EASTER WITH AVOCADO
A tribute to Carpdime’s Avocado
Featuring art by Carpdime & PeppermintParchment
~
“You’re becoming a big boy, Avo!”
It was a warm day in early March when Melissa made the statement. The snow had thawed not too long ago, and the cold of winter had mostly dissipated. And indeed, Avo was now in what could be considered the adolescent phase of his upbringing. Our little green foal had been about the size of a finger as a new-born, and then the size of a hand. But having passed half a year of age, he was starting to experience the larger growth spurts. Now, Avocado was the size of a potted plant, just like one near the window. And yet, he was still the same loveable little foal Melissa knew when she first fed him that burrito all those months ago.
Reflecting on his current size, Melissa felt a little inspired.
“Avo!”
“Yus, gwamma?”
“Picture time!” she said, holding up a polaroid camera.
“Oh goodie! Fwuffy wub picshas!”
And indeed, Avocado loved those human things called “fotos”. Whether they magically came out of a polaroid, or if they were printed out from a computer, he was enamoured with how memories could be captured in those contraptions. He sometimes wondered, what bizarre “sains” could achieve a miracle such as this. It was very much a feat of magic.
Grandma slowly placed Avo beside the pot. Avo was a little confused as to why Grandma picked that spot of all places, but he went with it.
“Say Cheese!”
Cheese!!”
And with a flash, the picture was taken. The polaroid camera whirred, and a photograph came out.
“Beautiful shot,” grandma beamed, as she looked at the photograph of Avocado. She then commented, “my little angel.”
Angel. Avocado had heard that word before a few times, especially in a certain way. And it was at this point that Avo decided to ask a big question.
“Gwamma, wai ‘ou sez fwuffy am wike a wingie-hummeh?”
“Winged human? Oh, you mean, why am I comparing you to an angel?”
“Yus,” Avocado nodded.
“Well, my little cherub – you’ve been a good boy. You behave yourself, you listen to your daddy, as well as to your grandpa and I.”
Avocado remember when his granpa told him about the winged humans. But he also reminded that period, when he was exposed to a unique name. It led Avocado to ask a rather peculiar question.
“Gwamma, huu am Cheezas?”
Melissa was a little taken aback. She was not sure if she was ready to answer that question. Nevertheless, she smiled, and tried her best.
“Well, Jesus was a very good human. When people had the worstest sick, he healed them. When people. He was a good story teller, and he told many important stories to people he knew.”
“And gwampa sez Cheezas am tawk to da wingie hummehs?”
“That he talked to the angels…. Why, why yes he would. He talked to a lot of people, but I think he definitely talked to the Angels.”
“Gwamma, wen babbeh had wowstest huwties, did ‘ou hab tawkies wif Cheesas?”
~
Not too long after Chapter 7
Avocado was at the vet. He was still recovering from his fight with Bullsquid. Earlier, his teacher Candy and his friends had visited him. Now, he was being visited by his grandmother, Melissa. The mother of his daddeh, watching over him.
“Gwamma….”
“Shh… please rest Avo.”
As she said this, she started to hum a song.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved, a wretch, like me
Who once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now, can see.”
Melissa’s song was like a soothing and reassuring balm to Avo’s pain. After a while, he was able to close his eyes. And yet, the pain was preventing him from sleeping fully just yet. His senses prevailed, and it would be a while before he could fully drift into the realm of sleep.
Avo could hear the words from his grandmother, saying something rather odd.
“Please, please Jesus, please watch over little Avocado. He’s our special little boy.”
~
As Avocado related that memory to Melissa, she was a little astounded by the rather clear memory that Avo had. And yet, she felt a little touched.
“Yes, Avo. I was talking to Jesus. I was praying.”
“Pwaying”?
Prayer would be a difficult word to convert into fluffspeak. Melissa had to be concise with what she meant.
“Having talks with Jesus. Talking to him. Praying, its not the same as playing. But you know that words can have more than one meaning.”
Melissa had not anticipated Avocado to ask such a question related to her faith. And while she tried to give answers, it led to even more questions.
“Buh… Cheezas nuu dewe.”
“Well, it’s like, Jesus is with us in spirit.”
“Whut am spiwit?”
“Spirit is like…. Spirit is like something we all have. Humans, fluffies, animals, we all have a spirit, a soul. And Jesus is with us in spirit. He doesn’t have to be there to be with us in spirit.”
“Abo nah suwe ib undah-stahn. It am wike daddeh am wif us in spiwit?”
“Is your dad with us in spirit…. Why yes, you could say that.”
Avo was ecstatic when he heard that.
“So, when daddeh hab tawkies wif Avo, den am daddeh’s spiwit!”
Melissa couldn’t help but laugh as she heard that sentence. Avo was clearly mistaken, though he couldn’t be faulted. And that slight confusion also provided a chance.
“It’s not quite the same thing.
Also Avo, we need to go over your math lessons.”
~
The incident had left Melissa reflecting quite a bit. So much so that she ended up mentioning it to Harold after Avo went to bed.
“Dear, Avo has been interested in Jesus lately.”
“Oh, really?” Harold respondend nonchalantly. At that time, his mind was focused on the newspaper in his hands.
“Should tell him more about Jesus? And Church?”
“Do we have to? I mean, he’s a fluffy. Its not like he needs to go to church.”
“Well, we did him take to church on Christmas.”
“That was Christmas.”
“And Harold, you’ve seen some of the community bring their fluffies to church. And those are well-behaved. And the Father has not made a fuss about it.”
Deciding to give Melissa a bit more time of his day, he moved the newspaper out of his sight, as he faced her.
“What are you implying?”
“Why don’t we at least let Avo know a bit more about our faith?”
~
An elderly man was entering the book shop of his neighbourhood church. Earlier, he had been at the nearest fluffmart and had attempted to enquire about a specific kind of book written in fluffspeak, on a topic that he imagined some fluffies would be interested in.
“I’m sorry sir, we don’t carry that kind of product here.”
It was a genuine response, the kind given by a young man who was fully aware of the inventory he was tasked with, and was also merely doing his job.
“Alright then, where can I find such a book?”
“Have you tried your church? I heard the shops were carrying those kinds of books.”
The old man was a little taken aback. It was not that he wasn’t a god-fearing man. However, he had been avoiding attendance at the local place of worship for most of the months, aside from an appearance at Easter and Christmas. Yet, he knows that his spouse would always dutifully attend the church service every week. And now, she made a request to him that, while unusual, he could not help but oblige.
A few hours later he found himself at the entrance of the church. As he walked towards the entrance, he could hear the ringing of the bells and the marching of the people walking up towards the priest to received their Daily Bread. It was impromptu, perhaps even uncouth, yet our old man found himself joining the line.
“Amen.”
After the service had concluded, our old man made his way to the adjacent shop located near the church. It had all the religious iconography and texts one would expect from a shop like this., And yet, our old man would never imagine he’d ask for books of this specific nature.
“Why yes, we do!”
And as she says this, she shopkeeper brings our old man to a small but dedicated section of the church bookshop. Looking over the wares, it resembled a lot of the religious books he had read as a child, and he too had passed to his son. Filled with cartoonish imagery and gentle language. The difference, of course, was that the language was the even more simplistic fluffspeak, as these were religious books that were meant to teach the catechism in as simple a manner as possible.
“I’m a bit surprised that our church carries books on this.”
“Well, fluffies aren’t quite like ordinary animals, are they? They kind of speak like us, although a bit limited. And they can understand some concepts better than the average animal.”
“But doesn’t the Church say that animals don’t have souls? I think one of the past Popes said that animals aren’t called to Heaven.”
“Ah, but Pope John Paul II said that animals will join us in Heaven. As did Pope Benedict.”
“But aren’t fluffies artificial animals? I remember they were marketed as toys.”
“They do have an artificial origin, but most fluffies are born, live and die just like us. And with their ability to learn and develop, they are very humanlike. It is a complicated topic, and different religions have different says on it. Our current Pope has asked us not to discount fluffies despite their artificial origin, as they are not that different from human clones.”
The old man was a little confused by the past discussion.
“It just seems so different from how things were when I was younger.”
“Well, times change I guess.”
He had heard those words before. He remembered hearing him from his firstborn, on the day when he had opted not to go to Church anymore.
Briefly flipping the pages, Harold recognized some of the stories in the book. It reminded him a lot of a similar book he passed to Mark, once upon a time. Only difference was that the language used here was in the seeming indecipherable fluffspeak, which had its own lexicon, and grammatical rules separate from “standard” English. Remembering the unique fluffspeak and the complexity of teaching fluffies to be familiar with their interactions with the human world, it prompted Harold to ask another question.
“Is there a bible in fluffspeak?”
“There are! But people usually don’t buy them.”
“That’s odd. You’d think that, if owners are trying to get fluffies to be Christians, they’d have them read the Bible.”
“Yes, but fluffies usually don’t have the attention span to manage long books. Most children’s bibles are made based on the premise that the adult reads with the child. However, not a lot of fluffies express an interest in religion beyond following what their owners tell them about the faith, or learning how to pray. Its why we don’t import a lot of the Bibles in fluffspeak.”
~
Avocado was enamoured by the book he was reading. It was written in simple fluffspeak. But it told so many different stories.
There was the story of Nowa, and how he built a large boat so large that he could put his family and every animal on it. The boat helped his family survive a terrible storm of wawa that flooded the land. There was the story of Moses, who was helping his people leave a terrible place to find a new home and, with the help of Sky-daddeh, was able to part the sea into two. There was the story of Debid, a humble sheep herder who went up against the big bully Gowiat, and would later become King.
And then there was Cheezas. Cheezas, who could turn water into wine. Cheezas, who healed a blind man, and allowed him to see. Cheezas, who could walk on wawa. Cheezas, the storyteller, who told many stories, including the one about the prodigal son, and how the son came back to his daddeh. And how said daddeh loved both of his sons equally, even the one who stayed loyal by his side.
It was a very fun storybook. To Avo, it was just a storybook. But it had stories he wanted to share with his friends.
~
“Class, we have a special guest today. His name is Ajit.”
The orange foal was different from everyone else in the class, by virtue of having a piece of cloth wrapped around his head. His owner was a big man, with a very bushy beard. And like his charge, what was just unique about him was a larger cloth that he was wearing that was wrapped around his head.
“Fwuffy hab big happies to meet ‘ou aww.”
“Why fwen am weawing a siwwy hat?”
As Chilli asked that, the entire class giggled. Even the bearded man laughed. With a smile, Amber explained, “Ajit here, like his owner, is a Sikh.”
“Fwuffy hab wowstest sickies?”
“No, it’s the herd he belongs to.”
Trying to explain a religion to fluffies is difficult, and trying to explain to them the existence of other religions would be even more difficult. Any person would balk at the idea of their community being compared to with a herd, but Mr Singh was familiar with the limited capacity and knowledge that fluffies had.
Ajit’s week at East Side Daycare went as normally as it did for any visiting fluffy. He took part in the activities, played at lunch time, he could eat most of the food as he did not have any dietary complications nor restriction, and he generally was friendly with everybody at the daycare. But there was one little incident that affected Avo a little when it came to Ajit. And it happened during the middle of the week.
Avo had been sharing with his friends about the stories from the book that’s his grandparents had given him. Almost all of his classmates had interest in the stories, and listened to him attentively. However, when Ajit started hearing about Cheezas, he merely shook his and went off to play with the blocks by himself.
Avo was wondering if there was something wrong. Finishing the story about the time Cheezas walked on water, and amazed his friends, he went up to Ajit.
“Hewwo, fwen.”
Ajit remained silent.
“Fwen?”
The only response was the sound of the stacking of blocks.
“Fwen am otay.”
In a huff, Ajit turned out around. He did it so quickly, one of his hooves hit the stack, and the blocks claim tumbling down.
“Wook. ‘ou beweib in Cheezas, but dat am yer sky daddeh. Nuh mine. Fwuffy nu beweib in yer Cheezas.
Nao. Pwease weave fwuffy awone.”
Avocado was a little taken aback by Ajit’s curt response. Even though it was rude, he wonder what it was about talking about Cheezas that had so offended Ajit. He wanted to apologize, but, Ajit wouldn’t listen to him.
With no one else to turn to, he decided to head to the sleeping room. The Auburn was there, tending to some of the foals who were sleeping at that time. A sshe was watching over the foals, she could feel a fluffy’s hoof tapping on her leg.
“Why Avo, whats the matter?”
Avo tthen told the Auburn about the incident that happened that day.
“There, there little Avocado. Not everybody has the same religion as you do.”
“W-w-we-we-shion?”
It was a big word.
“Well Avo, a lot of hummehs and fluffies would believe in one type of Sky Daddy. That’s a religion. Ajit over there belongs to a different type of herd. And his owner belongs to another type of herd. And they believe in their own thoughts about Sky Daddy.”
“Ooooh, so wike, they go to a diffewen pwayie pwace?”
Avo was surprised to hear the word “pwayie pwace”. But she had a rough idea of what Avo meant.
“Exactly! And there is a lot of religions, Avo. Not everyone has the same religion. It’s like how Buttercup prefers sports while you prefer reading.”
The Auburn felt she was grossly simplifying the vast differences of religions and followings in the world. She was not sure if Avo would understand what she was saying.
“Abo undahstan…. Abo thinks.”
The Auburn could only smile as she heard that.
Just then, Avo asked a rather expected question to her.
“Do 'ou bewieb in sky daddeh, mummah Amba?”
“Not really, Avo,” the Auburn said, shaking her head. “I don’t go to church.”
“Wai?”
“Well, I wasn’t brought up in it. As a little baby, my mommy and daddy never took me to church.”
Avo was surprised as to hear that. He thought that most humans would go to this special school, this special “prayer place”, even though different herds had different prayer places. But Amber was telling her that she didn’t.
“But see, I’m rather happy. Not everybody needs a to believe in sky daddeh to be happy. And If believing in sky daddeh makes you happy, that’s a good thing.”
Feeling like he understood the situation a bit better, Avo could only smile cryptically. He then stated, “Fwuffy undahstahn.”
~
Soon it was Holy Week. For Avocado, it was like any other ordinary week. He went to the daycare, followed the lessons he was taught, came home, had his dinner, and slept. The exam that was to grade was about a month away, but, other then that, there was nothing special.
But for Melissa and Harold, it was a different story. And Harold was adamant on a stance.
“The book didn’t mention anything about Jesus dying.”
“But how can Avo learn about Jesus if he doesn’t know about the Crucifixion and Resurrection?”
That question left Harold a little cold. He knew where his wife was coming from.
“Does he need to know? If Mark doesn’t take him to church, then there is no need for him to know more about the religion.”
“But what if he asks?”
“Well, that is IF he asks. If you take him on Good Friday, he’s just going to ask more questions.”
Melissa was feeling dejected. Harold came up to her, and place his hands on her shoulders.
“Look. I know it was difficult for both of us when Mark stopped going to church. But even though Avo is special to us, ultimately he is Mark’s pet, not ours.”
Harold could feel a lump in his throat as he said that. In the months of the close bond that he developed with Avo, the fluffy definitely felt more than just a pet.
Melissa sighed. She knew her husband had a point. And she also knew that she was initially hesitant to have Avo follow them to church all those months ago at Christmas. And yet, there was one thing she did want to ask.
“Can we still take him on Easter Sunday?”
Harold thought for a moment.
“Sure.”
~
Good Friday came and went. As Avo was at the daycare for most of the day, he would have been unaware of the church service that his grandmother attended on that day. Nor would he have known about the significance of this one day in the Christian calendar. But to Avo, it was just yet another day.
~
And then, it was Easter Sunday.
Avocado was dressed with a neat little green ribbon around his body, complete with a cute little bow. According to gwamma, the other fluffies that were going to the Church today were also going to wear a similar bow. And Avo was feeling a little excited – he heard there was going to be a little party at the Church. Avo wondered if it was going to be anything like the one he experienced at Christmas.
It was the second time that Avocado was at the place that his grandparents called church. It was the same as he had remembered it at Christmas – a building where a lot of people gathered, and windows with a coloured glass showing a bearded man doing miracles and other things. Avo now understood that this man was Cheesas, and that the Church was what his grandmother and Melissa described as being a “pwayie pwace”, or “prayer place.”
Though the one thing that Avo was not prepared for was the long talk by the silly human in silly white clothes. The speech went for so long, and used big words that it nearly made Avo fall asleep. He tried his best to understand it, and he could understand the priest was talking about “a new life” and “new beginnings”. But that was about the half of it, and the poor quality of the microphone meant that Avo could not really understand what the man was saying. Feeling a little distracted, Avo decided to look around, and see more of the statues near him.
And as he looked, he saw the statue of Cheesas, on a large plan of wood, his arms outstretched, with prickly things on his head, and boo-boo juice streaming from down his face. A look of intense sadness and agony was on Cheesas’s face.
It was like nothing Avo had seen before. He wondered why he had not seen this statue before. He wondered why the book that his grandma had given him had not shown this statue. It made him want to ask questions. But he was also a little terrified by the vision of it. Looking away, he then started to snuggle up to his grandmotter, Melissa.
Melissa was a bit surprised by Avo laying his head on her side. However, and understanding that the church service would be rather boring to both children and fluffies, she gently patted him, and allowed the adolescent foal to rest by her side.
~
Just outside the prayer place, a number of stalls had already been erected, and people were already playing games. The Easter celebrations were here, though Avocado noted that they were rather muted. It didn’t seem to be as exciting as the celebrations for Christmas. Or for Halloween.
As he was walking by his grandparents side, Avo felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, and was met with a surprise.
“Mawigowd!”
Marigold was wearing a silver-coloured ribbon. She was standing next to her owners, as well as a bigger fluffy, who resembled a little, but with a reddish mane.
“Fwuffy ne’er thot dat Abo gu to chuwch!”
“This am secondies tiem, fwen.”
“Weww, Mawi go to Chuwch with fwuffy mummam and hummeh mummah ewewy Sundae!” As she said this, she introduced her fluffy mother to Avo. “Dis am fwuffy mummah, Coppah.”
“Nice to meet ‘ou, mummah Coppah,” Avo said bowing his head.
“Mawigowd hab big tawkies about ‘ou. Sez ‘ou am a smawt boi!”
Avo looked at the bigger fluffy sheepishly. Feeling a shy, he merely said, “Abo onwy twy am bestest.”
There were not that many notable games or activities at the Easter celebration, and Avocado felt it was overall, rather boring. Not to mention that it was rather hot as it was mostly outdoors, and Avo found himself sweating after a bit. But there was one game that Avo did enjoy, which he played with the other kids and fluffies.
There was an egg hunting game. The game required a group of fluffies and children to work together. They were attached to at least one adult, and they had to work together to find the eggs within a specified area of the church. Avo was in a group with Marigold and Copper, and they were attached to Melissa, who agreed to watch over the group as they combed the area.
Most of the fluffies had found the missing coloured eggs, but there was one egg that was still missing. All the fluffies had been wondering where this one egg had been hidden – it had been painted green, with red spots. The picture of the egg reminded Avo of the nearby bush with the red flowers. Feeling a little intuitive, Avo went to bush, going inside it. It was an area most of the fluffies preferred not to go into, as they had not been told to be careful of entering random dark places.
But luckily enough, the missing egg was there!
“Atta boy, Avo!” Harold said, as he saw the little green foal return with the missing egg.
After the games, the foals and fluffies were given a treat of various foods. There was a bunny-shaped chocolate that they all shared, along with various jellybeans. It was a somewhat fun experience but, perhaps not as fun as Christmas. (Or Halloween)
~
Avocado never asked again about going to Church, or Cheesas. It came as a bit of a surprise to Melissa, as she had remembered the interest he had expressed to her. However, and remembering the life choices that her own son made, she had come to accept that, as a fluffy, perhaps Avocado would not be interested in knowing more about the religion.
As for Avo, he tried to forget the statue of Cheesas that he saw. It was rather disturbing, and did not seem to make sense with everything else that he had seen at the Church. But Avo had also understood from the Auburn that there were other prayer places, other herds that existed in the world. He wonder what the prayer place of Ajit’s would look like. He wondered what other kinds of Sky-daddehs there were. The world was a mysterious place, and he was hoping to learn more about it as he got older.
Epilogue
Continued from the Foal in a can Factory abd spoilered for Industrial Sadbox
Breeding sector 5, pod 27, breeder number 1.
The yellow mare was feeling constant agony, as she could feel the tube that was stuffed down her gullet. Her legs removed, her voice silenced, all she could do was cry in the dark, as she felt her foals taken from her. Though she was supposed to be blinded, she still maintained a weak eyesight in one eye. And on that day, she saw a glint of silver. A cross of silver, a figure of a man, put on a cross. She wondered what that piece of jewellery was like, or why such a nice shinie was being possessed by such terrible hummehs. But there was nothing to answer this question: only pain.
Mrs Reyes was feeling uneasy about the fact that she was working in another mass reproduction factory. When she started working for Foalcan, she was under the impression that the company had refined the biolathing process. However, and about a month into her job, she came to understand the foals at foalcan inc were actually made in the old way, a way that had been banned when fluffies were re-categorized as animals. She knew it was against the law, but she was desperate for work, and the pay was good. However, seeing the pain of the breeders reminded her why she had quit the job ages ago. As she felt the crucifix around her neck, she contemplated tending in her resignation the following Monday.
