Chapter X: Dinner mash-up
Contrary to what the wolf had anticipated and expected, his plan worked. With Damian watching the spectacle from the sidelines, Aran was fully immersed in building the modeled railway. Somewhere along the lines, Jennifer brought him a bottle of lemonade, but the wolf did not even notice her until he heard the door being closed again.
He would have protested in other occasions, but instead, he picked up the bottle. Idly drinking from it, he continued planning and building the railway. The wolf was just pondering where to put the bridge when Jennifer came in again, quite some time later.
"I see that you're enjoying yourself after all, little one?"
He put down the bridge piece.
"There's no way you're going to let me talk myself out of this, right?" he queried.
"Not really, no," she laughed.
"I used to play with a similar set when I was little."
"Well, I guess being little again hasn't changed that, has it now?"
Aran shook his head.
"Did Damien enjoy himself too?"
"Whuh-whatnow?"
"Your husky, did he have fun?"
"I dunno. He's a plushie," Aran replied in confusion.
"You didn't keep all the fun for yourself, did you? It's not nice if you don't share."
"Maybe, but he didn't complain and he's still smiling," the wolf countered as he picked up his plushie.
Jennifer remained silent for a few seconds, standing with her hands in her sides.
"I've got to admit that I didn't see that one coming, Aran."
The wolf showed a proud expression on his muzzle.
"Do you know what time it is, dear?"
"Nope. Even if there is a clock in here, it has managed to hide itself pretty well."
She smiled.
"It's time for dinner, come," she said, offering her hand.
"Really? Did I spend that long in here?" he replied, accepting her offer.
"Believe it or not, but the small handle is pointing at the six already."
Since Aran had no clue what time it was when he entered the playroom, he did not have a concrete idea on how long he actually played with the railway. However, at the mentioning of food, his tummy rumbled to emphasize that it was indeed mealtime.
The collie led him to the highchair again and even though the wolf hated being locked up in there, he realized that his caregiver would not let him sit on an ordinary chair. It was either being fed dinner whilst sitting on a highchair, or having no dinner at all. His stomach made that decision for him fairly quickly.
Aran reluctantly let his caregiver lift him onto the seat of the highchair, then she placed the tray back where it belonged. The tether soon followed suit, leaving the wolf in anticipation of what Jennifer would feed him for dinner. He had forgotten about the bib already, though.
The collie, however, had not. She tied a bib around Aran's neck, one similar to the piece of clothing he had worn during his previous feeding. Trading a bib for a plushie did not seem like a fair trade to the wolf, but he knew that the stuffed dog would be in the way during his feeding.
To prevent any unnecessary predicaments, he handed the plushie over to his caregiver, who put it on the table just like she had during the previous feeding. Jennifer then turned to one of the kitchen cabinets and searched for some jars of food. She took out three of them and shut the door again.
Instead of serving the food like she had done previously, the collie turned to the microwave, opened the first jar and put it inside. Within a minute, the machine produced its well-known 'ding'-sound to announce that the food was ready to be served.
Jennifer retrieved the heated jar from the microwave and returned to her charge. With the now familiar colorful plastic spoon in the other hand, she scooped up some of the contents and let Aran taste it. He hesitated at first, but as soon as he tasted hints of chicken and curry rice, the deal was sealed. The food still did not require any chewing, but its taste reminded him more of _actual_food than the feared vegetable blend.
The first jar was soon empty and Jennifer popped a second one in the microwave. Aran had declared that he liked the dish and his caregiver took that as a hint that he wanted more of the same. After the second portion, however, his enthusiasm was dampened. Just as he had gotten his hopes up that there would be no vegetables at dinner, Jennifer put a jar of green mush in the microwave.
"Oh no, that's not more of the green veggie stuff, is it?"
"Not exactly," the collie replied. "This is a different mixture. You might like this one better."
"Hate it less," Aran corrected.
"Pup, we don't 'hate' food. Other people have nothing to eat, so be grateful that you can fill your tummy."
This sudden stern comment shattered a good part Aran's confidence.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
"That's okay," Jennifer reassured. "Now open up, the vegetable train has arrived, bringing healthy food for good puppies!"
Aran sighed in defeat and opened his muzzle. He tried to swallow the mush as soon as it touched his tongue, so he would not have to taste it very long. The mixture indeed had a somewhat different taste, but it was still far from delicious. In order to be done with it as soon as possible, the wolf did his best to continue as fast as he could.
"Good puppy," the collie praised when all of the vegetable blend was gone. "Do you have some more room in your tummy for a dessert?"
"I guess. Can I have more of that strawberry yogurt?"
"You can, but not until I hear the magic word."
'Magic word?' The wolf thought. 'Oh wait, sure.'
"Um, may I have some more strawberry yogurt, please?"
"Of course, dear," the collie replied and she walked to the fridge to retrieve a carton. "See how much easier it is to just go with the flow?"
"Maybe, but I still don't understand any of this."
"You don't have to. Keep yourself occupied with this delicious yogurt instead," she joked.
Although Aran ate the yogurt with a little more restraint than last time - or a less lack thereof - he still managed to make all of the fruity dairy product disappear into his stomach within the blink of an eye. As he caught his breath afterwards, his tummy told him that it had had enough for the moment.
"That's what I thought," Jennifer commented when she had ran out of yogurt. "It looks like your bib was no luxury this time either."
The wolf looked at his chest and concluded that his caregiver was not joking. His ears drooped and his stared at the wooden tray in embarrassment.
"Don't be sad, little one. It's okay for puppies like you to make a bit of a mess when they're eating."
"But I'm not-" he started, but decided that it would be useless to protest. "I guess so."
She wiped his muzzle clean and took the bib off, then returned Damian to his owner. After removing the tray and relieving Aran of the restraint, she lifted him out of the highchair and put him down on the ground again.
"Little one, I'd like you to go back to the playroom and tidy up the toys you played with, can you do that for me?"
Aran wanted to protest, as he was nearly finished building the railway and now his caregiver asked him to put everything away. He decided not to fall into the behavior she wanted him to show, and just confirmed that he would do as she asked.
As the wolf took the railway apart and put the wooden pieces back where they belonged, he was struggling with a sense of discord. One half of him was glad that he did not have to play with children's toys anymore, while the other half was genuinely disappointed about the project disappearing in the toy box.
His mental disagreement was silenced by a totally different problem, though. He had not noticed it very much during dinner, but his body had processed the liquids from the bottle he drank earlier. What comes in must go out, and Aran felt the pressure on his bladder increase.
When he was done tidying up the toys, he was still left with the question whether he was going to use his diaper or wait. Eventually, he would have to let go, but the independent young adult inside the wolf strongly urged him to hold his bladder.
A few minutes later, the pressure became annoying. Aran sat down and considered his options. Jennifer referred to him as a puppy and treated him like one in many aspects. She probably would not let him use a toilet, else she would surely have encouraged him to do so earlier.
That left him with the choice of going immediately or going later. Even though his adult mind tried its best to convince him otherwise, the wolf knew deep down that he was only delaying the inevitable. He got back on his paws and placed his palms against the door. With his eyes closed, he took a deep breath and concentrated on his bladder.
It took some effort, but he eventually managed to void the organ of its content. The wolf let out a sigh of relief and reached for the door handle to leave the playroom, but his hand only caught air. He then remembered that the door could not be opened from the inside.