. We’ll get loaded up, and head to Little Miracles. The drive will take about five or six hours.”
“Smawty unnastan’. Bwight time hewd am go wif wady. Wide metal munstah.”
“You got it. See you in the morning, smarty.”
“Fwank 'ou nice wady. Smawty wiww wemamba nice wady hewp hewd.”, the smarty said.
“…Sure thing, smarty.”
Eks mawks da spawt! Daddeh fin’ Tweasuwe!
Chapter 3 - Road Trip
Jolene was up early the next day, and was happy to see the herd had apparently gotten up with the sun. And she was even more happy to see her garden still hadn’t been destroyed overnight. She led the fluffy herd around the front of the house, opened up her garage, and pulled out four plastic totes. After a continuous cheer of “Gud upsies!”, all the fluffies were loaded in to totes, and the totes lined up in the back of Jolene’s station wagon.
Jolene had a car seat set up for Cayenne in the rear passenger side seat of the car. She strapped her fluffy in, and drove in to town. Her first stop was her favorite local diner. She left the fluffies in the car and went inside. Cayenne was left in charge while Jolene was in the restaurant.
“Fwuffies am cowmfies?” Cayenne asked the passengers in the back. “Hab enuff wawmsies?”
The herd sounded off their satisfaction, though Cayenne heard several of the foals declaring they were hungry. About 15 minutes later, Jolene returned the to the car with a big paper bag gripped in each hand. She popped the rear hatch on the wagon and slid all four fluffy-totes out.
“Ok y’all. Breakfast time. And a last change for poopies outdoors before we’re on the road for quite a while.” Jolene helped out each fluffy that requested a poopie stop, and once everybody was returned to their totes, she placed a plate of hashbrowns and scrambled eggs in each for the fluffies to enjoy for the ride.
The fluffies loaded back up, Jolene returned to the driver seat and passed a breakfast sandwich to Cayenne. “Sausage, egg, and cheese on a croissant, with extra hot sauce. Just the way you like it, little girl.”, Jolene told her fluffy. Cayenne clapped her hooves together, accepted the unwrapped sandwich, and chowed down on her delicious hot breakfast. Jolene had a couple identical sandwiches for herself in the front passenger seat to eat on the highway.
Driving through town and headed for the highway, Jolene was grateful to hear cheering from the back of the wagon. The fluffies apparently were enjoying their meal, and the scarfing noises and satisfied burps soon gave way to gentle snoring as most of the fluffies decided to take naps. Jolene heard the smarty in his tote call out to her. “Wub nummmies! Nice wady am bestest wady ebbah!” Jolene smiled to herself. Not a bad way to start the day.
Jolene had her phone plugged in to her car’s head unit and, flipping through her music collection, she put on Cayenne’s favorite band. Having finished her meal, Cayenne was soon entranced by the music and started singing along.
"WADY!
Ob da bwight times!
Wub shinies
Fwum see pwaces!"
Spawkwing!
Cweaw wonewy!
Wady am…
WADY!"
Jolene wasn’t sure that a fluffspeak Styx album would be a platinum seller, but Cayenne belting out the lyrics left her in giggles as they travelled along. The first album carried them all the way to the state capital. Jolene queued up the next batch of songs, and Cayenne continued singing along.
Two and a half hours in to the trip, Jolene pulled in to a rest stop to let the fluffies make more poopies, changed their newspaper beds, and give them some water to drink. The fluffies were enthralled the by the new sights and smells in the rest stop, and they enjoyed their brief excursion under the mid-morning sun. Soon enough, everybody was loaded back up, and their journey continued.
Upon getting to the southern edges of the city, Jolene started to get in to heavier traffic. Her station wagon was an intentional purchase, the overbuilt electric motor letting her deftly carve through the traffic. This did not, however, stop her letting out a continuous stream of creative and colorful profanities.
“Cayenne”, the smarty asked from his tote in the back, “why Cayenne mummah nu hab happies?”
Cayenne turned her head as far as she could to answer the smarty. “Mummah nu wke twaffic. Mummah say mummah hab housie where hab housie so nu habe deaw wif twaffic.”
“Wut twaffic?”, asked the smarty.
“Wots an’ wots ob metaw munstahs. Widdow munstans and biggest scawiest munstahs!”, Cayenne told him.
“Cayenne mummah am bwabe. Fwuffies hab biggest scawdies fwom metaw munstahs.”
“Mummah am best mummah!”, Cayenne replied proudly.
After getting through the worst of the traffic, Jolene took her exit and continued her way to the northwest suburbs, and Little Miracles.
“Not long now”, Jolene said to herself. “And thank goodness for that.” Jolene’s dodging and weaving through traffic had resulting in a number of cries of “scawdy poopies!” from her passengers, and the smell was not particularly improving with time.
Gud babbeh nu hab sickies!
Chapter 4 - Arrival
Jolene pulled into Little Miracle’s parking lot and practically leapt out of her car. She took several deep breaths of fresh air, and leaned against her car, enjoying being out of the poopie stink. She went to the passenger side, opened up Cayenne’s door, and got her out of the car, too. She set her fluffy on the pavement next to the car and proceeded to walk around opening all the doors. Finally, she got to the rear hatch. Holding her nose, she popped the hatch and a near visible wave of reek billowed out. Letting the smell dissipate for a few moments, Jolene then pulled the totes from the back and in to the cool autumn air and bright, cloudless day.
The staff inside were apparently waiting on her, because as she was unloading the fourth tote, Dee Dee and three of her staffers went out to greet her.
“Hey girl! It’s been too long!”, Dee Dee said, giving Jolene a friendly hug.
“Good ta see you again, Dee Dee.”, Jolene said as she returned the hug.
“So”, Dee Dee continued, “this is our new herd?”
“Yup, the whole lot of them. The red one with the funny looking legs in that tote is the smarty.”, Jolene said.
Dee Dee went over the to the tote and picked it up off the ground. “Hello there, smarty. I’m Dee Dee. I’ll be taking care of you and your herd.”
The smarty looked up at Dee Dee. “Am nice wady? Wiww wub hewd? Gib homesies?”
“That’s the plan. Let’s get you all inside and properly cleaned up.” Dee Dee turned to her staffers, “Scott, Nikki, Brandon, grab a tote each and let’s get these guys inside.”
One of the volunteers walked over the Jolene before picked up a tote. “Hi Jolene, I’m Scott. We spoke on the phone. Going by the visible stink rays coming from your car, I think you’ll need these.”
Scott handed Jolene a bag. Jolene looked inside and found it was full of spray air freshener and baking soda boxes. “Y’all have done this once or twice I gather.”
“Oh yes. Yes, we have. And this is just to make the care bearable. We’ll call some guys to come out and do a deep clean while we get everything sorted. But this way you don’t have to leave your car open to the world while we’re inside the building.”
With that, Scott picked up a tote and carried it inside.
Jolene sprayed down her trunk with the air freshener, and opened up all the boxes of baking soda, leaving them in the corners to soak up as much stink as possible. She then rolled her windows most of the way up, locked her car, and followed the Little Miracles staff inside the facility.
Dee Dee and her staff carried the herd to the medical bay, centrally located to all the safe rooms. They set the totes down on the big stainless-steel table in the center of the room. Jolene noticed a cream colored fluffy with a pink mane and tail was waiting on the table already. She also looked to be wearing a small nurse cap, clipped to her mane.
“Hewwo wady!” the fluffy said to her, “Fwuffy am Fwowence. Am nuwsie fwuffy!” “And I’m Nikki. Resident fluffy vet and Florence’s momma”, the woman in the lab coat put out her hand. Jolene accepted and they shook in greeting.
Dee Dee introduced the other two staffers. “Scott you’ve spoken to already. He’s my IT part-timer while he’s in school. Brandon is a groomer and comes in on weekends. We offer Saturday and Sunday fluffy grooming services. Makes both Brandon some fun money, and helps keep the lights on here.”
Brandon and Nikki were lifting the first fluffy family out of their tote, and taking them over to a shallow sink. A sprayer hung above the low basin and drain. Brandon was chatting away with the fluffy family, “Oh, you are all so messy!”, he exclaimed, “But I’m going to make you all just the prettiest fluffies in the world! Now, I know you don’t like water, but this is good water. It’s very special, and makes fluffies extra pretty!”
Dee Dee snorted to herself. “I love when he does the effete hair dresser act. The fluffies always get in to it and they are much better behaved when he has to clean them.” Jolene was chuckling to herself watching Brandon rinse, lather, rinse again, and towel the fluffies. He was fast, confident, and careful with each one. After he finished cleaning them, Nikki took over with a hair dryer and got each fluffy warm, dry, and extra poofy. She then set up the first family in a low pen set up on one of the side tables. The fluffies were admiring each other’s coats, cooing and nuzzling in a cozy fluffy blob.
Brandon and Nikki worked their way through the remaining three totes, ending with the smarty and his family.
“Am smawty!”, he declared as Nikki lifted him from the tote. “Who am nice wady?”
“I’m the fluffy doctor”, Nikki replied, “and you and I are going to spend a lot of time together. I’m very excited to get to know you, smarty-fluffy.”
The smarty seemed to like the idea of somebody being excited to see him. He was especially chipper after his bath and blow dry.
After all the fluffies were clean, Nikki sat with Florence. “Ok Florence, this is a whole herd of feral fluffies. I need to give them all checkups. Would you talk to each family so they aren’t scared? Let them know that I’m not going to hurt them?”
“Fwowence wiww consuwt wif fwuffies. Nu scawdies!” Nikki set Florence on the side table, and the fluffy nurse visited each family to let them know Nikki was going to make sure they were healthy strong fluffies.
Brandon excused himself, “Time for the appointments to start rolling in!”
Nikki walked over to Dee Dee, Jolene, and Cayenne. “First glance while cleaning them, they look to be overall healthy. No deformities, and a fascinating mix of colors and breeds. There’s a few alicorns in the herd as well. I’ll be doing a full medical exam on all of them, but I have high hopes. My one concern is the smarty. Three of his legs were broken, and healed crooked. He hides it, but he’s probably in pain most of the time.”
“Uhh…”, Jolene said, “That would be my fault, on account of my chucking him over my fence when he invaded my hard with his herd.”
Nikki pushed her glasses up her nose. “Well, a good yeet and a hard landing will do that. I’m not here to accuse you of anything, or judge. Smarty invasions are a problem, and you had the decency not to kill them all outright like many others would have. This is just a statement of fact. It may actually be possible to fix his legs, but he won’t like how I’ll have to go about it.”
Dee Dee nodded and turned to Jolene. Let’s leave Nikki to her work, and you and I can catch up. And we can do that meet and greet we discussed on the phone!"
Jolene turned to Cayenne, snuggled in her arms. "Fire Butt, do we have a surprise for you.
BIGGEST HUGGIES FO’ BABBEH!
BIGGEST HUGGIES FO’ MUMMAH!
Chapter 5 - Meeting again for the first time
Dee Dee led Jolene through the Little Miracles facility to a safe room just behind the reception desk. The two women sat on the floor and Jolene set Cayenne down in front of her.
“Paprika, Mustard, Cloudberry! We have a very special guest today!”
Dee Dee’s three fluffies cantered across the room to meet Jolene and Cayenne. When Paprika got close to Cayenne, she stopped dead in her tracks and started sniffing intently. Cayenne had halted as well and was doing the same.
Dee Dee looked at Jolene. “Well, that unus–”
“BABBEH!” Paprika cried, and she rushed to give Cayenne her biggest huggies.
“MUMMAH!” Cayenne cried back, returning with her biggest huggies as well.
“Papwika nu see babbeh since babbeh am widdow chiwpiy babbeh! Hab go wif nuw mummah!”
“Cayeene nebbah see mummah! See-pwaces nu wowk!”
The two fluffies cooed and nuzzled close. Mustard came over and gave Cayenne a sniff as well.
“Hewwo babbh!” he said, “Babbeh am big an’ stwong!”
“Daddh!”, Cayenne cried, giving her father her biggest huggies as well.
“Who am dis, mummah?” Cloudberry asked Paprika.
“Dis am awmost wastest babbeh!”
Cloudy was vaguely aware that until her recent encounter with the feral stallion, Paprika had her last litter of foals before Cloudy was even born, much less removed from her can.
“Hewwo fwen! Fwuffy am Cwowdbewwy!”
“Hewwow Cwowdbewwy, Fwuffy am Cayenne!”
The two fluffies rubbed noses together and cooed softly.
Paprika looked at her two children, both born and adopted.
“Fwuffies am sistahs!” Cayenne and Cloudberry looked at Paprika together. They were shocked! But, Paprika was momma to both, so of course they were sisters.
Cloudy and Cayenne started cheering and trotting in circles around Mustard and Paprika. Jolene did her best to hide the tears welling up in her eyes.
Dee Dee hugged her shoulder. “Every fluffy who leaves here goes to a good home. Cayenne is clearly no exception. But they never come back. This means the world to all of them.”
Jolene couldn’t keep in a brief sob. Cayenne, Cloudy, and Paprika were too enamored to notice, but Mustard trotted over to Jolene.
“Wady am bestest mummah. Cayenne am smawt an’ stwong an’ pwettiest fwuffy. Wady gib Cayenne bestest homsies an’ wub.”
Jolene scooped up Mustard and buried her face in his fluff as she quietly wept with joy. Dee Dee reached over and gave Mustard head scratches. “You’re a good man, Mustard. Always looking out for us womenfolk.”
Jolene was half laughing, half crying in to Mustards fluff at Dee De’s joke. She set him back down, and stroked his back.
“I’d better let you go before I blow my nose in your fluff.”
“Mustawn nu wike boogahs.”, the stallion stated.
Jolene and Dee Dee both cracked up, laughing hysterically as they leaned against the safe room wall.
Chapter 6 - Examinations and Inquiries
Nikki worked her way around the fluffy families in the medical bay. Thanks to Florence soothing presence, protests were minimal and she was able to complete each examination quickly. Each fluffy received an in depth checkup. Ears, eyes, nose, mouth and throat, hooves, genitals, and anus. Florence was on hand for the surpised cries of “speciaw pwace”, “speciaw wumps”, and “poopie pwace”, efficiently calming each fluffy.
Nikki made copies notes on each fluffy family, marking down areas of concern where further treatment would be necessary. But her initial impressions had been correct. The fluffies were overall healthy. While some where vitamin deficient and others would need de-worming, they were overall well fed, and most of the babies were in good shape.
Nikki examined the smarty and his family last. She wanted to talk to him while she did their exam.
“So, you have alicorns and ‘poopie’ fluffies in your herd. That’s unusual.”
“Nu stwange”, the red smarty replied. “Hewd need fwuffies. Aww fwuffies am gud fwuffies when hewd togeddah. Fwuffies hewp hewd, hewd hewp fwuffies.”
Nikki was still taking notes. So, the smarty had reasoned that more fluffies, regardless of kind, was a good thing. Strength in numbers, communal contributions. This smarty was definitely different. The average smarty was only slightly more intelligent than any other fluffy. They just tended to be arrogant, vicious, and cruel. Enough to keep other fluffies in line. But not this smarty. He had actual reasoning ability. Nikki knew such smarties existed, but they were extremely rare.
Nikki kept talking to the smarty as she examined his mate. “Speciaw fwend am gud? Nu huwties?” he asked. Nikki nodded. The mare was in surprisingly excellent health. The smarty had clearly been taking care of his mare. “You’re a good special friend to her. She’s very healthy.”
Nikki moved on to the smarty’s babies. He had four of them in total. A female alicorn in the same shade of red as her father, a male pegasus in the same blue as his mother, a female lavender earthie, and most unusual of all, a male brown earthie runt. Nikki had noticed the smallish baby while drying the fluffies, but examining him now, she realized he wasn’t just a small, but specifically runty.
“Smarty, you have a runt baby?”, Nikki asked.
“Smawty an’ speciaw fwiend hab widdowest babbeh.” he replied. His mate chimed in. “Widdowest babbeh am widdowest. Gib biggest huggies and bestest miwkies. Bwuddahs an’ sistahs gib hewpies. Widdowest babbeh gwow up big’ an stwong wif wots ob wub.”
Nikki was taken aback. Feral herds generally rejected and killed runts. They had a much lower chance of surviving in the wild. She remembered in med school how some fluffy mothers would accuse them of having a bad smell before giving them “sorry hoofsies” and “fowebbah sweepies”. But this smarty and his mate put in the extra work to make sure their runty baby lived. And the brother and sisters were helping, too.
This family needed more studying. This was a dynamic in fluffy social structures unheard of. A good-smarty, leading a herd of fluffies who took care of all their babies. Who not only survived, but thrived. Dee Dee had mentioned the fluffy herd had asked Jolene’s help to survive the winter. Nikki was decently confident that the herd would have found a safe place regardless, but she was elated that they were now at Little Miracles. The behavioral research she could conduct with the family could help them care for many of the problem cases that came in. Little Miracles was a compassionate organization, but from their perspective, some fluffies just couldn’t be saved. Now, Nikki believed they might have a chance with some of the most problem fluffies that arrived at their door.
Nikki continued chatting with the smarty, learning about their nests, their homes, their ill-fated attempt to take over Jolene’s house. The more she listened, the more invested in this herd she became.
Cwoudbewwy tummeh am fuww ob sketties!
Chapter 7 - Lunch Break
Nikki and Florence rejoined Dee Dee, Scoott, Jolene, Cayenne, and Paprika and family in the lobby. Scott was sitting at the front desk with Treasure, the little foal chattering away with Cayenne, talking about his scary time when he had the biggest hurties, and how Nikki and Florence had saved him, and how Scott had become his new daddy.
Dee Dee looked to Nikki. “How’s our herd doing?”
Nikki smiled. “Generally, well. They are going to be in for some unpleasant procedures. But thankfully no ticks, no obvious injuries, and overall decent nutrition. We can process them, and get them up for adoption soon enough.”
“That’s great news!”, Dee Dee declared. Then she saw the look on Nikkis face. “You have a big ‘but’ coming. I can see it on you. I can almost smell it on you.”
“The smarty!” Nikki exclaimed. “He’s beyond a rare smarty. By fluffy standards, he’s like a genius.”
Dee Dee smirked. “Ok, this is going to be good. So, let’s order lunch and you can tell us all about it.”
Dee Dee called in a large order from a local Italian restaurant. Spaghetti aplenty for the fluffies, and whatever other meals the various humans wanted. Jolene fetched a bottle of hot sauce from her car so the sketties could be just the way Cayenne liked it.
“It still amazes me that you have a spicy-loving fluffy”, Scott said to Jolene. I had literally never heard of one before Dee Dee told me about Cayenne."
Nikki chimed in, “They exist, but it’s a highly uncommon trait. Though given that she’s one of Mustard and Paprika’s offspring, I’m not surprised. From the records, those two had the tendency to put out whole litters of unusual foals.” Paprika and Mustard looked up from their bowls, marinara all over their faces.
“Relax guys”, Dee Dee told them. “Enjoy your meal. We’re talking about how you made really good babies.”
Jolene sighed. “It’s a shame Cayenne was the last baby from them. Ah remember you saying Mustard got fixed after that batch.”
Dee Dee scowled and Nikki pursed her lips. Scott looked weirdly ashamed.
Jolene looked at them in confusion. “Ah’m missing something here.”
Dee Dee sighed. “A couple months ago, a feral stallion snuck his way in.” Scott looked even more guilty. “Scott here bears a little responsibility, but he’s also been a fantastic employee and has been nothing but excellent since. The shit head who was mostly at fault is long gone. Short version, I was out with Mustard and Cloudy. Paprika was assaulted and impregnated.”
Jolene looked horrified. “Ah mean, Paprika looks like she’s OK…”
Dee Dee nodded. “Honestly, she is. Paprika loves babies. The assault didn’t bother her as much as how she thought she’d hurt Mustard’s feelings. He was having none of that. The babies were born, and he was a father to them. They’ve all been adopted in to good home.”
Jolene relaxed at that. But she was still confused. “There’s more to this though.”
Nikki spoke next. “Yup! I castrated the feral stallion and attached his little blue balls to Mustard.”
Jolene, not one to normally be deeply interested in the reproductive organs of fluffies, did see that Mustard was packing what appeared to be a healthy fluffy package.
“Ah can’t help but notice those are yellow.”, she said flatly.
“Right, so, Fluffy genetics are somewhere between mad science and sorcery. Mustard’s genetic code overwrote his donor organs. The fluff color grew to match his, and with the, uh, samples we’ve taken, his output is also a genetic match for him. He and Paprika can have foals again!”
Dee Dee continued. “Not that I’m in a big rush. That last litter was very stressful on us all, and while they are aware they can have more babies, they are waiting for my go-ahead. In due time, I plan on breeding them again. They are greaet parents, and their foals are some of the best.”
Jolene was bewildered, but decided that accepting a full testicular transplant made perfect sense for fluffies. “Nikki, you were saying mah smarty was some kind of genius?”
Nikki grinned wide. “He’s a literal one in a million. He’s established a successful herd based on mutual support. He’s effectively domesticated the fluffies in his herd. There’s no ‘bad babbehs’, no ‘munstah babbehs’, and no ‘poopie babbehs’. All babies are good babies to that herd. More fluffies means a bigger herd, and a bigger herd has a better chance of surviving.”
Scott piped up, “That’s incredible! So, this smarty works the entire herd like a big domestic family?”
Nikki nodded. “Exactly. It’s behavior patterns that are taught to domestics. Talking to him, he learned it from his daddy. My guess is that his daddy was a domestic runaway, or more likely, abandoned. When that fluffy found a mate, he taught the baby how he was taught. So, even though he is technically a smarty, he is one of the rare good smarties. And an especially brilliant one, for a fluffy.”
“So, following this line of discourse”, Dee Dee said, “You would prefer that this smarty stick around here for a while?”
“You took the words right out of my mouth”, Nikki replied. “I mean, get this. He’s got a runt baby. A healthy runt baby. In a feral herd.”
The other three were surprised at that. Runts didn’t survive in feral herds, plain and simple.
“Ok, you can keep him around.” Dee Dee said. “It sounds like you have some kind of plans for him.”
Nikki nodded, “Yes. I think we can use him to modify the behavior of problem fluffies that come into Little Miracles. I think we can use him as a teacher for foals before they are adopted. You’ve seen what Florence can do to help calm fluffies that come in to the med bay. Imagine having a fluffy teacher who can help domesticate fluffies before they even leave the facility. Or one who can help retrain ferals that come in and get them acclimated for adoption.”
Dee Dee pondered this. “If you can make this work, I can only imagine how much better a handle we’ll have on ferals and problem fluffies. Let me know what you need and I’ll see what I can do.”
Turning to Jolene, Dee Dee continued. “I can’t thank you enough. You saved a herd of ferals, hauled them all the way here, helped Paprika and Mustard really meet Cayenne, and possbily helped our resident maniac with a fluffy socio-behavioral breakthrough.”
Jolene blushed at that. “Ah just didn’t want them shittin’ in my yard is all.”
“Regardless. You have my thanks and the thanks of the whole organization. Oh, and it’s been long enough now that your car should no longer stink. My detail guys do good work.”
“Oh, thank you so much for that!” Jolene replied. “Ah couldn’t handle that smell the whole way home.”
Nikki interjected again. “Before you go, could I ask you a favor? The herd, the smarty especially, has a lot of respect for you. While I talked to him, he referred to you with this mix of fear, respect, and devotion. You’re like a deity to them. Well, as much of one as a species with no actual concept of divinity could have.”
Jolene made a sour face. “The last thing Ah need is to be worshipped by a feral herd.”
Nikki chuckled. “Granted. But my request is simple. Would you name the smarty and his family? I think coming from you it would have a profound impact.”
Jolene thought for a moment. “Yeah, I can do that. You think it’ll help with your research?”
Nikki nodded. “I think it would.”
“Right”, Jolene said. “Let me think up some names and we’ll pay the herd a visit before we go.”
Chapter 8 - What’s in a name?
Dee Dee, Jolene, and Nikki returned to the medical bay. Cayenne was having fun with her family; Scott and Treasure kept on eye on them as they pranced around the reception area.
Jolene walked up to the smarty, and looked down at him. “You gave me a lot of trouble, but now Ah understand why. Nikki here says you are a good smarty. And from the conversations we’ve had, Ah think she’s right.”
The smarty was sitting on his haunches while Jolene spoke to him. His head was down, and he had tears welling in his eyes. “Fawk ou’” he said quietly.
“Come again?” Jolene asked.
“Fank ou’!” the smarty said aloud. “Wady hewp hewd. Bwing safe pwace, bwing nummies. Hewp mummahas an’ babbehs an’ soon mummahs. Smawth hab biggest heawt happies.” The smarty was openly weeping now. His fear for his herd, his time in the wilds, all the pain of his legs breaking and healing. It was all over. He’d come to this lady, and asked for help. He’d saved his herd before the cold time. The relief washed over him and he simply couldn’t keep it in any more.
Jolene reached her hands out to the smarty. “Upsies?”, she asked.
The smarty nodded and raise his hooves in the air. Jolene picked him up and hugged him tight. “For what it’s worth, Ah’m sorry about your legs.”
The smarty snuggled against her, and in between sobs and laughs he managed to choke out, “Weggies nu mattew. Hewd mattew. Babbehs mattew.”
Jolene hugged the smarty close and held him for a while until he got out his cry. She then set him back down with his mare and foals and gave him a vigorous rub on his head.
“Right, so. Looks like your herd will be adopted in to homes, but the doctor here”, Jolene nodded to Nikki, “wants you live here.”
“Big pwace wif fwuffies am nuw howsies?”, the smarty asked.
“Yes!”, Nikki interjected. “You are special. Nearly unique! I have BIG plans for you, my friend.”
Dee Dee pulled Nikki back and Jolene continued. “So, yeah. The crazy lady wants you to live here. This place is a safe place for fluffies. The people here love fluffies and want to help them. And they think you can help more fluffies to. You are a good leader for your herd. You helped them find homes. Do you want to help more fluffies find homes?”
The smarty was surprised by this. “Wan’ smawty hewp fwuffies? Hewp hewds and mummahs and babbehs and soon-mummahs? Help aww da fwuffies?” the smarty asked.
Dee Dee stepped in. “Yes. You taught your herd how to be good fluffies. More herds will come, and they need to learn how to be good fluffies, too, so we can find them homes. Do you want to help me make good fluffies, who get mommies and daddies?”
The smarty puffed himself up. Under normal circumstances, this would be his most intimidating stance. But not this time. This time he felt something he hadn’t felt before. He was proud. Humans were asking him for help. They though he could help other fluffies be good fluffies. They wanted him to give homes to fluffies. “Smawty wan’ help aww fuffies. Fwuffies am gud. Gud fwuffies need mummahs and daddehs. Need homesies. Smawty wan’ hewp!”
Dee Dee nodded. “Good. Then I’m happy to welcome you to Little Miracles. You, your mare, and your babies will all get to live here.”
The smarty was smiling. His mare was smiling. The babies were confused, but were smiling as well, following the lead of their parents.
Jolene stepped up again. “So, since you have a home, that means you need a name.”
The smarty’s eyes went wide. “Namsies fo’ smawty?”
“Yes, you and your family.”, Jolene replied. “Your name will be Jaime.”
The smarty beams! “Hai-may wuv namsies! Fawk ou’! Hai-may wub wady!”
Jolene stroked Jaime’s mare. “Girl, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Your name will be Joanna.”
“Jowana hab biggest heawt happies!”, the fluffy said. She began to sing to her babies. “Jowana wub babbehs, babbehs wub jowana…”
“Jaime, your babies are still too little form names. Once they become talky babies, I’ll be sure to name them, too.”
Jaime nodded. “Wady am smawt. Babbehs wiww wub nuw namsies wen weady.”
Jolene sat and chatted with Jaime and Joanna for a bit, while Dee Dee and Nikki discussed their next steps.
“We’ll get them a dedicated safe room to start, though it’ll be barricaded like the normal ones. I want them fully acclimated before I let them start roaming. And we need to keep their chirpy babies safe.”, Dee Dee said.
Nikki nodded. “Agreed. I mean, I’m stoked to have him here, but I’m not blind. We’ll still need to watch for negative smarty traits. He already knows what good fluffy behavior looks like. I’ll coach him, Joanna, and when they are ready, the foals on litter box usage and other domestic traits. Jolene mentioned that the smarty at least already understood good-poopies when they entered her garden. That fact alone blew my mind.”
Dee Dee gave her a friendly smirk. “I’m glad you stayed on here after you finished your internship. You’re a great doctor, a better mad scientist, and even better, you own the best nurse-fluffy I could have asked for. So, let me know what else you need to get him up to speed.”
“Well…”, Nikki pondered for a moment, “I don’t think regular FluffTV will be really useful to him. He knows the basics and I think he’ll pick up the specifics pretty quickly. This may sound weird, but I want to start him on human leadership training. Really simple interpersonal stuff. How to make friends, persuasive speaking. I’m not talking advanced stuff here, but middle school level educational materials. He’s beyond the pre-school and elementary school stuff we’d normally show them.”
“When I was shopping supplies from Fluffazon, I ran in to some educational programs from that fluffy college out east. We can see what they have available, too.”
“Oh, yeah! That school for working fluffies. That would be excellent. I don’t think it’ll take long to work him through some of the programs. A month most likely.”, Nikki replied.
“Good. I expect when winter rolls around we’ll see a large increase in the number of ferals that come in. People get a brief streak of kindness around the holidays, and that means I get inundated with rescues.”, Dee Dee said, sighing to herself.
“Well, then he’ll get a real trial by fire.”, Nikki replied.
Jolene had finished her visit with Jaime and Joanna. “Hey ladies, they are officially all yours.”
Dee Dee faced her. “Again, I can’t thank you enough for bringing them here. Though, I have to ask. Why ‘Jaime’ for the smarty?”
“Look up the movie ‘Stand and Deliver’. It fits him.”, Jolene said.
The three women returned to the reception area, and Jolene collected Cayenne. “Buh bye mummah! Buh bye daddeh! Cayenne wiww miss 'ou!” Cayenne waved to her birth parents while Jolene held her in her arms.
“Buh bye Cayenne! Mustawd am pwoud Cayenne am stwong an’ gud!”, her father told her.
“Papwika hab biggest heawt happies! Cayenne wiww awways be Papwika babbeh!”, Paprika added, happy tears forming in her eyes.
“Sistah come pway 'gain!”, Clouded chimed in. “Cwody wub sistah!”
“Cayenne wub mummah, an’ daddeh, and sistah!” Cayenne said to her fluffy-family. She turned in Jolene’s arms. “Mummah, wiww see famiwy 'gain, wight?”
Jolene gave Cayenne a kiss on her head. “Yes, Fire Butt, we’ll come visit again. And I had an idea about that, too. Dee Dee?”
Dee Dee looked at Jolene. “What’s up?”
“Do you think we could video call on the regular? So Cayenne can see her family, and they can see her? I also want to see Jaime’s foals when they are ready for names.”
Dee Dee scratched the back of her head. “Scott, can you set that up?”
Scott came out from behind the counter, Treasure riding on his shoulder. “Yeah, that’ll be simple. In fact, I wanted to discuss something like that with you anyways. I had an idea about live streaming the safe rooms so the world could see the fluffies. Depending upon the streaming service, we can also get donations. I’ll bet there’s an audience out there of people who want to see live fluffies being cared for, who can’t do so themselves.”
Scott turned to face Jolene. “Your idea is a good one. I think giving people who adopt fluffies the chance to let their fluffies see their famiels is a great idea. FluffChat… If foal siblings are separated, we could help owners set up video calls between them… Sorry, I’m talking aloud, but right now we’re very low tech, and we have a lot of options. As a charity, we have lots of free options at that.” Scott looked at Dee Dee, a knowing eyebrow raised.
“Ok, so what I’m hearing is some college kid angling for a job after he graduates. Or a lot of resume padding. Work up proposals, get them on my desk.”, Dee Dee told her techie.
She turned back to Jolene. “Girl, it was good to see you again. And thank you for bringing Cayenne. I haven’t seen Paprike and Mustard this happy since before the… incident. I think they’ll be ready to breed again soon. I know Paprika will love having her own babies again. Seeing one of her babies grown up I’m sure is getting her little fluffy brain in to baby over drive.”
Jolene laughed aloud at that. “Well, I’m glad I could be of help. And I will visit. I like coming up to the city, it’s just a drive. But I’ll be up for a week for the Winter FluffCon with Cayenne. So, we’ll hang out plenty near the holidays. I’m also looking forward to seeing how Jaime and his family do by then.”
Dee Dee and Nikki walked with Jolene to her car. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. Your car guys do know how to get out the smell of fluffy shit.”
“They are the absolute best. Also, one more thing before you go. I got this little guy out of a vending machine. I can keep him here if you don’t have the space, but something told me he’d be a good fit for you and Cayenne.”
Dee Dee held out a foal can. Inside was a tiny white pegasus colt, his eyes still not opened. He was suckling from the artificial nipple at the end of his can.
Jolene looked at the can, and back at Dee Dee. “Ah was thinking Cayenne could use a friend. And since you helped me pick her, Ah’ll trust your judgement again.” Jolene accepted the foal can.
“Safe drive, Jolene.”
Nikki gave Jolene an awkward doctor hug. “It was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll keep you abreast of my experiments!”
“Just don’t break him. I did that enough already.”
“I promise.”
Jolene loaded Cayenne in to her car seat, and after more goodbyes, she started her way southwest towards home.
“Hey Cayenne, how you doing back there?”
“Cayenne hab biggest heawt happies! Wub mummah! Wub daddeh! Wub sistah! Wub Joween mummah!”
Jolene paused. “Cayenne, that’s the first time you’ve ever said my name.”
“Cayenne nu say namsies?”
“No, Cayenne, I mean yes… I mean, you can say my name any time you want.”
“Wub Joween mummah!”, she exclaimed.
“I love you, too, Cayenne.”
Jolene played more Styx through her car stereo. She and Cayenne sang together the whole drive home.