A nest of babbehs sleeps soundly, cooing at each other as their mummah gathers nummies. It’s a safe nesty place, in a nice clean alleyway. The babbehs snooze on a bed of shredded cardboard underneath a bunch of discarded crates by a dumpster.
But they are not alone. Babbehs are never alone.
Mummah returns. She can hear her children. They sound scared. She quickens her pace, desperate to save her babbehs from whatever munstah has them. As she rounds the corner, nothing. No munstah. Not even a hoomin. Her children are shouting. She can’t make out what they’re saying, their voices are so meek and small. “Mummah hewe babbehs!” She bounds forward past the dumpster, but the nest is empty! Then where…
She looks up. Her babbehs are…stuck to the dumpster? How? They’re about four feet up, which is a foot or so higher than their mummah is able to get her hoofsies. All four babbehs are wriggling and waggling and crying. “Hewp! Meanie hoomin gif wowstest upsies! Make babbeh num nu gud nummies! Dey tuu hawd fow nummin! An tuu cowd! Taste wike pennies…” That scared her. She’d had five babbehs before a local teenager force fed a roll of pennies to her Bestest Babbeh. He’d died after about 75 cents and she’d come home to find the hoomin trying to force the other babbehs to eat the rest. He ran when she threatened her sorriest poopies.
But there was no hoomin now. Nobody to chase. Just her babbehs, and they were too high up! For many forevers she tried to climb up. To jump. To do anything to reach her precious children. They begged for salvation, but every effort was in vain. She just couldn’t get high enough.
Days pass.
The alley doesn’t have much foot traffic, which is why it’s so safe. But no foot traffic means no hoomins to help good fluffies. When trash day finally came, the garbage truck rolled up to the dumpster. As the men stepped off the back, Mummah pleaded for help.
The stress of her ordeal had seen her mane thin and her belly fluff to come out in chunks. That was partially due to the nervous tic she had of pulling on her fluff when she’s nervous. She’d spent days hearing her children get weaker and weaker and she’d paced her hooves bloody with worry.
“Pwease! Hewp mummah! Babbehs on twashie boxie! On side! Tuu hai! Babbehs scawed!” The trashman turned and crossed his arms, and mummah cowered. Was he a meanie munstah?
He walked over and pulled the babbehs off the dumpster with ease. “Huh.” He touched the sobbing furballs together a few times. “Someone fed them magnets. Hehehe.” Mummah cocked her head. She didn’t know what that meant, but her babbehs were free! “Nice hoomin gif babbehs tu mummah nao? Babbehs nee miwkies an mummah hab wotsa miwkies fow aww babbehs. Miwkie pwaces suu fuww! Kinda hab owwies wittwe bit…”
But the man was walking away. As the big arms lifted and dumped the dumpster, he walked towards the front of the truck. Mummah trotted after him, politely trying to alert him. “Hewwo? Nice mistah? Scuse fwaffey, bu can hab babbehs nao pwease? Nice mistah can howd babbehs gain watew. Babbehs hab tummeh owwies.” He ignored her, speaking instead to the driver.
“Hey Louie, check it out! Magnetic pigrats!” Three sobbing babbehs were placed, one by one, along the hood of the trash truck. Far enough forward that the driver could see them. The man took the last one to the back of the truck while mummah kept pestering him. He didn’t respond. Didn’t spit on her or kick at her or call her a name or threaten her. Just ignored her as he climbed aboard the back of the truck and stuck the panicked shrieking babbeh to the truck next to him.
The truck pulled away, and after about forty feet, it turned out of view and mummah never caught it. Never saw it again. Never saw her children. As she sat in the street, alone and weeping, she tried to be optimistic. She’s a fluffy after all. It’s what they do.
“Huuuuu, hope babbehs hab heawt happies wif nyu daddeh…” Just saying it made her feel better. Yeah! They probably were okay! Hoomins always rescue fluffies, that must be what he did.
…
“SCREEEEEEEE NU WAN NU WAN NU WAAAAA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAN! TUU FAST TUU FAST TUU FAST TUU FAST TUU FAST TUU FAST TUU FAST!”
“BWUDDA? NU! NU FAWW! SISSY! SABE BWUDDA! GUNNA FAWW!”
“HUUUUUUUU HUHUHUHU WAI SUUUU WOOOOOOOUD?”
“HUUUUUUUUUUUU SCAWY SCAWY WET BABBEH GU WET BABBEH GU NU WIKE NU WIKE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”
…
Yeah.
They were probably fine.