Smarty
How long has it been? How many bright-times since the herd crossed the longer water? Since you made the herd cross the longer water?
It could be two and two, maybe even three and three. However long it’s really been, it feels like much more. Not like you’ve tried very hard (or at all) to remember; it’s something you want to forget, if you could. How about that; you haven’t been a fluffy for long at long, and you already have more things you want to forget than remember. Surely there’ll be far more you want to forget by the it’s all over, whenever that comes.
Just another thing to worry about later, if later comes…
‘Dis stiww am wight way?’
‘Yes, Smawty.’ The brown lookie fluffy says. ‘Am onwy gun be two bwight-times nao.’
‘Aftah dis one?’
‘Yes.’
‘An nu gun be mowe tings wike dat wong wawa?’
‘Nu,’ he says sharply.
You nod, and go back to walking in silence. Maybe it doesn’t matter if he’s lying or not at this stage; the chances of getting through this and the cold times don’t look good. True, they were never good to start with, but it seemed much better not too long ago.
‘Wookie fwuffy nu am twyin twick or wie,’ he says. ‘Wookie fwuffy wan get tu end of dah cowd-times tuu. So nu am gun wie.’
‘Smawty knu,’ you say, without thinking. ‘Bud Smawty nee tink boud aww hewd. Nu can jus tink yu nu wie.’
The Brown lookie fluffy doesn’t answer. Not at first. ‘Yu sound wike owd Smawty.’
You don’t have anything to answer with, so stay quiet. At least until Leaf steps up. ‘How much wongah am gun keep goin?’
‘Just wittwe bit wongah,’ you tell him. ‘Nu can go swow nao.’
‘Knu dat. Bud nu wan hewd tu get maddies.’
He’s right. You turn to another lookie fluffy; ‘Go find pwace hewd can stay.’
‘Yes Smawty,’ the lookie fluffy nods and goes ahead of the herd. Hopefully he won’t be too long; Leaf’s right, after all. You can’t let the herd get maddies at you, or maddies in general. There are still fluffies unhappy about crossing the long water. Sure, almost everyone made it over, but that doesn’t mean as much after the humans, and the big den, and all the walking. Rustling from ahead stops your wordies and for a moment you’re ready to fight, until you see it’s a lookie f sent ahead. ‘Dewe am gud pwace dat hewd can fix huwties at. Id am jus dis way.’
Well, that was fast. Or, were you just… Never mind. ‘Take hewd dewe.’ Without wasting time on wordies you start walking faster, following the lookie fluffy. Everyone else follows suit, and before long you break out into a clearer area. You don’t make it more than a few steps before your hoofies and leggies, just stop moving. Your chest and tummy goes funny, so do parts of your thinkie-place; this place, it looks like the safe place.
True, with another look you see it’s much smaller, there’s not that many places you could built dens, and there’s no long water in sight.
But the feeling is so hard to fight.
Before you realise it, sad-water comes into your see-places. You squeeze them tight, forcing it away; you can’t act like that, not now. Not when you’re sure other fluffies will think this is the new safe place. ‘Hewd, wisten tu smawty!’ You turn to face everyone as they emerge into the clearing. You wait a few moments for more of the herd to come out and think of what to say.
‘Knu sum of yu gun tink maybe dis nyu safe-pwace, bud id nu am.’ You tell them. ‘Bud, am gun stay hewe tiww dah nex bwight-time. Hewd been wawkin wong time. Aww can fix huwties nao.’ You see relieved faces all through the crowd, but nothing close to being happy. It’s too much to expect that anyway; maybe when the cold times are over. ‘Dat am aww.’
The herd finds places to lie down and rest. Those with the energy go looking for water and nummies. You stay with Leaf and the Next bestest-toughies. As always, you have things to talk about.
‘Stiww nu tink stayin tiww nex bwight-time am gud idea,’
‘Hewd nee dah time,’ Leaf insists. ‘An nu am wong time tiww find nyu safe-pwace.’
Hoofie doesn’t answer to that. He won’t believe there’s really a new safe place until he sees it. Can you blame him?
‘Otay, nu am time fow tawkies boud dat,’ you tell them. ‘Am gun nee put tuffies in pwaces so hewd be safe in dah dawk-time.’ You turn to leaf; ‘Yu take Hoofie an wook fow pwaces ovah dewe. An-’
‘Eeee!!’
All of you are looking toward the sound before you realise; Two nummie finders run fast as they can back from the forest. ‘Hewd get behind tuffies nao!!’ Leaf yells. Everyone does as he says, darting behind the line of toughies forming up even as he speaks. Glancing, you notice a few fluffies who aren’t toughies joining the line. Well, you’re not in a position to tell them not to, are you.
But is this the right move? What’s gonna come out of that forest? Just what new bad sleepie-picture is the forest going to-
‘Id am fwuffies!!’
Fluffies? A small part of you perks up, but you shut it down right away. Now isn’t the time to hope it’s them, not until you know the herd is safe. A few moments later, the hope leaves anyway.
‘Weaf nu knu any of dem,’ he says from your side as the strange herd moves out of the forest, the fluffies in front spread out and form a line like yours. Well, it’s that great,? They know what they’re doing…
‘Wat am gun du?’
‘Shud fight dem nao!’
‘Wait, dummeh,’ Hoofie says. ‘Nee knu how many dewe am. An which am dah smawty.’
Yes, which one of these strange fluffies is the smarty? If you can find them, and give him forever sleepies if you have to, that’ll make the problem go away. Maybe. More strange fluffies come out of the forest, but it doesn’t look like a huge amount. Actually, it looks like they don’t have many more fluffies than you do. Then again, having even one more fluffy than you is bad, especially without Big Red and Tree here.
‘Weaf tink dat am aww of dem,’
‘Hoofie tink dat tuu.’
‘Wat day duin?’
‘Day jus standin dewe.’
‘Wat day wan?’
‘Nuting gud,’
While the toughies talk back and forth, you keep your see-places on the strange herd. The ones you assume are toughies are spread out in a line like yours are. Now, which of them is the smarty? You scan from one end of the line to the other, over and over.
‘Smawty,’
‘Yes?’
‘Tink id am dat fwuffy,’ Leaf says. ‘Dah one with dah gween fwuff.’
Green fluff. Green fluff…
‘He am awso wike cowd fwuff.’
Cold fluff, okay that narrows it down. ‘Dah pointy fwuffy?’ You nod at the one you think Leaf means; yes, white with green fluff.
‘Yes. Weaf tink id am dat one.’
Okay. ‘Wat Bestest tuffy tink shud du?’
‘Tink shud fight dem.’
Obviously. ‘Bestest tuffy wan fight dem?’
‘Nu.’
You don’t want a fight, either. Not because you think you’ll lose, though that’s always a chance, and a nasty fear living at the back of your thinkie-place. Fighting means hurties, which will slow everyone down, and maybe worse than that. If there’s a way out of this without fighting, it’s worth looking for.
‘Maybe, maybe twy tawkies tu dah smawty?’
‘Wai?’ Leaf asks. It doesn’t sound like he thinks your stupid, but it’s still out there.
‘Cause, maybe can make dem go way without fightin,’ you tell him. ‘Day nu twyin fight nao. Maybe day nu wan fight, tuu.’
Leaf doesn’t respond, doesn’t talk for a few moments. ‘If day du anyting-’
Den giv dem aww fowewa-sweepies,’ you tell Leaf. ‘Aww dem.’ There’s not room for being nice, if things don’t go well. Now then.
You take a deep breath, push your scardies as deep down as you can. ‘Am goin.’ You step forward, slowly and deliberately ahead of the line of toughies. Murmurs and a few gasps come from behind, but you ignore them. Don’t look back, don’t look up, don’t look away from the strange fluffies, even for a moment. That’s what Daddeh would do.
None of the strange fluffies, either the toughies or who you think is their smarty makes a move. You sure can feel them staring at you, though. Heat flashes though your face and down your front, settling in your now very tight tummy. Move. Move, dummehs. One of them has to make a move soon. Why aren’t they? Are they scared? That’d be the best thing.
The worst thing would be if they’re waiting for you to get close before attacking. The only sure way to be safe from that is turn back, and that’s not an option. You can’t show the strange fluffies you’re scared, ever. Once you’re mid way between the herds, best as you can tell anyway, you stop. You scan your see-places down the line of strange toughies. It helps calm the scardies again, until you’re ready to speak.
‘Weww? Wat yu, fwuffies wan?’ You just keep yourself from saying “dummies,” that’s probably not a smart thing to start with. ‘Who am yuw Smawty? Yu nu wan tawkies? Smawty am hewe! Wai yu nu am?’ This isn’t a smart thing to say either, but you don’t see many options. ‘Am yuw smawty scawdies?’ That does it, after a moment. The white and green fluffy steps forward from the line of toughies and slowly makes his way towards you.
He stops, leaving a gap between you a few toughies of Big Red’s size could fit in.
‘Otay, nao can tawkies,’ you say. ‘Wat yu an yuw hewd wan?’ The white smarty looks at you, quiet. Not answering. ‘Wat yu an yuw hewd wan?’ You say again, slowly. ‘Nu tink yu wan fight. Wan stay hewe an fix weggie huwties?’ You wait, but there’s no answer. ‘Smawty’s hewd stay ovah hewe an yuw hewd stay ovah dewe. Den nu bad tings nee happen.’ It’s all you have to offer to avoid a fight, and you hope it’s enough.
It’s not.
‘Smawty nu wan dose tings. Smawty wan yuw hewd!’
You don’t answer, not at a first; you, can’t figure out if you heard the white smarty right… ‘Yu wan, Smawty’s hewd?’ You ask, more confused than mad. ‘Wai?’
‘Cause dis fowest am Smawty’s fowest, an aww fwuffies in fowest am Smawty’s!’
That, doesn’t make any sense… ‘Bud dis am Smawty’s hewd. yu nu can hav id,’ you tell him, the same way you’s say he couldn’t have your den.
‘Den Smawty take id!’ The white smarty says louder, taking a step forward. Now the chills start for real. This smarty, he’s not like the fluffies you met at the big den, deciding to join up because it’s a good idea for everyone. No, Dis fwuffy am wike M**unstah. You take a slow breath to keep calm; this is no time to let the scardies show. What, what would Daddeh do right now?
‘Smawty nu am gun wet yu du dat,’ Is that the best you have? Well, it’ll have to do for now… ‘Yu nu can hav hewd.’
‘Nu cawe!!’ The white smawty yells, taking another step forward. ‘Dis am Smawty’s fowest, an yuw hewd am Smawty’s hewd nao!!’ Maddies flash over his face. ‘If yu nu du wat Smawty say, den Smawty an tuffies giv yuw fowewa-sweepies, an giv oda dummehs fowewa-sweepies!! Den, Smawty gun make yuw speciaw-fwend Smawty’s enfie mawe!!!’
Scardies flash to maddies, and you’re face to face with the white smarty before you realise. ‘Nu tawkies boud Fwowah wike dat,’ you growl. The maddies are so hot and spiky you nearly miss the white smarty step away. It’s not much, not far at all. But, it happened; he stepped away. Realising that, other things break through the maddies; the white smarty’s see-places are wide open, the look on his face says “scardies” even though he’s trying to hide it, and-
Dis nu am wike Munstah.**… He’s nothing like that bad fluffy was, at all. And the more you look at him, the more you realise the white smarty’s nothing like any fluffy who was worth listening too. This “smarty” is nothing of the sort. He’s just a dummy, who’s somehow managed to convince or force other fluffies tp follow him. Speaking of those fluffies…
Does nu wook wike tuffies. You think, glancing past the white smarty at his line of so called toughies. They look scared, there’s no other way to put it; your toughies don’t look like them. Even if they’re scared, they won’t show it. The old Bestest-toughie and the others taught them well.
Wow, you let this dummy make you scared? Mad, even?
‘Pfft, go way, dummeh,’
The white dummeh’s see-places go wide. ‘W-wah?’
‘Smawty say go way, dummeh,’ you repeat. ‘Yu nu am smawty, yu jus dummeh. Smawty nu knu wat yu duin in fowest, bud can du id oda pwace.’
‘Y-yu tawkies tu Smawty wike dat!!’ The dummy screams, like a little baby who was told he can’t have milkies any more.
‘Yu knu cowd-times am cumin? Wai yu in dah fowest when day cumin?’ You interrupt. ‘Yu nu hav safe-pwace, ow dummeh nu be oud hewe.’ You glance past him again; ‘Yuw tuffies wook wike babbehs dat heaw a sky-munstah.’ You shake your head. ‘Yuw aww gun get fowewa-sweepies. Du id oda pwace,’ you say, turning and walking back to your herd. ‘Smawty nee wook aftah hewd.’
Turning around and walking away from the dummy does feel good, but it turns out to be a dumb move on it’s own.
‘WAAGH!!’
You start turning soon as you hear the yell, but you’re not in time to avoid having the dummy land on top of you. Well, he can’t be a complete dummy if-
‘GET DEM!!’
‘Keep does bad tuffies way fwom dah Smawty!!!’
Yells and the sound of running erupt, but only from your side. You hear more than see your toughies run past, heading for the bad fluffies. None of them stop to help you, which would be bad if you’d needed it. The white dummy managed to push you down on your front leggies, but that almost works for you. Without thinking you tuck them in and roll.
‘Wagh-oof!’ It sounds like the dummy stumbled. Once you’re on your hoofies again, yep, he’s struggling to get back on all fours. Without wasting time on a yell, you head but him in the side ‘GAhh!!’ It knocks him over, almost onto his back. Something inside you knows exactly what comes next. You rear up, and bring your leggies down on the dummy’s neck.
Crasnap
There’s a few weird gasping sounds, then his body goes still. One problem solved you turn to the fight between your toughies and the others dummies, only to find no fight at all. Huh. Leaf spots you and trots over. ‘Am Smawty otay?’
You nod. ‘Wat boud tuffies? Am any of dem-’
‘Nu huwties’ Leaf says. ‘Dewe nu was fight tu get huwties. Does oda tuffies wun way befowe cud get tu dem.’
Really? ‘So day jus dummehs?’
‘Tink so,’ Leaf says. ‘Nu knu wat day duin in fowest, bud dat nu mattah nao.’ He looks past you. ‘Wat boud dewe smawty?’
‘Fowewa-sweepies,’ You say, before the shock hits you. Though, what’s more shocking is how little it seems to affect you. Well, that’s how things are out here. And besides, the dummy had it coming.
‘Gud. Smawty fight gud.’
‘Dat wai nu hewp?’
‘Bestest tuffy knu dat dummeh nu cud win,’ he says. ‘Knu when he stawt tawkin.’
Hmm. Well, it’s over either way. Now then. ‘So, wat du nao?’ You glance back at the white dummy. ‘Maybe can stiww stay hewe, if move dat dummeh.’
‘Nu tink hewd wike dat,’ Hoofie says, coming over.
‘Bud stiww nee fix weggie huwties,’ Leaf answers back ‘Tings happen dat am mowe bad dan stayin whewe sum dummeh,’ he nods at the white dummy ‘go fowewa-sweepies.’ True; there’s been far worse things you’ve had to deal with, and too many of them.
‘Wat boud oda fowewa-sweepies tuffies?’ Someone else asks.
‘Dewe nu am any. Dummesh aww wun way,’ Hoofie tells the fluffy, the smarty from the herd who joined yours at the big den, now that you recognise him.
‘Day aww wun way?’
‘Yes,’ Leaf says. ‘Day nu eben twy fight,’
The old smarty looks at the white dummy. ‘Maybe day aww housie fwuffies. Smaw… Fwuffy see sum fwuffies wike dem sum times.’
‘Whewe day aww cum fwom?’ Hoofie wonders out loud, which is odd for him.
‘Dat nu mattah,’ you tell him. ‘Yu an dat fwuffy get wid of dat dummeh.’
‘Otay,’ Hoofie says, clearly not happy. ‘Hoofie push. Yu puww.’ He tells the old smarty, and the two of them get to work.
‘So, am stiww gun stay hewe tiww nex bwight-time?’ Leaf asks, walking with you back to the herd.
‘Yes,’ you tell him. ‘Hewd nee dat. Been goin tuu wong. Does dummehs nu gun cum back.’
‘Dat am wight,’ Leaf agrees.
The herd’s already spread out in groups, like your showdown with the other herd (if you can even call them that) never happened. You’re sure it’s affected some of them, but it could only have been a little bit.
‘…feew wike biggest dummeh fow bein scawdies of does dummehs,’ you overhear. Yep, looks like everyone’s gonna forget about this by dark-time. The only thing you might have to deal with is Gred, if he saw you give the white dummy forever-sleepies. Did he? You can’t remember where your family was when the toughies formed up. Oh well, he’ll have to get used to it sooner or-
‘Smawty,’
Now what? ‘Yes?’ You turn to the pair of toughies.
‘Tuffies cumin back fwom chasin does dummeh way an, find dese fwuffies,’ he says, and you notice the two and three fluffies behind him. Great. ‘Day say wan be in dis hewd nao.’
‘Sigh’ Alright… You walk around the toughies and speak to the toughies directly. ‘So, wan be in Smawty’s hewd?’
‘Y-yes,’ a young looking yellow fluffy says. ‘Fwuffy nu waned ` be in dat oda hewd. Bud dah smawty was big meanie an-’
‘Shud up,’ the yellow fluffy flinches away, but you’re far from feeling sorry. ‘Wat yu knu how du?’
‘A-ah, Fwuffy had wook fow nummies when-’
‘Can find nummies?’
‘Y-yes,’
You point at a group of nummie finders heading off. ‘Go wif dem, say Smawty say yu wookin fow nummies. Yu nu cum back if yu nu find any.’ Instead of talking, the Yellow toughie just nods and trots off, almost running. You move on to the next fluffy, who looks like a stallion himself. ‘Wat boud yu?’
‘Fwuffy knu how wook fow nummies tuu. Had wook fow dem when-’
‘Den yu go wif dose nummie findahs ovah-’
‘Smawty,’ Leaf interrupts.
‘Wat?’
Leaf points at the fluffy standing next to the second new nummie finder; it’s a dark grey mare, and… ‘Sigh’
‘Weaf knu.’
‘W-wat?’ The second nummie finder asks.
‘How wong yuw speciaw-fwend hav tummeh-babbehs fow?’ Both of them flinch, and you see sad-water in the mare’s see-places. ‘Smawty yu sumtin!’
‘D-day, am…’ The stallion tries. ‘Dah smawty say, onwy he cud, cud hav-’
‘Dat nu am wat Smawty ask. Nu wan knu who put tummeh-babbehs in hew. Wan knu how wong day dewe fow.’
‘F-fow, w-wong time…’
Well that could mean a lot of things, couldn’t it? ‘Does oda mawe hav tummeh-babbehs tuu?’ You glance at them; he’s right. And you thought this thing had ended so easily…
‘Sigh aww yu fwuffies wisten tu Smawty,’ you tell the new fluffies. ‘Hew nu can hav babbehs in dah cowd-times. Weawy nu can hav dem nao.’
‘W-wat dat-’
‘Dat mean if yu wan stay an be in hewd,’ You take a breath, ‘nu can keep does babbehs. Day, nee go fowewa-sweepies.’ You hate yourself saying it, but there’s no nice way. The two mares you haven’t spoken to yet shake and droop their heads, but don’t say anything. The grey mare on the other hand,
‘B-bbud, tummeh babbeh nu am bad. Day nu du anyting-’
‘Yu nu can keep dem if wan be in hewd.’ You tell her. This isn’t a time to back down; Daddeh wouldn’t, and didn’t. ‘If yu an yuw speciaw-fwend wan keep does babbehs, den go intu fowest. Maybe find sum of dose dummehs dat wun way. Bud nu can stay hewe.’ You pause a moment. ‘Wat yu wan du?’
The two fluffies look at you, at each other and, like their speaking with their thinkie places. The mare’s head drops, and she starts crying, quietly. ‘Fwuffies du id.’ The stallion says.
'You nod, and look at Leaf. ‘How du id?’
He motions for you to follow him. ‘Can make tummeh-babbehs cum oud by pushin on tummeh hawd,’ he says, when you’re away from the fluffies. ‘Dat am,’ leaf coughs, ‘dat, am wat yuw daddeh du.’
‘Nu wan du dat,’ you say. ‘If nu hav tu.’
‘Weww, dewe am oda way. Aww Mummah say dat dewe am dis bushie dat can make tummeh-babbehs go fowewa-sweepies, den cum oud.’
‘Weawy?’
‘Uh-huh. Bud, Weaf nu knu wat dat bushie wook wike-’
‘-an Aww Mummah nu am hewe,’ you finish. Great. ‘Weww, guess tuffies nee-’
‘Fwuffy knu wat id wook wike,’
You turn around; when did Mummah get here? And, how much did she-
‘If go wif tuffies an wookie-fwuffies, can find id.’ Mummah says, looking to you. The idea of sending mummah out into the forest, even with toughies is scary. Part of you doesn’t want to do it, but that part is almost too small to hear any more. Just in case, though, ‘Mummah nu am housie fwuffy. Mummah can hewp hewd, so dat am wat gun du.’
No arguing with that. ‘Hoofie,’ you call. ‘Go find tuffies, gud ones, an take mummah intu fowest.’
‘Wat fow?’ He asks, clearly not happy to have another job after he just got back from the first.
‘Fwuffy nee find dah bushie dat make tummeh-babbehs go fowewa-sweepies.’ She tells him.
Hoofie’s eyes open a little, then he glances at the new fluffies and understands. ‘Hoofie find yu when hav tuffies. Den go tu fowest.’
‘Otay,’ Mummah nods, and points at a bushie. ‘Am gun be ovah dewe.’ You glance in that direction and see the rest of your family. Your heart hurts a little you want to go sit with them and, just pretend. But there’s no time for that. Not until the dark-time, anyway. For now, you better have a look around this place. You won’t have anything else sneak up on the herd.
Runny
‘So yu an yuw famiwy wan go nao?’ The Red fluffy asks.
You swallow, hard; ‘Yes.’
‘Am suwe?’
For a moment you want to scream, “no” and maybe kick the dummy. Instead, you force the word out of your nummie-place; ‘Yes.’
The fluffy looks at you, and nods. ‘Otay. Jus wait wif yuw famiwy. Dah big mistah be hewe soon; nu take wong time.’
‘O-otay,’ without a word you leave the fluffy and head to the tree where your family is. Sky and your babbies sit there, quietly and hardly moving. The talk you had last dark-time fills your thinkie-place, and you force it out hard as you can. There’s enough to deal with right now without thinking about what’s already happened.
Without speaking you lie down with your family. Sky and the babbies shuffle closer and you all, wait. Around you the day passes by as normal, what counts for normal here; fluffies moving about or sitting in place like you are. There’s maybe a few young fluffies playing, but nothing like what would happen at the safe place. You close your see-places, hoping that, just maybe, this is the worstest, longest bad sleepie-picture ever.
No such luck,
You hear hoof steps, big ones. Bigger than any fluffy could make. You look up. It’s the big human, and the Red fluffy working with them. It’s time.
‘Speciaw-fwend, babbehs,’ you say. ‘Gulp Am, time tu go.’ You all stand up on shaky leggies. One of your babbies, you’re not sure who, makes a scared sound, but none of you talk. The big human stops not too far from the tree, letting the red fluffy walk forward.
‘Am time now,’ he says. Fowwow fwuffy.’
This is it. Gulp Fowwow Daddeh, babbehs.’
Humans
Dimitri walked a dozen or so feet behind from the fluffies, keeping his foot falls soft so he didn’t spook them any more than they already were. The five seemed calm, a lot calmer than they’d been when they arrived. But a feral was a feral, and they were anxious and flighty by nature. Nothing to be done about that… What ever Rodger saw in those critters, Dimitri hoped he wasn’t wasting his time. Well, at least the city pays for em.
Approaching the building, Dimitri careful stepped around the fluffies and opened the door; Florence lead the family inside but one of the young fluffies, a purple and red one paused at the opening. The blue stallion stepped back and, despite his own fear, coaxed the young fluffy inside. Can’t fault him as a dad Dimitri thought as he closed the door and headed for the exam room.
‘All ready in here?’
‘Yup’ Tony said, slipping on a pair of gloves. ‘Where are my candidates?’
Dimitri ducked his head out the door; ‘Looks like Florence just lead them into the waiting room.’
Tony Shook his head. ‘Man, I still can’t believe that works.’
‘Works on some of them,’ Dimitri said. The whole thing, letting the attendants lead fluffies inside the building, was one of Kim’s ideas. There was time Dimitri would have laughed, but he’d been surprised too many times by now.
‘Well, so long as they’re there,’ Tony Shrugged. ‘Can you stick around? It’ll makes things go quicker.’
‘Ain’t got much else to do,’ Dimitri walked to the sink ans started washing his heads. ‘What we got planned?’
‘The usual; shots, final check up and de-sexing.’
Dimitri glanced at the ready table. ‘Doesn’t look like you’re set up to snip em.’
‘Don’t have too,’ Tony picked up a small foil baked package. ‘Not with these.’
‘Which is…?’
‘The lastest thing in fluffy neutering. You know that batch of Hasbio documents that were un-covered last year?’
‘No.’
‘Oh. Well anyway, they had plans for these things; de-sexing sub-dermal implants.’ Tony tapped the package. ‘The idea is they’d implant these things in fluffies before they left the factories. They inhibit sexual development as the little guys grew up.’
‘Huh. Guess that makes sense.’
‘Yep. Anyway, since Hasbro washed their hands of all this crap years ago it’s essentially free for anyone to modify and manufacture.’
‘I see.’ Dimitri dried his hands with a disposable towel. ‘So, they work the same way if we put them in adults?’
‘More or less,’ Tony put the pack down. ‘Once they go in, the chemicals go to work. For a stallion, their sperm count drops about 50% after a week. A month later they’re shooting blanks. Mares stop releasing eggs after a fortnight.’
‘That is pretty convenient,’ Dimitri had to admit. It would make the pain and drama associated with surgery obsolete. Still, ‘Do they ware off?’
‘They will run out, yeah,’ Tony admitted. ‘But by that time they figure the fluffies will be beyond breeding age any way.’
‘They sure about that?’
Tony Shrugged. ‘Too early to find out.’
‘Fair enough.’ Alright, how about we bring these little guys in?’
With the last few odds and ends they’d need set and ready, Dimitri opened the recovery/waiting room and helped Tony usher the family into a holding pen. ‘Okay guys,’ Dimitri started, ‘this will go nice and quick, so long as you guys are good.’ The fluffies didn’t seem convinced, but they weren’t beating down the pen walls either. ‘There’s gonna be a few owwies, but they’ll make sure you guys don’t get sick anymore.’
The fluffies flinched at the mention of “owwies” but the promise of never getting sick got the stallion’s attention; ‘Nu, sickies?’ It asked, timidly.
‘That’s right.’
Something that looked like a spark of relief crossed the stallion’s face. No doubt he and the others had seen fluffies die of whatever sickness in their herd. He still looked apprehensive, which wasn’t a surprise.
‘Anyway, it’s time to get started. Who’s first?’ Tony asked. After a moment, the stallion stepped forward, but didn’t speak. ‘Alright. Come here little guy,’ Tony gently picked the blue up and placed him on the exam table. ‘Okay,’ Tony started a standard primary check; parasites, wounds, anything they’d missed the first time around, or that was picked up while the stallion had been here.
‘Anything we need to deal with?’ Dimitri asked while grabbing equipment. He’d helped out enough to know what Tony would need next.
‘Nope,’ Tony ran a finger under the stallion’s forelegs. ‘Only thing that concerns me are the wings.’
‘Why? I thought they weren’t there.’
‘Yeah, that’s the problem.’ Tony said. ‘We know this guy came from the forest, so that’s where he lost them.’
‘How do you think that happened?’
‘I figure he or something else broke them, and the others in his herd ripped them out.’ The stallion flinched, clearly remembering the event in question. Dimitri wondered, not for the first time, if it was smart to talk about that stuff out loud. Fluffies weren’t that stupid after all; not the forest bred ferals at least. ‘Anyway, my biggest worry is scar tissue build up; that might cause issues down the road.’ Tony shrugged. ‘At least we don’t need to worry about infection, considering he’s made it this far.’ Okay, hand me a syringe from the white tray please,’
Dimitri picked up the syringe and handed it to Tony, who uncapped i and carefully positioned the needle. 'Alright buddy, just a little sting,
‘Eee!’ The stallion yelped as the needle broke the skin, but didn’t struggle.
‘and there we go.’ One from the blue try now,’ Dimitri picked up the syringe, which looked much different form the first and handed it over. ‘Help me hold this guy down,’ Tony pinched up part of the stallions skin by his shoulders. ‘It’s gonna sting more than the first.’ Dimitri did as Tony asked, putting his hands on either side of the stallion.
‘Scree!’ The stallion cried when the larger than average needle broke the skin. Tony had it in and out within the blink of an eye; that was good, since it left plenty of time to sooth the patient. The blue fluffy trembled and screwed its eyes shut; Tony an Dimitri could both see some tears, but the stallion was clearly trying to tough it out.
Well, he put up with getting his wings ripped out.
‘Speciaw-fwend! Speciaw-fwend, wat happen?’
‘Daddeh!!’
‘Nu huwt Daddeh!!!’
Dimitri thought about getting Florence or maybe Harold to help keep the ferals calm, but the stallion spoke up; ‘D-daddeh am, otay,’ he called, fighting through the fear and pain. ‘Owwies, nu am big.’ His words calmed his family a little, but the young fluffies still wore looks of dread on their faces.
‘Maybe keep this guy up here while we do the young ones?’ Dimitri suggested.
‘Good idea,’ Tony agreed. ‘Hold him for a moment.’ With the stallion secure, Tony went to the pen. ‘Okay, who’s next?’ he asked, though he didn’t expect a volunteer. Gently picking one of the young fluffies up, he placed the trembling purple filly on the table.
‘Huuuu,’ Tears steamed out of the fluffy’s eyes, her body wracked with trembles.
‘Id am, otay babbeh,’ the stallion said. '‘Daddeh am hewe. Ewyting… Ewyting gun be otay.’
‘From the white tray please,’ Tony asked. Dimitri handed over the syringe, and the young fluffy got its first experience with needles. It wasn’t a pleasant one, especially after the second needle.
‘Owwies! Owwies!!’ The young filly was nearly inconsolable. Carefully, Tony let the young fluffy trundle over to the stallion. The stallion immediately hugged his offspring tight, or more accurately, shielding her fro the humans.
‘We’ll give em a minute,’ Tony said. ‘We’re not in any rush. There’s nothing else booked in until 12.’
‘Slow round here these days.’ Dimitri commented.
‘Spaying made up a good third of what we did; now it’s child’s play and something we’ll barely have to do anymore.’
Dimitri thought about it; ‘Sure is different. Hell, wasn’t even five years ago every second person was trying to breed fluffies in their garage.’
‘Yeah. Now it’s all big farms and cottage breeding, and almost no fertile fluffies in circulation that aren’t feral.’ Tony said. ‘It’s good though. When was the last time you saw an urban feral?’
‘Long time,’ Dimitri said. It had to be more than a year, and the fluffy in question was probably a blow in from the woods. The only place you could find urban ferals these days was in the big cities, and then only the ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t front up for proper fluffy control.
‘Alright,’ looks like he’s calm enough to move him,’ Tony commented. Carefully, he picked the purple filly off the table and put her back with the family, taking one of the other young fluffies. After another half hours work, the whole family was vaccinated and on their way to being de-sexed. Tony and Dimitri moved them to the recovery room to rest up.
‘I’ll call Rodger,’ Dimitri said. ‘They should be ready for pick up tomorrow, right?’
‘Physically, sure,’ Tony said. ‘Not sure how they’ll feel, but probably better they get out of here sooner.’
‘Okay. Once you’re done with the appointments we’ll get that second family taken care of,’
You got it,’ Tony said, and went about prepping the room for his appointments
Darktime
Flower’s blue baby is in front, walking ahead of you and Skyball. Mummah’s behind the both of you, Snow with her, probably. That’s how it usually is, how it’s been since you started this endless walking. You’ve tried walking behind Mummah a few times, but she won’t let you; not for anything.
You can understand why.
Daddeh’s gone, so is Runny. You’ve got no idea what happened to him and his family. Maybe they’re with the others, where ever they are. But, Daddeh… You can’t remember much of what happened; one moment he was with the rest of you, the next you were running in one direction without him. Then, Big Red walked off and was away for a long time. And, when he came back…
It might have been after that, after the saddies and heart-hurties went away or stopped hurting as much. This feeling of, you’re not sure exactly; it doesn’t hurt like heart-hurties or saddies, except it does. You can’t really feel it, but at the same time can never not feel it. Together, it makes your thinkie-place hurt. So, it’s no surprise you haven’t been talking much, if at all.
Skyball tries to get you talking. Not as much as in the first few bright-times, but he tries. So far he’s the only one; Big Red, Mummah, Flower’s Blue baby, none of them try. Not really. You don’t bother talking to them either. It makes the strange feeling and saddies worse, maybe, but talking probably wouldn’t help anyway. Maybe.
Since you’re not talking and don’t have much to do, you listen. Listening to the forest wasn’t something you meant to do, it just happened. It helps you deal with the heart-hurties and strange feelings; quite well in fact, so you’ve kept it up. There are lots of noises in the forest, more than you used to notice. Well, you didn’t have much reason to notice them before. When you went out alone it was about being out there at all, nothing else. When you went with the nummie finders, well, you just tried to keep your maddies exploding everywhere.
Now, you notice the noises, and all the different kinds. A lot come from up high, in the trees. Those are from birdies, of all different kinds. You wonder what they’re all like, the different kinds. They can’t all be monsters, like the ones who carry little babbies off.
Well, if there were birdy monsters about, Big Red and the other toughies would have said something. That’s what they’re meant to do, right? Can those birdy monsters still hurt fluffies? Fluffies, your size? You shouldn’t think about that. Just keep listening; it beats thinking about, anything.
XX
‘Otay, can stay hewe fow dah dawk-time,’ All Mummah announces. Everyone else sets about their jobs without much talking, Snow and Flower’s blue baby head off with a couple of the new fluffies to look for extra nummies, Big Red with them. Mummah and Skyball go look for a nestie, some of the other new fluffies helping out. You don’t join in; they don’t need your hep to find a nestie, or Skyball’s help for that matter. And even if you wanted to, they’d never let you go with the nummie finders.
What does that leave you with? Sitting around, not talking or doing much of anything. Good thing is, this darktime you’ve found a good spot. The bad thing about it Tree and the Yellow toughie are close by. So much for being alone. Well, you don’t mind Tree as much as the others, you guess. So long as they don’t try and talk to you, it’s fine.
You keep watch on them out the corner of your see-places, just in case they decide they need to talk to you for some reason. So far, that’s not happening. Actually, it seems like they’re acting like you’re not there. No surprise, and that’s fine; it doesn’t matter to you. Sigh. Just listen to the forest again; at least that makes things bearable. You shift focus from Tree and the Yellow toughie to the forest, and your thinkie-place feels better quickly.
The noises are different from earlier in the bright-time. The birdy noises are different; either they’re different kinds or the same kinds making different sounds. How would you tell the difference? Could anyone? There’s bug noises too, way less than when things were warmer, but they’re still there.
Rustle
A slight jolt goes through your body. What was that noise? Was it one you’re meant to worry about? It only sounded small, so, maybe not? Monsters should make big noises, right? What ever made that noise could have been far away, too. So-
‘Twee, go see wat dat was.’
You glance at the Yellow toughie, only now realising you turned your head in the direction of the noise. Tree gets up and heads into the forest, careful not to make much noise. You watch him leave then turn your attention to, nothing in particular. Just so long as it’s not the Yellow toughie. Something’s messing with your focus though; a new feeling. Well, one you’ve felt before.
Yep, the Yellow toughie is looking at you. Not directly, he’s keeping most of his focus on the forest, but he’s paying some attention to you. Why? Maybe he’s just doing what he’s meant to, though you’re sure it’s just his job. Only because he has too, obviously…
‘Hmph…’ You turn your attention away from the Yellow toughie and focus on other things. You try to go back to listening to forest noises, but you can’t seem to focus on them too well. Stupid toughie, he threw you off. ‘Sigh’ Maybe you should get up and, whats’ noise?
‘Wat yu find?’
‘No see id, but tink id was one of does, wittwe tings.’
‘Wat wittwe tings?’ The Yellow toughie asks.
‘Dose tings dat go up in dah twees, an num does tings dat cum oud of twees.’
‘Oh. Dat am otay.’
Tree settles back down in his spot and they go back to resting. At least, they make it look like they do. They’re still talking, you’re sure of it, but they’re being too quiet to figure out what they’re saying. Well, whatever; it’s probably just boring toughie stuff. ‘Sigh’ When is the darktime going to come? When will this bright-time be over? When will this be over?
At some point the Yellow toughie get up and walks away. You’re not sure when, they’re good at moving without being noticed, especially when no one’s paying attention to them. Well, it’s nothing you need to care about.
XX
Finally, time for sleepies. For a while it felt like the dark-time wasn’t coming, but now it’s here and you can sleep. If nothing else, it’ll give you a break from everything.
‘Dawk-time,’
…What. Now?
‘Dawk-time,’
You stop, and slowly turn to face All Mummah. You don’t talk, and do your best to make it clear you’re not happy about this. You don’t think it’s done anything…
‘Aww Mummah jus wan tawkies,’ she says, but doesn’t give you a chance to talk yourself. ‘Twee an dah Yewwo tuffy say yu heaw sumtin in dah fowest.’
Heard something in the… Why is All Mummah bringing that up? Why did the Yellow toughie, that must be why he walked off, tell All Mummah about it?
‘Yu knu sumtin?’
The question takes you off guard enough to answer; ‘Wat?’
‘Day nu heaw id.’ What? ‘Yewwo toughie say he onwy make Twee go wookin cause yu wooked intu da fowest.’
He, only did that because-
‘He say dat he tink yu hav weawy gud heaw-pwaces. Say dat maybe dat can be gud fow fwuffies. Dawktime undewstan?’
‘Uuuhhh…’ Of course you don’t.
‘Dawktime nu nee say anyting nao. Bud Aww Mummah an Yewwo tuffy wan see how gud yuw heaw-pwaces am nex bwight-time.’ Before you have a chance to say anything, All Mummah ends your little talk. ‘Go sweepies nao. Nu be tuu scawdies boud id nao.’
With that All Mummah leaves you standing there, without giving you a chance to speak. Sure, you’re thinkie-place can’t come up with anything, but still! And, why do they want to test your hear-places? Good for everyone? That, doesn’t make any sense. They’re not that good, are they? This has to be some kind of trick. What kind though?
‘Sigh’ Sleep. That’s what you need. That’s what will make everything, not alright, but easier to deal with. Maybe.
XX
‘W-wat yu wan Dawktime du?’
You’re not sure why you agreed to to go through with this when All Mummah came up to you when the bright-time started. Then again, what can you do? Running into the forest, that doesn’t, feel like the best idea anymore. And, it’s not like you can just ignore them, not for long. They’d keep asking and asking, and pretty soon stop asking and start telling.
Better to let them do whatever it is they want so you get back to, whatever.
‘Tuffy wan Dawktime to sit hewe am wisten,’ The Yellow toughie says. ‘If yu hewe sumtin, sumtin dat sound wike dat ting wast bwight-time, teww Tuffy.’
‘Dat, dat am id?’
He nods. ‘Dat am aww.’
You look around, scardies creeping in around the edges.
‘Nu nee be scawdies,’ the Yellow toughie says. ‘Twee am hewe tuu. Nuting bad am gun happen.’
He must know that you know that’s a lie; bad things can always happen. They’ve been happening for ages now. And if some of the things you over heard are true…
‘Nao, nee du dis so can keep goin’ The Yellow toughie says.
Well, if all you have to do is listen… ‘Otay,’ you close your see places and listen; listen to the forest. It’s strange at first, knowing the Yellow toughie and All Mummah are here with you but soon enough it’s like any other time. why you’re not sure, but you’ll take it. Now,
Hmm…
Well, you don’t hear anything you don’t normally hear in a bright-time. There’s the small breezie monsters, a lot of birdies and, not much else. Nothing a toughie would be interested in, and nothing you’d need to be worried about. How long have you been doing this now? It can’t have been that long, though it feels like it. Still, the toughies won’t keep you here for long, they said so. Right?
Why nee do dis?
This is dumb. It has to be a trick, they can’t really be-
Rustle
You flinch before you can stop yourself. Not much, but they noticed.
‘Twee heaw dat?’
‘Nu,’
‘Wat boud yu?’
‘Aww Mummah nu heaw id.’
There’s silence for a moment, then ‘Otay. Can go nao.’
‘Yes.’ All Mummah says. ‘Dis way, oda fwuffies am waitin.’ She and the Yellow toughie walk off towards the others are.
‘Nee go,’
You look over at Tree, and suddenly feel silly about standing around. Without a word, you trot after the others.
Big Red
‘Yewwo tuffy am suwe dat how id happen?’
He nods. ‘Tuffy was wif Twee; Dawktime look intu fowest wike she heaw sumtin, an when Twee go wook hewe one of does smaww twee tings wunnin way.’
You think a moment, and look at Tree. ‘Dat am wat happen,’ he says. Alright. Maybe, maybe, the Yellow toughie would lie to you about this, if he somehow got really bad thinkie-place sillies. But Tree?
‘Stiww nu knu,’ the Blue toughie speaks up. ‘How knu Dawktime no wie boud id? How knu nu pwayin twick?’
‘She du id gain,’ All Mummah says. ‘Did id befowe fwuffies go wawkin dis bwight-time.’
‘An same ting happen?’ The Blue toughie asks. By the sounds of his wordies, you’re not sure he’ll believe it if All Mummah says “yes.” And, you’re not sure you can completely blame him…
‘Yes. Same ting happen.’
The Blue toughie looks at All Mummah, but doesn’t say anymore. Instead he does something that’s not really a nod, or shaking his head. Yeah, looks like you were right.
‘So, wat am gun du boud dis?’ The Yellow toughie asks.
‘Fwuffies knu Dawktime have gud heaw-pwaces nao,’ All Mummah says. ‘Gud heaw-pwaces be gud ting fow fwuffies, so tink shud use Dawktime.’
‘Use how?’ You ask, something seeming to stir in your tummy. Maybe, a bit higher than that.
‘Hav Dawktime be with tuffies. If she heaw anyting, den tuffies can go wook.’
‘Pfft, dat fwuffy newa du anyting gud. Be bettah if-’ At the last moment the Blue toughie remembers you’re there and, changes his wordies. ‘Cough Ah, Tuffy nu see Dawktime du gud tings back in hewd. Onwy time she du dem was when finding oud how du bad tings.’ He looks at you. ‘Big Wed knu dat, wight?’
You look at him a moment; you want him to know that, even if it is Darktime and even if he’s right, he should be careful about how he talks about your family… ‘Dat am wight.’
‘Weww, wat Big Wed tink?’ All Mummah asks.
‘Bwue tuffy nu am wong,’ you say, looking to here. ‘Siss… Dawktime nu am bad fwuffy. Bud she nu am gud fwuffy. Nu am gud wike Skybaww am, ow how Fwowah was…’ You clear your throat. ‘Dawktime can du dat, bud jus nu tink wiww.’
‘Wai?’ All Mummah asks
You open your nummie-place to speak, but nothing comes out. Why? ‘Cause… Big Wed jus tink…’ This shouldn’t be so hard.
‘He am Dawktime’s bwudda,’ The Blue toughie says. ‘He nu nee knu “wai”, he jus du.’
‘Dat nu am weason,’ the Yellow toughie says.
‘So yu wan dat fwuffy tu hewp tuffies? Pfft,’ the Blue toughie shakes his head. ‘Shud jus wawkies intu fowest an find munstah if-’
‘Shud up,’ Tree says, ‘Nu am hewe fow yu tu be dummehs.’ Both toughies narrow their see-places at Tree, but he doesn’t flinch. Something happy this time stirs in you; he’s almost back to normal. And, you could almost see a little bit of the Bestest toughie in him just then.
‘Twee an wight,’ All Mummah says. ‘Am heaw tu see if shud use Dawktime tu hewp tuffies, an Aww Mummah tink shud,’ she’s not yelling, but her wordies sound as hard as if she were. ‘Fowest newa was safe, bud am wowse nao. How many times bad tings awmost happen oud hewe?’ No one answers; who here could forget the kitty monster or the human? ‘Dawktime hav gud heaw-pwaces, bettah dan Yewwo tuffy an Twee. Nu knu boud odas.’
You could guess. Tree’s hear-places seem about good as yours are, maybe a little better. So, if All Mummah’s right and no one’s lying, or playing a trick…
‘So yu tink yu am Smawty nao?’ The Blue toughie asks. ‘Tink can jus say ting an wan odas du id?’
‘When Aww Mummah say was Smawty?’ she asks, getting mad.
‘Yu bein wike one. Wai yu nu jus-’
Enough of this. You step away from your spot and stand in front of the Blue toughie, looking down on him. ‘Shud up, ow go way.’ You tell him. ‘Dis takin tuu wong, an yu nu hewp.’
The Blue toughie looks back at you, showing no sign of being scared. ‘Yu tink can tawkies tu tuffy wike dat? Tuffy was one who teach yu how be tuffy.’
True. He was one of them. ‘Big Wed knu dat. Yu tink can beat Big Wed nao?’ The Blue toughie doesn’t answer, just keeps looking at your see-places like you look into his. But, after a little while, you see him back down. Just a little, he is a toughie, but somehow you know he won’t be a problem. For now at least. ‘Nao,’ you step away and turn to the others; you interrupted, so you might as well speak. ‘Big Wed nu tink Sissie, Dawktime am dat gud fwuffy. Bud, nu am bad. Nu tink she wiked hewd bud nu waned huwt oda fwuffies.’
‘So wat Big Wed say?’ The Yellow toughie asks.
What indeed. ‘Tink, tink dat, maybe nao, maybe she say yes. Ow, nu say she nu du id.’ You’re not sure how much all this has changed Darktime, but she can’t be the same as when you still lived with the herd. And it’s not like she has to do much. She might, might just say yes.
‘So tink Dawktime shud hewp yu an oda tuffies?’ All Mummah presses.
You take a deep breath. ‘Yes. If Dawktime’s heaw-pwaces am dat gud, id hewp tuffies wots. If sumtin cumin, id bettah if heaw id when stiww wong way way.’ Besides that, it’s about time, past it actually, for Darktime to start helping, and for the right reasons. Yes, it’s not the worst idea, but there’s a big problem.
‘But, dewe stiww am one ting,’ you say, but before you can go on
‘Aww Mummah tawkies tu yuw Mummah boud id.’ She says. ‘Id wowk bettah dat way.’
‘Otay.’ You’re not sure why it would but All Mummah just, knows things.
‘So, am dis ovah nao?’ The Blue toughie asks, voice low.
All Mummah nods. ‘Can go get weafy nummies fow dah dawk-time. Big wed, you watch fow bad tings wif yewwo tuffy.’
‘Yes, Aww Mummah.’
‘Otay.’
You and the Yellow toughie leave to find good place to keep watch from. Will anything come of this? Will Darktime actually agree to help out/ More importantly, will Mummah say yes? You can’t see her doing that, not after…
Well, all you can do is wait and see.
Rodger
‘So, my new employees ready to go?’
‘Ready as we can make em,’ Dimitri answered. ‘Thanks for letting us give them an extra day to settle. Turns out that new de-sexing method freaks them out a little more than we figured.’
Rodger grunted. ‘Sounds about right. Those companies keep acting like they’re dealing with a toy.’
‘Well, technically…’ Dimitri let the sentence hang. He knew people had tried and were still doing their best to have fluffies classified as animals.
‘That fight’s long lost,’ Rodger said. ‘There’s no chance in hell they’ll change it, not with the Bio-toy lobby. Just too damned profitable.’
‘Got that right. Anyway,’ Dimitri reached under the counter and put a clipboard on the main desk, ‘Fill that out for me while I go get em.’
‘Kim got you handing out paper work too huh?’ Rodger took a pair of glasses out of his pocket and put them on.
‘Just till her gut settles. Hopefully.’ It was damned miracle she’d only started suffering stomach ulcers now. As far as he knew, anyway… With that thought, Dimitri walked out the back and headed for the old rest and recovery room. Near the middle of the room, next to the rarely if ever used foal pen was a cart with an extra sized fluffy carrier, covered by a towel.
Carefully as he could, Dimitri unlocked the cart and wheeled it out of the room and down the hall. As hard as he tried, the fluffies inside still cried out in alarm. ‘Id am otay, Babbehs,’ That sounded like the stallion, nervous as hell but still putting on the bravest face he could.
‘Yuw Daddeh am wight, babbehs,’ the mare sounded less sure, but was doing her best same as her mate. Dimitri grimed a little; fluffy parenting quality was a mixed bag, but the good ones really were good. Rodger was just finishing up the paper work when Dimitri came back to the foyer.
‘All good?’
‘Yup,’ Rodger put down the clip board and pen. ‘Just “sigh here” two dozen times. No worse than a car lone.’
‘Great.’ Dimitri took the clipboard and put it in a drawer. There’d be time to deal with it later. ‘Let’s get these fellas out to your car.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Rodger walked to the front door and held it open for Dimitri and the cart. ‘Auto sensor still on the fritz, huh?’
‘They said a guy would be around to fix it, couple of days ago.’
‘They say a lot of things,’ Rodger let the door close and helped Dimitri keep the cart steady as they walked to his truck.
Carefully, the two men lifted the carrier off the cart into the covered truck bed. Fully enclosed and lined with carpet, the old Tacoma as comfortable a ride for fluffies as was possible. ‘Alright,’ that’s all done and dusted.’ Dimitri closed the bed up. ‘Good luck with em.’
‘They should do fine,’ Rodger and, and two men shook hands. ‘Catch you later.’
‘See you,’ Dimitri waved and headed back to the shelter. Rodger got in his truck and carefully pulled out of the car park. Always a careful driver, Rodger was sure he could drive an old lady to road rage. It was all for the fluffies’ benefit, he’d done the same thing when he brought Frankie home from, no it wasn’t Second chance. It was the shelter a few towns over.
‘Always confuse the two,’
The normally ten minute trip between the park and the shelter took Rodger a little over half an hour with the fluffies on board. Pulling into the park’s staff entrance Rodger drove the short distance up to the main building, stepped out of his truck a took a moment to servery the park lands he could see. There were maybe a dozen or so people milling about and about double that number of fluffies.
‘Pretty normal typical for mid autumn.’ Winter was closing in fast, and it wouldn’t be long before snow covered the grass and effectively shut down the park. Fluffies, funnily enough could deal with the cold quite well. But they didn’t like it, especially the domestics. When the show started falling and stuck around, the fluffies would disappear until spring, though there’d still be one or too particularly stir crazy ones. Other than that, it would be the most determined runners. ‘Crazy bastards.’
With that thought, Rodger unlocked the back of his truck, opened up the hatch and readied himself. ‘Okay,’ carefully, he grasped the carrier and lifted it out of the truck. The weight of carrier and five fluffies was noticeable but nothing he couldn’t handle. At least some of the fluffies, probably the younger ones, scurried about at the movement.
‘Babbehs!’
At the shout the movement died down, but Rodger still heard whimpering from under the towel. Not for the first time Rodger questioned the wisdom of taking on a full family to replace one fluffy. True, keeping track of a whole park had run Frankie pretty hard but the girl never seemed to mind. Plus, she had no shortage of friends she could rope in at a pitch.
But, the board decided they wanted a family so that’s what they’d get, no matter what Rodger said. Guess that’s the trade off for a quiet gig. The main office’s door opened automatically as he approached, which saved a heck of a lot of hassle. It’d be nice to have fancy system on all the doors, but the board didn’t have pockets that deep.
When he got to Frankie’s saferoom, to Rodger it was still hers and might always be, he had to put the carrier down and unlock the door. Picking the carrier back up he moved it the last few meters to the centre of the room. Carefully, Rodger pulled off the towel, opened up the main door and left the room. The fluffies needed a while to settle after trip, which would also give Rodger a chance to tie up some odds and ends. The little guys had food and water, so he didn’t have to attend to them for a while. That after all was the whole purpose of a saferoom.
‘Right,’ Rodger said to himself as he put his gear belt back on, ‘lets go check that play house in the south maze.’
XX
It turned out something had damaged the playhouse. It wasn’t major but still took Rodger an extra hour than he’d expected. That extra hour carried through until he found himself locking up the main building at 6pm. One of the last things he did was fire up an app on his work tablet. On screen he saw a high angle view of the saferoom. The fluffies, all five of them, were huddled together on the bed. The adults faced outward towards the door, their babbies behind them.
As he watched the lights auto dimmed, getting darker but not quite completely dark. The adults stirred at the light change, but settled after a moment. That was a good sign, maybe. They were ferals, and probably used to sleeping in much darker places. ‘That would have been a den, though.**’ Fluffies feared the dark and for good reason, but ferals often had a different problem; they had issues sleeping without something right over their heads. It had be a security issue.
Rodger studied the image for a while, but he had no way of knowing if the fluffies were stressed about the lack of something over head, the trip from the shelter to here, or about a hundred other things. ‘I’ll dig something out for them anyway. Hell, a box would do the trick.’ Rodger shut off the app and put the tablet on the charger and after one last check, locked up and headed home.
The next day at 6am sharp, Rodger arrived and unlocked the main building. Along with his usual tasks Rodger checked on the fluffies with the video app. They were still asleep, or seemed to be. The adults still faced the door but the camera wasn’t good enough to tell if their eyes were open. They seemed alright and hadn’t trashed the room, which was encouraging.
‘I’ll give em a little while longer till I say hi,’ he said to himself, going through the rest of the park’s morning routines. By 7:30 the park was full open and ready for business, as it were. It was time to go say hi,. Nice and carefully, Rodger went to the saferoom and opened the door. At the sound of the lock, the two adults looked up.
Rodger took in their expression without staring right at them; like dogs, fluffies didn’t like that. ‘Morning.’ Rodger said. ‘Got your breakfast here. First nummies.’ he poured an even amount of feed mix into the five bowls. The young fluffies seemed big enough that portion size probably wasn’t life of death; it would probab;y do them some good. He turned to head out of the room when one of the fluffies spoke up.
‘W-wat hoomin wan wif fwuffies?’
Rodger turned back to see the blue stallion standing a few paces from his family. ‘You guys don’t have to worry about that right now,’ he said. ‘Just spend a bit of time getting to know the place.’ He gestured at the room. ‘This is your home now.’ The stallion glanced from side to side, not taking his gaze totally off Rodger. he looked back, but didn’t speak.
‘I’ll come check on you guys later.’ Rodger said in the most relaxed and friendly tone he could manage. The Stallion stared at him a moment longer and nodded slightly. With that Rodger left them to their devices. The next few hours were spent on park chores. The grass didn’t need mowing just yet, and might just last another week before it got out of spec. That was good; that chore was best done either early in the morning or late afternoon when most people were gone.
The hedges were in decent shape too; most of the maze walls only needed minor touch ups. With was a welcome change to spring and summer weather, when it seemed like all he did was touch up the hedges. Did they have to grow so fast? The next major item on the checklist was the fence, which had to be his least favourite check.
Rodger headed back to the main building, grabbed one of the electric buggies and got to it. The fluffy-proof fence, built to keep the critters in and out of the park encompassed it save fro the gates. In front of it was a row of thick low lying hedge. The idea was to force any would-be escape or invader to make a bigger mess, leaving the location more visible.
This first patrol revealed nothing in need of fixing, or anything that wasn’t meant to be there. ‘Gotta be nearly a year since any ferals have gotten in.’ Not that long ago it was a never ending battle to keep them out. Ferals roamed parks nearly at will, being a nascence at best an a menace at worst. Now, to see a feral anywhere outside wilderness areas was nearly unheard of. Things were almost how Hasbro intended it to be.
Checks done, Rodger headed back to the main building and put the buggy away. It was time to run the new arrivals through a few things. When he opened the door, Rodger saw the young fluffies had moved away from the blanket pile, but not by too much. And, as soon as the door clicked they dashed back to the safety (as they figured or hoped) of the blankets.
‘You guys okay?’ He asked, not really expecting an answer. The stallion stood between his family and Rodger, looking warily at the grounds keeper.
‘Fwuffies am otay.’ He said, voice guarded. ‘Wat hoomin wan?’
‘Just checking in on you.’ Rodger gestured to the room. ‘Like your new home?’
The stallion didn’t answer at first; Rodger figured he was still taking his measure. ‘Am big.’ it said finally. ‘Nu, wike dat.’
‘Don’t like all that space above you?’
The fluffy’s eyes widened slightly. 'Y-yes…
Rodger nodded. "I’ll fix that up for you guys. Anyway, something I want to ask you guys.’
‘Wat?’
Here we go. ‘I want you guys to take a walk with me.’
The fluffy’s eye’s widened further. ‘Wah?’
‘Remember how the fluffies tat the shelter told you you’d be helping people if you left?’ The fluffy nodded, very slightly. ‘Well, I want to show you what you’ll be doing.’
‘Nu wan babbehs tu go.’ the mare said suddenly.
‘They don’t need to,’ Rodger said. ‘I only need to show one of you right now.’ That was it; Let’s see if they take the bait. Rodger tried not to stare directly as the fluffiness glanced at one another. It seemed like they wanted to talk but didn’t feel comfortable doing so in front of him. After a few moments of silence, the stallion turned back to Rodger.
‘Wunnie go.’
Rodger nodded; ‘Okay, lets go.’ He steeped back and to the side, motioning the fluffy to follow. After a few seconds the fluffy, Runny, followed. Closing the saferoom door, Rodger led the way down the hall and out the door. This one opened up on a side of the building fronting most of the park. On seeing it the fluffy shrink back slightly. He looked from side to side, ear flattening. Must be the open sky. ‘Pretty big, huh.’
The stallion didn’t answer.
‘Guess you’re not used to not having trees to hide under.’
That got the stallion’s attention. ‘Nu, nu can hidies oud dewe,’ it said. ‘Nu can hidies fwom dah-’
‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about those bird monsters here.’
The stallion looked away from the open parkland to Rodger; ‘Huh?’
Rodger pointed up; ‘See That?’ The stallion followed Rodgers arm, searching the open sky until he gasped and stepped back. The drone flew in a circle around the park’s perimeter roughly 30 meters off the ground.
‘D… D-dat am-’
‘The thing that keeps the birdy monsters away.’ Rodger said. So long as those are around, the birdy monsters stay away.’ True, no system was perfect, but it had been a very long time since they’d had bird problems.
‘H-how id du dat?’ The Fluffy asked he sounded scared, which seemed reasonable.
‘I’m not to sure,’ Rodger said. ‘But I know it works. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt you.’ The fluffy looked at him, very much still worried. ‘Let’s take a walk.’ Rodger set off at an easy pace, and glanced back after a few steps. The fluffy followed him but cast weary glances everywhere, especially upwards. He should calm down Rodger thought. Nothing proves a point like not getting attacked.
He checked his watch; 9:12am. He looked around; there weren’t too many people around. There was a couple who looked in their 60s, maybe early 70s out for a stroll, a jogger on the outer loop, and a few others here and there. No fluffies yet, which was typical for a weekday. Rodger kept clear of everyone, no sense taking the risk of spooking the new fluffy too bad.
‘W… Wat, am dis pwace?’
That wasn’t as long as I thought. ‘This is what humans call a park.’
‘P… P-pawk?’ The fluffy said, forcing the unfamiliar word around its lisp.
‘Yep. It’s a place where people come to walk and run around.’
‘Day, pway hewe?’
‘You can call it that, sure.’ Not that Rodger would ever use that term to describe jogging, but anyway. ‘And a lot of people bring their fluffies here, too.’
‘Huh? Oda fwuffies?’
‘Yep. Some people have fluffies they keep as friends.’ That really got the stallion’s attention. ‘Wat?! But hoomins huwt dah hewd!’
‘They did,’ Rodger agreed. ‘But other humans like to have fluffies as friends. I wish I could tell you why, but I don’t know.’ he shrugged, and the fluffy’s anger and confusion mellowed slightly. Fluffies, feral ones especially, more or less seemed to understand certain things were simply beyond their understanding. That meant telling a fluffy you didn’t understand something acted as a trust short-cut. Very handy.
‘So, hoomins cum hewe, tu pway. An, wif fwuffies?’
Rodger nodded. ‘Pretty much.’
‘So why am Wunnie an famiwy hewe? Wat hoomin wan fwuffies du?’
This is kinda fast, Rodger thought. Then again, this stallion’s family was involved. That’ll have something to do with it, no doubt. ‘Well, I need your help. It’s my job to keep things safe around here.’
The stallion cocked his head to the side. ‘Keep, safe. So, dat mean hoomin am, tuffy?’
‘Yeah, you could say that.’ Rodger answered. ‘I make sure every thing and everyone around here stays safe. That means I fix or get ride of things that aren’t safe. But, I’ve got a problem.’
‘Huh?’
‘Well, this is a big place,’ Rodger gestured to the parkland. ‘It’s hard for me to check everything. That’s how you can help me.’
The stallion looked at him for a moment, cocking his head to the side; ‘Wunnie nu undewstan.’
‘Well, there’s a lot of places around here where fluffies hide and play in, and sometimes they get lost. Or they lose their friends.’ Rodger looked at the stallion; ‘You understand?’
‘Uh-huh…’ Rodger wasn’t convinced the fluffy understood, but it was best to keep going.
‘So the idea is, you and your family spend your time walking around the park, and if you find a fluffy who seems lost or scared, you bring them to me.’
‘Dat am aww?’ The stallion asked. His guard was still up, but Rodger felt like he was making progress.
‘Pretty much. You’ll also be looking out for anything that seems, dangerous or scary, and let me know about it right away.’ Recognition flashed over the fluffy’s face; they were right, Rodger thought, this fluffy had been a herd scout at some point. He’d keep that to himself for the moment; there was no better way to freak out a fluffy by telling him you knew what he did in a herd, especially when you played dumb with them before.
‘So, how does all that sound?’
The fluffy didn’t answer, seemingly taking the time to mull over what he’d been told. ‘Otay…’
‘Well, you can think about it,’ Rodger told him. ‘But if can’t or don’t want to help me, well, you’ll have to go somewhere else.’ Rodger shrugged. ‘And you probably won’t stay with your family. Sorry.’ Fear flashed over the fluffy’s face. It was a dirty trick, but true enough and in done for the right reasons.
‘Wunnie, teww famiwy dat ma wat gun du,’ the stallion said after a moment’s though. ‘Wunnie an famiwy, hewp.’
‘Good to hear that,’ Rodger said, warmly. ‘Alright, let’s go see a few other spots.’
Kerry
You let All -Mummah say what she has to, without interrupting; you hope she feels lucky for that, considering what she’s asked.
‘So wat Kewwy tink?’
Well, that’s simple; ‘Nu.’
All Mummah cocks her head; ‘Nu?’
‘Nu. Kewwy say nu.’ What surprises you is how your voice doesn’t get louder.
‘Wai?’
…really? ‘Cause id nu safe.’ You tell her. ‘Yu wan Dawktime tu hewp tuffies. Kewwy knu wat tuffies du an id nu am safe.’
‘Wat fwuffies duin nao nu am safe.’ The Yellow toughie who came with All Mummah adds.
‘So? Dawktime be safe if new hewp tuffies!’
‘Yu wet Big Wed be tuffy,’ he says back, ‘an du tings dat am wots mowe scawy dan anyting gun wet Dawktime du.’
‘Id nu am same!’ You snap. ‘Big Wed am big, an he am stwong! Dawktime stiww am wittwe fwuffy!’
‘Dawktime nu am gun du tings with tuffies; she jus gun use heaw-pwaces tu hewp dem.’
You turn back to All Mummah, and take a couple of steps towards her. ‘Aww Mummah nu undewstan! Kewwy wose tuu many!’ They flash through your thinkie-place as you speak; your Special-Friend, Flower, your brown and green babbies, your babbies who weren’t ready, maybe even Runny and his family. What doesn’t happen is sad-water; you’ve just run out.
‘Aww Mummah knu Kewwy wose wots of fwuffies dat yu wub. Bud dat nu am speciaw; aww fwuffies wose fwuffies day wub.’ Maddies swell in your tummy, but the hard look in All Mummah’s see-places keeps them down, mostly. ‘Tink boud wat Big Wed see when he go back; knu dat Bestest-tuffy am fowewa-sweepies, wat boud oda fwuffies he see dewe.’ It’s hard to see because of the dark-time getting closer, but you’re sure you can see some sad-water leave her see-places. ‘Sum of dose fwuffies wewe fwends. Aww Mummahs fwends. Yuw fwends.’
You open your nummie-place yo talk back, but can’t summon any wordies. All Mummah goes on before you have a chance to.
‘Aww Mummah nu sayin dis tu be meanies. Bud yu nee undewstan; does fwuffies Big Wed find, dat cud be Aww Mummah an Kewwy.’ Your whole body turns cold, but All Mummah doesn’t let up. ‘An maybe stiww am gun be dat way.’
You feel your see-places go wide, and your nummie-place open a little.
‘Wat? Kewwy nu tink dat?’ Well no, you don’t, but- ‘Dewe aweady was kitteh-munstah an hoomin dat awmost get fwuffies. How many mowe tink dew am? An wat boud cowd-times?’ All Mummah shifts, like she means to take a step forward but stops herself. ‘How wong tink id am gun be tiww dah cowd-times am hewe? Tink fwuffies can wive oud hewe when dewe cowd fwuff ewywhewe an nu nummies?’
It sounds like a question, but it’s not. Going through the cold times in the safe place with the herd, and a warm den to hide form the cold fluff was hard enough. To do the same thing out here, without any of that…
‘Kewwy undewstan nao?’ All Mummah goes on. ‘If fwuffies wan make id, nee du wat nee du. Dawk-time can du wat wots of fwuffies nu can. If she hewp tuffies, den maybe munstahs nu can be sneakies. Maybe can find hewd fastah. Aww Mummah nu knu, bud knu id gun be mowe hawd if Dawk-time nu hewp.’
All Mummah finally, finally stops talking and gives you a chance to think. But, what can you say? Of course you know All Mummah is right; she’s right about everything. You know that, but you can’t feel it. And, you don’t know how to explain that to her. Even if you could, well All Mummah would probably just say you don’t understand, because you’ve been housie-fluffy for so long. Never mind you can barely remember what that life was like…
‘Mummah?’
Your head snaps round.
Mummah,’ Skyball tries, but you cut him off without thinking.
‘Go back tu nestie Skybaww! Mummah an-’
‘Skybaww can tawkies,’
And your head snaps back to look at All Mummah. ‘Wai-’
‘Aww Mummah wan heaw him. Den he go back tu nestie.’ You open you nummie-place to respond but all Mummah looks away from you to Skyball. ‘Tawkies. Aww Mummah wan heaw.’
After a pause, he does. ‘Sissie… Skybaww tink, wan Mummah tu wet Sissie hewp.’
‘Mummah say tu-’
‘Kewwy!’
Hearing All Mummah snap like that, you can’t help it, your hear-places flatten and you flinch. ‘He nu am wittwe babbeh. Wet him tawkies.’ To your surprise, Skyball takes the opportunity and keeps going.
‘Ewyone keep sayin dat Sissie, dat Dawk-time am bad fwuffy. Dat she nu wan hewp. Bud dat nu am twue! Sky baww knu Sissie wan hewp hewd! Knu id! Jus, She newa knu how.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Bud, nao Sissie can hewp hewd, an Skybaww knu she gun wan du id!’
Your thinkie-place is starting to spin; if Skyball’s saying that he had to have been listening to you and All Mummah for a while, so he’s been close by for a while! When you told him to stay in the nestie!! And, you know he’s Darktime’s brother, but how can he know what Darktime wants and if she’ll do something? You haven’t figured that out
‘Skybaww,’
The three of you turn to face Big Red approach.
‘Bwudda?’
‘Go back tu nestie,’
‘Bud,’
‘Go back tu nestie,’ Big Red repeats. Skyball opens his nummie-place to reply, but it seems one look from Big Red makes him give up. He turns and heads back to the nestie, like you wanted him to.
‘Big Wed nu knu if Skybaww am wight,’ Big Red says. ‘Big Wed nu knu if Dawktime am gud fwuffy, ow dat she wan hewp.’ He shakes his head. ‘Onwy ting dat Big Wed knu am dat Big Wed nee keep fwuffies safe. An, Big Wed tink dat Dawktime can hewp Big Wed du dat.’
‘B-bud…’
‘Mummah, keepin fwuffies safe am onwy ting dat mattah. If nu can du dat, dan nuting mattah.’ Big Red shakes his head. ‘If Dawktime can hewp Big Wed an oda tuffies du dat, den tink Dawk-time shud. An id am time Dawktime hewp fwuffies.’ You look at Big Red, but all the ways you could answer don’t make it out of your thinkie-place. The look on his face says it all; he’s not going to back down, for you or anyone.
So, that’s how it is.
‘Fine.’ You say, not looking at either All Mummah or Big Red. You turn to head back for the nestie, but turn back to face Big Red. This will be the last thing you say to him for at least a while; ‘Yu keep yuw Sissie safe.’ Without waiting for his answer, you walk away.