Avocado - Chapter 5 (Draft 1)

[b][center]AVOCADO[/center][/b]
[center]A tribute to Carpdime’s Avocado[/center]
[center]Chapter Five: Precocious Avocado[/center]

The rays from a gentle sunrise could be seen from the window, as the old woman was giving Avocado a bath.
“Hee hee, dat tickwes!”
Most fluffies are afraid of water, as they hate how their fluffs soaks up the water and makes them heavy. However, a few fluffies like Avocado, enjoy bath time, and playing in the water.
“Spwishy spwashy!”
“Please stay still Avocado, I’m to get you clean.”
“Otay gwamma,” says Avo, a little disappointed.
After ten minutes of washing with soap and water, followed by drying with a towel, the old woman proceeds to comb Avo’s mane. He was still a small foal, about the size of a guinea pig, but he was cheerful and effervescent like a young human child. He had the amount of sleep a healthy foal of his any age needed, and thus was bright and active. Despite his tiny size, the old woman was able to neatly comb Avo’s mane, like as though it was hair on a prepubescent human male.
“And there you go! A handsome young boy,” smiles the old woman. She then proceeds to take a mirror and show Avo his neatly combed maned and clean fluff.
“Avo wook nice, gwanma!” squeaks Avo, his voice cracking as he raises his two front hooves to clap.
As she fauns over Avo’s appreciation of his appearance as well as his enthusiasm for his first day at school, she is reminded of something. And for a while, her smile grew a bit dim.
“Gwamma? Wuts wong?”
The old woman was caught off-guard by Avo’s sudden observation. She proceeded to correct herself and smiled quickly.
“Oh nothing Avo! I was just happy about how you look.”
She then proceeded to place Avo in his pet carrier. The old man was currently getting dressed in the master bedroom and was getting ready to take Avo to the daycare.
“You have a good day school, okay? School may seem scary, but you’ll have fun!”
“Otay gwanma!”
As Avo said this, the old man came into the dining room. Placing his hand on the handle of the carrier, he then said, “Alright Avo, its time for school!”
As man and fluffy departed the house, the old woman waved at them, and said loudly, “Have a good day at school, Avo!”
As she watches the car depart from the house, the memory that she tried to suppress came back. Her eyes started to well up.
~
She was a young woman with bright auburn hair. Eyebags were starting to form under her dark blue eyes. Immersing her hands in the stream flowing form the faucet, she scooped up the water and brought up to her face. As she massaged her face, she opened her eyes, and started at herself for half a minute.
The Auburn-haired woman came from a broken home, and she never knew stability in her early years. As it was a sensitive matter, she refused to discuss or mention it, leaving only rumours and gossip to speculate among those who barely knew her. Some opined that she was caught in the midst of a messy divorce and was treated as a pawn between two rivalling parents desiring her affection. The more nosy of the chatterboxes heard from the grapevine that she was actually illegitimate, and that she never really knew her father, being born to a single mother. Whatever the case, she was an introvert for most of her life and kept to herself. At some point, Auburn was making the beginning steps down a wrong path. She started mixing around with the wrong kind of company, who took advantage of her meekness and insecurity, and tempted her with vices like illegal substances and truancy.
However, she was not without real friends. And, intervention from her friends and then the family that really cared for her took her away from this darkness. She spent many a month in rehabilitation, and had to retake a year in high school, having to relearn the many things she abandoned in her bout of truancy. But, the allure of being a rebel kept calling her back, and she could feel her self slipping, her desiring to return to the life of a wild child again.
And then, one day, there was the announcement of the fluffy pony biotoy. The creature intrigued her. To many, they were just playthings, a corporate product marketed to young girls, which ended up attracting a male demographic for some bizarre reason. However, when she first saw the biotoy in the window, she looked at them with incredulity. Their happy demeanour, their babbling chatter, their stupid smiles. But, as she looked at the eyes of the fluffies, in both the foals, and the adults, she saw an innocence that she once felt as a child, before the madness happened. She remembered a toy she once owned, an MLF toy that she lost in the madness. And now here were these toys made flesh, like the figurative Velveteen Rabbit.
She didn’t just want to own one. She wanted to know about them. So upon owning one, she went back to studies, but with a newfound determination. She found out about the new job of teaching at fluffy daycares, which was fast becoming a profession. Over time, she managed to get a certification as a qualified biotoy caretaker, and was now working toward a degree in animal psychology and behaviour.
“Mummah am otay?”
The adult Waggytail fluffy was looking at her owner curiously, wondering why she was staring at herself in the mirror for so long.
“I’m okay, Candy. Lets get ready for class.”
~
“Hello little fluffies!”
And then Auburn introduced herself by her real name to the fluffies. She had to start the class a bit earlier, as she had to prepare a quick orientation for the newcomers. Surveying the five newcomers who was going to join the class, Auburn noticed Avocado. He was looking pretty handsome with his combed mane. Auburn was well aware that he was a foalcan fluffy, and yet, she could not help but be moved by his immediate friendliness that previous Friday.
In Auburn’s arms was a much older, and bigger, fluffy. At this point of time, the only other fluffies that Avo had seen were the glimpses of the fluffies on television and his father’s computer screen, and the fluffies he saw while he was at the airport and during the flight. So, for him to see so many foals his age, as well as the adult fluffy, was a new experience to him.
“And this here is Candy. Candy is a fluffy, like all you little boys and girls, but she’s much older, and is alsoa  good mummah.”
That was the first time Avocado heard the term ‘mummah’ used in reference to a female fluffy that was a parent.
“Huwwo babbehs! Fwuffy name am Candee! Candee wiww hewp babbehs wearn nyu thingies!”
 “We will be teaching you various lessons for the next few months until you become “big” fluffies!” says the Auburn, slightly tired, but still maintaining her interest despite the routine nature of the job. She continued, “And the first thing we will do today, is the Alphabet. I’m sure some of you know your alphabet by hard.”
“Awo knu awfabet!”
Avocado said this, as he raised his two front legs in the air in enthusiasm. Auburn was a bit surprised, as she knew that most foals who were taught at home wouldn’t remember the alphabet that well, a reason they had to be sent to the daycare to improve their knowledge retention.
“Okay, Avo, can you sing the Alphabet song?”
“Shuwe!
Ay Bee Sea Dee Eee Eff Gee…”
The Auburn smiled, as Avocado recited ten letters. However, Avocado kept going past the letter K.
“Okay, that’s“
“Kyu Ess, Tee Yiew Vee!”
Auburn look on in incredulity as Avo kept going. However, Avo was starting to stumble with the next alphabet
“Du-du”
Auburn smiled, and was about to tell Avo to stop when suddenly, Avo blurted out “Dubwoo!” having conquered the difficult of saying “Double U”. Beaming, he finished the song with “Eck, Wai and Zee.
Fwuffy knu da A B Cs, nex time fwen wiww sing wif fwuff!”
“Avo am so smawt!” said Candy, as she clapped her hooves together in praise.
Auburn was a bit taken aback. Knowing that she had to stick to the lesson plan, she quickly adopted a smile, and congratulated Avocado.
“Very good, Avo! And now we will learn some other new things today.”
As so the first lessons began. For the first session, Auburn was teaching the foals about toys.
“This here is a ball,” said Auburn as she pointed to a picture of the ball. Following after her owner, and with an actual toy ball under her hoof, Candy repeated the word but in fluffspeak.
“Dis babbehs iz a baww!”
“Baww!” said all the foals. Some said it with question marks, while others, like Avo, knew the toy well enough.
Because fluffies speak fluffspeak, and are incapable of learning international standards of English, the model of teaching that has been adopted at most fluffy daycares is a system where foals get not one, but two teachers. The main teacher, the human teacher, teaches concepts to the fluffies, while an adult fluffy, ideally a female who has raised foals, plays an assistant role. The idea is that the human teacher teaches a specific concept to the foals, while the fluffy mare will relay the lesson or idea in fluffspeak. Documentation comparing foals raised purely by humans and foals raised purely by their fluffy parents have found that the mixed model provided the best results.
Just as Auburn went over the toys, Auburn did a similar session with animals, particularly pets that fluffies might encounter.
“This is a dog. Dogs can get angry very easily. It is why they bark, and can be bawky munstahs. Fluffies should not disturb dogs, otherwise they will become bawky munstahs!”
 “Dis babbehs, am a bawky munstah! Memba’ babbehs, nu tawkkie to angwy bawky munstahs!”
~
After the lessons, a timer went off on Auburn’s watch. This signalled the mandated break time, during which the fluffies were supposed to play among themselves. While this play was monitored, foals were encouraged to play without the presence of an adult fluffy or human, as a means of developing independence. Of course, a camera would allow the caretaker to observe the foals interactions and from there, notice any problem behaviour.
Avocado was amazed by the various activities he could do in the daycare. He could see the various mazes and play areas designed for foals. For a quick moment, he noticed a cardboard tube, which had been painted green and had ana rea he could peek out of. As he crawled inside the cardboard tube, he started to sense a familiarity with the surrounding, like as though he was in a “home” of sorts. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt comforting. Nonetheless, the opening on the side was tempting, and he quickly popped out of it, like a captain coming out of his submersible.
As he did this, he saw a blue foal, huddled in a corner. Avo recognized the foal as the same one he met when he was that flight. Feeling curious, Avocado, decided to approach him.
“Huwwo!”
“H-h-hi.”
“Fwuffy am Awocado! Nice tu meet yu, fwen!
Wut am fwen name?”
The blue foal was a bit nervous. He remembered what his owner told him about strangers. But there was something about Avocado that seemed reassuring. That, and he wasn’t a stranger, nor was a he a bawky munstah or a meowie munstah. Rather, he seemed like a friend.
“Bw-bwuebewwy.”
“Huwwo Bwubewwy!”
However, before Avocado could continue chatting with him, Auburn came back with Candy, and the lessons resumed.
~
“I must say. I am genuinely surprised by Avocado.”
“Oh, and why’s that?”
It is the end of the day, the old man had come to collect Avocado from the daycare. However, while the other foals had been dismissed, Auburn wanted to speak to the old man.
“In our classes, we have to teach fluffies to differentiate living things, or ‘fwens’ and munstahs, from non-living things. Most foals take months to be able to understand this concept, but, Avo seems to grasping its quicker than others.”
The old man chuckled, remembering the incident with the RC car.
“Also, I’m surprised that Avocado knew his alphabet.”
“Well, my son played the MLF Alphabet singalong to him when he was staying with him.”
The Auburn raised her eyebrow at that remark.
“That’s even more surprising. Even with training, a lot of foals tend to forget the Fluffy alphabet and can only remember the first ten letters. Avo here was able to remember all the letters, even W.”
“So what are you saying?”
The Auburn looked at Avocado. For his good behaviour, as well as some of his performances today, the Auburn gave him a packet drink to drink from.
“Its too early to tell though, but, I do find him a little remarkable.”