Warming Up
by Breadboxer
My first new piece made just for this site.
“Okay Grapefruit, I just need to get my grocery shopping done and then we can go home, okay?”
The white Suburban pulls into the closest parking spot at the local Wegman’s on a warm August afternoon. It’s not quite 3pm so it’s not yet busy.
“Can Gwapefwuit come too?” the little yellow unicorn with a soft purple mane asks excitedly, sitting unsecured in the passenger seat next to her.
“Sorry honey, you know the manager won’t let fluffies in the store. Something about ‘unsanitary conditions.’ Useless prick.” She mutters the last part beneath her breath and Grapefruit doesn’t catch it; he’s already peeking out the rolled up window at the various shoppers walking to and from the store with carts.
“Wiww Mummah be back soon?” he asks.
“Sure thing,” she says dismissively, already grabbing her purse. She makes sure the windows are all the way rolled up to keep the fluffy from trying to leap out, takes the keys from the ignition once the car’s off, then hefts herself out of the driver’s side. “Back in a jiffy, Grapefruit!”
“Yus Mummah!”
Fluffies, unfortunately, don’t have the greatest sense of the passage of time. Grapefruit does, however, have enough intelligence to know the numbers on the dashboard of the car - near where Mummah plays the loud music of humans with funny names - are changing as time presses on.
The numbers say 2:40.
It gives him something to do as he quickly begins to get bored sitting in the car by himself. He tries to count the forevers it takes until the numbers on the clock change. He does this a couple of times so that by the time the clock reads 2:47 he actually has a good idea of the number of forevers it takes for the first number to change! He can’t wait to tell Mummah.
His mind is blown when the clock changes to 2:50 though.
Grapefruit sits on his haunches and tries to puzzle out this next change in numbers as he did the first, as the sun beats down on him through the rolled up window.
The clock now reads 3:22, but Grapefruit has long since given up trying to work out how the numbers work because he has a new problem on his mind.
It’s hot.
It hadn’t been too bad to begin with, as the leftover cool air from the air conditioner circulated throughout the car the first few minutes or so, but as time passed it dissipated. The sun beating down on the Suburban began to rapidly raise the temperature inside, to the point it was making Grapefruit very uncomfortable.
As a fluffy, he couldn’t sweat. He held his mouth open and panted much like a dog might in similar circumstances, but without any sweat glands and coated with a thick, insulating layer of fluff, it only cooled him down minimally.
The little biotoy had the sense to try and move himself out of the direct path of the sun coming in through the window, pressing himself to the few shadows he had, and that had helped for a while, but now it felt like the whole car was cooking him. The very air around him felt hot and dry, stifling.
Nervously he peaked out the window again, looking for his Mummah. There was no sign of her anywhere, just other humans going about their days, shopping.
“Pwease huwwy Mummah, am suu hot…” Grapefruit complained hoarsely, as people walked on outside, oblivious to his troubles.
When the clock read 3:51 Grapefruit saw his Mummah outside! He immediately jumped up and pressed his forehead to the window, screeching and recoiling when he found it very hot to the touch.
He looked out a second time more cautiously, while huuhuuing over the injury to his forehead and hooves. Mummah was just outside the grocery store with a cart full of plastic bags, but she wasn’t approaching. She was speaking animatedly with a second human, another woman with a little human by her side.
“Mummah, pwease!” Grapefruit cried, though his words fell on deaf ears. “Am hot! Fwuffy need wawa! Pwease!” In the direct path of the sun overhead, he felt far too hot and retreated back to the little shade he had to wait.
Many forevers seemed to pass. Grapefruit chanced another look outside the car when the clock hit 3:55 and to his dismay, saw the two humans still chatting, with the young human looking further bored and disinterested. He wailed out louder this time, hoping that she might be able to hear him.
“MUMMAH!! FWUFFY TOO HOT!!!”
“Woah, is that a dog in there??” Grapefruit heard a voice nearby, muffled but close. Two humans were approaching the car! Not Mummah, but maybe they could get Mummah’s attention, or at least give him some water, so hope rose up in his little chest.
The two had been leaving the grocery store when one of them had spotted something small and fluffy cowering in the passenger’s seat. One of the two men came close to the passenger’s side window and peered inside.
“Shit, there’s an animal in there. It’s 90 degrees outside today for Christ’s sake!”
“Hang on man, it’s not a dog. It’s a fluffy,” the second man said, as he too looked inside and Grapefruit popped up again now that he’d caught someone’s attention.
“Pwease nice mistas! Fwuffy weawwy hot! Pwease wet Gwapefwuit out!”
The first man started to look around the car for something, but the second stopped him.
“Woah, what are you doing?”
“What’s it look like? I’m gonna smash the window and get it outta there, otherwise it’ll die in this heat.”
“Dude, you can’t do that. It’s a fluffy, not a real animal. You really want some Karen suing you over a busted window?”
“Shit, you’re right. Oh well.” Grapefruit lifted his head up and watched in horror as the two men turned and left, carting away their groceries and leaving the delirious little fluffy to bake under the August sun. With not even any saliva in his parched throat anymore, the tiny biotoy’s screams barely made it outside the car, his hooves beating frantically against the scorching window while his owner stood within sight a few hundred feet away, catching up with an old friend.
“Nuu, pwease mistas! Pwease no weave fwuffy! Need Mummah! Pwease!! Screeeee!!”
