HI. MY NAME is blchocobo. MonoKeras tells me I should quit starting my stories
that way because it's boring and out of place. I told him that he was free to
start his any way he wanted, but that I had my own idea of a good opening line,
thank you very much. He just shrugged and left me alone, which was what I'd
been hoping for. Maybe now I can concentrate and catch you up on what's been
happening around here recently.
Those of you who have read the stuff MonoKeras
and my owner have written know that MonoKeras is my older brother, a "flashy
gold Uni", and that we have another pet in the house named Kallisari. She's
a Halloween Peophin and she and MonoKeras are married. For a while now, it's
just been the three of us. Then one day I was in the kitchen doing the dishes
by myself....
I had just about finished washing them all when
my owner spoke up behind me. "Where's Kallisari?"
"Oh! She and MonoKeras went shopping."
"And left you to do the dishes?"
"I don't mind. The alternative was to go shopping
with them. I'll take the dishes."
"Hmmm..."
I pulled the dishtowel out and started drying.
After a minute, I felt someone staring at me and looked around. My owner was
gazing at me with a thoughtful expression. "Is something wrong?"
"I don't know. I think I've just realised something
that I knew all along and hadn't put into words yet."
"What's that?"
"I don't have three pets. I have two pets...
and one pet."
"Uhh... well that adds up to three."
"It should. But I think there's been more division
than addition going on around here."
"Mmmm" I replied and went back to drying dishes.
I had just put a stack in the cupboard when he spoke again.
"How would you like a new sister?"
"What??"
"I said, how would you like a new sister?"
"A fourth pet? I thought three was more than
enough!"
He chuckled. "I thought so, too. But I think
something is missing around here."
"Well don't do anything on my account, I'm fine.
Honest!"
"Maybe... maybe. Let's see what the others say
tonight."
He left the room, leaving me with a worried
frown under my mask. I should have known this was coming, but it's always easier
to say that afterwards. I wasn't sure what we'd be getting into, and I was afraid
that he didn't either.
Everyone got home in time for supper that night
(like anyone would dare miss it!) and after stuffing ourselves we sacked out
in the living room. My owner and I were in the chairs. Kallisari was stretched
out on the couch with her head in MonoKeras' lap. I closed my eyes and pretended
to nap so I could ignore the giggles.
"Hey, you two, I've got a question."
"Huh?"
"Question?"
"Yeah. How would you like a sister?"
I had to open my eyes to see their expressions.
After the initial two second shock, Kallisari began nodding with an approving
look. MonoKeras just sat there with his muzzle on one hoof and a thoughtful
expression on his face that I think means "I'm sitting here looking like I'm
giving this the deepest of thought while I try to not tell you how silly that
question is."
"I like it!" Kallisari finally said.
MonoKeras grinned. "Yeah, sounds great to me.
Any ideas who or what?"
Our owner shrugged. "Not yet. I figured blchocobo
and I could go to the pound tomorrow to see what we could find." I looked at
him sharply. This was the first time I'd heard that idea.
MonoKeras' grin became a laugh and a wink at
me. "Good idea! Maybe you can get yourselves one of these, blchocobo,"... one
hoof tickled Kallisari under the chin while she fought back her giggle and tried
to get him in a headlock. I groaned inwardly.
"I think he said sister," I replied mildly.
"Yeah, whatever. Have fun and good luck and
all that sort of stuff."
I didn't have to reply because our owner cut
in. "Oh, I'm sure we will, MonoKeras. Now if you two lovebirds don't mind, I
am going to go get some sleep."
MonoKeras and Kallie were gone somewhere together
the next morning by the time we left. I hated to admit it, but I knew what my
owner meant by "two pets and one pet." I decided to look on the bright side.
If we were lucky, I might find someone who had their head screwed on straight
about a few things. Then again, we might wind up with another lovesick Kau.
I resolved to make sure we skipped the Kau section, or any pet that looked like
she might have more bubbles in her head than was safe.
I couldn't help but cling to my owner's leg
as we walked into the pound. The smell and looks of the place trigger every
instinct a pet has in them that here lies danger. He never said anything about
it, and I knew I sure wasn't going to, either.
"Is the pound ready for visitors?" he asked.
The yellow Techo behind the desk just grunted.
"Yeah. Go back and help yourself."
"OK. Where's Rose?"
"Dunno. Back there somewhere." He gave a casual
wave of a paw while not looking up from the magazine resting on his legs. As
we walked by, I took a casual look over to see a picture of a young green Zafara.
A yellow finger traced the outline of her back scales in loving detail. I scurried
on through into the back and was just glad he hadn't looked up about then.
As early as we were, there were still two or
three other humans walking up and down the aisles of cages. I fell behind my
owner as I examined the new piping system running down the lines. A steady stream
of water gurgled through the cages, going through a feeding bowl and then below
the cages where it flowed down a trough that was being filled with... oh. Well,
it was a good use for it, I decided.
"Hey buddy!" I jerked up to see the source of
the hissed greeting. A green Chomby stuck his head through the bars. "Hey, talk
your owner into adopting me and I'll see you're rewarded! I know where the hidden
tower is and..."
"Sorry," I interrupted. "We're looking for a
girl."
"Huh? Oh, hey, did I tell you I always wanted
to know what it was like to be a girl..."
"Sorry," I replied as I backed away. I quickly
trotted down the aisle and ignored his brief call after me. I caught up to my
owner before I realised that I was shaking for some odd reason.
We walked down the aisle, my owner running his
gaze along the cages, sizing up the occupants in a matter of seconds as they
pranced and fawned, trying to keep his attention. I couldn't help but wince
at the often ill-concealed dejection that was shown every time we passed a cage
without stopping.
I finally tugged on my owner's arm. "Hey, what
are we looking for? All I know is female, and that leaves us with a lot of possibilities."
"Don't worry, blchocobo," he draped his arm
around my shoulders. "I already know her. Now all I have to do is find her."
I looked up at him in puzzlement, but he didn't say anything more. We walked
on while I wondered if he was kidding me or if he was seriously losing it.
Buzzes, Unis, Eyries, Scorchios, Meercas, Zafaras...
an endless parade of all sorts of pets flowed by my eyes as I trotted to keep
up. It stopped suddenly, and I had to grab my owner's pant leg to keep from
falling. I stared at the cage that he was looking down into. A red Kyrii lounged
in the corner, casually picking her teeth.
"Well hi there."
She glanced up. "Hey."
"What's your name?"
She jerked a thumb towards the door of the cage.
"Written right down there, mister, ain't no secret to it."
I frowned. This one sure didn't seem eager to
get adopted. I tried to meet her gaze, but failed.
"Hmmm... Heilley. That's a nice name."
"Yeah, I thought so too."
"So, Heilley, would you like a new home?"
"Suits me. You volunteering?"
I cringed but my owner laughed. "That's the
general idea. Come on, let's get you out of here."
"Right."
Although she said it in a casual tone, it took
her no time to slip out the door and grab her nameplate off the bottom of the
cage. "C'mon, let's give this to Rose and blow this joint."
Her bright red hair streamed out behind her
as she scampered ahead of us to the office. It was so long that I found myself
wondering if she ever tripped over it. She didn't. We hit the door at full throttle
and found Rose filling out some forms for a lady who had a blue Lupe tucked
under one arm. "Here you go, ma'am. I'm sure you and Max will be happy together."
She laughed. "It's going to be more than just
us, Rose, He's my fourth pet! Thanks so much, though."
Heilley slapped her nameplate on the desk a
split second after the other customer turned away. "Hey, here's the id, I'm
outta here."
Rose laughed. "Not so fast, Heilley! Give me
a minute to register everything first."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you always say that. Well
c'mon, time's wasting."
Rose rolled her eyes. "You got yourself a handful
here, sir. OK, name?"
Heilley made a rude noise with her lips. "Rose!
You know me."
"I meant the man here who has decided to take
you on."
"Oh..."
Heilley took the hint and did a fast fade while
our owner took over and gave all the data. I looked over towards the Techo and
saw him staring gloomily into space. There was no sign of the magazine and I
wondered momentarily where he'd hidden it before deciding it didn't really matter.
The brief paperwork completed, we walked out
the front door. Heilley was jittering as we walked down the street, looking
everywhere at once and replying in short syllables to anything either of us
said. Yeah, she'd been in the pound before. No, it hadn't been long this time,
just too long. Yeah, she was sure glad to be out. Hey, she liked Unis and Peophins
just fine, no problem. Nah, she didn't need anything special right now, thanks
awfully. Well, we did have some good combs, right? Yes, we did. Good, life stank
without a good set of combs.
I sighed to myself. In all her looking around
and in all of our talking, I'd never once managed to look her in the eye more
than a split second. Somehow, I didn't like this. She didn't seem mean or anything,
but she had a furtive air about her, as if she expected to be caught and punished
for something at any minute. I made allowances and decided that any pet that
had been in the pound would tend to feel the same way.
Heilley seemed impressed as we walked up to
the front door of our home. "Whoa, is this home?"
"Yup, sure is," was our owner's proud reply.
Heilley patted the front carefully. "Silver.
Far out."
"Well, I could afford it, so I did."
"Hey, I lucked into a rich owner!"
He laughed. "Not all that rich, Heilley. Not
poor, but far from those mega-rich people that can get anything."
"Well whatever..."
Yeah, whatever, I thought dejectedly.
My bad feelings intensified as my owner opened the door. Sure enough, we started
having trouble the second we walked inside...
To be continued... |