The Young Dr_Death: Part Three

     “Oh, poor baby. Where’d you get her from?” Drew asked, taking the Kadoatie out of his hands and holding her up. The Kadoatie playfully batted a paw at Drew’s nose.

     “Found her in that grove of pine trees,” Dr_Death grunted, putting his backpack down.

     “Hey, what’s that?” Drew asked suddenly, staring at the Kadoatie’s paw. “Deathy, she’s hurt!” she cried. Dr_Death rushed over and took the Kadoatie into his arms. Drew took her paw gently and tried to get it into the light, but the Kadoatie pulled away, whining pitifully.

     “Easy, kiddo, no one’s trying to hurt you,” Dr_Death told the Kadoatie. He petted her on the head, and that seemed to calm her. Drew looked at the paw in the light.

     “Oh, Dr_Death, her paw is hurt! There’s a thorn in it!” Drew told Dr_Death. Dr_Death nodded grimly.

     “I’ll take care of it,” he said, taking the Kadoatie fully into his arms. Drew smiled, then looked hesitant.

     “Are you sure you don’t need help?”

     “Nope,” Dr_Death said confidently.

     “And you have enough supplies?” Drew asked concernedly.

     “Yep.” With that, Dr_Death went upstairs into his room.

      *****

     Dr_Death placed the Kadoatie on the bed. She promptly jumped off and ran away. Or at least, she tried: she had landed on the thorn. She shrieked in a high pitched howl.

     “Is everything alright up there?” Drew called up in a worried voice. Dr_Death lifted the Kadoatie as tears streamed from her eyes.

     “Yeah,” he called back, while the Kadoatie writhed in his arms. “Shh,” he said softly, trying to calm her. He took her over to the green pouf and set her down on her back. She tried to turn over, but he just held her down with his hand.

     “Let’s see,” he said to himself. He took some straps from the sides of the pouf and velcroed them together, strapping the Kadoatie to the pouf. Then he went over to his desk and got out some bandages, rubbing alcohol, ointment, and a pair of tweezers. He got the rest of the pie out of his backpack.

     “Ok, this is going to hurt a bit,” he told the Kadoatie, who was still writhing underneath the straps. He placed everything down next to the pouf except the tweezers. He grabbed the Kadoatie’s paw and used the tweezers to try and gently pull the thorn out. However, as soon as he began to pull it, the Kadoatie shrieked in a high pitched yowl.

     “I know, I know, it hurts! It’s deeper than I thought,” he said to himself. He took the pie and set it next to the Kadoatie’s mouth on her chest. “There, eat up. That must’ve hurt,” he told the Kadoatie gently. She stared tearfully up at him, and began to eat. Soon, she began to mew between gulps through a full mouth.

     “There we are,” said Dr_Death, taking out the thorn in one quick pull. But the Kadoatie didn’t notice; she was too busy satiating her hunger. Dr_Death took the rubbing alcohol and cleaned the wound. Then he put ointment on it and bandaged it up.

     He took the pie off the Kadoatie and unstrapped her. She got up warily, and cautiously put her injured foot down. “Purr!” she purred with a smile. Dr_Death smiled, too.

     “Bet that feels a lot better, huh? Come on, we’ll go play downstairs; Drew’s putting up the Christmas decorations.” With that, Dr_Death took the pie and the Kadoatie downstairs to the living room.

     “So, how is she?” Drew asked, looking up from her work. She was digging around in a box of lights.

     “Fine. Need some help?” he asked her, putting the Kadoatie and the pie down. The Kadoatie limped over to a box of tinsel and sniffed at it. Drew giggled.

     “Here,” she said, taking a handful of tinsel out of the box and dropping it on the Kadoatie. She pawed at the tinsel and began to roll around on the floor. Drew and Dr_Death smiled.

     “Well, you can help me with the lights. I’m afraid we won’t be able to go down to Happy Valley anytime soon, though,” she said with a grimace.

     Dr_Death nodded sadly. Then his attention turned to the Kadoatie. “Wonder who she belongs to,” Dr_Death asked thoughtfully.

     “Yeah, I know,” Drew grunted, heaving a sting of multicolor icicle lights out the box. “If they were me, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight. Kadoaties are really cute and delicate, not to mention extremely expensive. I bet one of them costs more than our whole house.”

     Dr_Death nodded. “Who would careless enough to lose a petpet?” he said, watching the Kadoatie bat at tinsel on her nose. She was in a much better mood now that she had been fed, was warm, and was allowed to play.

     “I don’t know,” Drew said, putting tinsel on the mantle piece. A roaring fire was already lit in the fireplace, giving the living room a homey feeling. Drew took out a wreath and hung it under the tinsel. “How does that look?” she asked Dr_Death.

     “It looks great,” Dr_Death said approvingly. He sat down next to the Kadoatie and petted her, feeding her the rest of the pie. She mewed appreciatively, leaping into his lap and rubbing her head up against him. Dr_Death smiled warmly and held her in his lap.

     “Okay, I think we’re ready,” Drew said, and she turned off the lights. The three of them looked in splendor at the beautiful Christmas tree Drew had spent the better part of three days laboring over. It had the perfect balance of tinsel, fake snow, and lights. On top was a shining star, clear and bright. It was a breathtaking sight.

     “Wow, it’s so cool,” Dr_Death breathed. The Kadoatie snuggled into his lap and mewed contently.

     “And some mistletoe,” Drew said happily, dangling it over Dr_Death. She kissed him on the head. “Merry Christmas!”

      *****

      The Kadoatie’s paw was healing very nicely. Before, she could only walk around with a small limp. Now she could run, albeit slowly. She had been given the boxes from the presents to play with on Monday. Dr_Death and Drew spent several hours drinking hot cocoa and watching the Kadoatie play in the boxes and get tangled in the wrapping paper.

     “How cute.” Drew giggled as the Kadoatie fell over. She peeked out of the wrapping paper and mewed. Drew and Dr_Death laughed. Then Dr_Death sighed.

     “Just imagine, some poor pet’s out there without their petpet today,” he said. Drew nodded. “What a Christmas.”

     “I bet they’re heartbroken,” Drew said, taking a sip of cocoa. “Tomorrow, we’ll start to an adamant search for them,” she said determinedly.

     Later on, Dr_Death took the Kadoatie outside. They had walked up and down his street, past the house of his new neighbor. Dr_Death noted that he hadn’t seen them at all since they’d moved there several weeks ago. In fact, he hadn’t ever seen the inhabitants- just a moving crew with a lot of stuff.

     “Must be a rich family,” Dr_Death muttered to himself. Terror Mountain had so few inhabitants (in fact, many of Dr_Death’s classmates resided in Happy Valley) that the residents lived in the same neighborhoods. Consequently, a fairly rich family could be found next to several relatively poor ones.

     Dr_Death was holding the Kadoatie in his arms. She was staring all around, blinking fiercely at the sight of the dazzlingly white snow. She breathed in the fresh mountain air, and mewed happily.

     “Want a Snow Puff?” Dr_Death asked the little petpet. She mewed contently. Only on Terror Mountain could someone who has just been through a blizzard want to eat a Snow Puff right after. Dr_Death set off happily for the Super Happy Icy Fun Snow Shop. The streets had been cleared almost immediately after the storm had stopped the night before in order to get ready for the big holiday party. For Dr_Death, it had been a great night- he’d seen all his friends, gotten a toy from the Advent Calendar, and most of all, had a good time. He smiled at the memories he now had as he entered the shop.

     “Hi,” Dr_Death said to the clerk, a yellow Lenny who had the knack for wearing a strange assortment of clothing. Today he was wearing a very heavy green parka with purple gloves, a radically pink scarf wrapped around his head so it hid everything but his eyes, and a visor on his head.

     “Dr_Death,” he muffled from under the scarf. “How nice to see you again!” Dr_Death had frequented the shop so much in the past the Lenny knew him very well.

     “Hey, I just came to get a Snow Puff,” Dr_Death said genially, smiling. He didn’t know it, but the Lenny was returning the smile.

     “Ah, yes, just look over at that display over there,” the Lenny said, raising a gloved hand towards a case of multicolored items. Then he waddled to the back room. Dr_Death walked over to the case.

     “Hmm, what do you think? Strawberry, or maybe Lemon?” he asked the Kadoatie. She stared at the case and mewed. “Fine,” Dr_Death said with a grin. “I’ll decide.” He perused the case of brightly colored Snow Puffs, trying to decide which he wanted. He glanced up for a second at the billboard above, and then returned to the case. Then he jerked his back up, not believing his eyes.

     “Wait, what?!?” He was staring at a pink poster.

     MISSING: PINK KADOATIE

     LAST SEEN: TWO WEDNESDAYS AGO

     REWARD: 1000 NP

     IF FOUND, PLEASE NEOMAIL SHAUN AT 1920 SUMMIT STRIP STREET

     Below the writing was a picture of the Kadoatie “Mipsy”, which looked suspiciously like the Kadoatie he held in his arms....

     “Can it be?” Dr_Death breathed.

To be continued...