III. Two's a company
As told by Nina
I knew that I needed someone else to properly prepare Milo's birthday party, but I did not want to burden my friend with another powerful secret. When Margaret had finished her meal, she offered to do the dishes with me, but I politely declined, since she had cooked dinner.
Besides, doing a simple household task allowed me to 'think while being occupied'. There had to be _someone_able and willing to help me with my plans. Margaret had not even been an option to begin with. As much as I liked her, and even though we had become good friends since the start of the academic year, I just did not dare to trust her.
Of course, I trusted her as a friend, but I did not feel comfortable sharing a secret like that with a peer, and I did not have a right to divulge Milo's secret to her either. I could not explain an act like that to my boyfriend, and neither did I want to risk my relationship with him.
Maybe one of his friends would be able to... no, of course not. I shook my head, mentally scolding myself for thinking something so foolish. Milo only had a few acquaintances living nearby, the majority of which were fellow students he had worked with. Even if any of them had been closer to him, I could not tell them, just like I could not tell Margaret.
The Hare Indian was a bit of a loner, and he had a hard time making friends. Maybe he did not allow people to come close, afraid that he would lose them again. If that were true, my relationship with him was truly exceptional.
Still, there had to be someone, right? So not my friends, not his friends - as much as Milo knew people he could call friends. Most of those were people he had met online, either through PuppyNet or through a community of people that played the same online game he was obsessed with.
Friends were definitely not an option. The only other people I could think of were my parents, but I'd rather tell Margaret I was a babyfur than burdening my parents with something so personal. Wait, parents?
Gotcha! Milo did not have any parents - and even his grandfather had passed - but there was one person he would surely trust. However, another problem arose. How was I going to explain being a littlefur to his grandmother? After all, I was not exactly planning an _ordinary_birthday party.
I took a deep breath, telling myself to calm down. There was a good and reasonable solution for this problem. First of all, I had to find the phone number of Milo's grandmother and give her a call. Maybe I could gauge my chances if I paid her a visit.
Meanwhile, I had finished doing all the dishes, including the items Margaret and I had not even used. The unwritten rules stated everyone should clean their _own_mess, but I did not mind this time. After all, it helped me to organize my thoughts.
For starters, I needed a valid reason to visit Milo's grandmother - a backup plan, in case it did not look like she would be open minded enough to deal with me and Milo being babyfurs. On the other paw, was it really a problem? I could just tell her that I wanted to organize a birthday party for my boyfriend, leaving out the more... personal details.
If all else failed, I could still put something together he could enjoy as a grown-up. It would be harder to organize such a party that would make Milo happy, but on the other paw, there were more people I could ask for help without jeopardizing my relationship.
Luckily, I knew that only Milo's _mother_was a Hare Indian. Last names are passed on by species rather than by gender, so he must have inherited that from her. Since both of his grandparents are Indians as well, his grandmother had to have the same last name as his mother, since a descendant from a same-species marriage always receives the name of the parent of the same gender.
Combined with the name of Milo's hometown, I was able to easily track down the phone number of a certain Trisha Larkin. Hooray for online phone registers, I guess. I took out my cell phone and dialed the number. My heart pounded in my chest as I waited for the elderly lady to answer my call. It took about half a minute before she finally picked up the phone.
"Larkin residence, good evening," a warm and gentle voice said.
"Hi, this is Nina Phillips."
"You're Milo's girlfriend, aren't you?"
"Yush, that's me," I said with a smile. "I've got a question I think only you can answer."
"Then by all means, ask away, dear," the old Indian invited.
"As you probably know, Milo's birthday is coming up, and I want to do something special for him."
"Oh my..." Mrs. Larkin responded, clearly in doubt.
"I'm aware that Milo and birthdays don't really seem like a good combination, but I've got a plan that might turn him around on that. He hasn't celebrated his birthday since he moved out, and as far as I know, he didn't really enjoy the ones he did celebrate after, y'know..."
I found it hard to actually utter the words I had in mind.
"After his parents passed away, you mean? Yush, I understand that. Innes and I always tried to cheer him up on his birthdays, and he always appreciated our effort, but we all knew that the death of his parents haunted him the most on days like those."
"Especially now your husband has passed away as well, I want to do whatever I can for Milo, so he can have happy memories this time. I can tell that he has changed for the better since we first met, but it still feels like something is holding him back from being truly happy."
"I see, dear. You said you have a plan. What is it exactly, and why am I the only person that can help you?"
"I'd prefer not to discuss the details with you over the phone. There's something important and," I said, then paused for a second to find the right word, "sensitive I want to tell you, something about Milo."
"Goodness, that sounds serious."
"Well, it kinda is, but it's nothing to be _worried_about," I said, but I was not convinced of that statement myself. "Anyway, I think you're the only person that can help me organize a small party for Milo. It'll be just the three of us, but I want it to be a birthday he'll remember as something he enjoyed."
"In that case, would you like to come over tonight? We can talk all you want, there won't be anyone to eavesdrop on us," she added with a laugh.
"That would be good, yush," I replied, feeling the adrenaline in my chest again.
"Drop in somewhere around eight, and we'll have a cup of tea together, okay?"
"Sounds fine to me."
"Very well. I live in the Red Oaks apartment complex at the edge of the western suburbs. Do you know where that is?"
"I'll figure out a way, don't worry," I reassured.
"Good. I live in apartment number 217, so that's on the second floor."
"All right. Goodbye, Mrs. Larkin."
"See you tonight, dear," she responded, then ended the call.
I let out a sigh and tried to calm myself down. If I were really going to explain to Milo's grandmother what being a littlefur is like, I imagined it would be hard to do that on my own. Even if I could manage to say everything I wanted to, it was going to be hard.
However, I could not exactly bring Milo with me to help me along, for obvious reasons. Therefore, I had to settle with the next best thing: my big White Shepherd plushie. Even though I had not forgotten Pam, I was over my grief and only the happy memories remained.
Besides, I had grown really fond of Natasha, and she seemed even more cuddly than my stuffed sheep had been. On the other paw, Pam was a lot smaller, so there was less surface to cuddle with.
But then again, nothing could beat hugging my very own living plushie - the one for which I was going to organize a puppy birthday party! With determination, I put Natasha in my backpack. I had the urge to pack my pacifier as well, but I resisted it, as I was already taking a great risk.