Bonnie's New Home

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie looks confused. "How can it get cold here? Florida is a tropic state. Which means it is warm here." She frowns. "If there is no snow on the ground. Then we can make a snowman."

Jayme shakes her head. "No,but wecan make a sand witch."

Bonnie looks at Jayme. "How do you make a sand witch?"

Jayme looks at Bonnie. "It is simple. You take two pieces of bread. You add meat,cheese and anything else you want on it and eat it."

Bonnie sets there for a moment thinking. She starts to giggle. "Oh I get it. A sandwich like something you eat for lunch. That is funny."

Jayme giggles. "Yes. I was being funny."

Bonnie and Jayme nods. "Yes Mommy. We are done eating our breakfast."

[robehouse]

"Florida does get down to 32 degrees, which is the temperature water freezes at, or below that sometimes. Some years are colder than others. We won't get as cold as New york or Alaska though."

Tracy smiles as Jayme and Bonnie talk about sand witches.

"Okay, I guess we will get going then."

Tracy picks Jayme up and moves her over to her wheelchair. She then comes over to Bonnie's highchair and lets her out."

Tracy puts the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and starts it.

"I will go round up the girls in the playroom. Why don't you go to the living room and tell the girls in there that we are getting ready to go."

[baby_snow_white]

Bonnie looks at Tracy. "I thought water froze at zero." She laughs. "Oh course it is colder in Alaska. Polar Bears and Penguins live there. So it has to be cold there. They live in cold areas." Bonnie nods. "Ok mommy." She runs off to the living room. "Mommy said we are getting ready to go to Gatorland."

Jayme looks at Tracy after Bonnie leaves. "Do you think a dress is ok to wear with a diaper? I don't want people to see my diaper. I know you told me to pick out what I wanted to wear because it was what we was going to wear to Gatorland."

[robehouse]

"All the girls are wearing dresses. They don't really care if their diapers show though. Tell you what. I will run upstairs and get you a pair of sweat pants to wear under your dress. If I let you wear overalls or something, then the girls would want to change as well. We don't have time for everyone to change. Why don't you go wait for me in the downstairs bedroom?"

Tracy walks upstairs and goes down to the playroom. "Girls, we are getting ready to go to Gatorland. I want you to go downstairs now to the living room please."

Tracy goes to Jayme's bedroom and gets a pair of her sweat pants. She brings it back downstairs and goes to the bedroom. She moves Jayme over to the bed and slides the sweatpants on Jayme under her dress. She moves Jayme back to the wheelchair.

"There we go. Why don't you join the rest of the girls in the living room? I need to get my purse, car keys and diaper bag from upstairs."

[baby_snow_white]

Jayme nods. "Yeah I know they are. I guess I'm just being paranoid about people seeing my diaper. This is my first trip out of the house as a little girl and maybe I'm being paranoid about it. Ok I'll go wait for you in the bedroom."

The girls look at Tracy. "Mommy, can we take our stuffed animals with us? We are a little scared to see the gators and the other reptiles at Gatorland."

Jayme nods. "Ok mommy." She rolls herself out of the bedroom and goes into the living room to wait on Tracy and the rest of the girls to come downstairs.

[robehouse]

"That's understandable. You are still getting used to wearing diapers, and are still not used to being seen in them. You may never get used to it. It's alright."

"Of course it will be alright to take your stuffed animals. Just be careful not to lose them. Go ahead and take Molly and the other stuffed animals as well as your own downstairs."

Tracy walks over to her room and gets her purse and car keys. She picks up the diaper bag and goes back to the nursery. She fills the diaper bag with diapers, wipes and baby powder.

"Okay girls, let's get going." Tracy follows the girls downstairs to the living room.

[baby_snow_white]

The girls nod and grab their stuffed animals from their cribs. They go downstairs with them in their arms. The girls waits by the door for Tracy to get downstairs. Bonnie turns off the TV and the girls that was watching TV gets up and walks to the door. Jayme rolls over to them. "Get along little doggies." The girls started to pant and bark like dogs. Jayme shakes her head and laughs. "It looks like mommy is going to have to get 8 collars and leashes. We can't let you dogs run around without being on leashes." The girls starts to giggle at what Jayme says.

[robehouse]

Tracy walks downstairs carrying the diaper bag and her purse. She hears what Jayme says and smiles.

"Maybe I should stop by the pet store after we go to Gatorland and pick up some collars and leashes then?"

Tracy herds everyone out the door. She locks the front door of the house and goes out to the car. Tracy opens the door and puts everyone in their car seats and straps them in. She puts Jayme in last and fastens her seatbelt.

Tracy gets in the car and puts the diaper bag on the seat next to her. She starts the car and drives to Gatorland. As she enters the parking lot, Tracy points to the large gator head that you have to walk through to go into the attraction.

"Look at that big alligator head, girls. We have to walk through it to go inside."

[baby_snow_white]

The girls turned and looks at Tracy and growl like dogs. Jayme starts to laugh. "I don't think your little puppies like the idea of wearing collars and walking on leashes." She follows the girls and Tracy out of the house. Jayme waits her turn at being put into the car. The girls get out of the car when Tracy unbuckles them. They look up at the giant alligator's head. The girls except for Bonnie back up against the car.

Bonnie looks at the girls. "Molly said there is no need in being scared. There is a little bit of her in each of your stuffed animals and you all know how brave she is. So that makes your stuffed animals brave like Molly. Molly said your stuffed animals and her will protect you for being scared."

Jayme starts to draw a picture while Bonnie is giving the other girls' Molly's peptalk. After she finishes. Jayme hands the picture to Tracy. It showed Molly as a superhero standing on top of an alligator and it was hogtied. Standing on either side of Molly was the other girls' stuffed animals as superheroes. The banner says the League of Super Stuffed Animals saves the day again.

[robehouse]

Tracy sees the girls back up against the car. she hears Bonnie talk to them and then sees the picture that Jayme drew. she shows the picture to the girls.

"See, you don't have to worry."

"That Alligator mouth isn't real. It is just made out of concrete. It won't hurt you. I want you to walk with your buddy into the building. I will go in first and you girls follow me. Jayme, You take up the rear."

Tracy leads the girls into the building walking carefully through the mouth of the alligator. She watches the girls walk slowly behind her and scoot inside when they reach the door. Tracy goes over to the counter and pays for everyone. Since the girls were toddlers they got in for half price.

Tracy led the girls and Jayme through the doors on the other side where the exhibitions were. She sees a sign that says that the Gator Jumparoo show will start in about twenty minutes. She leads the girls into another building nearby. There are several exhibits of reptiles. One of them has a large white alligator in a glass box. there are cases with small lizards and snakes against the walls. Tracy leads the girls around the room.

[baby_snow_white]

The girls look at the picture. "Who is the League of Super Stuffed Animals?"

Jayme looks at the girls. The League of Super Stuffed Animals is a group of stuffed animals that when their owners feel scared or afraid. They appear to protect their owners from whatever is scaring them."

Bonnie looks at Jayme. "That looks like Molly standing on the Alligator that is tied up." She looks at Molly and then smiles. "Oh I see. Well your secret is safe with me. Oh they are? Well that is cool. No I don't tell them. What is the use in having secert identity if everyone knows who you are?"

April looks at Tracy. "Well it looks real to me. Do Alligators go to the dentist if they get toothache? With teeth that big. That would be a big toothache.

Mary looks at Tracy. "Mommy, why is that alligator white? I thought alligators was green."

Jayme looks at Mary. "You are right alligators are green,but this one saw Chief Osecola and it scared him so bad he lose all his color and was scared white." She starts to laugh. "Really I don't know how it is white."

Emily points at one of the small lizards. I saw one of them yesterday in the backyard. It was laying in the sun. It much have been trying to get a tan."

Jayme nods. "Yes small lizards are common around here. You probably will see alot of them around the house." She shakes her head. "No Emily. It wasn't working on it's tan. It was warming it's body. Reptiles are cold blooded and they need to lay out in the sun to warm up it's body."

Bonnie looks at Jayme. "Jayme, if they get cold. Why can't they wear a sweater or warm clothes? That is what we do when we get cold."

Jayme thinks for a minute. "Well Bonnie. They don't have sweaters or warm clothes. Clothes don't come that small for them to wear. So they have to warm their body in the sun." All the girls stopped looking at the lizards in the case and gather around Jayme to listen to her talk about reptiles.

[robehouse]

"White alligators are albino's. that means they don't have the pigment in their skin like a normal alligator."

Once they are done looking at the exhibit, tracy leads the girls to a fenced off area. inside they have barnyard animals for children to see up close and pet. Tracy leads the girls inside. There are pens where different animals are. There are goats, calves, pigs and and a small horse. Tracy takes the girls around so they can look at all the animals.

[baby_snow_white]

The girls looked confused. "Why would alligators have pigs in their skin? I thought pigs was a separate animal and not part of an alligator." The girls looks around at the animals in the pens.

A goat keeps hitting April in the back with it's head. April turns around and looks at the goat. "Quit hitting me or I'm going to tell your mommy that you are being mean to me and hitting me." The goat hits April in the back when she turns around. "That's it. I'm going to tell your mommy on you." She walks over to Tracy. "Mommy, can you help me that that goat's mommy? He keeps hitting me in the back with it's head."

Jayme looks at April. "His mommy is called a Nanny Goat."

April looks at Jayme. "I don't care what her name is. I want to find her so I can tell her that her kid is being mean to me."

Bonnie and Mary was on the hands and knees looking at the stomach on the sheep. Bonnie looks at Tracy. "Mommy, can you help us find the zipper on the sheep? I heard another mommy tell her daughter that wool for sweaters come from sheep. So Mary and I are looking for the zipper so we can get the wool off the sheep."

Gina looks at Tracy. "Mommy, when you get sick. The doctor tells you are a little horse in your throat. Is that what is in your throat when you can talk?" She points at the small horse that Dinah and Angel was looking at. "If it is. How does it get into your throat? It looks too big to fit into your throat and with something that big in your throat. Wouldn't you get choked?"

Jayme looks at Tracy and smiles as the girls bombard her with questions. "Welcome to parenthood. The land of endless question which leads to more questions."

[robehouse]

"No, I was talking about what makes the color in skin. pigments are materials that change the way you see the colors on the animal. there are albino's in people as well as all kinds of animals."

"I'm afraid that the goats mother isn't here. I don't think any of their mothers are around. They only have the baby animals for you to look at. Maybe he is hungry or wants attention."

"The owners of the sheep use shears to cut off all the wool. Shears are like electric scissors. A barber uses a similar item to cut people's hair."

Tracy smiles. "No, the doctor is saying you are a little HOARSE in your throat. that is spelled H-o-a-r-s-e, while the animal is spelled H-O-R-S-E.

They sound the same but have different meanings. Hoarse in the throat means that your throat is sore and you are talking funny."

"That little horse might grow up to be as big as Renegade."

[baby_snow_white]

The girls nods. "Oh. We thought you meant pigment as in having a pig as part of the alligator."

April frowns. "That is not very nice. Babies need their mommies to feed them and protect them. Maybe you can adopt them like you adopted all of us. Then they would have a mommy to look after them and that would love them." The goat hits her again. "Well you quit that? I'm trying to get you adopted here and you are not making it easy on me. Who is going to want an animal who is going to hit them when they are not looking?"

Bonnie looks shocked at Tracy. "They cut the hair off the sheeps? That is mean and could hurt them. Scissors are dangerous and very sharp. I hope they are very careful with the scissors and don't run with them. That is a big no no at the home.

Gina laughs. "Oh I'm glad. I was starting to get worried if that is what was in your throat when the doctor said you are a little hoarse in your throat." Her eyes get big. "That little horse could grow up to be as big as Renagade? Wow. He is going to have to do alot of growing to be as big as Renegade."

Mary comes running over and grabs Tracy's hand. "Mommy, come look. I found Bambi and Faline." She points over at a pen that had two baby deers in it. "I also found Thumper and Flower." Mary points to a pen with a baby rabbit and a cage with a skunk. "I would stay away from Flower. He smells worse than a messy diaper."

Gina points to a pen with a piglet in it. "Look everyone. It's Hannah. It has her eating habits too." Hannah hits Gina in the arm and Gina runs over to Jayme. "Hannah hit me in the arm."

Jayme looks at Tracy and then at Gina. "Well you did ask for it. What did mommy tell all of you about teasing each other? She said it wasn't nice or ladylike to pick on other people. Now go tell Hannah you are sorry for calling her a pig?"

Gina shakes her head. "No I am not. She hit me for no good reason. She should tell me she is sorry first. Then I will."

[Mischa]

Bernie walked into Gatorland, pushing his daughter's wheelchair. Claire always liked coming to the petting zoo at Gatorland, it was one of the few places she would come out of the fog her autism kept her in.

Wheeling her in, Bernie looked around and immediately noticed a bunch of young girls all dressed similar, they were all standing around two women, one in a wheelchair, the other standing answering questions from the little girls. He pushed his daughter over their way.

"Ms. Cooperman? Fancy seeing you here. How have you been since we talked last?"

[robehouse]

"Baby animals are not like human babies. They can fend for themselves at a much earlier age. They wouldn't have the animals here if they didn't think they could live without their mothers. No, we can't adopt any of these animals. Our home isn't zoned for animals like this and these people know how to take care of them better than we would."

"Don't worry, it doesn't hurt the sheep to have all of their wool sheared off. That's what is supposed to happen. They would be miserable with the wool on them all the time. You're right. It is bad to run with scissors. You could hurt yourself. That is a rule not just at the home but at our home and everywhere else."

"Well, actually I am not sure about this horse getting that big. I am not sure what kind of horse he is or what kind of horse Renegade is. This might be a horse that doesn't get that big."

Tracy walks over to where the deer are. They are just baby deer just like all of the animals are baby animals. She sees the rabbit and skunk. "Yes, that skunk is pretty smelly. He isn't the kind of animal you want as a pet."

"Gina, what did you expect Hannah to do when you teased her and called her a pig? I think you better apologize to Hannah right now."

"Hannah, you know the rules. You are never to hit anyone. Not even if they tease you. I want you to say your sorry to Gina as well."

Tracy looks up and sees Bernard standing there with a girl in a wheelchair. Tracy smiles at the girl and waves at her.

"Hello, Bernie. I have been fine. Who is this pretty little girl you have with you?"

[Mischa]

"Good to hear Tracy. This is Claire, my daughter. I bring her here because she seems to like it."

Bernie kneels down next to Claire and looks her in the eye, "This is one of Daddy's friends from work. She has eight little girls."

Claire's eyes focus on her Dad and then drift around to see all the other girls. She smiles coyly.

[baby_snow_white]

April crosses her arms. "That is mean of them. Taking them away from their mommies while they are still babies. It doesn't matter if they can fin for themselves. It is still mean to them. Would they like it of they was ripped away from their mommies while they was babies and put on display in front of other people?" She shakes her head. "No they don't. If they did. Then they would leave them with their mommies and let their mommies take care of them."

Bonnie nods. "Oh I see. I'm glad it doesn't hurt them to have their wool cut off,but what does miserable mean?"

Jayme looks at Bonnie. "Miserable means to feel bad or uncomfortable. I'll give you an example to help you understand it. Let's say you was wearing a sweatshirt,sweatpants,fur lined boots,gloves and a fur lined hat. Then you went and stood under a very hot hot lamp. How you would feel?"

Bonnie thinks for a little bit. "I would be hot,sweaty and very uncomfrotable."

Jayme nods. "Correct. You would be miserable. It is the same way for the sheep. The farmer cuts the wool off the sheep so they will not be hot and uncomfortable with all that wool on their bodies." She looks at Gina. "Renegade is an Appaloosa. That is a baby Florida Cracker. They are used in the cattle industry here in Florida.

Gina shakes her head. "I'm not going to until she apologizes for hitting me."

Hannah looks at Tracy. "I'm not going to until she apologizes to me for calling me a pig. I am not a pig and I have better eating habits at Gina. I don't make a mess when I eat like she does." Both girls cross their arms and turn their backs to each other.

[robehouse]

"April, they are not like human babies. God made animals so they don't have to stay with their parents for very long. Or at least most animals. Some still do."

Tracy rolls her eyes as Gina and Hannah both refuse to give in and apologize. She knows it wouldn't be advisable to punish the girls here at Gatorland. It would wait until they got home. Hopefully they would stop acting like this before they left though.

Tracy looks down at Claire and smiles. "Hi Claire. Pleased to meet you."

[baby_snow_white]

April nods. "Ok mommy. I still think it is mean to take them away from their mommies." She soon forgets about the baby animals and focuses on the guy Tracy was talking to and the girl in the wheelchair. "Mommy, who is the girl you are talking to and why is she in a wheelchair? Was she at the home too and the director of the home did the same thing to her that she did to Jayme?"

[robehouse]

"Girls, this is Bernie. He is the lawyer that is handling Bonnie's csse. This is his daughter Claire. I am not sure why she is in a wheelchair. Not everyone who is disabled is that way because they were harmed by someone. I don't think she was in a children's home. Maybe Bernie can tell us."

[baby_snow_white]

April crosses her arms. "That is a mean thing to say about Jayme and that girl. They are not disabled. They can go alot of things. They just do it differently than us. You talk about us not picking on each other and you just did the same thing when you was talking about that girl and Jayme. So is it ok for you to do it,but we can't? That isn't fair."

[robehouse]

"Your are right, I shouldn't have used that term. I wasn't teasing or making fun of anyone. Jayme is physically impaired. I probably should have said not everyone in a wheelchair is there because of a children's home. I apologize."

[Mischa]

"Claire uses her wheelchair because she's too big for a stroller. She walks, but it's easier for her to get around using her wheelchair, plus she won't run off and get into any trouble. Her legs work fine, but it's easier for both me and her if she's in her chair. That way I won't lose track of her. She's toddled off on me before, so this way is easier."

"Claire, honey, would you like to get up and see some of the animals and meet Tracy's girls?"

Claire nods, and Bernie unstraps her from her wheelchair and lets her get up. "Stick close to Daddy." Claire sees a goat near the fence and toddles toward the animal and pets it. "Nice goat."

Bernie looks taken aback.