The Chibi Problem Part 29

I had a busy week, what with keeping up with my Chibis, Ruthie's Chibis, the orphan Chibis, the phone calls from people who seemed to think I was information central for Ruthie and Teola, and oh yeah, my job.

The guest wufeis assimilated quite nicely with the gundam wufeis. The injured duo began to regain his strength. The gundam duos welcomed him warmly and came every morning to chatter and play with him. I sat them down and explained and demonstrated how to exercise his damaged wing so that it would heal better, and he soon had about a dozen physical therapists eager to help.

The orphans' paperwork arrived in due course, and I determined that they were indeed from various Chibi-mills. That doesn't mean they weren't good Chibis, just that they weren't outstanding Chibis. None of them would take a first in a show, but they were all moderately typey in spite of their over-breeding.

I took about a million pictures, shopping them around to Pete and other wufei fanciers and hoping to find someone who would like a nice pet-quality Chibi. Several people expressed interest, but nothing came of it.

Hmm... Did I actually just use the term 'nice' when describing a wufei? Horrors!

I resigned myself to having increased the balance of grumpiness in the gundam, and figured they were mine forever. The duo got better every day. By the second day he was chattering madly away with the others, detailing his experiences and rolling his eyes over the grumpiness of his companions during that time.

Almost a week after the fire, I tucked Berber into my shoplifters special shoulder bag and paid a visit to the hospital.

I had to wait a few minutes while the nurse did some of those hospital things that medical personnel do; Berber waited anxiously, crouched in my huge purse. He certainly wasn't used to be carted around like this, but in true quatre fashion, he was being a perfect little doll.

Ruthie was still medicated to the hilt. She'd suffered third degree burns on 10% of her body, mostly hands and feet, and second degree burns on another 20%. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but plenty bad enough. There would be skin grafts and nerve damage and a very long convalescence. It was just a damn good thing that Teola's current job offered full benefits to domestic partners.

I sat down, sighed and grinned. Ruthie knows how I am so she managed to grin back.

"Nice of you to stick around," I said warmly.

"Told Nick I'd see him in hell..." she sighed. "Not going till he does..."

"Geez; don't tell me you heard from him!" Nick is Ruthie's ex-husband, a slimier, more pus-oozing weasel you will never find.

"Just called to say he wasn't paying for any of this..."

"Aw, Ruthie... Did you at least hang up on him?" Sometimes, she's too nice for her own good.

"Told him not to look back... Something might be gaining on him..." She smirked at me. "Then I hung up."

"Good girl. Was Teola here?"

"...no... She was looking at... at the house..."

Meaning, she had gone to see if there was anything left. I already knew the answer to that, but I wanted to see if she knew.

"And?"

She began to tear up. "Only the storage shed behind the garage..."

"I'm sorry, honey..." What else can you say when someone has lost 90% of their life's memories?

Ruthie shrugged. "I'll... I'll make more... At least my babies are safe." She looked at me expectantly, a tiny spark of wariness telling me that she wasn't entirely sure if Teola and I were telling her the truth about the Chibis.

I opened my bag, saying, "Well, why don't you ask him yourself?" Berber popped out with a wailing "Kiiiiiind!"

He scampered across me and the bedside table to plaster himself against the side of Ruthie's face and neck, calling, "Moiiii, Moiiii!"

Bandages made petting him impossible, but she pressed her arm against him and began to cry.

Berber chattered on and on, telling her everything that had happened and that everyone was all right. He told her about the orphans and about my Chibis and my cats and the cool condos they got to stay in and the many, many trowas I had.

I don't think she understood a word. He finally ran down and just leaned there, patting her cheek and crooning softly. I offered him the box of tissues and he plucked one to dab at the tears on Ruthie's face. She hiccupped and cried some more. Finally, though, we reached equilibrium.

Ruthie sniffed and looked at me. "Teola says you have a house full of Chibis..."

"Well, there's BabyDoll," I hedged. "And his mates, and their chibits, and the fire orphans." I really did not want to tell her about the gundam. I made a note to myself to tell the gundam to be scarce when Teola came by next time.

She caught that last, though.

"Fire orphans?"

"Yeah. There were three wufeis and a duo living under your garage."

She blinked in horror. "Wild Chibis? Oh, my god!" She clutched at Berber and he squeaked.

Hmm... She wasn't taking it quite as I'd intended...

"Relax, Ruthie," I soothed, patting her arm. "They're not wild Chibis; they were dumped by their owners. I checked their numbers and located the owners and the breeders. Mills, of course."

Like most other Chibers, Ruthie was clueless about gundams and feral Chibis, and believed the party line that they were dangerous to domesticated Chibis.

"Oh, no..." That was good; we were moving from 'contamination!' to 'poor things!'

"I'm going to see if I can place them. If not, I'll just keep them. What're a few more?" I shrugged.

"What kind are they?" I could see the touch of madness that all Chibi-lovers get when confronted with the opportunity to acquire more of the little devils.

"Three wufeis and a duo. The duo was injured, but he'll be okay. BabyDoll's looking after him. The wufeis are being their usual grumpy little selves. Angel and Killer are looking after them."

"Wufeis..." She sounded both hopeful and disappointed.

I grinned at her. "Hey, there! You'll make this little guy jealous."

"No... Nothing is better than my Berber," she smiled petting him awkwardly. He sighed heavily and cut me a look that clearly said "Mommie doesn't understand, but we love her anyway."

"I don't know... Maybe a wufei would be nice."

"Ruthie, never ever use the word 'nice' when describing a wufei! It makes them even more surly and rude."

She laughed wanly. Her eyelids were beginning to droop. It was clearly time for Berber and me to be on our way.

"Time for you to get some more rest," I said lightly. "Come on, Berb old boy; let's sneak on out of here and let Mommie sleep some more." He detached himself reluctantly, taking time to rub his cheek against hers.

"I wish he could stay with me..."

"I wish he could too," I agreed. "I think you'd get well a lot faster. But that's a little too avant-garde for the medical establishment right now. I'll bring him with, though; every time I come by."

"Okay... Thanks... Give everybody a hug from me..."

"We will."

Berber waited until we were in the parking garage to begin his trilling litany. He's a smart little guy. I reassured him that the 'stiff people' would make Mommie better, but that it would take a long time. He sighed and climbed up my arm to crouch on my shoulder.

He appreciated me giving them a place to stay, and loved interacting with my Chibis and the gundam, but he would be happy to go back home again.

I agreed and ruffled his blond hair. A holler from across the garage made me stop and turn. It was Teola, I saw, jogging my way. I waited.

"Are you just going up?" she asked breathlessly. "Damn, I am so outta shape!"

"Just came down; she got sleepy, so we cut it short."

"'We'? You took him in?" She looked like she couldn't decide whether to be surprised or mad. Berber solved that by reaching out to her, cooing gently.

"Yeah. He was very good, and I think it relieved her mind to see him."

Teola lifted Berber from my shoulder and cuddled him for a moment. "I think... I think she might have thought I was lying; trying to spare her right now..."

I nodded. "I figured. That's why I brought him. He needed to see her, too."

She gave me the same look non-Chibers give me when I talk about the Chibis as if they were people.

"Uh... Yeah." She gave him a little squeeze and put him back on my shoulder. "You be a good boy, Berber." He ran off a series of trills and chirps, basically assuring her that he would be goodness personified, followed by an admonition for her to take good care of his Mommie.

Teola sighed. "He's always so chatty," she murmured. "Almost like he understands..."

I gave it a beat. "Maybe he does."

She just smiled.

"Ruthie says Nick called."

Her expression darkened. "That fuckin' cockroach! No 'sorry to hear', no 'anything I can do'; just he's not paying for this! As if he ever provided for anything she needed! Man, I would love to catch him at something! See his shiny corporate ass behind bars..."

"What about the kids?" I asked. Ruthie's four kids turned their backs on her when she met Teola; thank you Christianity and that pseudo-pious, holier-than-thou church that they belonged to. Their dad did a first-class job of brainwashing them; he should get a damn medal stapled to his forehead.

"Not a word. Not one single, bloody, fuckin' word!" Her hand went for her shirt pocket, automatically reaching for a smoke. She caught herself, and reddened slightly. "I keep doing that," she muttered.

"Hey, habits are hard to break; that's why they're habits." I patted her shoulder. "Her other kids are doing fine, though, and they love her, even if the roach-spawn don't."

"Yeah..."

We parted then, and Berber and I headed home. I stopped at a drive-thru for a soda, offering Berber his choice from the menu. He was a little surprised, I think. Ruthie doesn't cart her Chibis around the way I do mine, so they aren't as accustomed to fast food as mine are. He finally chose a Sprite and we decided to share an order of fries.

It had taken a couple of days for Berber and his boys to get used to me being able to understand them. He still looked at me sometimes, as if he simply could not fathom carrying on a conversation with a human.

And sometimes the look said that he wished his own Mommie understood.

We were nearly home when he let out a soft "friiiieeend." I looked down at him, tucked into the Chibi-seat.

"What's up, Berb? Problem?"

He sighed heavily and chirruped a bit. He'd understood what Ruthie said about the house being gone. He and his boys had lost all the things that they had collected too. All the photos of their show triumphs, their trophies, their toys and favorite furniture...

"I know, sweetie," I said softly. "It sucks to lose everything. But you're all okay, Mommie will get better, and you'll get a new house, with new things. The most important thing is that you guys are okay." I reached out to pet him and he leaned into my touch, chirping.

He thanked me for taking them in, letting them share our home and disrupt our lives. I snorted, and informed him right back that I would be a poor sort of Chiber to not have taken them in.

We were both quiet for a bit, and then I asked if he understood that even when Ruthie came home from the hospital, she would still be healing. She would need help with little things, like cooking and eating and cleaning. Her hands would be sore for a long time.

Berber regarded me thoughtfully. How could they help her? his look clearly said.

"Ah, Berber; I'm glad you asked me that question..."

TBC...

 

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