The Longest Winter
Chapter 8
Ruth woke up to a knock on the door. Jeremy had come early with her weekly order. She got up excitedly and hurried to the door. He beat her too it and opened the door as the keys jingled from the lock. He stepped inside with two bags of supplies.
“Well that was fast!” Ruth said with a smile. “Thank you, Jeremy!”
“No problem, Ms. Ruth.” Jeremy said. “I’ve got a couple more bags, so hold on.”
“Ok.” Ruth said as she dug through the bags. She pulled out a bag of dog kibble, some spaghetti noodles, and a few cans of tomato sauce.
“What the hell?” Ruth exclaimed. “Jeremy, what is this? I asked for horse feed,” she shouted through the door as Jeremy came up to the cottage with another two bags.
“Fluffies don’t eat horse feed.” Jeremy said as he set the bags down. “They’re weird. Some sort of toy experiment. They’ll eat just about anything, which is why I got the kibble, but they especially like spaghetti.”
“What?” Ruth exclaimed. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
“Nope.” Jeremy said. “Ms. Angie told me all about them while I was at the library for you. She gave me these books and magazines. Just remember to return them in two weeks.”
Ruth grabbed the books from Jeremy’s hands.
“Well I better get reading then!” She chuckled.
“I also stopped by the farm supply to talk to Dr. Tom. If you’re serious about taking these things in as pets, he said he’d be happy to vaccinate them for you. Probably a good idea, if you ask me.”
“Ok.” Ruth said with a nod. “I’ll need a pet carrier then.”
“I’ll put in a special order for you. The general store doesn’t have any, and the farm supply only has leashes.” He handed her a leash as he spoke.
“Well thank you for being so thorough, Jeremy!” Ruth said with a laugh. She handed him the money for the supplies, plus a nice tip. “I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”
“Aight then” Jeremy said with a nod.
He jogged out to his car and headed off to work. He had gotten up early to get Ruth’s errands done before opening his shop. She smiled as she closed the door, watching him drive back into town.
It was colder today. The frost was still on the ground even though the sun was up. Ruth went out and checked the porch again to see if the fluffy mare was still sleeping. To her surprise, the mare was gone.
Probably out getting more leaves and food. Ruth thought to herself. She poured some dog kibble into a bowl. She opened the front door and placed the bowl below the front window on the porch as well as a small bowl of warm water. Perhaps if she watched and waited long enough she might catch the mare eating and drinking some.
Her plan was to lure the mare in with kibble and earn its trust before trying the spaghetti. She knew the animal was wary - it wouldn’t be easy to win her over. The cold weather would most likely act as a strong encouragement above all else.
Meanwhile the mare came running back with another mouth full of leaves. She was bulking up her nest so that she could stay warm during the freezing nights. She had already fed her babies and was out scavenging for more food. She had dug up the remaining wild onions and carried them back to her storage pile. But she needed more. However, the woods were vast, and her little legs could only carry her so far.
The mare also knew that danger was around every turn. She nervously sniffed around every tree, bush, and rock hoping for food but also terrified of being attacked. Try as she might, she was unable to sniff out anymore food. No sweet mushrooms, no wild onions. She was able to pull a few regular mushrooms off of a stump, but that was it.
She returned to the porch exhausted. She was filthy from digging, and her babies on her back were crying out for food. She crawled through the porch hole defeated. She looked at the pile of food in the corner, scared to eat because she needed to make it last. But her squealing foals on her back tore her heart in half.
She munched an onion and some mushroom for her daily meal and burrowed into her nest of leaves. Her babies instinctively climbed down and began suckling what little milk she had to offer. She didn’t sing the nursing song today - she was too tired and depressed. She felt the brown alicorn and his earthy brother fighting against her bottom teat as the unicorn struggled to stay above them. If only she could eat more and provide them with more sustenance.
Suddenly she perked up. She smelled something. It was a familiar scent that she hadn’t been around in a while. She had a flashback to when she was young. She remembered seeing a cat eat food out of a dish in front of its owner’s house. She remembered her family trying to get close and eat some, but the cat chased them away. It was the same scent but a little different. She sniffed upward through the cracks of the porch. It was above her.
She felt her babies begin to push against her belly, trying to find more milk. The scent of kibble grew stronger and her mouth began to water. She looked at the pile of food in the corner and knew that she wasn’t allowed to eat anymore. She sniffed upward again trying to find the courage to go upstairs and explore. Her stomach growled.
Meanwhile, in the cottage, Ruth looked out the window, trying to see if her kibble bait would work. She was just about to walk away when suddenly, she heard a slight scuffle. It was the sound of leaves moving as the mare left the porch. She watched as the creature slowly got up the courage to make its way to the steps of the porch. Its nose was constantly up in the air, sniffing around and cautiously watching her surroundings. Ruth held her breath, and tried not to make a sound while she watched through the window.
The mare slowly placed one hoof at a time as she climbed the wooden stairs. Soon she was just inches away from the dish. Her hunger was overriding so many of her protective instincts. Her babies were chirping loudly on her back, and it gave away her position, but she didn’t care. She kept inching towards the kibble as drool dripped from her bottom lip. Slowly, she made her way closer until finally reaching the dish filled with kibble, she sniffed it once, and then immediately began eating, like it was her last meal. She inhaled it quickly and licked the bowl. She lapped up the bowl of water next to the dish with gusto before hastily leaving the porch and crawling back underneath from whence she came.
“Well.” Ruth said with a sigh. “It’s a start.”
She walked outside and grabbed the dishes from the porch floor. She brought them in and washed them before filling them again. She placed them back outside. She paused for a moment to listen for any sound below the porch, but heard nothing.
She shook her head and sighed. “Well if you’re listening, there’s more food and water now.” She said, leaning down low so that the mare could hear her. “Eat as much as you want.”
Ruth turned around and went back inside. She pulled over an old bar stool from the kitchen and set it by the window so that she could sit and watch. She brought one of the library books and decided it was time to learn more about her furry little friend.
Meanwhile, under the porch, the mare nestled into her leafy next and digested her recent meal. The kibble was fine, but the clean water was especially good. She couldn’t remember the last time that she hadn’t drank from a dirty mud puddle or sucked moisture from the grass in the morning dew.
Her babies crawled down to her teats again for another meal, her body quickly turning the food and water into milk for them. She pulled the green male away after a few sucks and let the other two get there share. She licked him clean and held him in her arms. She was starting to get used to their feeding rotation. She also noticed that the brown and pink foals were beginning to catch up in size to their brother, at least in appetites. The pink mare filled her tiny stomach and rolled down over her brother, burping and cooing as she landed softly into the leaves.
The mother placed the green male onto the top nipple for a rare second helping. She could tell he was very happy as he eagerly drank from her teat. His heavy body began to sag over his smaller brother, eventually pushing him aside. But the brown foal was surprisingly fine, more concerned with getting back to his mother’s warmth. He burrowed into her fluff and fell asleep. His sister joined the fluff pile next to him, peeping and chirping as she lay next to him before falling silent as she too nodded off.
Finally the green earthy realized that the milk supply was empty. He too made his may towards his cuddling siblings and completed the fluff pile. The mare curled inwards and covered them with her tail as a blanket. The warm nest of leaves helped to insulate them from the cold. They all fell asleep, safe and sound for the day.
Meanwhile, Ruth grew tired of watching the kibble dish out the window. She threw another log on the fire and returned to her rocking chair. She continued reading about fluffies in the book from the library. She found each page fascinating - from fluffy origins at Hasbio, to the feral fluffies of today. They were not like any other animal she had read about before.
It took her all day and well into the evening, but she was able to complete the book. She closed it and looked at the cover, Basic Fluffy Care - A Complete Guide For The New Owner. She then stood up to stretch before walking towards the window. The kibble and water dish were still full. She bet that the mare would eat the rest soon, but she was too tired to sit up and wait.
She threw another log on the fire and returned to her rocking chair. She smiled as she planned her day tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to see that empty dish again.