Chapter 10:
You are Chocolate.
You found some wonderful shiny things when daddy let you out earlier, and you’d taken them back to your saferoom. You were snuggled up with your stuffy friend, sucking your pacifier happily, dozing. Your new shiny thing treasure laying next to you.
————
You are Neapolitan.
Daddy lost something he called “Keys”, and you’re helping him look. You know what he was talking about, his “Shiny-Jingles”, you called them. You hadn’t seen them since yesterday when he brought you all home from the park.
“Anything?”
“No, Daddeh, no can find Shiny-Jingwes.” you answer, pouting.
“Damn….I need them to get out to the store and buy groceries. I’m sure I can’t have lost them, I had them earlier today when you and the others were out playing. Did you happen to see them then?” Daddy asked. Normally, this would be an exercise in futility, but Neo was a smart one, like all her family.
Well, Mochi was a little slow, but he loved that dancing puffball of a foal enough to make up for her occasional stupidity.
You stopped, and tapped your chin with a marshmallow hoof. “Saw on tabwe in wiving woom.” you said.
Theo sighed, and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah that’s when I saw them last too.”
— — — —
You are Chocolate.
You hear daddy and Neapolitan talking. You want to play too! They’re not playing while you’re napping, are they? You grab your shiny jingles, and leave the saferoom via the doggy-door Daddy put in a few days back. You’ll show these to Daddy, he’ll think they’re cool!
You round the corner of the hallway, jingling and smiling. You hear your daddy gasp, and you’re lifted into the air. “CHOCOLATE! YOU FOUND MY KEYS!!! GOOD BOY!!!” He shouts, pulling the shiny jingles away. “Wuh? Buh…” you look at them, eyes wide, you want them back…
Daddy doesn’t notice and lifts you up higher, smiling. “Oh I’ve been looking everywhere for them! Where did you? It doesn’t matter, Oh, good boy!” He cradles you and begins to scratch your belly.
The shiny jingles were daddy’s? Not yours? But they were so pretty…….
Oh well, you were getting belly rubs, so you guessed giving them back was what a good fluffy would do.
“Neo, go rest. Chocolate and I are gonna go to the store. I think he’s earned an outing for finding my keys.”
Neapolitan nodded and waddled off to the saferoom.
You still kind of wanted the shiny-jingles back……but you got to go out with daddy, so that was better, and it was okay to lose them if you got to go to the store. You liked the store, daddy always let you pick what flavor of treats you wanted, and the nice old man at the counter let you have emi-ems. You didn’t really know what they were, but your loved them and they had such pretty colors!
“YAY!” You cheered.
There would be other shiny jingles to find.
— — — —
You are Theo.
Taking Chocolate to the store was a rare treat. His insistence that your truck was a “Metaw Munstah” and that he would “give it sowwy hoofsies and be stwongew than it.” was adamant. He always insisted on boxing the tires with his soft little hooves.
It was cute, but it took 15 minutes you normally didn’t care to waste. But he DID find your keys, however he had done it, the little guy had earned this. He would ride in the cart like a toddler, get to pick a flavor of special treat, and Old Sam at the checkout insisted on feeding your fluffies M&Ms and petting them whenever he saw them. Old man loved the things.
As you pulled out, you swore you noticed something out of the corner of you eye on the far side of the yard. When you look again, it’s gone.
“You see that, buddy?”
“See what, Daddeh?”
“Hmm….Don’t worry about, I’ll check it later.” you say, patting your colt on the head. Whatever it was, the doors and windows were locked, there was no doggy door to the outside. You’d heard a few too many stories of yard-invasions by Smarties turning into home invasions and full on massacres of the owner’s fluffies.
And so you didn’t let your brood out without direct supervision and a nearby axe handle.
Nothing like a good piece of hickory to correct unwanted behavior.
But for now…it was you, and Chocolate. You looked at him, bouncing on the passenger seat.
This was gonna be a good day.
