Your daddy had been home more often after work to play with you lately which was nice but you missed going for your weekly visit to the fluffy park in the metal vroom vroom box. Playing in the yard was fun but it didn’t have the same kinds of tasty bushes or neat hidey places or random new friends to make. So on the third week you approached your owner. “Daddeh, can gween bean go to fwuffie pawk? Miss wun an’ pway wiff fwiends.”
“I. . .” Your daddeh looks so saddies but you don’t understand why, huggies will make it better. As you hug their leg to console them they sigh. “Sure bud. Just remember, you’ll have to ask again next time too.”
“Weawwy!?” Green bean was so so excited they didn’t even read too much into what their father had just said. Sure it’d be a bit annoying to ask each week on the day you used to just go but if that meant enjoying the park you’d do anything. . . At least you thought.
Dad plays some pleasant music as you sit in your highchair pet carrier watching the world go by. The owner had been reducing unnecessary travel and carpooling more lately to save gas as the prices in their area were killing his budget. He paused at a light looking at the ‘ImMobile’ gas station on the corner. When the prices were around two or even three dollars a gallon, he’d never actually considered paying a literal arm and a leg for cheaper gas but he was getting desperate. He may not even be able to afford his pet for much longer either so with a Stoney resolve he flipped his blinker on and pulled into the lot.
The attendant walked out. “Gotta unlock it, Arm and leg up front. You can also do three legs if no arms.” This place literally made you pay more if you wanted to let your fluffy keep their ability to ‘hug’. Your owner gets out and takes you out of your box.
“This nu am pawk daddeh, we be dewe soon?”
“Uh yeah, we’ll be there soon green bean.” He adds with a sigh. “Do you offer a credit certificate or something if I pay two sets?”
“Only for our loyalty program im afraid. Would you like to sign up?” The attendant adds with a dark smile.
“. . .Maybe,” Their eyes look down the the curious if mildly confused and expectant fluffy under his arm. “but not today I think.” He sighs.
“All right then.” The attendant takes your father over to the immobilization board between the pumps and readies a plastic bag rather then the one of the burn bags. “So we going all one side, or we doing one left one right?”
“Gween bean nu wike dis game daddeh. Feew scawedy.” The fluffy adds as the restraints lock them in place.
“It’ll be over soon bud, just a little longer.” Your owner said attempting to console you. “Left front, right back.” They then say to the attendant knowing that your primary hoof for movement and play was your front right so it would be better to keep. A small blessing all things considered.
The next minute was a blur of pain as your limbs were severed near the shoulder, your dad thankfully had a few quarters on them to work the turn machine to buy some healing gel there for owners that wanted their fluffies to survive the experience. Green bean was a blubbering sobbing mess when placed back in their carrier. Meanwhile the attendant had managed to bag the legs and take them to the adjoining grill restaurant as he dropped it in the processing cold box before returning. Someone would remove the hair later and prep it to be cooked tomorrow. For non domestics or those with noticeable flaws or ailments that made the legs unfit for human consumption the station had a bio generator that burnt up bio waste that they’d fire up and run whenever they had a full tank to cut down on the electric bill.
“Filler up?” The attendant adds as they unlock the pump. The owner was numb and simply nodded. In the end after paying for the gel, they had saved themselves 5$ on a fillup at a quarter a gallon. They barely even registered having walking in and waiting in line to pay.
“Here’s your receipt sir. There’s a coupon at the bottom, would you like to redeem the coupon now?” The attendant at the desk adds. Your eyes shift down to the bottom. ‘4 piece baby weggie’s sauced & small drink / One adult leg sauced & small drink’ as your eyes shift to the counter nearby of the adjoined kitchen/restaurant your eyes lock on the hot cabinet of cooked fluffy meat dishes.
“Sure.” They add with a sigh, they couldn’t face their fluffy right now and couldn’t turn down a free meal with times this tough. As they slowly ate their leg their ears caught the crunching from the table next to him. The man there wasn’t even trying to eat around the bones of the baby weggies and was chewing the soft fluffy bones and meat together. This limited your appetite quite a bit so you were just ready to leave after you finished your adult leg and refilled your fountain drink.
You finished your short drive to the park. You turned off the radio, there was no pretense of this being a pleasant trip any longer. The whole ride there was silent except for one solitary ‘Why?’ from Greenbean as he saw his owner looking back in the rearview window.
The place that had once given greenbean such happiness now only gave saddies. They could no longer run, heck they could barely stand and walking would take some getting used to. Even if they could theoretically still play certain games the types were now limited. Their huggies were ‘bad’ since they only had one arm and what once would have been new friends were now meanies that called him a ‘dummeh’ and gave him sorry poopies. “Can we go home nao pwease?” Green bean pleaded after his owner ran him under the fluffy watering tap.
“Sure buddy.” The owner said disappointed as they take them back to the vehicle and use a towel in the back to dry them so they’re not miserably shivering the whole way back.
Once home the owner pauses as he puts green bean under his right arm. His eyes locked to a ‘Loyalty program flier’ in his passenger seat that he didn’t remember taking. And with guilty hesitation they open the passenger door and take it in with them.
*Had to get this idea out of my head and couldn’t make art appropriate enough. Sadly I was in a bit of hurry to write this so I might clean it up later but it serves the purpose of me not thinking of the ‘gas costing an arm and a leg’ joke related to fluffies. *
