Babysitter
"Trick or Treat!"
Vera, a twenty two year old panda trots to her front door, where her daughter, Plum, a baby monkey, is trying to reach up to the orange bowl full of Halloween candy.
"No, no, Sweetheart. That's for the big kids who wear costumes," Vera smiles, bending down to lift her bundle of joy, "You wanna help Mommy give candy?"
Vera opens the door and sees a mother cat standing with her three kittens in costumes, their ears poking out of their rubber masks.
"Trick or treat, smell my feet!" one kitten shouts.
"Hannah! I told you not to sing that rude song," the mother cat laughs nervously.
Vera laughs a little to herself and gives Plum three pieces of candy, guiding her carefully to walk toward the kittens, "Now put the candy in their bags, Honey. You can do it."
Plum successfully puts one candy in each bag, and happily, the mother cat and Vera cheer on the little monkey, "Yay! Good job, that was very good!"
The kittens thank Vera and Plum for the candy, and head on across the street to the next house.
"That was a good girl, Plum!" Vera said, picking Plum back up and sitting her on her hip again, just sort of walking about the living room, waiting for more trick-or-treaters and also for Plum's babysitter to arrive.
A knocking sounds at the front door, and Vera opens the door, ready to hand out candy. Instead of children, there stands an arctic wolfess named Sparrow.
"Hey! I'm the babysitter you called earlier! Vera and Plum, right?"
"Yep, that's us. I was invited to a family and friend Halloween thing, and Plum's not old enough to be up late."
"That's fine! I can definitely watch her for you. I'm sure she and I will have a lot of fun, won't we little Plummy?" Sparrow's voice is kind, soft, and loving toward the little baby; Vera feels as if she can trust Sparrow, but at the same time, the separation from Plum, even for a short time, will be a tad difficult.
"You look worried. Have you ever had a babysitter before?" Sparrow said, her tail curling around her legs.
"Not in a long time, but, please come in. We'll go over a few things and we'll see if I need your service tonight."
"No problem. I understand completely," Sparrow smiled, walking into the house, clean and rather posh, "This is a lovely home, by the way!"
"Thanks," Vera smiles, motioning for Sparrow to sit. Vera sits in an adjacent chair with Plum on her lap, "I'm not used to leaving Plum with a sitter... so I'm looking for someone who can keep her safe, feed her on time, maybe do a little developmental playtime with her, you know... basic childcare while I'm away."
"That doesn't seem so much to ask. Simple for me, personally. I've babysat for all sorts of families. The most fun was probably this family of iguanas. Hide and seek was... not easy." Sparrow giggles, petting her tail on her lap, "but safety seems to be a big issue for you. Who better to trust than a wolf?"
Vera smiles, bouncing Plum on her lap, "That's actually comforting to hear! That brings me to things like CPR and emergency type situations..."
"Never once had an accident with a child, but I am skilled in this type of thing," Sparrow says, leaning to her left and reaching into her shorts pocket for a black wallet. She opens it, and takes out a card, handing it to Vera.
"I've taken child CPR and standard CPR, since you mentioned it. I also know the Heimlich maneuver, basic home remedies for things like tooth aches or ear aches, I've studied up on a lot - and especially how to actually prevent needing to use these skills. I can promise you that Plum will be safe with me while you're out seeing your family and friends. All I'd need is a number to reach you at."
Vera looked into Sparrow's icy blue eyes and could sense a feeling of trust and determination. Something about her... she was just so willing to care for someone's child, and more so, keep that child safe.
"What made you decide to work with kids anyway, Sparrow?"
"I just love kids, that's all. I think if kids are going to be left with a sitter, they should at least be good sitters. I like... watching kids grow, you know? I like to be able to say 'hey, I took part in helping that kid grow up', you know?"
"Okay! Is five dollars an hour okay?" Vera smiled.
Vera came out of her bedroom, wearing an interesting costume, handmade to replicate a girl from her favorite game, Rune Factory: Frontier. Wearing Iris Noire's same black dress - loosely hugging her slender frame, a cape, stockings, and shoes, all accented with pink, she comes to her little girl and hugs her tightly.
"You be good for the babysitter, now. Sparrow's in charge," Vera giggles, grabbing a white and silver wig from the sofa, grooming it, and putting it on her head, making sure her ears are exposed, "How do I look?"
"Very... vampire." Sparrow smiles, "That what you're going for?"
"A character in a game I like playing - Iris Noire is a vampire, so I made this costume."
"It looks great! Doesn't Mommy look nice?" Sparrow says, gently poking little Plum on her tiny monkey nose, making her giggle and grab at Sparrow's finger.
"Well, I getter get going. Mommy loves you, sweetheart! You be a good little girl and don't be much trouble. We'll want Sparrow to come back, won't we? Oh, Sparrow, there's a list of emergency numbers on the fridge, and Plum's schedule is on the coffee table, just over there."
Sparrow nods, "Alrighty! We'll be just fine, so don't you worry," she says as she motions Plum's hand to wave bye-bye as Vera walks out the door, grabbing a little black purse.
Sparrow looks at Plum's schedule and sees a small note, stating that Plum had already eaten her dinner and it's just about time for her nighttime bottle - at six at night. The instructions are simple. Two scoops of banana flavored baby formula and eight ounces of warm water.
It's only five-thirty. So in the meantime, according to Vera's notes, it's bath time. I know bath time too well. She's a little monkey, so she'll want to play. Let's see how this goes, first.
"Plum, it's bath time! Mommy says we gotta make you squeaky clean and smellin' like daisies!" Sparrow calls, coming back to the sitting room, where Plum is playing with a crinkle-noise-making Alphabet book. Just as Sparrow crouches to pick up Plum, the doorbell rings.
"Trick or Treat!"
"Oh, right. Trick or Treaters. Plum, wanna help me with the candy?"
Sparrow opens the door and Plum waddles out, trying to hold the large bowl of candy. She grabs fistfuls of candy out of the bowl and puts them in any bags she sees. The kids giggle and run away, thanking Sparrow for the candy as she shrugs and giggles shyly at the mothers walking with their children.
"That's a lot of candy, there Plum. Silly girl. C'mon, we gotta get your bathy going!" Sparrow picks up little Plum in one hand, sitting her on her hip, and the bowl in the other hand, setting it back on the stand near the door.
The bathroom is nice and clean. Lovely ivory colored tiles are laid out neatly on the floor, looking polished and swept nicely. The toilet is an automatic flush, and the sink is beautifully decorated with a gorgeous mirror above it - small medicine cabinets on either side.
The cabinets beneath the sink are neatly labeled: "Toiletries" and "Cleaning Supplies". Sparrow opened the toiletries cabinet and noticed immediately the bottle of Pawson & Pawson's cub scrub, in a soft powder scent.
"Guaranteed to keep away those nasty ticks and fleas to avoid being itchy and buggy all over!" Sparrow said, ticking Plum's belly, making her giggle.
"Okay, silly monkey. Let's get you nice and clean!"
Sparrow turns off the water, feeling it to make sure it's an okay temperature. When she notices it's okay, she rinses the bubbles off her paw then helping Plum undress for her bath time.
"I see a monkey booty! Better get in the water before the booty monster gets your tail!" Sparrow teases. Plum giggles, too short to hop into the bath, "It's okay! I'll save you from the booty monster! Eeek!"
Plum sits in the water, giggling and trying to eat the bubbles, but they keep falling out of her hand or popping before she can do anything with them.
"Are you trying to eat those bubbles? They're not for eating, silly monkey," Sparrow says, scrubbing some cub shampoo into Plum's fur, "bubbles are for beards!"
Sparrow scoops up some of the bubbles from the bathwater and puts them around her own chin. Plum giggles and tries to do the same, but manages a tiny beard instead.
"Looking good, sir! I love your beard," says Sparrow in a slightly deeper voice, giggling when Plum tries to reach her tongue to her bubble beard, "Aahh, come on, no eating bubbles. Soap smells good, but it's yucky."
"Yak!" Plum mimics. "That's right! Yak! It's Yaky!"
"Yak." Plum says again, bopping a pile of suds in her lap, "Yak, yak, yak, yak!"
"You are just too cute!" Sparrow smiles, rinsing out Plum's fur, making sure to have gotten all the soap suds. Well, bath time seems to have gone on pretty well. This is easier than I thought. All that's left is to dress her for bed, a little bit of playtime, and then finally off to sleep. Easy!
"Okay, little monkey! Let's pick out some jammies! Go find your jammies!" Sparrow said, urging Plum to lead her to her room to help pick out some footie pajamas to wear.
Plum waddled to her room in nothing but a diaper, her little monkey feet slapping on the floor, leading Sparrow the way. Sparrow opened the door to see a bright, soft yellow room with white windows, curtains, and a white closet door. Plum pulls Sparrow into her room and points at the closet door.
"They're in here?" Sparrow says, opening the closet and seeing little hangers holding little clothes. Shifting through, Sparrow finds four onesies, all footie pajamas. A red onesie, a blue one with yellow bananas on it, a white one with duckies on it, and a green one that looks like a little costume with a froggy-face hood.
Sparrow lays out all four jammies on Plum's bed, picks her up, and holds her on her hip, pointing at the jammies, "Which ones does little Plum want to wear tonight, hm?"
"Yak?" Plum asks, pointing to her bed.
"No, jammies. Ja-mmies." Sparrow sounds out.
"Gamsey," Plum says, trying to mimic Sparrow.
"Which ones, Plum? The red?"
Plum shakes her head and giggles.
"The... banana ones?" Sparrow points to them.
Plum shakes her head again.
"How about... the froggy?" Sparrow asks.
"Foggy!" Plum giggles, reaching for the frog jammies. She wiggles free of Sparrow's arms and climbs down her legs, grabbing for the jammies.
"Oh, whoa there! Careful, you. No climbing so fast, you could fall and get owies!"
"Owies." Plum says, as if she sternly understands.
"It is Halloween, so the froggy is like a little costume!" Sparrow says, faux-gasping to excite Plum.
"Ooo!" Plum says, trying to put her jammies on, her foot through the sleeve.
"Oops! Uh oh, let's fix your jammies!" Sparrow smiles, lifting Plum and putting her on her back on her bed, untangling her jammies from her leg.
When Plum is dressed and in her footie jammies, Sparrow puts her back on the floor, and even puts up Plum's froggy hood.
"Oh, look at you! You look like a real froggy!"
"Foggy! Foggy, foggy."
"You look like the big kids out there in their costumes! I used to do that when I was a pup. When you're older, I'm sure your mommy will take you trick or treating, too."
"Tick'r" Plum giggles, rushing out to the sitting room and climbing onto the sofa.
Sparrow follows her and kneels on the couch, looking out the window with her, "Do you see all those sca-a-ary costumes? And some of the pretty ones?"
"Itch!" Plum squeals, pointing at a little lizard dressed as a Halloween witch.
"Yeah! A witch! Ooh, what if the witch comes here?" Sparrow gasps, "We'll have to give her all of our candy... or... maybe even our toes!"
"What if the witch has already come?"
Sparrow turns to face Plum, her eyes glowing red and her mouth wider than usual, baring a grin of razors.
"P-plum?"
"Aywo." Plum squeals from the hallway. Sparrow turns quickly, frightened, and sees Plum dressed in her froggy hoody jammies. "Awyo... Uh-oh!"