Kat5

This was recommended to me by a friend in Second Life and I binged it on breaks here and there at work and such. And OH WOW did reading this mess me up. You did great with it, but this has killed my headspace. (... with a kn... no, it's too dark. I never do dark jokes, this messed me up) Excellent work, I will be reading more of your stories. But maybe after a bit of time so that I can get more of my stories written in a cheerful and not at all dark way.

Oh no! I really liked Nancy! Bad Nancy!

I'm sorry that you've had a bad day! If it helps at all, knowing that I was able to bring you a smile has also turned my rough day around. As a bonus, I wasn't bitten! And don't worry, dinner will be mentioned. (If a wolf gets bitten by a human, does it turn into a were human? ... would it just stress about bills and eat cheetoes during the full moon?)

The best part is that BabyGamerBoy helped me name Argo! And by helped, I mean did the naming part after I copy/pasted that part from my notes back in ... geeze, it was January. I don't even know if I plan ahead well or not, I just try to keep this moving in the direction from plot point to plot point.

By the way, I'm starting to read some of your stories, thanks for writing and sharing them!

Chapter Thirty Eight Rubbing his eyes as he woke up again, this time he was on the folded up comforter on the floor propped up against Xerxes. Still a good way to wake up. Not as great as earlier. But still two of his top three since coming here, and both in one morning. Patting Xerxes for a bit, John stretched again and rolled over to stand up. When he was able to stand up at all, he realized that was in a rough pup and not the overnight diaper he couldn’t stand up in. And somewhere along the way he had been dressed in a onesie and some shorts. Looking groggily around the house, he noticed that the door to the back porch was open, but the child gate was closed. Mom was nowhere to be found inside. So he toddled over to the child gate to peek out onto the porch. He spotted her on the chair nearest the door. “Mom?” he asked as sweetly as he could managed. He probably succeeded better because he was half awake. With the tell tale clink of a cup of coffee being put down he could watch her stand up and turn around with a smile. “There’s my little sleepy head! Would you like to join me for some coffee milk?” There it was, she was fully awake in the morning. He simply nodded, and Mom immediately reached down over the gate and got him around the ribs and hoisted him up onto her hip before opening the gate and walking over to the fridge to pull out a bottle of coffee milk that she’d already had ready. Within moments they were back outside and she was back in the chair and shuffled him around so that he was sideways on her and leaning back semi comfortably on the arm of the chair and her left upper arm. Complaining about not getting to sit in a chair on his own would have to wait, addiction to Mommy’s milk and coffee was more urgent as the bottle was turned up. Five minutes later he was sitting on her lap feeling a bit giggly. The milk was starting to hit him a bit harder lately for some reason. As he finished the milk, he noticed Mommy was looking at him a big different, which made him giggle some more. And when she tilted him over her shoulder and patted him firmly on the back he asked “Hey *pat* what *pat* are *pat* yo…” and then he involuntarily issued out a long burp that left him giggling even harder still. Smiling down at him, Mommy asked “Hey, do you want to help me pick and wipe off a few more tomatoes, or would you like to go play or read?” For the first time he didn’t just answer that he wanted to go help, he had to think about it for a moment in his current mental state. He still said “Yes please.” “John … yes to what?” He answered “Oh! To helping.” and he started worming his way off of her lap. She didn’t immediately let him down, but she after a moment she put the coffee cup and bottle down, got him under the arms and turned him right side up before depositing him on the porch. The instant his feet hit the porch he made to bolt into the yard, but he was foiled as mommy grabbed the back of his shorts and pulled him backwards. “And where do you think you’re going, young man?” He turned to look up somewhat indignantly and explained “Yard.” “Shoes.” was all she said. “Don’t need em.” “Shoes.” “… Yes Ma’am.” With a nod, she stood up and went inside, carrying the bottle and the cup with her. Left alone he scooted closer to the edge of the porch. Every fiber of him screaming to jump off the porch and run into the yard. Oh it was so tempting. It was maybe his entire height from him to the ground. He could roll as he landed. It would be like in a movie. As he started to instinctively lean toward the edge, Mommy came outside with a pair of socks and pointed below him. “Park your booty.” With a sigh at the lost opportunity to dive and roll, he sat down on the edge of the porch. He couldn’t stop from swinging his feet while he waited for her and then she had to grab one of his feet to put a sock and shoe onto it before pinning the other one. She looked at her watch and said “Okay, you’ve got about twenty minutes to pick tomatoes. The little scissors and a towel are in your wagon.” He looked a bit confused as he asked “What happens in twenty minutes” She just stood him up and gave him a couple of pats on the bottom as she dodged the question “You’ll see. Just go be happy in the meantime.” He just shrugged and set off with his wagon. Oddly, instead of joining him, she stayed by the porch. When he turned to look back she was sitting on the porch with a towel wiping off vegetables and seemed to just be preparing for something. And she was conveniently seated where she had a perfect view of where he was going to be the entire time. Whatever, Mommy was being weird. So he started looking through the vines to see if any tomatoes that weren’t ready yesterday were ready today. And much to his surprise there were a couple of dozen that felt about right. One of them was shaped super wide like a UFO. So that set him back to giggling and making sound effects as it went into the wagon. After just enough time for him to make a quick inspection of the entire row his insides went from nothing to panic, like flipping a switch. He was so alarmed as the urge hit him like a freight train that he turned to look at Mommy and she was there looking at her watch and then looked up at him. John wanted to run. To plead to make it to the potty. He wanted … anything other than… There wasn’t even enough time to want anything else, his arms went around his belly and he doubled over. There was no stopping it, and it was completely demoralizing. Within seconds of the urge hitting him he was panting as warm liquid mush filled the back of his diaper, spreading out to fill every nook and cranny available, and then somehow finding or making more space. Holding the side of the wagon, he steadied himself as a little more somehow came out of him. The sound of footsteps in the grass coming toward him was faint in what little attention he had to spare, but he looked up to see Mommy smiling down at him. She held out her hand and asked “Would you like to walk, or do you want me to carry you?” The answer was obvious “Please carry me, Mommy.” She just nodded as she reached down and lifted him up, sliding her arm under him and lowering him onto her left forearm. He grimaced as all of his weight landed on that arm butt first. His shoes were pulled off and deposited on the porch as they got to the steps, and he felt her pause to step out of her shoes at the top of the steps before carrying him in. He barely registered the child gate swinging shut in his peripheral vision as they went through the living room to his bedroom. And so for the first time that he was awake for today, he was on the changing table with his shorts being pulled off and the weird puzzle snaps on his onesie being undone. Before she laid him down she held out her arms in the silent offer of a hug. He reached out in return and was immediately wrapped up in a warm, comforting, hug. She gave him a big kiss on the forehead before laying him down and getting to work. “I don’t understand” was all he could really vocalize. “What don’t you understand, sweety?” “Why did … it was just …” He was breathing fast again, it was freaking him out a little. “Twenty four minutes after you finished the coffee milk, you went off. I timed it last time, and this time you made it the exact same, down to the minute. Although…” She looked at what she was cleaning up “This time you may have gone for a record.” “So this really was the coffee milk?” She just nodded while she scrubbed him diligently. “Yes.” “I don’t want to have to give up coffee.” She stopped wiping and rolled up the used diaper to deposit into the waste bin in the changing table. “Lift.” As he raised booty, she slid a clean diaper underneath him and patted him on the hip and said “Down.” He flopped back down and as she set back about powdering him and taping him back up she explained “You don’t have to give up coffee. And every so often most littles get constipated from time to time and need an enema or a suppository. So at least it doesn’t look like you’ll be having that problem!” He shuddered as she said two of those words and she re-snapped his onesie before standing him back up. Instead of putting him down she picked him up in a big hug and held him to her chest with her cheek pressed against his. She whispered “It’s okay. I love you.” Hearing those words gave him butterflies in his stomach. (Thankfully just butterflies this time!) Carrying him to the living room, still minus the shorts, she stood him up on the couch and ruffled his hair before asking “Okay, what would you like to do for a couple of hours?” Without hesitation this time, he answered “May I play on my tablet?” Not only did Mommy say “Absolutely!” but she handed it to him and went to fix him a sippy cup of water. A few minutes later, John found himself leaning back against Xerxes, a blanket over him and the dog keeping him nice and warm. Staring at the tablet he was having a little bit of trouble focusing, but he found a neat little puzzle game that involved spinning discs to make a ball have a path to get out from the middle of the puzzle to the outside of the puzzle. It was sort of like a round labyrinth puzzle, but every layer had to be turned. It was simple and neat. And for some reason, every time the ball rolled along he had another little giggle fit. Without realizing it, his giggle fits were starting to subside as he wound down from his milk high. And he started to focus more on the puzzles and make more progress as he went. With all of the windows open, it was easy to hear a truck coming down the driveway. As if prepared, Mom came in and turned on the coffee maker. John thought about hopping up immediately but wanted to at least finish this last puzzle first. About the same time that he finished his puzzle, there were footsteps on the porch. So getting up, Xerxes stood up behind him and did a full body shake while he put the tablet back on the coffee table where Mom kept it. John walked over to the door as Mom showed Mr Mike into the house. The man had to duck a little to step through a thirteen foot tall door frame. Mr Mike smiled as he greeted Mom and held out a large (to John) container, cleaned and ready to return. On top of the container was a little cardboard box. “What’s this?” she asked him. With a coy smile he said “Well. I guess you’ll have to open it so that we can find out!” Immediately Mom sat the container on the counter and opened the box to find what looked to John to be a large handmade mug. To everyone else around here it was just a normal sized mug. The cool thing about the mug was that there was a stream painted all the way around it, and the handle was somehow shaped like a tree limb and painted accordingly. Mom immediately stepped up to give him a big hug and a thank you. “Mike! This is gorgeous!” With a great big smile he nodded “Well, I’m glad that you like it! I know someone that teaches pottery and I called in a favor.” Practically bouncing with excitement she held it from a couple of different angles now and complimented “Usually cups half this pretty are uncomfortable to hold. This is very good work!” Mike held up a hand and said “One more thing. John, could you turn around for just a moment?” With a nonchalant shrug, John turned around to look at Xerxes, who was standing behind him with a big happy dog grin on his face as his tail whipped back and forth. John felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see a grinning giant man with one arm behind his back. Chuckling, Mike explained "You know John, your Mom's not the only on that gets a present. I searched the entire store and this was the only thing I could find that seemed appropriate for you." And without further ado, his left arm came around and John was presented with ... a stuffie. But this wasn't any stuffie. This stuffie looked like it was meant to be some sort of a lizard, a lizard that was then over filled to make it seem more welcoming. It looked ridiculous. It looked like someone started with a poorly drawn Godzilla that they then colored like an iguana. It was the size of his entire torso, and had legs that bent awkwardly in much the same way that a Vienna Sausage doesn't. Reaching out silently, seemingly mesmerized by the unfathomably awkward appearance of this large stuffie, he grabbed it and squeezed it. It felt like a giant mutated marshmallow. And all of it was somehow eclipsed by the eyes. Those outlandish eyes. The two glassy eyes staring back at him were a small landscape of jade and caramel colored swirls that had a small black disc in them. The most elaborate googly eyes in either dimension were on this ... John was at a loss for words. He found himself so lost in his search for words that he started with a little laugh. Then the laugh started to grow more and more until he could hardly breath for the laughter. John, and his entire history of being able to react on the fly and make up anything on a whim were defeated by this stuffie. The single squishy embodiment of the word "Derp." Standing there laughing so hard he was crying for easily two solid minutes, it took a while to regain any semblance of composure. The giggles he’d had since the milk this morning were more than back. It took longer than he realized that the two bigs were kneeling down next to him and that Mommy had a hand behind him trying to hold him up while he had a full on laugh attack. Eventually catching his breath he wiped at his eyes. “Hahaha… oh my … Mister M… Hahaha Mist… Mister Mike he … hahhh I’m okay … I can breathe …” The two bigs both seemed almost as amused by his reaction as he did by the … derp…. Derpasaur … Interrupting his train of though, Mommy asked “Do you like him?” Exclaiming “Are you kidding!? Look at him! He’s glorious! And Derpy. Derp…. Us … no …” It was impossible to notice that the two bigs over him nodded at each other as he mulled over names. Mumbling to himself, John tried “Derp … derpus? M… no … Godzi… no … Derpzi… no, too eas… Argo!...Hahahaha. Oh, Oh, this is great!” Mr Mike ruffled his hair and asked “Did you name him already?” “Yup!” John exclaimed proudly. “What did you name him?” Mommy asked from behind him. “Argo McDerpus!” “…”

You are absolutely right! I'll start sewing up Steve the Squirrel a little messenger bag and a little mail cap!

Oh my heart! So do we just say it in here "Hey, I would love to read this one" or like DM you? Do I write it on a balloon in sharpie and mail the balloon to you with a note that says "inflate me to find out"? How does this work, and can it involve wildlife somehow?

I know it's mostly the fuzzy brain but ... That's a truism if ever one was typed!

I mean, we've already got proof that Xerxes is possessive of his little. But he also knows Victor and is doggy friends with him, so Victor has that going for him.

He'd be quite the salesman, just by virtue of being a little riding a dog around and inviting people to the stall!

Fun side note: we had a bad storm and the power went out. So instead of posting something messily edited and poorly done I had to cut a few paragraphs while my laptop battery and phone Hotspot lasted. On the upside, this turned out to be a pretty good point to pivot between plot points. Power will be back on and I'll get back to fixing my writing nonsense!

Chapter Thirty Seven Amanda woke at 5:30, reaching out to smack her alarm the moment it went off. It hadn’t woken up her son at any point before, but somehow it being extra early made it seem even worse if he was woken up by it. Getting out of bed and getting dressed was a quiet and slow affair. Considering herself a morning person was one thing. Getting up early enough to meet Mr Frank was another thing entirely. In fact, she was convinced that he was one of those old men that wakes up at 4am somehow magically having a coffee cup in his hand and talking, at length, about the weather. He then took a nap shortly after noon, and then woke up with coffee in his hands and staring at every meteorological chart he could find. Mr Frank was a retired weatherman, and apparently his sleep schedule reflected that. So with a deep sigh, she shuffled to the coffee maker and got a pot going, making sure to fill it all the way so that she could top off his thermos when he came by. Stopping to splash a bit of cold water from the sink in her face, she got a big glass of ice water to sip on while she waited for the coffee. Of course Xerxes knows the routine and was already waiting by the door to be let out. Fixing a cup of coffee, she barely had the back door open before Xerxes was out of it, whining. Pausing only to turn the porch light on, Amanda stepped into her garden boots and walked over to the gate facing the driveway. As she got closer, a whining Xerxes was standing there trotting in place doing his own version of the potty dance. Opening the gate for him, she instructed “Go find your perfect potty spot.” And he was gone into the field between the driveway and the woods, smelling around and looking for the exact spot he wanted to relieve himself this morning. Silly dog. Amanda took a moment to stretch a bit and mentally wake up enough to finish harvesting the last of what she needed to have ready in a couple of hours. She got a bucket and a foam kneeling board and got to it. It seemed a bit more boring without her gardening little to entertain her, and Xerxes laid down in the walkway to watch her. But she got the rest of it done in time just like always. By 7am all of the buckets were lined up by the fence, and the milk crates of jars were on the porch. When she heard the sound of tires on gravel, she walked to the gate to see a well kept older truck coming down the driveway. Behind the wheel there was an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair, and in the passenger seat there was a large Brown Shepard dog with its head out the window. As the truck pulled up close to the fence, she watched him lean and open the passenger and could head “Go on” before watching Victor jump out of the truck and run over. She got to pet the large dog for about five seconds before Xerxes ran up to him. As dogs do, they spent a moment smelling each other, and then ran off into the field to sprint back and forth, occasionally barking at Steve the squirrel. Every so often they would see a bird to go bark at. As the two dogs ran off, Mr Frank walked up and held out his hand. “Good morning Miss Taylor.” “Mister Tempes, we have been doing this for two and a half years. And every time I tell you to call me Amanda.” He laughed “And every time I tell you that I will call you by your last name when I greet you.” They shared a chuckle for a moment before he spoke first. “Amanda, you look pretty happy this morning. What’s going on these days?” Now she couldn’t help but smile “Well Frank, last week I found a little and it’s been a pretty amazing experience.” While they loaded buckets and plastic crates into the back of the truck together, and she filled his thermos as a courtesy, Amanda recalled her experience with finding John, and everything they had been through together. By the time they were done loading everything, Mr Frank nodded “Huh. Go figure that there would be a rift up the way. I’m glad that you were there for him. Sounds like I’d like to meet him some time!” She waited patiently as Mr Frank went to the glove box of his truck and came back with an envelope. “Here’s your half from the last two weeks. You know all your tomatoes, pickles, and peppers will be gone by noon, right?” That made her smile “I’m glad that people enjoy them. That makes this a hobby that pays for itself, plus enough to pay the utilities.” With a nod Mr Frank advised her “We have about a month and a half left of prime growing season. This weather today is going to be the best we’ll see for a while though. Cold front coming through is going to stay for a week, so if you plan to open all your windows and let the breeze through, do it today.” Laughing now, Amanda admitted “I guess I’ll need to make sure John is wearing long pants and a shirt when he goes outside next week. Getting him to wear shoes is harder than I want to admit, though. Speaking of, it’s almost time to wake him up.” Holding out his hand to shake her own, Mr Frank said “I have to go get the stall set up anyway.” Taking his hand with a laugh, she admitted “There’s no way I’d go back to doing all of that and selling to so many people.” As he corralled Victor back into the truck he mentioned “But you know that’s how we met and made out arrangement, so it worked out well in the end. As Mr Frank was getting back into his truck, she looked through the window and mentioned “Oh, and my son loves animals, so you have to bring Victor back some time. The thought of him seeing a dog bigger than Xerxes is pretty amusing.” As she watched Me Frank head back down the driveway, she stopped to think out loud “I should ask him for advice about adding a green house when I expand the fence. With that, she turned and closed the gate behind her on the way into the house. Stopping in the doorway to her sons room to yawn, she caught sight of him through the mesh wall. Bottom up on the pillow like usual. It was always adorable to see. Not bothering to lower the side this morning, she reached up and popped the middle open, Pausing to check his diaper, the found it to be well used. So without waking him up she shuffled him gently over to the changing table. He just laid there completely limp as she set about changing his diaper. She had to be a quick when his little friend started to stir in his sleep, but she had him in a clean diaper in a minute and back up onto her shoulder. Whispering, she asked “Hey baby, you awake?” The response she got back was just him groaning and somehow she could almost make out the word ‘sleep’ “You know what. I agree.” So with that she went to the living room, paused to open one of the windows with her free hand, and made her way to the couch. Laying back down on the couch and getting the blanket over the two of them with one hand was interesting to say the least. As last she was laying down on the couch with her sleeping little on her chest and belly with a blanket over the two of them. She laid there idly stroking his hair as he slipped back off to dream land. Closing her eyes for a quick nap, she decided that just this once him getting a little extra sleep time in the morning was a nice trade off for extra cuddles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ John woke up and stretched his arms and legs out in all directions before flopping back onto his pillow. His pillow was particularly warm this morning. And soft. Moving his head side to side, he opened his eyes to realize what he was using as a pillow. Realizing what it was didn’t stop him from flopping his head back onto the breast. But it did make it feel a bit awkward to doze back off. Hearing her heart beat against his right ear helped a lot as he drifted back off for a bit, barely registering that with a large arm over him he couldn’t have slid off or wormed his way out of her snuggle even if he had wanted to. But he did fall asleep to a dream about drinking milk in bed. Which was a bit weird, even for him.

I feel like Kathy is getting exactly what she wanted in the end. She's getting adopted and shoved just a little bit further down into the system, and that much less likely to ever get her passport.

Well now I have to go watch Spy X Family