Hiking to a New Life (Chapter 39 posted 4-27-24)

[christi]

Interesting and I certainly liked the very end.  Thanks for sharing.

[SGTbaby]

Very cute so far and curious how this plays out.

[Kat5]

1 minute ago, SGTbaby said:

Very cute so far and curious how this plays out.

I'll do my very best!

(also the dog is my favorite character. I'm allowed to play favorites, it's my story)

[Pierry Louys]

5 hours ago, Kat5 said:

I'll do my very best!

(also the dog is my favorite character. I'm allowed to play favorites, it's my story)

Xerxes it’s my to favorite to 

[Kat5]

Chapter Eight:

 

Amanda looked down at her clean, fresh smelling little as he stood there looking up at her, wrapped in a towel.

 

She repeated herself “Sweety. The diaper is not optional. I'm truly sorry but littles simply need diapers. It's not your fault but something about the food, water, maybe even the air somehow makes littles incontinent here.”

 

He just stubbornly pointed at the potty between the two of them. “Fine, but can I please use the bathroom first?”

 

She nodded in agreement and lifted the lid. “Help yourself.”

 

She watched him stare at the potty at the height of his chest, obviously trying to work out how to get up there and she reminded him “Remember the rule. You are not allowed to give me a heart attack hurting yourself.”

 

He looked up “Do you have a step stool?”

 

With a shake of her head “I do not have a little sized step stool for getting you to the height of this potty. How would you stop from falling off, or worse, in?”

 

Then he gave her that grin again that she already knew he was about to say something not smart as he said “I'll hold onto Xerxe's collar!”

 

Pinching the bridge of her nose she said calmly “Congratulations. That is the single worst possible idea you could have had.”

 

Bouncing from one foot to the other, she could finally see him give up on his pride “Ugh, fine can you please help me, I have to go REALLY bad!”

 

With a deep breath she reached down, pulled the towel around him off, letting it fall to the floor, and then just picked him up and held him on the edge of the toilet seat.

 

He turned dark red and bit his lip trying not to look at her “This is embarrassing.”

 

She looked at the ceiling while complaining “Oh my God, John. I just scrubbed your butt and you're going back into a diaper in two minutes whether you have gone or not.”

 

That got him motivated. He managed awkwardly to do his business and she got held him with one hand and got toilet paper with the other.

 

The moment she saw him open his mouth she stopped him “We have company coming this afternoon and you still haven't eaten anything, if you argue with being wiped the only thing you'll be wearing when they get here is a diaper.

 

She could hear him gulp nervously as she continued with her task.when she was done she flushed the toilet and placed him back on the floor. Grabbing a towel another puppy print diaper and a bottle of baby powder, she started out of the living room calling behind her “Right this way for your royal diapering”

 

He followed her nervously as she laid out a towel, still seeming to be shy about what was to come. He will get used to it eventually.

 

“Go ahead and lay down. This will be over quickly.”

 

He hesitated “But I really don't need a diaper.”

 

She locked eyes with him. “Did you wake up wet?”

 

He nodded, but didn't say a word.

 

“Did you wet yourself after waking up?”

 

He nodded but tried to explain “I couldn't get it off or ge-”

 

And she cut him off “Neither of those things are your fault and they are nothing to feel bad about. Down.” and then she added more softly “Please.”

 

She felt a bit bad for him, looking so defeated. But he laid down on the towel and she took his ankles with one hand and lifted to slide the diaper under him with the other. Within seconds she had a generous amount of powder on him and was pulling the tapes snug.

 

“See? That wasn't bad at all, was it.”

 

He wobbled a bit as he got up, and then just mutely shook his head no.

 

“Come on sweety, let's get you a shirt and some food. If you help me keep the dog out of the kitchen, I'll make it worth your while. Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast, and pizza for lunch with our guests?”

 

That got his attention. He said “At least Pizza is the same here!”

 

Leading him into her bedroom, she went to the same drawer and pulled out a plain gray night shirt. Turning to him she said “Hands up, it's a robbery!”

 

He rolled his eyes, but he did hold his arms up so that she could pull the shirt down over him. Lining it up and pulling it down over him she gave him an affectionate pat on the head “Okay, I really need you to keep the dog distracted. I also don't usually watch TV, so I haven't gotten cable or anything out here. So you and Xerxes can keep each other busy for ten minutes.”

 

She followed her little charge into the living room, noticing that he was able to walk pretty normally in the dry diaper. That should make telling when he needs a change easy, even if he doesn't know it. He split off to the living room and she could see him standing with his hands on his hips watching the dog with his soft plushie shaped like a big bone.

 

Surely they'll be fine.

 

Walking quickly to the kitchen, Amanda got out a skillet, some bread and eggs. While she got the skillet heating up she did take a glance to the living room and hurried to pick her cell phone up from the counter and snap a picture.

 

There was a staring contest. John had the big plush bone almost half his size held over his head like he was going to throw it, and Xerxes was hunkered down looking back and forth between John and the toy. And she managed to get a picture while they were staring into each other eyes.

 

That pic got sent to Cat, too.

 

When the bread was in the toaster and the eggs were almost done she heard raising his voice and complaining “Oh come on, that's cheating!” and she looked over to see him throw the bone over the dog, only to have the tall dog simply reach up and snap it out of the air and drop it at his feet again. A tail wagging back and forth hard enough that the entire dog was moving, so at least he was having fun.

 

The scrambled eggs now done, she transferred them onto a plate and buttered the toast and instead of calling the little over, decided to enjoy the show for a moment.

 

Not to be defeated, she saw him smirk, rotate a hundred and eighty degrees and throw the toy behind the couch. Less than a blink of an eye later he was underneath a dog, and one blink later a tail was dragged across his face leaving him sitting on the floor wiping his face and sputtering. She wish she'd have gotten that on video.

 

“Breakfast is ready!” She tried to keep the laugh out of her voice so that he wouldn't know she saw that, but she failed pretty badly.

 

While he was walking toward her she took a stack of cook books and put them on top of a chair. He looked up at her and then at the books. She could see that he didn't like it, but she didn't let him think of a complaint before interrupting his thought process.

 

“I don't have a booster seat, and you can't say it's hard because you have padding on your bottom. Please just work with me here and we'll figure something out soon.”

 

As he nodded at her she picked him up and put him on the books. He did this funny little dance in place scooting around like something was wrong.

 

“Is there something wrong with the books? Or your butt?”

 

He looked down, scooting side to side still. “It's like I'm sitting on a pillow. That moves with me.”

 

“You kind of are.” She hoped she didn't come across as mean spirited, but he seemed to take it in the spirit that she meant it.

 

She pushed the chair forward “Okay, eat up while it's still hot!”

 

She saw him look forward for the first time at the blue plastic plate with two scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast. Next to it was a blue plastic fork. Without looking up from the plate, he said to himself “I don't know what I expected.”

 

Leaning down she gave him a little hug to cut off him getting stressed and told him “I'm very proud of you. You're staying calm. Now I just need you to eat your breakfast for me and then we can go outside for a bit. You can go play or help tend to the garden for a bit. Now, while you eat do you want water, juice, or milk?”

 

He answered almost immediately “That milk was REALLY good. Ummm... Is the juice just as good?” he looked up and despite his situation he looked really hopeful.

 

“I'll tell you what. You eat, I'll pour you some juice that I know littles usually love and let's see what you think of it.”

 

Leaving him to it she went to the fridge and filled a sippy cup all the way to the top with Plapple juice and pressed to pop the lid back on. By the time she made it back to the table John was chewing a mouthful of egg … and Xerxes was sitting next to him licking his lips. John, seemed suspiciously quiet for such a talkative little...

 

Clearing her throat she held out the sippy cup and when he took it without saying a word she knew what happened.

 

“John. Is there anything that I need to know right now?”

 

He quietly tried the sippy cup all too innocently at first but then started trying to drink from it as fast as he possibly could. If it hadn't been in a sippy cup she was certain he'd need another bath already. It was halfway empty before he stopped to breathe.

 

He looked up at her “This is really good! I could drink this all day!”

 

She shook her head “You're not off the hook yet, Mister. But We can bring that outside with us when we go.”

 

Reaching across the distance with the plastic fork he brought a pile of eggs toward him and she saw a bit fall off. The bit of egg that fell never made it to the floor. It went into the dog shaped vacuum. She gave up and pushed the chair closer to the table.

 

Now that he was closer, she figured that he couldn't 'accidentally' feed the dog and he picked up a slice of toast and exclaimed “This toast if big.”

 

“It's normal sized. You are small.”

 

He got another plastic fork full and put it experimentally on the toast. “Your eggs are really good!”

 

Nodding to him “Flattery doesn't get you off the hook for feeding your eggs to the dog, but I am very glad that you like them.” And with that she turned and started cleaning all of the dishes and then got the coffee maker going to make a fresh pot. By the time she was done getting everything cleaned up she looked over the counter at the dinner table saw a little man completely losing a fight with some eggs. He tried to lean back, but being balanced on books he couldn't really reach the back of the chair.

 

She watched him grab the sippy cup from the edge of the table and just go limp and slowly slide down off the books, his padded bottom hitting the chair and then sliding down. And like a flash a hand came up and grabbed a clump of eggs and disappear on the way down.

 

“Oh he's a little rascal.” she said to herself as he waddled a bit more slowly around the kitchen counter an held up his cup and ask “May I have some more juice please?”

 

She nodded “You certainly may. And you didn't feed any table food to the dog, right?”

 

He looked down and started trying to give a mighty tug on the sippy cup and eventually gave up before admitting “I may have dropped a bit on accident.”

 

“Well, as long as there aren't too many accidents, we won't have to get you a high chair.”

 

Oh the look on his face at that was alarmed. “Nononono, you can't be serious that there is a high chair my size!”

 

Taking the cup and patting him on the head before going to refill it she explained “They are available in a variety of colors. Some even have puppy prints on them for clumsy little boys.” By the time she had filled up his cup and turned around, he was gone.

 

“Uh huh. I think I'm starting to figure him out.” She observed to herself while finishing off the bit of egg that was left and cleaning the plate. She poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him in the living room, only to find him sitting on the comforter and looking crestfallen.

 

Putting down both her cup and his, she knelt down and put a finger under his chin and gently guided his face up to look at him. He looked like he wanted to cry.

 

“Hey, what's the matter? We can get you a booster seat instead of a high chair, I was just teasing you.”

 

He shook his head no “That's not it...”

 

“Did you eat too much? Does your tummy hurt?”

 

He shook his head no again.

 

“Well, if you tell me what is the matter, I can help. Come on and let me know what's on your mind. I know you have lot to worry about.”

 

He shook his head for a moment before finally choking out “I don't … I had an accident.”

 

She wasted no time and picked him up and holding him to her, and pressing her cheek against his. “Shh, it's okay. That's what the diaper is for, and that's what I was telling you. The food and drink here just goes right through most littles. Tell me all about it.”

 

She could feel him burying his face into her neck and saying “I don't know, I just … was drinking juice and eating one moment, and then by the time I felt it coming on, I didn't even make it out of the kitchen before I was wet.”

 

She rocked him back and forth, slowly rubbing his back “Hey, it's okay. Most littles that move here wind up in diapers within a month. And they didn't come through a rift and almost catch pneumonia. That's not your fault and it's going to be okay. First let's just get you healthy. Why don't we check to see if it's bad, and then we'll go outside. The garden needs some attention, and I know someone that won't have to bend down like I do to pick the peas on the bottom.

 

He nodded and said quietly “Okay.” and then she stood him up and lifted the knee length shirt he was wearing and gave the front of the diaper a little poke. It was barely wet, but he hadn't had much to drink since yesterday either.

 

Pulling the shirt back down she smiled at him “You're barely even damp. Let's grab our drinks and go tend to the garden. Not long after that I think it'll be a great time for milk and a nap.”

 

He shook his head “I don't need to take a nap, I can stay awake until night time”

 

She gave his bottom a little pat toward the door “We'll see, the days here are over twice as long as yours. Go put your cute little boots on and let's go get some veggies.”

 

She watched him pick up the sippy cup off of the end table and start eyeing the coffee cup. “How about we get your checked out at a doctor before we push our luck finding out if your little body can handle as much caffeine as mine?”

 

He didn't even respond, he just held his cup by one handle and trudge to the door grumbling about something called the Geneva convention.

[christi]

I rather like Amanda, she's doing good with John and trying not to be too serious.  Thanks for sharing and I'm looking forward to the next chapter.

[parkintochter]

I'm usually not a big fan of incontinence in stories because I'm also into omorashi, but I am a big fan of your characters, your writing and their relationship! Keep up the good work

[Kat5]

Chapter Nine:

 

John was grumpy. He knew it was supposed to be normal, And he knew it was only a little bit of pee. It didn't even make the diaper swell up. But he was still grumpy.

 

He counted off silently to himself on his fingers.

 

He could deal with being small.

 

He had no one at home to go back to, so it's not like he even had a pet to worry about.

 

If he was honest with himself the bath was fun.

 

Those eggs were REALLY good.

 

That juice was like a cold capris sun on a hot day. Juice shouldn't be that good. It's not right.

 

He held up the sippy cup. He nodded at it, not thinking about the Amazon behind him watching him look like he was making some sort of mental checklist to see if he was prepared for the big adventure of going into the yard.

 

But the diapers?

 

It's not fair.

 

It was simply just not fair.

 

Slipping his feet into his boots without even having to untie them was convenient, even if they were too loose.

 

He stood at the top of the stairs looking at the foot and a half down to the next step. He saw a large hand in the left of his vision, and he was so lost in thought that he reached up and took it and was helped down the stairs without noticing.

 

He was still sulking when he felt a tap on the shoulder. He looked up to see a lovely woman towering over him with a motherly smile.

 

He articulated his thoughts like a true poet. “Hmm? Oh.”

 

She rubbed his head now, ruffling his perpetually unruly hair “I asked if you would like to help me by picking sweet peas while I pick tomatoes. Your new Aunt Cat is coming by and I sort of owe her … well, I owe her a lot of them because I keep bribing her for homemade salsa and pasta sauce.”

 

John looked over at the garden and then back up and couldn't help but return the smile. What had he been grumping about? It could wait.

 

“Yes Ma'am I wou... Aunt Cat?”

 

She answered with a cryptic “I'll explain more later, but if you call her Aunt Cat I guarantee that she'll spoil you and bring you presents. Do you know how to to tell which peas to pick?”

 

“I like to eat sweet peas. I've never picked one.” He admitted.

 

Now with a wide and enthusiastic smile she grabbed a bucket and waved him along “Come on, I'll show you. It's very easy.”

 

Following along behind her in his slightly too big boots, he was fascinated to see the rows of trellises taller than even the Amazon. She seemed like such this huge and towering figure, and somehow seeing garden plants looming over her somehow bent his perception of the world a bit. Probably because everything he knew had been tied in a knot and thrown in the trash, leaving her as the only pillar of stability he had left.

 

She sat down on the bucket and patiently explained to him how to to easily tell them apart and where to grab them and just snap a pod off with a flick. John could tell that she enjoyed growing things and that just being out here among her plants made her so very happy.

 

He couldn't help wanting to make her proud, so he paid very close attention and pulled gently on a few pods and asked “So this one isn't ready?”

 

She shook her head at him “Not yet.”

 

He looked at the pods. He job was to get the ones his height and lower so she didn't have to crouch all the time, so he looked at his height and lower. Honestly he could fit between some of these plants if he turned sideways.

 

He picked one that looked right to his novice eyes and tilted it up. “This one is ready.”

 

She clapped a little. It felt good to make her proud for some reason. “Yep! Do you want me to stay here with you for a while, or would you prefer to try it yourself? I think you deserve to choose for yourself.”

 

He tried to flick the little pod off like she did. He resorted to twisting and tugging it off. He held up the pod, that was a bit big in his hand but very manageable. “I'll help you by picking these! I want to try doing it by myself, please.”

 

She gave him a pat on the head and ruffled his hair again “I'm just three rows over so I can hear every word you say. If you have a question, just ask it. And if you need help I'll be right here.”

 

And with that she walked around the row. He could just barely hear her say “Xerxes, guard” quietly as she turned the corner.

 

He turned toward the house with his arms crossed and, sure enough, a large black and white dog came trotting toward him and stopped two feet from him and leaned to smell his head before sitting down and watching him.

 

Xerxes was at work. And that work was to protect his little.

 

With a deep breath and a sassy roll of his eyes, John turned to his new task, happy to be able to contribute in some small way to his ... caretaker? He twisted off every pod that looks ripe and carried them over and dropped them in the big blue bucket. He somehow got into the habit of reaching up and patting Xerxes on the side of his snout or head or just wherever his hand landed without him looking every time he passed by the dog.

 

After a while he had to walk so far that it was time to move the bucket. He squated down and reached his arms out wide and hugged the bucket and stood up with it. Then just dropped it back down. “Yeah, that's like a 20 gallon bucket, I'm not doing that. I need … hmm...”

 

Leaning to peer around the dog, the cogs in his brain slipped into place just so. He didn't need a bucket. He had a wagon.

 

Practically bounding past his watchdog, he went to the house. When he got to his wagon on the ground by the porch, he took almost everything out of it and put it up on the porch. As an afterthought he grabbed the sippy cup and drank some more.

 

He stubbornly stood there drinking from a sippy cup that only gave him a mouthful at a time until he had almost half of it gone, despite it being at least a 24 ounce cup. He had to have emptied that thing three times since lunch.

 

He dropped the cup into the cloth beach wagon and realized that it didn't' really matter if it tipped over. With a shrug he grabbed the handle and turned around into a face full of fur.

 

Sputtering he wiped at his face and looked up at a panting dog and could hear a ballistic tail thumping up and down in the grass loudly.

 

With a smirk “Right. He's on guard duty.”

 

So he turned the handle and walked around the dog and back into the row he was tasked to help with. And he went right back to picking peas and dropping them into the wagon.

 

It had been probably forty five minutes and while he knew that she could hear him moving around … and the slight crinkle was probably helping give away his location. But she chimed in anyway “How are you doing over there? Do you need to take a break?”

 

He shook his head despite her not seeing him, before answering “No Ma'am. Hey, how do these taste? Can I eat some?”

 

She replied almost immediately “You can eat some of you want to, they're delicious raw, and I like to cook them in butter for dinner.”

 

Without any further prompting, he picked a big fat pod and bent it in half until it cracked. Then it was easy to hook a finger into it and pull out a sweet pea. This looked exactly like a sweet pea, just the size of a grape.

 

He mumbled “Huh. It looks exactly like I expected. I didn't expect that.” and then popped it into his mouth. He had tasted sweet peas before. And he liked them. But this was somehow dialed up to eleven. It was sweet. It had a slight nutty flavor.

 

This didn't taste healthy, this tasted like a snack. This was sweet. This was nutty. Snacks are sweet and nutty. This may be too small for an amazon to appreciate as a snack. But he had no such problem.

 

So now every time he dropped ten or twelve pods into the wagon, he split one open and a helped himself. This went on went on for another hour and he finished off his cup of juice somewhere in the meantime.

 

He was doing pretty well for himself and feeling pretty happy and proud. And then he heard a chittering sound. He looked up to see a gray squirrel on top of the fence on the other side of the row of trellis.

 

He spoke a little loudly “Miss Amanda?”

 

She responded with “Yes Sweety?”

 

“What are the odds that you have a pet squirrel?”

 

“Zero, why?”

 

“No reason.” He replied and he rooted around in the wagon for an acorn.

 

He ducked under the row of plants and walked over to the fence. Xerxes was busy crouching and watching him like a hawk. As far as he could tell, Amanda was not watching him to fuss at him. So feeling like he was in the clear, he grabbed a post on the fence and pulled himself up onto the board that ran along the bottom of it. He stretched up with his left hand as high as he could, holding the acorn up to the squirrel.

 

The squirrel very calmly reached down to take the acorn. It took a moment for him to get it high enough and for the squirrel to reach low enough. She the squirrel finally did get it, it stayed there chittering at him for a moment or two, and then was gone in a flash. As he climbed back down he heard laughter to his left.

 

As he turned to look at Amanda now in plain sight, he saw that she was waggling her phone at him and she announced “I recorded the whole thing!”

 

He felt himself turning red as he slipped back under row of plants and went back to picking peas. He made it a little bit longer before he sat down on one side of his wagon ate one more pod full of peas. He looked down and realized how many he had eaten there was a pile of at least thirty empty pods and he had a belly that felt like it was full of lead.

 

He sat there sort of dozing off a bit. Did he have to pee? He should ask for help. Just a minute to close his eyes first.

 

He woke up to the feeling of something moving him. He looked around groggily and noticed that he was on the living room floor on a towel. He looked up and saw Amanda taping something onto him.

 

“Huh? I can still keep going, I can pick more, I just closed my eyes for a moment.”

 

“Shhh, it's okay, you did very well. You picked all the peas that were too low for me, an then ate all the big mean defective ones that split open on their own. You were soaked, so I got you changed and you slept through it. Let's get you some milk. Would you like that?”

 

He rubbed his eyes and stubbornly just grunted out “Nuh”

 

“Well, the milk is already in a cup. You wouldn't want it to go to waster, would you?”

 

He closed his eyes and mumbled “Unn Unn.”

 

He then felt her pick him up and she sat on the couch with him propped up sideways resting his head against her chest and held up the sippy cup to his mouth.

 

He grumbled around the spout “Okay okay. I can take a hint.” and he closed his eyes and, half awake, sucked milk out of the cup. His hair was being stroked. It was nice. Did she say he was soaked? This milk is delicious.

 

John tried not to fall asleep back asleep. He tried to drink the delicious milk. It wasn't even noon outside. He wanted to stay awake.

 

He failed.

[SGTbaby]

Very sweet and xerxes is awesome and truly helps make the story 

[Jayme]

I'm surprised Xerxes didn't try to chase off the Squirrel...

[Kat5]

6 hours ago, Jayme said:

I'm surprised Xerxes didn't try to chase off the Squirrel...

If I'm completely honest I had a line where John was holding his snout and saying "shhhhh, let me get the squirrel" but I goofed up with I copy and pasted because one of my eyes doesn't work.

 

So good catch! I wonder if I can fix it in hindsight

[christi]

Interesting you should mention the squirrel.  When I read that part I was anticipating the dog running in to chase it.

[Kat5]

5 hours ago, christi said:

Interesting you should mention the squirrel.  When I read that part I was anticipating the dog running in to chase it.

You know, you both have a point. I messed it up when I copy/pasted it, didn't rewrite it well, and frankly even in the first rendition didn't have more than him trying to calm the dog for a moment before feeding the squirrel. I wonder if I could edit it a bit and put like a little asterisk behind it and say in parenthesis (yeah, I goofed this part up and tried to ungoof it.)

[dmavn]

hmm. I just figured he was ignoring the squirrel cus he was in “guard” mode…

[Jayme]

Yes you can edit the post, if you need help ask a moderator and they should be able to assist you.

[Kat5]

3 hours ago, dmavn said:

hmm. I just figured he was ignoring the squirrel cus he was in “guard” mode…

So a bit of a confession here... Xerxes is based off of a Real Life dog.

Xerxes is based off of one of the pinnacles of dogdom.

Bear Bear was a great big Boxer. Bigger than any other Boxer I've ever seen. Bear Bear came up to my waist. I admit that I am ... not vertically overburdened.

So when I used to bring my son over to my friends house as a toddler, Bear Bear went into guard mode. Where my son went, Bear Bear was inches from him. My son was learning to walk at the time and every time my son fell? Bear Bear laid down and let my son use him to stand back up.

You could ride a unicycle around the other side the room juggling sparklers and Bear Bear would eye you, but never make a peep.

But anyone and everyone that came close to our son, and this means dogs, cats, humans, ANYTHING had to pass inspection of the most noble and honorable Bear Bear.

He saw us fuss at our son for trying to grab something on the stove once. a month later our little derpus tried it again.

Bear Bear gently took the back of his onesie with his teeth and towed him, sliding backwards, back to the living room.

 

Xerxes is based on Bear Bear. I'm tearing up, and I mean genuinely tearing up thinking of Bear Bear. He wasn't just a good boy.

Bear Bear was the best boy.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm crying a little.

 

(The names may have been changed to protect the identity of the characters involved. But Xerxes is all too real as I choke down some tears while typing this.)

[Pierry Louys]

2 minutes ago, Kat5 said:

So a bit of a confession here... Xerxes is based off of a Real Life dog.

Xerxes is based off of one of the pinnacles of dogdom.

Bear Bear was a great big Boxer. Bigger than any other Boxer I've ever seen. Bear Bear came up to my waist. I admit that I am ... not vertically overburdened.

So when I used to bring my son over to my friends house as a toddler, Bear Bear went into guard mode. Where my son went, Bear Bear was inches from him. My son was learning to walk at the time and every time my son fell? Bear Bear laid down and let my son use him to stand back up.

You could ride a unicycle around the other side the room juggling sparklers and Bear Bear would eye you, but never make a peep.

But anyone and everyone that came close to our son, and this means dogs, cats, humans, ANYTHING had to pass inspection of the most noble and honorable Bear Bear.

He saw us fuss at our son for trying to grab something on the stove once. a month later our little derpus tried it again.

Bear Bear gently took the back of his onesie with his teeth and towed him, sliding backwards, back to the living room.

 

Xerxes is based on Bear Bear. I'm tearing up, and I mean genuinely tearing up thinking of Bear Bear. He wasn't just a good boy.

Bear Bear was the best boy.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm crying a little.

Now I am crying to ! Because a boy and his dog it’s so cute !!! 
 

[dmavn]

I had a bear bear as well, she was an american eskimo, I loved her sooo much and still do and she would act like that as well..  I.. think I’m going to cry now too..

[Kat5]

Just now, dmavn said:

I had a bear bear as well, she was an american eskimo, I loved her sooo much and still do and she would act like that as well..  I.. think I’m going to cry now too..

 

4 minutes ago, Pierry Louys said:

Now I am crying to ! Because a boy and his dog it’s so cute !!! 
 

I think that we can probably all say that we are blessed to share our lives and experiences with some people. Sometimes those people have four legs, and a tendency to steal your yogurt. But they make our lives richer than they would ever otherwise be. The fact that we love them and remember them forever just shows how strongly they live on within us.

[Pierry Louys]

I can only imagine the troubles that Xerxes and John gonna make together that gonna be so cute 

[Kat5]

6 minutes ago, Pierry Louys said:

I can only imagine the troubles that Xerxes and John gonna make together that gonna be so cute 

I grew up out in the woods, just Mom and I, and a half wolf/half chow dog named Bubba. You know every stereotype of poor people growing up out in the woods? That was us. Thankfully Mom was positively brilliant, and ran a tax business. And Bubba was a 80lb gentle giant that quite literally kept me alive out there. God, I was all lanky and awkward back then, and maybe all of 4'... not important. But I wasn't allowed outside without Bubba. There was no heat, but in the winter I never slept without my dog. He took up half of the bed, I threw a blanket over us and I was never once cold. (Although I did get more than one face full of lick in the morning when it was time to get up) He walked with me to the bus, killed snakes, ran off deer, a brown bear once, and was always there to protect me.

John is in good paws.

 

(Edit, Bubba took up more of the bed than I did. thankfully I was small. So a Girl and her Dog, then my son became a Boy and his Dog. Mom used to have a German Shepard that kept her safe. Dogs have a special place to me.)

[christi]

2 hours ago, Kat5 said:

Bear Bear gently took the back of his onesie with his teeth and towed him, sliding backwards, back to the living room.

That's a GREAT memory, thank you for sharing that.  <Gives Kat a giant snuggly hug>

There are a lot of dogs that are super good with kids and babies.  Bear was special but not alone by any means in that trait.  It always amazes me when people bring home a baby and immediately throw out the dog.  Have a kid?  Have a dog?  As long as the dog can get to the kid you have a lot less to worry about as far as the kid being snatched.

I saw a video once of a little girl in a field running around and fluffing up the... what are those weeds that you can blow the flowers off of?  Dandelions?  anyway she's having a blast and there's like a full litter of mostly grown puppies out playing in that field with her.  First thing through my mind was "That kid is as safe as she would be inside her own house.  Any animal or person that comes at that kid is going to have to go through 12 very pissed off dogs.

[SGTbaby]

I love dogs. I have a Disney Pluto tattoo on my forearm as he is the first real favorite character I can remember having. Gotta love a good dog!

[christi]

Found it!

 

[Kat5]

39 minutes ago, christi said:

Found it!

I absolutely love it! That's one very wholesome moment and some happy memories!

Chapter Ten

 

Amanda picked up the sleeping little and shuffled him from propped against her chest to laying against her with his head next to her and lightly brushed his back, whispering softly to him “I sure hope you aren't as scared of loud amazons as I think you will be. Your Aunt Cat is a bit much."

 

She picked up the sippy cup with her left hand and held it up toward the light. He had barely made a dent in it. He probably didn't even realize he'd been awake as long as he had, and that was after everything he had been through yesterday.

 

Well. Time to get some work done.

 

She stood up and carried him with her as she went and put the cup back in the fridge, and walked back over to where the comforter was still folded in half on the floor. Not really wanting to put him down, she walked over to her spare bedroom and opened the door to it look inside.

 

Inside the room she looked at the day bed that she had been given by her friend Cat when she moved in. It had three sides, but what if he rolled off of the front in his sleep? Maybe she could get some sort of attachment for the bed and he could have a big bed all to himself. There was a writing desk and a chair, but that was much too high for him. Oh well, that is a problem for tomorrow.

 

Walking back to the living room she gave up and knelt down on the comforter.

 

“Xerxes” she whispered.

 

The dog needed no further prompting to walk over to the comforter and lay down on it, his tail thumping softly up and down against it. As she laid her charge down and covered him back up, she sighed.

 

“Yeah, we have to get you to the city tomorrow and get you registered so that no one can take you away. And I probably need to tell the research group that I work with that I found a rift little.”

 

As she started to walk away, she whispered “Xerxes: Guard.”

 

Peeking outside at the wagon full of sweet peas, she could see that he really did do a good job. Even if he then ate himself into a food coma. He definitely wanted to help and do his best.

 

With a look at the clock, Amanda sighed. She had two hours to finish editing an article and inserting references to research, and email one of her bosses. Time to get after it.

 

Walking over to her office, which was really just meant to be a small bedroom for a little when the place was constructed (The irony only now occurred to her) she sat at her desk and while her computer was booting up, she rolled her chair back a bit and started looking at how she could rearrange the desk so that she could see out into the living room while she worked. It would be pretty easy, but she would definitely need some help when Cat got here.

 

She logged in and typed out a message to her employer that was studying rift littles, and then spent a few minutes adding notes to her note card, documenting everything that had happened with John today before switching over to her office software. She was most of the way though editing an article and setting up links to relevant sources when she got a message from a research team leader on the group chat.

 

“Hi Miss Taylor. This is Andy with the research team. I had a message forwarded to me. Did you find a little that came through a rift?”

 

Oh wow, okay she expected a response in a few days, not less than an hour.

 

She replied in the little pop up “Hi Andy, I am the one that found a little that came through a rift. Is your group still studying them?”

 

“Yes Ma'am, we currently don't have any littles in our local area and are just and are simply keeping up with medical records. With permission from their adopted parents, of course.”

 

“Naturally. How can I help you?”

 

“Well Miss Taylor, I believe that we have a unique opportunity before us.”

 

“You want to study my little.”

 

“Yes Ma'am, we do. We would help with some of the tasks that you need to get done to accommodate your new little, and even pay you a monthly stipend for his expenses. We've had the funding donated by a corporation that wants to study what happens to littles cognitive ability as they adapt to our world, but we've not yet found any right as they arrived. You have a unique opportunity, and they are willing to pay for this data."

 

She shook her head as she typed a reply “That is only acceptable if it does not affect him negatively. I need to know that you would be expecting from him first.”

 

The reply came almost immediately, as though they had already been typing. “Good news! He won't even know that he is participating. We will send a wrist band for him to wear that will track his vitals, and it even has GPS tracking so you can always find him. You just go get him his checkup at your family doctor and they send us his information, and we will also send a tablet with some puzzle games and pattern detection games. All you have to do is just open the box and let him explore the tablet and play the games. An hour of playtime every couple of days should be more than enough.”

 

Amanda sat there thinking about it for a moment. She didn't have TV service, so the games would give him something to do.

 

“Okay, I'll give it a try, but if he starts to seem uncomfortable with it, we will stop immediately.”

 

“That is always the plan. Besides, you have to do more work than he does. We'll need some pictures and a thorough account of how he got here, as well as weekly updates. That's honestly what the stipend is for."

 

Now she got to laugh “I have already been keeping a journal of every detail about him that I can, just in case I have to explain things to LPS.”

 

And finally she got back the reply “You should get him registered with LPS as soon as possible. Sometimes they get a bit cranky about rift littles. Best of luck to you, and make absolutely certain to send us all the receipts for every single purchase you make for him … Please.”

 

Amanda stretched a bit in her chair. One more paragraph and two more links and she was done, and then she would have about an hour before company arrives to make some coffee.

 

While she was finishing up her last bit of work she could hear John calling her name “Am... Amanda!?” He sounded alarmed, like maybe he'd had a bad dream. “Miss Amanda?” Yeah, the poor thing definitely sounded upset about something.

 

Without looking up from her work she called distractedly “It's okay sweety, Mommy's in the office finishing up her work.”

 

She heard a crinkling sound getting closer and looked to see the little standing there struggling to hold his knees together and whimpering.

 

“I need to use the bathroom.” He said in a strained voice.

 

With a nod, she answered “I'm almost done with my work, I'll be there in about two minutes.”

 

He shook his head “I don't … think I can wait.”

 

Stopping to save her work and hit the button to upload the now completed article, she closed the app. “Sweety, if you have to go that badly...It's not a big deal.”

 

He stood there shaking his head “No, please. Anything but that. Please. I can't ...”

 

Now powering down her computer she stood up and started to walk toward him, only to see him sink down to his knees on the floor, and it looked like he was about to start crying. And mumbling something that sounded like “I don't wanna” over and over.