A: Was that you wife?
B: Don’t question it
A: But
B: Don’t
A: Why burrito?
B: What did I just say?! -- Anon Guest
It had been a typically Human conversation between spouses. As in, completely incomprehensible to outside observers. Including the final words, "Bye, babe. I gotta go burrito the babies."
Companion Gren couldn't not ask. An exchange that finished with Human Ben attempting to focus on her work while Companion Gren waited patiently for Ben to crack. Patient and anticipatory silence was Human Ben's weak spot. Every time she checked Gren or looked hir way, Gren was very visibly waiting patiently.
It took twenty minutes. Humans did not like silence. "You really want to know, don't you? You really want to find out about this. I can warn you, it won't match whatever you've been imagining for the past half hour."
Gren settled into Listening Mode and said, "I merely seek knowledge."
"Okay. You know how every single Deregger trade ship just... leaves a plague of vanilla cats every time they pull in and won't pay the fines for biota pollution? We still have to do something about the cats they leave in their wake. So my wife and I spend as much time as we can trapping, taming, and neutering the adults and fostering any kittens we can rescue until they're ready to be re-homed."
This was merely setting the scene. Gren knew hir role at this point. It was to make an interested noise. "Oh?"
"There's a rogue mama out there in the pipes somewhere who just... drops kittens in a nest an hikes off to parts unknown. Still haven't caught her. Might be as many as three, but the commonality of the markings indicate that it might be one. She's a wily cuss. Anyway. We have find-and-save drones that at least rescue the nests and ferry the babies back to where we can actually reach the poor little things. Better than sad little mummified bodies found during maintenance cycles."
"I remember that," said Gren. Human Zil's depression and anxiety over the matter had been epic. It had been a rough month. "We have been trying to help."
"Yeah. We all hate it when Zil's upset. I've been one hundo percent on her side for ten years. Contractually and emotionally obligated to help out. So now there's a whole kitten hospital set up near Medical. Incubators and stuff. But you can't feed a baby in an incubator, because weighing and all that jazz. And once a kitten's out of the incubator, keeping it warm's the problem."
The jigsaw pieces fit together. "So you wrap them to keep them warm... like a burrito."
"Yeah. She's a stickler for science, so the wraps get weighed before and after. We love nouning verbs and verbing nouns so... burrito the babies."
"That is adorable," said Gren. "Why do you act ashamed of this?"
"I'm not the cute one."
Gren waited for further elucidation.
"...I came up with the term..." Human Ben mumbled.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / koldunova]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [65 remaining prompts!]
