Sunshine: Tails of Babylon

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I wanted a way to flesh out the Sunshine Gang a little more, but I didn't want to write a big story following them because that's messy and complicated and I hate stories that keep switching who they're following.
SO I have decided to do it as a series of short stories here. Instead of chapter numbers, each story is going to have a title in the format of name of the character this story is following: What the story is about.
For example, this first story will be:

Butterfly: Adoption Day!

Butterfly yawned and rolled over in bed, sitting up and rubbing her eyes drowsily. After a few moments, she stood up and shoved her pillow back under her dad's bed where it went during the day. She stumbled to the bathroom and brushed her fur until it lay flat, then yawned again and headed to the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a couple slices of deli ham and two eggs.
She took her prize up to the stove, where her pan was waiting for her, shiny and washed. She sprayed in some cooking spray, turned on the burner, and waited until it started to bubble before cracking in the eggs. A quick scramble later, she tore up the ham and dropped it in, inhaling deeply as its salty scent started wafting up. "Mmm... yummy." She scraped her breakfast out onto a plate and turned off the stove, heading for the table.
Dad reached down and scratched her ears. "Good morning, princess. Do you know what today is?"
Butterfly yawned, her tiny maw stretching out huge, then stuffed a bite of eggs into her mouth before answering. "Mmmph... Tuesday?"
Dad chuckled. "True, but not just ANY Tuesday. Three years ago today is the day I rescued you from the pound. Happy adoption day, Princess!"
Butterfly's ears perked up, and her tail wagged. "It's my adoption day?!"
"It is! And I got you a present!" He reached over onto the floor beside himself and scooped up a wrapped box, setting it next to her plate. "I hope you like it!"
She stood up eagerly and tore the wrapping paper off. Inside was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen: A water pistol, battery operated for high-pressure firing, and an adapter to connect it directly to the hose. She squealed happily. "I love it! Thanks, Daddy!" She jumped up and down on her chair excitedly, then leap across the gap to Dad's lap, hugging him excitedly. "I'm gonna take it over to my friend's house and have a water fight with them!"
"Mmm, I forgot to get batteries, so you'll have to wait until at least tomorrow. I have to go to the store after work anyway to pick up your adoption day cake." He grinned down at her, hugging her back.
"There's gonna be CAKE?!" She squealed excitedly, her paws tippy-tapping. "Can I invite my friends over? Can it be a PARTY?!"
Dad laughed. "All right, settle down. You can have your friends over. I'll pick up some snacks, too. But they have to be out by eight. I have work tomorrow, okay?"
"It's a deal!" She grinned. "I'm gonna invite EVERYBODY!"

"I'm sorry, I can't make it." Coco looked down at Butterfly sympathetically.
The papillon's excited bouncing slowed, and her ears went back, disappointed. "Wh-what? Why not?" She looked up at the chocolate lab with a little pout.
Coco sighed. "Scout's shift is ending today, remember? I promised I'd come over so we could cuddle. We kind of have to take time when we can get it, with his job. I mean, he's home most nights, but he's always so tired from working, that even if I go over he usually falls asleep on me."
"Oh, right... your boyfriend. He can come too, if that's the problem..." Butterfly put her ears back.
"He's going to be tired, Butterfly. Sorry, no, we can't come. Happy adoption day, though." She reached over and patted Butterfly's back.

"S-sorry, Mom doesn't want me eating store-bought foods anymore. She thinks I might have allergies. S-so I wouldn't be able to eat any of the snacks or the cake... and mom doesn't want me out past six, s-so... I'd have to leave before the party starts." August, an Australian Shepherd, put his ears back and fidgeted nervously. "I... um... I can come hang out during the day? I can ask Mom to pack me a lunch..."
Butterfly hesitated. "I... Guess that would work... but I still have to ask Sunny... though, he probably won't come unless Shade comes. He's been no fun ever since they got together."
"Y-you could tell him Shade's coming, and then tell Shade that Sunny said yes, and hope they both show up..." August suggested.
"No... Sunny might fall for that, but Shade's WAY too smart." She flicked her ears. "Sometimes I suspect he's a human in disguise, you know?"
August shrugged. "I'll meet you back at your house in an hour?"
"Sure. I'm off to ask Sunny."

Sunny shook his head. "If Shade's not coming, I'm not coming. And Shade would never agree to go to a party, you know how he is with noise."
Butterfly hung her head. "It's... not really a party if it's just the two of you. Coco's staying home so she can be with Scout, and August has to be home by six."
Sunny sighed. "Okay, I'll talk to Shade. Maybe I can talk him into coming over. I wouldn't want you to be sad on your Adoption Day. But no promises."
She smiled. "Thanks, Sunny. At least you're trying."
He patted her shoulder. "Happy Adoption Day, Butterfly. We're happy to have you here."

Butterfly sat on the couch, watching TV with August. "Thanks for coming to hang out. At least I didn't have to spend my Adoption Day alone."
August smiled at her. "Yeah... Anytime." He glanced at the clock. "But... I have to get going soon..."
A car door slammed, and Butterfly's ears perked. "Dad's home..."
Dad walked in and grinned, ruffling August's headfluff. "Hey, August. Nice to see you." He set his bags on the counter and started unpacking.
Butterfly put her ears back. "D-dad, about that party I asked about this morning..." She was interrupted when the doorbell rang. She went to answer it, and blinked when she saw Sunny and Shade at the door. Shade had his headphones around his neck, ready to cover his ears if it got too noisy. Sunny grinned. "Shade said he'd come! Happy Adoption Day!"
Butterfly smiled, letting them in. She had barely shown them to the kitchen when the doorbell rang again. She ran back to answer it, then blinked at an exhausted-looking Scout being half propped up by Coco. Coco grinned. "When I told him, he insisted on coming. He'll probably doze off, though."
Butterfly wiped away a happy tear as she let them in. "Thank you, all of you, for coming. It means everything to me."
Scout put a hand on her shoulder. "Adoption Day is th' mos' importan' day in a dog's year. Wouldn't miss it if'n ah could help it."
The party commenced, with chatter and snacks and drawing on Scout's face with a marker when he fell asleep with a handful of pretzels.
When Dad brought out the cake, there was happy chattering. Even Shade, quiet as he was, gave her a thumbs-up when she blew out her candles.
"What'd you wish for?" Coco asked.
"I didn't need to wish." Butterfly grinned, looking around at all her friends. "I got what I wanted already."

[Amazee Dayzee]

You have made a really wonderful start with these short stories that you are planning to do! I can't wait until you write for the other characters in here and we see what is going on with them!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

I'm glad you enjoy it. This won't have a regular update schedule, it'll update as I get story ideas for developing the characters more and maybe bring background details into the foreground.

[Amazee Dayzee]

That is totally fine and I don't see any problems with that. To be fair I am mostly interested in the story Riches to Rags and I am waiting for a young, hunky, muscular, single, human farmhand to make an appearance. =D

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

August: Accident

August blinked at the ceiling, then reached out his hand and touched his sleeping mat. Dampness greeted him, and he put his ears back. "Not again..."
He rolled out of bed and set his collar aside, gathering up his mat and blanket and carrying it to the laundry room. As he started the washing machine, Mom came in. "Oh, honey... again? I told you not to drink so much water at suppertime."
August put his ears back and looked up at her. "I'm sorry, Mom. I really tried to stay dry..."
She sighed and patted his head. "It's all right, August. Go clean yourself up."
August nodded and headed to the bathroom, climbing in the shower. As he scrubbed his fur, he put his ears back in shame. He felt like a child, constantly waking up damp and having to wash his bed.
After his shower, he slinked his way to the kitchen for some breakfast. Dad glanced over his newspaper at him. "Heard you wet the bed again. Need to knock it off."
August put his ears back again at Dad's cranky tone. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm trying..."
"Try harder. Water bill's through the roof with your constantly running the laundry machine and showers." He sounded angry this time.
Mom came to the rescue. "Walt, leave him alone. I don't think it's his fault, I think it might be a medical issue. I'm going to call the vet when they open and ask."
August put his ears out sideways, feeling humiliated. "You're gonna tell the VET now?! Why don't we just tell EVERYBODY?"
"Wouldn't be an issue if you'd knock it off." Dad grunted.
"Walt!" Mom snapped.
August flinched and headed for the door, deciding he wasn't hungry after all, if Mom and Dad were gonna fight. "Bye mom, I'll be back by suppertime!"
As he walked down the sidewalk, he glanced up and noticed a papillon standing at the end of his driveway, waiting for him. He stepped double-time to get to her. "... Hi, Butterfly. Morning."
She nodded and sniffed his hand, then started walking with him. "Your parents fighting again?"
He nodded. "... yeah. Dad's mad, mom's mad at him for being mad... it's a mess."
"Because of your bedwetting problem?"
He gasped and reached down to cover her muzzle, glancing around to be sure they were alone. "Where did you hear about that?!" He said in a harsh whisper.
"Your dad told my dad the other day, when we were over for that barbeque." She looked him over.
"Great. The whole neighborhood probably knows by now." He let his ears and tail slump.
"Er... yeah, sorry. Dad's a bit of a gossip." She patted his back. "It's not THAT unusual to have the occassional accident."
"Every night for the past three months?" He paused to look around, making sure they were still alone.
Butterfly frowned. "Maybe it's food-related. Didn't you switch to a new brand of food about then? Your dad insisted because it was cheaper, right?"
August's ears perked. "Hey, you're right. We switched to the grocery store brand of kibbles a week or two before the problem started. I'll... catch up to you. I'm gonna go tell Mom." He turned and started back toward the house. The fight was probably over by now anyway.

Mom scanned the back of the bag, chatting with the vet on the phone. "Australian Shepherds are susceptible to corn sensitivities, you say? Ah, yes, right here, corn flour, used in his food. Treats? Hold on, let me check..." she shuffled around in the cupboard and pulled out August's favorite biscuits. "... no, I don't see it in here. He's been eating these treats his whole life and never had a problem before."
August sat at the table, quietly drumming his fingers and watching her.
"All right, we'll try removing corn from his diet for a few weeks and see if it helps. Thank you, Doctor." She hung up the phone and took a deep sigh. After a moment, she turned to August. "I have to go to the store and find you some different food. We're going to try monitoring what you eat and see if it helps. It was a good catch, August."
August smiled weakly. "Thanks, Mom. Sorry I'm causing so much trouble."
She ruffled his ears. "Nonsense. Stuff comes up, you can't avoid it. You wouldn't believe some of the trouble your father put me through."

Two weeks later, August blinked at the ceiling and put his hand out to feel his mat. Completely dry. He smiled and closed his eyes again, rolling aside and pulling his blanket tight around himself to go back to sleep.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am loving everything about this story so far and its coming together really great! Keep up the good work on it!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Note from the author: Maybe skip this one if you're squeamish.

----

Coco: Hunting

Coco grinned and pulled on her bright orange vest, her tail wagging eagerly as Mom packed up the truck. In went the scent masker, portable blind, sled, and rifle. Mom was dressed in her camo with her own hunting orange hat on. "Ready, Coco?"
Coco nodded eagerly and climbed up into the truck cabin. Mom chuckled and climbed in with her, starting up the truck. Mom's hunting ground was miles away, outside of town, and Coco eagerly watched out the window as the town went by, then farms, then finally trees. They parked just off Mom's lot, and Coco grinned, immediately climbing out and pulled out the sled, loading the blind and scent masker into it. She wasn't allowed to handle Mom's rifle, so she had to wait for Mom to be sure she had extra rounds in her pocket before climbing out of the truck and loading it up herself.
Mom grinned at Coco. "Okay, you're up. Find us a nice game trail to set up on."
Coco's tail wagged. She closed her eyes and sniffed, looking for the scent of deer. It was difficult; wet, rotting leaves covered a lot of scents, and the previous day's snowfall had muffled some. She opened her eyes and started off among the trees, snuffling here and there and watching the ground for tracks. She could smell fresh squirrel paths, magpies and rabbits- wild rabbits, much smaller than the domesticated variety- possums, raccoons, even a bear- but she couldn't smell any deer or elk.
She wandered among the trees for nearly twenty minutes, snuffling, growing more worried- had all the deer left the area this year? - and finally stumbled on the scent of a deer. Her tail wagged, and she looked up at Mom, pointing silently. Mom nodded and started off in that direction. Not long after, more deer scents joined the first, and Coco stopped, pointing down at the spot where all the paths crossed. Mom crouched to examine the tracks, brushing aside the leaves to check that the area was well-trampled, then pointed upwind to a small flat in the landscape. Coco nodded and eagerly climbed uphill to it, parking the sled a short distance away and taking out the blind.
Between Coco and Mom, they were able to set up the blind in minutes, working silently, without speaking to each other. Coco knew better than to make noise; deer might not have great eyesight, but their hearing was great, and any sound might spook them. Once the blind was set up, Mom moved the sled inside and sprayed the outside with scent masker, then held it up to Coco. She squeezed her eyes shut- she really didn't want that in her eyes- and tried to hold still as the tickling spray coated her fur. It left her feeling a little sticky, but she knew it was necessary. Once Coco was covered, she sprayed down Mom.
Their scents masked, Coco and Mom moved inside the blind and sat down on the ground, watching through the window at the game path. This was the part Coco didn't like much; the waiting. It was a little unnerving, being seated right next to Mom and not being able to smell her; the scent she'd brought with her quickly faded into the background scent of the forest.
After ten minutes of them sitting in silence, the birdsong started to return. Coco leaned over and lay her head in Mom's lap, accepting her gentle rubs and pats happily as they waited. A breeze blew through the trees, rattling the last few dry leaves still clinging to their branches, making them rattle. It reminded Coco of the sound of seashells in a bag, collected on the beach one time when she was a small pup. Her tail wagged gently at the memory.
Then, an hour after they'd settled in, their first sighting; a doe, with her fawn, the yearling following his mother closely. Coco held her breath and watched; they seemed so peaceful and quiet as they nosed through the dead leaves, browsing for any greens they could get before the cold winter had them eating tree bark and dry shrubbery.
After the doe and the fawn moved on, Coco tensed, sitting up straighter. If there was a fawn, a buck wouldn't be too far behind. Mom picked up her shotgun silently and held it in her lap.
Sure enough, ten minutes later, a buck wandered into the crossing, looking around warily and sniffing the air. Coco counted the points on his antlers- five, six, seven! He was beautiful, strong and lean. She could see his muscles rippling under his fur as he moved. Mom lined up her rifle through the slot in the blind, moving slowly so as to avoid making noise. She sighted down the barrel, and Coco put her fingers in her ears, squeezing her eyes shut.
BANG! BANG, BANG!
After a moment of silence, Coco opened her eyes again and took her fingers out of her ears. She looked up at Mom, and she nodded at her. She'd gotten the shot. Coco nodded and exited the blind, walking down to the crossing and sniffling to get the buck's scent. Rarely did a deer drop where it was shot; often, it took off running and didn't drop until its vital life fluids ran out. There, on the ground, a red stain. It smelled like iron and fear. Coco started tracking the buck, following it as it ran straight at first, then started to weave and duck. Here, he had paused, there, he had stumbled.
All the while, Mom dragged the sled behind, keeping an eye on Coco.
Finally, Coco found the body. He was still warm and lifelike; she reached out and touched him, almost expecting him to jump up and start running again. When he didn't move, she tested her hand on his side and closed her eyes. No heartbeat, no breathing. She let out a long breath. "Thank you, kind soul. We will ensure your body is not wasted."
Mom caught up and put a hand on Coco's shoulder, speaking her own blessing over the body. Afterward, Coco helped Mom roll him over onto the sled, and they started dragging him back to the blind. It took a while to clean up; Mom had to maintenance her rifle after firing it, and Coco took down the blind by herself while she did so, putting it back in its waterproof protective bag after neatly folding it and setting it in the sled next to their buck.
As much as Coco liked hunting with her mother, seeing the body always made her a little bit sad. It wasn't regret, so much as it was respect for the life she and mom had taken. She reached over and closed the deer's eyes. She couldn't stand to see him staring at her like that.
On the way back to the truck, Mom nudged Coco. "Good girl. Good hunt."
Coco smiled up at her weakly, helping Mom load the equipment and kill into the truck and secure it with ropes and a tarp, covering it completely so it wouldn't get dirty during the drive.
Coco stayed in the car while Mom had the deer processor unload the buck. She looked down at her hands; a little red stained her chocolate fur.
Mom climbed back in the car and ruffled Coco's ears lovingly. "Don't worry, hun, we'll be home soon and you can wash. Guess what? They said they'll process the antlers for us. Cut them up and dry them out so you and your friends can have some antler chews, as a special treat."
Coco's mouth watered at the prospect. Fresh deer antler was a delicacy. You could GET it at the pet store, but it was often months or even years old by the time you bought it. Fresh was always better for chewing. She looked down at her hands again. "Are... are we the bad guys for hunting?"
Mom glanced down at her. "What do you mean? Where's this coming from?"
Coco started at the red spots on her hands. "Shade said it's not really fair for the deer, because with a gun they can't really defend themselves, and that if we really wanted to be fair to them, we'd use a bow and arrow or a knife, something that takes skill to use, instead."
"Ahh. Yes, it is a bit morally gray to use a rifle. Hunting itself isn't bad, but you have to be careful HOW you do it, and make sure you treat the animal with respect. That's why we use as much of it as we can, instead of taking trophies. We have the hide tanned and sell it to make leather goods, we boil the bones to make broth, and we eat the meat, and you even eat the antlers and hooves. It's why it's illegal to hunt does; they have to take care of their fawns, or we're really killing the fawn too, and making them suffer the whole time."
Coco nodded quietly. "I love hunting with you, Mom, but sometimes I feel bad for the deer. They weren't doing anything, they were just trying to live."
Mom nodded, pulling the truck into the driveway. "It's okay to feel bad about it, Coco. From the deer's perspective, we're probably monsters." She reached over and nudged her. "Do you want to skip it next year?"
Coco's ears perked. "Skip it? No way!" She hopped out of the truck. "It's a shower, and then we clean the sled and the tarp, right?"
Mom laughed. "I'll take care of the cleanup. You just go get washed up. We're going out for dinner. We'll have venison next week when the processor is done, okay?"
"Okay, mom!" Coco's tail wagged gently as she went inside and turned on a hot shower, eager to get the stickiness out of her fur. She set her vest aside and hummed to herself.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Seemed fine to me, Ginga. But I must admit I can lower my empathy at times. It's good work though

As someone once said, you can't have light without the dark

[Amazee Dayzee]

It is just important that the things that you end up creating aren't too dark though. Very few people want to read a story when a good percentage of it is just misery porn of the characters.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Butterfly: Pickpocket

Butterfly walked down the street, humming to herself as she squeezed her squeaky bone. She couldn't wait to get to the park; she was supposed to meet her friends today to fight over that very squeaky bone.
Well, most of her friends would fight over it. Sunny's weirdo boyfriend would probably just put on his headphones and watch from a safe distance. He rarely actually played WITH them, especially when loud noises were involved.
She passed August's house and slowed down when she saw him just leaving, tucking something into his collar. When he caught up to her, she took a sniff, and her mouth watered. It smelled like his mom had given him some of those homemade peanut butter biscuits again, and unless she was mistaken, they were still warm. "Hey, August! Ready to play? I'm so excited."
August's tail wagged as he eyed her squeaky bone. "Me, too. I love playing squeaky bone." He glanced around, then leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Think Shade'll play?"
She gave the bone a squeeze, causing it to squeak loudly. "What do you think?"
He snickered and faced front to walk with her. Now was her chance. She stepped closer to August and slightly behind, so her arm wasn't in his periphery. She thought about what an old friend had told her once: bump, dip, grab, distract. Don't look right away.
She put the battle plan into motion, "tripping" over a crack in the sidewalk and bumping into August. She dipped her hand into his collar and scooped out the first item she found, expertly using her feather-soft touch to extract it from the pocket there without jostling the collar or touching his neck. She dropped her hand to her side and waved the squeaky bone around with the other hand, starting to talk instead of acknowledging the trip.
"I'm gonna see if I can keep it out of Scout's reach. Mister police dog thinks he's so tough, let's see how he is at squeaky toy keep-away." She snickered wickedly. She could feel her hand getting warm from the item she'd swiped, and felt sure it was a nice, warm peanut butter biscuit.
"I'm not sure Scout knows HOW to play squeaky bone. He grew up on a farm, remember? Coco said she had to teach him how to play when she first met him." August shrugged gently. "And I'm pretty sure he's never had a squeaky bone. I'm not really sure. I can't understand him when he talks."
Butterfly grinned. "He does have that thick accent." She watched August for a moment, then decided it was safe to look at her hand. Just as she'd suspected, a biscuit shaped vaguely like a peanut. She raised it to her mouth and crunched on it, her tail wagging.
August did a double take, then checked his collar. "Butterfly! Those were supposed to be for later!"
"I can't help it! They're just BETTER when they're still warm!" She snickered with a mouthful of delicious, warm, peanut buttery goodness.
He grumbled to himself, then looked up at a couple of dogs who had stopped at the end of a driveway: a golden retriever with an orange collar and sunflower tag, and a pitch black corgi with no collar at all and a black hoodie. Once Butterfly and August reached them, they fell in step.
Sunny grinned and pointed at Butterfly's squeaky bone. "I've been looking forward to this all week. Can't wait to get there."
Butterfly grinned and took up her pickpocketing position next to Shade. He always had interesting things in his pocket: guitar picks, folded-up sheets of poetry, mysterious notes, top shelf biscuits; she'd even once briefly possessed his prized nylabone before a warning look from Sunny caused her to put it back. "Me either. I'm so HYPED!"
She threw her arms up in the air, giving a little shake and intentionally bumped into Shade.
Now.
She dipped her hand into Shade's hoodie pocket, then gasped when a hand grabbed her arm. She glanced down at Shade's hand, reaching across from the other side to grab her. Her eyes went up and met Shade's gaze. He didn't say anything to her, just stared into her eyes. She hated when he did that, because his eyes creeped her out. Not only were they a weird color blue, dark instead of the light blue most blue-eyed people had, but they always looked so... haunted. Like he'd seen a thousand terrors and come out the other side the worse for wear.
After a moment, he released her arm and let her go. She pulled her hand back and rubbed the spot he'd grabbed, looking around. Nobody else appeared to have seen; Sunny and August were chatting to each other about what they planned to do at the park. She put her ears back and looked down at her squeaky bone. It wasn't the first time Shade had caught her, but she still felt a little ashamed.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the dog park, where Coco and Scout were waiting. Shade immediately made for his usual spot, a bench on the far side of the sidewalk from the playing field, where he could watch without being in anybody's way. Butterfly tossed her squeaky bone to her friends. "You guys get started without me. I wanna talk to Shade."
She climbed up on the bench next to him and sat there. He wasn't much taller than her, being the second shortest member of the group. He didn't put on his headphones right away, but he also didn't look at her, staring straight ahead at the others. If one of his ears hadn't pivoted in her direction, she would have thought he was ignoring her. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she was decently sure he wasn't angry.
"... I'm sorry. I really can't help it." She put her ears back and looked at him. He kept his eyes locked on their friends, abd, after a moment, she turned her gaze to look. It was a pretty good view, she guessed, but not as close to the action as she preferred.
"Why do you do it? Pick pockets, I mean." She startled a little at his voice. It was lower than she'd expected. She'd never really heard him without the fake smile he put on his face and in his voice when he hung out with them. This was his real voice, what he sounded like when he was alone, or just with Sunny.
"... mostly out of habit." She admitted. "I spent the first several years of my life as a stray. I had to lift wallets, biscuits, anything I could get from anybody I could get it from in order to survive. I don't have to do it to survive anymore, but... it's hard to stop."
He stared at her with those eyes of his again, drilling right through her and into her soul. After a few moments, he returned his eyes to their friends, and she let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I know the feeling. I've got some bad habits I've had a hard time breaking, myself."
That was all he had to say. A lot of dogs balked when they found out she'd been a stray, but it didn't seem to register with Shade. She remembered hearing him say once that he'd been in a pound. Had he been a stray himself? Maybe; she didn't know much about him.
She pondered this as she went to rejoin the rest of her friends, feeling just a tiny bit closer to the corgi.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Sunny: The Spot

"Come on, spill. What's he like when nobody else is around?" Coco nudged Sunny playfully and tugged at the rope toy in his hands. "I KNOW he's not that shy all the time."
Sunny stared at her for a moment, jerking back on the toy. "What makes you think he isn't?"
She smirked. "I saw you two from a distance once. He was actually LAUGHING. He NEVER laughs. I don't think I've ever actually seen him SMILE. He just sits there like a lump and doesn't talk very much." She nudged him. "Plus, if he was that quiet all the time, you wouldn't date him. I know you, you like to have someone to talk TO, not talk AT."
Sunny jerked the toy out of her hand and tossed it in the general direction of its box. "All right, so he talks a lot more when it's just the two of us. Maybe he even plays with me sometimes. And I'm not just talking about throwing a ball around or that stuff he does when you guys are here. He doesn't wanna do stuff that's too active when we're all here because you guys get loud, and his ears are sensitive."
"No, HE'S sensitive." Coco grinned and started digging through the disorganized organizer of Sunny's toys, pulling out a chew toy and plopping down in her brown beanbag to chew while she listened.
Sunny sat next to her in his own beanbag- orange with a sunflower motif- and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, he IS kind of overly sensitive. He spent a long time in the pound, so he's not used to loud noises or strong smells. He gets overwhelmed easily." It wasn't exactly a lie. He- meaning Sunny's boyfriend, Shade- had spent time in the pound, but that wasn't the only reason he got overwhelmed so easily. Immediately before going into the pound, he had been human, so the time spent at the pound meant he never adjusted to his new dog senses. He was getting BETTER at dealing with it, but he still couldn't handle loud noises and lots of smells at the same time, and didn't particularly care for loud noises anyway. Ironic, for completely different reasons.
She grinned at him. "But you LOOOOVE him."
Sunny grinned. "I do. He's great."
Then, as if summoned by talk of him, Shade appeared in the doorway. Coco grinned and tossed her chew toy back at the box, missing entirely. "Well, if it isn't lover boy, himself. I'll leave you two alone. Besides, Scout's going on his break soon, he might visit." She gave Shade a little high five on her way past.
Shade nodded at her quietly and moved in to snuggle into Sunny, and they sat there in silence for a few moments. Shade idly scratched at his leg. Then he reached up under his hoodie to scratch at his belly, then reached around to scratch at his side.
Sunny watched him curiously for a few moments, then reached down and ran his hand through Shade's fur in a pinching motion, coming off with a handful of black fur. He grinned. "You're shedding, aren't you? It's coming into winter and you're growing a winter coat."
Shade grumbled and kept scratching. "Does it ALWAYS feel like there are ants in your fur?"
Sunny laughed and sat him up, crossing to his toybox and pulling out a brush. He came back. "Yeah, but you get used to it after a few years. Sweater off."
Shade hesitated and looked toward the open doorframe that marked the entrance to Sunny's toyroom.
Sunny rolled his eyes. "Nobody's gonna walk in. Sweater off."
Shade put his ears back and started working his sweater off, pulling it over his head. Sunny could never get used to how much smaller he looked without it; he was almost TOO skinny, with a narrower frame. The sweater added a lot of bulk to him, making him look bigger. "Good boy. Now hold still, I'm gonna brush out some of this shed so it won't itch as much."
Sunny pulled the brush through Shade's fur, filling it up quickly with loose black fibers. Whenever it got full, he would tug the mat out and stack it aside, then go back in again. After about fifteen minutes, he had covered most of Shade's body, grinning at the stray white fibers from Shade's chest. "Heh... there you go. Feel better?"
Shade nodded. "It's BETTER... but it's still a little itchy."
"Where? Here?" Sunny grinned and scratched Shade's back.
"Mmm... that's nice... but no, here, under my arm." He reached across and scratched at his side, then reached under from the same side. "Nng.. toward the back. It's one of those spots where I can't QUITE reach on my own."
Sunny grinned and moved his hand over. "Here?"
Shade gave an appreciative groan. "Oohh, yeah... that's the spot-" He squeaked when his leg twitched.
Sunny grinned and scratched the same spot again, watching Shade's leg twitch over and over. Shade pulled away. "That is FREAKY what's happening?"
Sunny laughed. "I think I found your spot." He reached over and scratched again, just under the shoulderblade to the left side. Shade's leg jerked.
Shade put his ears back. "That's completely involuntary. Is that... NORMAL?"
"MM. Yeah, all dogs have a spot. Sometimes I forget that you don't really know anything about dogs." He reached over to scratch the spot again, but Shade swatted him away.
"Don't! It's weird, and I don't like it."
"Aww, hun. That's no fun."
Shade's face suddenly switched to a grin. That same stupid grin he got sometimes right before he pulled Sunny somewhere private. "Oh, it's FUN you want, is it?"
Sunny grinned. He loved it when Shade made that face.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Been wondering when you would get back to this story because it has been WAAAY too long. I like how you just jumped back into it and gave us a really excellent chapter to continue the story!

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Coco: Venison Chew

"Coco, I'm home!" Mom called as she walked through the door, setting her purse down on the table and slipping out of her pumps that she wore for work. She was permitted a pantsuit, but had to at least look nice. Coco wasn't exactly sure what she did. Banking or something.
After Mom got changed, she knelt down to give Coco a hug and a kiss on her head. "There's my Coco-nut." She cooed at her, ruffling Coco's ears, then grinned. "I picked up our buck from the hunt this year. It's all processed. Help me get it out of the car."
Coco's tail wagged eagerly. "Ooh! Ooh! Let's make some venison jerky!"
Mom laughed and ruffled her head. "Okay, okay, we'll pull out some for jerky. Did you plug in the freezer like I asked?"
"Yes, Mom." Coco grinned. "Of course I did. And I cleaned it too, like you SAID you were going to do when we unplugged it in the first place."
Mom smacked herself in the forehead with the butt of her palm. "I completely forgot! Thank you, kiddo." Mom arrived at her truck and popped out the tailgate, revealing two big coolers strapped securely in the bed. She climbed up and undid the bungee cords, pushing the coolers toward Coco, one at a time. Coco grabbed them by the handles and carefully lowered them to the ground as Mom passed them to her, then put out her hand to help Mom out of the truck bed. She did up the tailgate, then grabbed the heavier of the two coolers, hefting it up to her chest.
Coco hefted the other and followed her into the garage, plopping the cooler down next to the big chest freezer that they used exclusively for venison. Mom set her own cooler down and opened the freezer, watching a thin wisp of fog climb out of it. "Oh good, it's even fully frozen." She popped open the first cooler and started moving brown packets of butcher paper over to the freezer, neatly stacking them with the label facing up and putting labels that were the same together. "Now, remember. We can use this meat for meals, jerky, whatever we want, but we HAVE to make it last until next hunting season, or we won't have any venison next season."
Coco nodded. "Yes, mom."
She smiled at her. "You're such a good girl. Here, go put this one in the sink for jerky." She handed Coco a brown paper packet marked 'Rear right leg- whole roast- two pounds.'
Coco grinned, her tail wagging excitedly. "Okay, mom! I'll be right back!" She darted into the house and set the roast in the sink, standing on tiptoes to look at it. She could smell the meat inside, through the butcher paper, and her stomach rumbled. "Ooh... It smells so GOOD!" She squealed excitedly, then rushed back out. Mom had moved on to the second cooler and was busily stacking parcels.
She looked up at Coco and smiled. "You got that all put away?"
Coco nodded, her tail wagging. She took the first, empty cooler, and dragged it over to its home under the garage stairs. "I can't WAIT! I'm so excited!"
Mom laughed at her. "Okay, okay, settle down, I'm almost done, and then we can get some jerky going. We'll marinate it overnight and put it in the oven to dry tomorrow night, okay?"
"Okay!" Coco started passing Mom the packets of meat, helping her stack them in neat rows- Rib meat there, steaks there, ground meat in that spot, roasts there- until the cooler was empty, then eagerly closed the lid and dragged it over to put it away. Mom went back to the truck and grabbed a paper bag from the front seat before coming back in, pausing to close the big garage door before coming inside.
Coco looked up at her excitedly, putting a big glass bowl on the counter, her tail wagging overtime.
Mom laughed, setting the paper bag aside. "Okay, okay, settle down, first things first. We have to make the marinade." She started pulling things out of the fridge and cabinets. Coco watched closely as she poured a little of this and some of that into a smaller bowl. She has the recipe memorized, and doesn't measure anything. "Do we want it peppered? Spicy? Regular?"
"Regular!" Coco squealed happily, getting out a cutting board. She wasn't allowed to touch the knives, but she could at least get the area READY.
Once Mom had the marinade made, she pulled the roast out of the sink and unwrapped it, setting it on the cutting board. Out of the paper, the scent of the meat was much clearer and stronger, making Coco's mouth water as she stood on tiptoes at the edge of the counter, watching Mom expertly trim and slice the meat into long, thin pieces, dropping them all into the big bowl Coco had gotten out. Once the whole roast was cut up, Mom poured in the marinade, stirring it into the meat with her hands and making sure every side of every piece was drenched in it before covering the whole bowl with plastic wrap and popping it into the fridge. As she washed her hands, she grinned at Coco. "So... is your cute little boyfriend at work today?"
Coco squeaked and blushed. "Moo-ooomm! You're not ALLOWED to call him cute! But no, he's not working today. He's off until Tuesday."
"Good, good... then I can give you this." She finished drying her hands, then grabbed the paper bag off the counter and passed them to Coco. "You can save them for yourself, or you can share them, but remember, once they're gone, they're gone until next hunting season."
Coco unrolled the top of the bag and peeked inside, then squealed in excitement. "Antler chews! And there's so MUCH!" She tilted the bag and shook it a little. There had to be at least two dozen antler segments inside. She wagged her tail and picked out six pieces, then rolled the top back up and placed it in the pantry. "One for each of my friends, and the rest for me."
Mom laughed. "Okay, well, be back by seven for dinner."
"I will!" Coco grinned, tossing on her chocolate brown scarf and rushing out the door. She rushed down two blocks and into a house, grinning. "Hi, Mrs. Days!" She ran past the woman in her kitchen and down the stairs to the basement, where she found five other dogs already gathered. "Sorry I'm late, I was helping Mom!"
Butterfly grinned and ran toward her for a hug, but Coco put out a hand and stopped her at arm's length. "Ah-ah-ah, I'll share what I have with you, but no stealing it."
Butterfly huffed. "I wasn't gonna!"
Coco snickered and held up the antler pieces. "I brought some antler chews!"
August's face lit up, and Sunny gave an excited squeak, holding his hand out as Coco went around to each of them and gave them each one.
Scout grinned. "Ah used t' find a whole rack 'a these on occasion out in th' sheep field. Elk would rub 'em on th' rocks an' trees to get 'em to fall off fer th' winter."
Coco watched her friends cheerily digging into the treats, then frowned when she saw Shade staring at his with a confused expression on his face. He leaned in and whispered to Sunny, and Sunny whispered back, showing him how to chew it, using his own as an example. Shade nodded and hesitantly put one end of his chew in his mouth. Coco frowned. "Are you telling me Shade has NEVER had an antler chew before?!" She pointed at the black corgi accusingly.
Shade stared at her, looking very much called out and like he would rather be anywhere else. Sunny jumped to his aid, figuratively. "He's from a big city. No hunters."
August's hand with his chew slowly lowered from his muzzle. "That's the saddest thing I've ever heard."

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am really liking how you are writing these stories and making them so compelling with a very nice ease! I could never do that myself honestly and I don't think I have it in me to try.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Sunny: Sewing

Dad's car pulled in, and a few moments later, he got out. Sunny ran to the window to watch as he went into his trunk and pulled out a large trash bag. "Oooh! He got the stuff, he got the STUFF!" He bounced excitedly and ran to the door, his tail wagging overtime.
Dad approached the front door, and Sunny heard him fumble with his keys. He opened the door for him and grinned up at the man. "Hi, Dad!"
Dad chuckled. "I see you saw that I had something for you. Here you go." He hefted the bag inside and set it down next to Sunny. "You need help taking it down?"
Sunny shook his head. "No, I got it!" He grinned and pushed his weight against the bag until it started to roll. He used his hands to keep it rolling as he rolled it across the living room, through the dining room, into the kitchen, then turned and pushed it into the stairwell. It was difficult to get it moving again around the corner with the wall there, but as soon as Sunny got it to the first step, it rolled down the stairs on its own and bounced across to the doorway to the playroom. Sunny's tail wagged again as he chased it down and got it moving, pushing it through the empty room to park it next to his sewing machine before maneuvering it so the open side was up and starting to untie the knot. Once he got it untied, he darted across the room and put a movie on the TV to listen to before coming back to the bag.
"Let's see... what have we got in here today?" He started pulling out bits of fabric, sorting them out by pattern and color. Most of them were just scraps, the trimmings from bigger things being made, but there were also bolts with a yard or so of fabric on them, not enough to be turned into anything furniture-related at the factory where Dad worked, but more than enough for Sunny to work with.
"Hmm... this leather is pretty nice, and I bet there's enough here to make a vest..." He opened a drawer at the bottom of the sewing machine table and flipped through the patterns until he found the one he was looking for. He pulled out the flimsy tissue paper and started pinning it to the fake leather, having to pack it in pretty tight to get all the pieces out of the fabric. Then, he took out his sewing scissors and hummed to himself as he cut along the paper's edge, carefully laying each piece of cut fabric aside. He glanced around and picked a denim material to make the inside of the vest. He wondered how hard it would be to make the vest reversible. With that goal in mind, he took the pattern from earlier and cut the outside pieces again, instead of the inside pieces. He'd have to improvise, but he didn't think it would be too much of a problem.
After considering for a moment, he picked an ugly floral pattern and cut out the pieces for the inside of the vest. It would be covered anyway, so it didn't matter what that would look like. He threaded a bobbin with dark brown thread and started sewing the leather pieces to the floral pattern, inside-out so he could flip it. That done, he turned it over and sewed the denim inside-out to the other side of the floral pieces, then flipped the whole thing right-side-in and attached the last piece, denim sewn back-to-back with leather, along the bottom of the vest.
It took a few minutes to attach the zipper, since the vest was now so thick that the sewing machine was having trouble going through the fabric, but he eventually got it put on and stood back to admire the new vest draped over his chair. He flipped it inside-out and stepped back again. It looked good, really good. He tried it on; it was too small for him, but only just, and it gave him a good idea of the fit.
Sunny's tail wagged as he set the vest aside and packed the rest of the fabric back into the bag for later. He wanted to go show Shade the new vest he'd made him for his next concert, but it was nearly suppertime, and then it would be time for bed. He turned off the TV- the movie had been sitting on the menu for an hour anyway- and headed upstairs. He knew Shade would love it.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Butterfly: Thief's Honor

Butterfly looked around her room at the various piles of toys and sighed, shaking her head. It was starting to get cramped in here; it must be time for another giveback day.
She waited for Dad to leave- he got mad when she brought her wagon in the house- and then went out to the shed to get her wagon. The little red Radio Flyer was beaten up, dented, and had some of its paint peeling- it was Dad's from when he was a boy. Grandma had given it to Butterfly when she'd first been adopted.
It took Butterfly some doing to get the wagon up the stairs to the back porch- besides the one wheel that didn't turn quite right, it was heavy, and didn't want to roll up the stairs. She grunted with effort as she dragged it up anyway, smiling when it finally crested the last stair and rolled across the porch. It was easy to lift it over the door frame into the dining room- it was practically flush with the porch, after all.
Once she had the wagon inside, she paused in the kitchen and opened a drawer, pulling out the box of gallon-size baggies before crossing the kitchen and pushing a chair over to another drawer, from which she pulled a marker.
Her tail wagged gently as she tossed these things into the wagon and started dragging it down the hall to her room. She had the smallest room in the house, but she didn't mind- after all, she was the smallest person living there. The wagon resisted the sharp turn to get into her room, but after some wiggling, she got it through the door and grinned, parking it just inside.
Now for her favorite part. She grabbed a baggie out of the box and set it on the floor, grabbing the marker and plopping down to write on it- "Sunny." She recapped the marker and tossed it back into the wagon, then scooped up the bag and moved to the first pile of junk, plucking the first item out and sniffing it. "No, that's August." She set it aside in a new pile and grabbed the next object off the stack.
Slowly, she worked her way through all the stacks of items, sorting them by who they belonged to. Once she'd finished, she grabbed another bag, and wrote another name on it- "Coco"- and walked over to the stack of items she'd swiped from Coco over the past few months, starting to scoop them into the bag. After a moment's consideration, she went over to another pile, a very small one full of marbles, small stones, and, her proudest acquisition, a red bandanna, and added them to the same bag. She would let Coco return Scout's items to him. He was a cop, after all.
One by one, she labeled the baggies: Milo, August, Bino, King. Each baggie, she filled with items she'd stolen from each person. Never anything valuable, of course. That was her rule. One baggie was filled only with a handful of guitar picks, coiled-up strings, and about $6 in loose change. She giggled at it. Shade was so easy to steal from- probably because he never had anything worth stealing, though he did almost always have biscuits tucked away in his hoodie pocket. She'd never actually SEEN him eating one, now that she thought about it. She wondered if he carried them specifically for her to steal. It was possible; he was pretty weird.
She packed all the baggies into her wagon and stood to examine her room. The carpet was visible, and needed a good vacuuming; she would get to that later. Almost nothing was left in the room except a small pile in the corner that she examined sadly, putting her ears back before suddenly turning and pulling the wagon back out of her room and navigating it to the front door. It was easy to get it down the front steps; there was a ramp for when grandma visited, so she just took it down that way.
Butterfly hummed to herself as she dragged her wagon down the road, headed to the dog park. She grinned back at her precious cargo: Forgotten toys and goodies snagged from friends and enemies alike, who all likely thought they had simply lost them. She couldn't help her sticky fingers; a lifetime on the street pickpocketing people for food money was hard to forget, but she did try to make sure everything got back to whoever it belonged to.
She arrived in the dog park and walked around the edge of the tackleball field, watching for anybody she knew. After a few moments, she climbed up on a bench next to Shade, who looked over at her, then slowly lowered his sound-muffling headphones.
"Oh... morning, Butterfly. What's up?" He looked down at her wagon. "Oh... that's a lot of stuff."
She smiled and leaned down, digging through the bags until she found Shade's. She passed it to him with a little smile. "Well, I thought it was time to give it all back. I don't really NEED this stuff." She wiggled the wagon gently from her seat.
He stared at the bag of stuff she'd given him, then frowned at her wagon. "What's up with that wheel?"
She glanced down at the funky wheel. "Oh... it's been like that since Grandma gave it to me. This used to be Dad's wagon when he was a little boy, and I guess it's gone a little rusty since then. Old metal toys, you know how it is."
Shade frowned and slid down to the ground, crouching next to her wagon and looking underneath. "I think I can fix it, if you like. It looks like the wheel just got knocked off the axle."
Butterfly smiled down at the corgi as he crouched. "You know what, sure. I would appreciate that."
While Shade was messing with the wheel, people started to notice Butterfly there and wandered over to see if she had anything for them. Giveback days were fairly common, so almost everybody knew what it meant when Butterfly brought her wagon to the park. Within an hour or so, the wagon was empty again, and Shade smiled up at her. "All fixed. Good as new. Well... the wheel is." He looked over her wagon. "Looks like your dad really did a number on this as a kid."
"Oh, no, that was me. I used to take it up the hill and ride it back down. I bet it works better now." She wiggled the wagon, testing the wheel and watching it spin.
A golden retriever walked up to Shade and kissed his cheek, holding his hand. The matching metal bracelets on their arms clinked together quietly as Shade stood up. "Well... we have to go. Sunny's parents invited me over for dinner."
Butterfly giggled. "Have fun with that!" She munched on the biscuit she'd swiped from Shade. He patted his pocket, then chuckled, waving at her as he walked away.
She watched them go, then took her wagon and walked home with it, parking it outside the gate separating the front yard from the back before going inside and to her room, looking over at the remaining pile of stuff, stuff that would never find its way back to its true owner. "I miss you. I wish I had someone to snuggle." She smiled sadly at the pile, then perked her ears when Dad got home. She smelled a fresh puff of cigarette smoke as he entered, and she rushed out to greet him, excited to see him.
The lonely pile sat in Butterfly's room in the dark, momentarily forgotten.

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Summer: New Life

Summer yawned lazily and stretched out on the lawn of the Boarding House, staring up at the sky as a cloud shaped vaguely like an ice cream cone drifted over the sun. The adolescent golden lab put her hands behind her head and kicked one paw over the other as a breeze ruffled her short, wiry fur.
The Boarding House was called that only because “home for unwanted puppies” didn’t sound as good; if a dog had pups and her human didn’t want them, the Boarding House was where they were raised, unless someone came along who DID want them. It was nicer than the pound; there were no kennels or cages, and the pups were allowed to roam free. There were classes in the mornings; learning to read and write, and some basic math and history were all part of the curriculum, but in the afternoons and weekends, they were free to wander the yard, play with all the toys they had, and just enjoy life.
Of course, adult dogs weren’t allowed there, except the few that were employed by the humans to help keep an eye on the pups, so once they reached adulthood, unplaced pups were sent to the pound, but Summer was only ten. She had two years before that happened.
“Summer! Summer!” Barbas, Summer’s biological sibling and littermate, ran over to her from the direction of the boarding house. “Did you hear? Did you hear?! Someone made an appointment! This is my chance! I’m going to get out of here!”
Summer gave an unconcerned yawn, then sat up, brushing a few stray strands of grass out of her fur before looking over at Barbas. “Barbas, you do this every time an appointment shows up. You get all excited thinking they’re going to pick you, and then you get all depressed when they don’t. It’s been ten years. When will you learn?”
“No, it’s different this time! They specifically asked for a lab, retriever, or spaniel! That’s us! There’s only, like, six of those breeds total here!” Barbas bounced excitedly. “I’m gonna get a home of my own! I wonder what my humans will be like?”
Summer sighed and stood up, patting Barbas on the back. “Well… I wish you luck. I’m not even going to pack my go bag. I’ll just have to unpack it again anyway.”
Barbas snorted. “Well, don’t blame ME if they pick you and you have to leave all your stuff behind because you didn’t pack.” He stuck his tongue out at her, crossing his arms over his chest.
She snorted back. “I’ll tell you what. If that happens, you can have my stuff. I’ll just get the humans to buy me new stuff. And maybe a unicorn while they’re at it.”
He rolled his eyes. “I get it, you don’t think any human’s gonna want us. EXCUUUSE me for being optimistic.” He turned and started to walk away.
Summer sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “Barbas, wait. I’m just being realistic. Half of all appointments end with the human not picking any of us. I just don’t want to watch you be disappointed anymore.”
He grumbled. “I KNOW, Summer, I KNOW. Half don’t take ANY of us and most take the younger ones, and we have almost no chance of being picked at all and we’re probably going to end up in the pound when we get too old for the Boarding House. I know all that. I just think it’s better to be optimistic than to be angry at the world all the time.”
She grumbled at him for a moment, then sighed. “Come on, it’s lunchtime. Let’s go get some food. When’s this appointment, anyway?”
“Tonight, right before dinner. I think. Ms. Hannibal only said it was this afternoon.” He started following her toward the house. “Apparently, it’s a lovely couple looking for a second dog.”
She rolled her eyes. “See, they won’t want one of us. They’ll find some excuse why we’re not good enough for their other dog and will leave empty-handed.”
“Summer! Did you hear?!” A cocker spaniel ran up to Summer and grabbed her hands excitedly. “There’s a couple coming this afternoon! They’re looking for a new dog to take home!”
Summer rolled her eyes. “I heard, Macy. I heard. Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”
The cocker spaniel grinned at Summer, then tugged her hand. “Come on! Let’s go get lunch, and then after lunch we should all go pack our go bags in case we get picked!” She squealed excitedly and tugged Summer along with her to the dining room, with Barbas following close behind.
Summer walked down the lunch line, picking the chicken salad option before sitting with Macy and Barbas. “You know none of us are likely to get picked, right? You’re just getting your hopes up for nothing. Again.”
Macy pointed at Summer’s muzzle. “And YOU are being a bummer again.”
Summer grumbled and looked down at her food. “You’d think that with all those cooking classes Chef Maisy takes, the food would be GOOD.”
“Ah, there you three are.” Ms. Hannibal, the Boarding House’s headmaster, approached them. “You three are needed in the meet and greet room for an appointment at three o’clock. That gives you about two hours to finish your lunch and pack your go bags in case the appointment decides to take you home.”
Macy and Barbas nodded eagerly. “Yes, Ms. Hannibal.”
Summer gave a thumbs-up. “Whatever, I’ll be there.” She barely even looked up from her food.
As Ms. Hannibal walked away, Macy scowled at Summer. “You’ve been here too long. You’ve gotten pessimistic.”
“I prefer to call it realistic.” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, guys, we’ve been through how many hundreds of meet and greets? And you STILL get your hopes up every time, and you STILL get disappointed, every time.”
Barbas patted Summer’s arm. “You’re just still upset over the last one. You ALMOST got picked, and then they changed their minds at the last minute.”
She huffed crankily. “Whatever. Just finish your food and let’s go. I’ll help you pack your go bag. And then I’ll help you unpack it later.”
Macy rolled her eyes. “Don’t do us any favors, huh? Come on, let’s go.” She took her empty tray and put it on the stack, turning to wave for Summer and Barbas to follow.
Summer grumbled and followed her, with Barbas on her tail, going to the dorms and sitting on her bunk, facing Barbas’s bunk next to hers and helping him pack his stuff for what must have been the millionth time. “Hey. If this appointment doesn’t go your way, promise me you won’t make me crawl under the bushes to your little hideout to find you again?”
Barbas frowned. “Why are you so sure it’s not going to go our way? Don’t you want to have a home?”
“Of COURSE I want a home, Barbas.” Summer sighed. “But I’m just being realistic. I’m tired of having my heart broken. So from now on, I’m not getting my hopes up every time. If it happens, it happens, but I’m done packing and unpacking every couple days, and I’m done putting on an act hoping to make some humans fall in love with me. If I get picked, cool, but I’m not counting on it anymore.”
Macy walked over and plopped her go bag on Summer’s bed, sitting down next to her. “You’re DEFINITELY still sour that the last group picked Tyson at the last minute instead of you. Ready to go? We can head down to the meet and greet room a little early and get settled while we wait. Maybe they’ll be early.” Her tail wagged eagerly. “Maybe they’ll pick me!”
Summer sighed. “Whatever. Maybe. Let’s just go.” She stood up and waved to Barbas. “Come on, Barbas, that’s everything you have. Let’s go.”
Barbas scooped up his bag and trotted after Summer, nudging his sister playfully. “Maybe it’ll be YOUR turn to go home, and then you’ll feel bad because you didn’t pack your bag.”
Summer rolled her eyes and ignored the gauntlet of other pups lined up to say goodbye and wish them luck. She was just going to see them again in a couple hours, so what was the point?
Ms. Hannibal met them at the door to the meet and greet room with a smile. “Everybody here? Good. It’s gonna be just the three of you this time. Put your bags in your cubbies and head on in. They’ll be here soon.” She watched Barbas and Macy place their bags in the slots with their names on them, then frowned when Summer just turned to go into the meet and greet room. “Summer? Don’t you have a bag? What if you’re picked? You won’t have time to go pack your stuff…”
Summer rolled her eyes. “Ms. Hannibal, I don’t have time to pack and unpack my bag every time we have a visit. The odds they’ll pick me are so low, I just don’t care anymore. What do I even have, anyway? A toothbrush? A couple of CDs? A chew toy?” She gestured at Barbas’s bag next to her. “It’s just a tee tote full of random stuff, probably costs almost nothing to replace all of it. I just… don’t care.”
Summer walked into the meet and greet room and sighed, watching Barbas and Macy already sitting at the little table and starting to deal out playing cards, keeping up the usual act like they were calm and well-behaved pups. After a moment, she snorted, stomped her paw, and walked across the room to the basketball hoop, snatching up a basketball and starting to throw hoops by herself. She didn’t care if nobody wanted an active dog; she wasn’t going to pretend to be boring just to try to get taken to a home.
It was almost half an hour before Summer noticed a lovely human couple sitting at the table with Barbas and Macy, and smiled a little to herself. Good, they would pick one of them instead of her. They deserved it, after all. She scooped up her ball and resumed dribbling it back down the half-court to the basket, tossing it up in the air and missing the basket. It bounced off the backboard and started to bounce away.
When the ball abruptly stopped bouncing, Summer paused and flicked her ears. She turned around to see the man smiling at her, holding her ball. “Here.” He bounced it back to her, then turned as the woman approached.
“And what’s your name, sweetie?” She smiled kindly at Summer, and Summer frowned at her, holding the ball under her arm, propped against her hip.
“Summer.” She stared at the humans. She’d been through this too many times to feel awkward watching the humans look her over, trying to gauge what she was like just based on her appearance.
The man smiled a little. “You don’t wanna go play games with the others? They have a pretty good game of slapjack going.”
Summer rolled her eyes. “They’re just pretending to be calm and quiet because it’s more likely to get them adopted. I don’t care anymore. I’m not getting out of this place until they send me to the pound. Nobody’s going to want an almost-grown dog with an attitude problem, so why even bother trying?”
She turned her back and threw the ball at the basket, missing the glance the two made at each other behind her back. After a moment, the woman spoke again. “Well, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself anyway? What do you like to do for fun?”
Summer shrugged. “I don’t know. Watch movies? Run around? Play games? Sports are fun. I like sports.” She picked up the ball and bounced it a few times before letting it bounce away, looking up at the couple. “Why are you even bothering with me? We all know I’m not the one you want. Go pick Barbas. He’s my brother, and he’s a lot more calm than I am. He’s a good one.” She gestured over to Barbas and Macy, still sitting at the table and pretending to play cards while they watched.
The man chuckled and turned toward the woman. “I like this one. She’s tenacious.”
Summer rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She turned and walked away. When she glanced back, she saw the humans leaving the room. It seemed like they had either chosen, or needed a moment to deliberate. She scoffed and picked up the basketball again, dribbling it back toward the basket.
After a few moments, Ms. Hannibal came into the room and looked around for a moment before calling out to Summer. “Summer! Summer, can you step out into the hallway with me, please?”
Summer flinched. Of COURSE Ms. Hannibal wanted to talk to her. Maybe the couple had told her how rude she’d been by walking away from them. She let the basketball bounce away a moment, then turned and walked toward Ms. Hannibal. Ms. Hannibal smiled and put her hand on Summer’s back, leading her out into the hallway.
The couple was standing there, right outside the door, and smiling. A chill ran up Summer’s spine, and she glanced up at Ms. Hannibal, waiting for her to insist she apologize for being rude.
Instead, Ms. Hannibal smiled down at Summer. “Summer, these people have offered to take you home with them. Would you like that?”
Summer’s ears perked, and she looked at the couple with a frown. “Wait… you want ME? Why?” After a moment, she realized that sounded accusatory, and corrected herself. “Surely, I can’t be the BEST option.”
The man cleared his throat. “Actually… you’re just what we’ve been looking for. Feisty, but knows the limits. We’d be honored for you to come home with us.”
Summer hesitated, glancing through the window, where she could see Barbas and Macy peeking out of the meet and greet room at her. “I… um… I guess I could come with you…” Her heart started to race. It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten this far; the last time she’d been called for a meet and greet, she’d been just about to leave with the couple before they changed their minds.
“Excellent! I’ll get the paperwork in order, it shouldn’t take five minutes. Why don’t you wait here, Summer? You can say goodbye to your brother and friend.” Ms. Hannibal smiled, clapping her hands together once and clasping them together, leading the couple away.
Summer frowned and hesitantly went back into the meet and greet room. It felt strange to think she was leaving; she almost didn’t believe it was real.
“What happened? Were they angry?” Barbas pressed in. “You WERE being pretty rude.”
“I… I think…” Summer blinked, feeling a little shell-shocked. “They… they asked me to come home with them. They’re just… doing paperwork.”
Barbas’s tail wagged excitedly. “They picked you?! You’re getting a home?!” He hugged into her excitedly, then hesitated and pulled back. “I… guess that means I’m not going to see you again.” He frowned.
Summer pulled him back into the hug. “I guess not. Um… I said you could have my stuff if I got picked, so… I guess it’s yours now.” She closed her eyes, smiling sadly as Macy joined in the hug. “Say goodbye to everybody for me, okay? I’m gonna miss you. Oh, and Barbas? Don’t let the smaller dogs bully you. I won’t be here to save you anymore.”
The door opened, and Ms. Hannibal cleared her throat. “Summer? They’re ready for you.”
Summer turned and walked out the door, pausing to offer her hand to Ms. Hannibal. “Thank you for letting me stay here. Take care of Barbas for me? Make sure he gets a good home before the pound takes him?”
Ms. Hannibal smiled and shook Summer’s hand. “It’s a promise.” She gestured toward the door at the end of the hallway, the door every dog in the Boarding House dreamed of using. The exit door. The lovely couple- Summer’s new parents, she supposed- were waiting for her there. She put her ears back nervously and stepped forward, walking toward them. It was bittersweet- she was getting a home, but she was leaving everything she knew behind. Mom opened the door for her, letting in some bright sunshine, and Summer stepped out into her new life.