Snowflake

Wangew_Wick, June 8, 2017; 11:39 / FB 46566
=======================================================================================================================================
SNOWFLAKE



James Brannon was a bond trader in one of Charlotte’s biggest investment firms. He and his wife, Martha, lived in one of the posh neighborhoods off of Providence Road with their two daughters, Katelyn and Katharine. The girls attended the nearby Catholic school, where Katelyn was a standout on the middle school’s soccer team. Martha, who stayed at home with her daughters until they were of school age, had since resumed her career teaching English at the community college.

Under normal circumstances, this is not a family that would elicit sympathy from the reader. But the circumstances of this story are not normal, for reasons besides the fact that fluffy ponies are involved. It began with Mr. Brannon leaving his office at 10:00am—an unusual occurrence in itself.

___________________________________________________________

“Oh, please God…don’t take her …not now…”

Jim became increasingly frustrated with the stoplights through Uptown, as each one seemed to turn red as he got there. He gripped his steering wheel with a firmness that turned his knuckles white, and by the time he reached the sixth consecutive intersection with a red light, he pounded the wheel and let out a primal scream.

The college had called him a few minutes ago—Martha had collapsed in the middle of her English Comp lecture, and the ambulance had just arrived to take her to Carolinas Medical Center. She had been extremely fortunate that one of her students remembered the first aid for seizures from his time in the Boy Scouts, and recognized the symptoms as soon as the incident happened.

With each delay, Jim’s thoughts turned more and more to self-flagellation. He should have known, when she started getting headaches almost every night. He should have told her to schedule a doctor’s appointment when she complained about trouble hearing the TV on the volume at which they had always watched it. Or when she started having trouble sleeping. Or was tired in the middle of the day. Or when she dropped two plates on the same night in the kitchen…

But one has a tendency to overlook warning signs, or at least to dismiss them as some sort of coincidence. Now, all he could do was accuse and recriminate in his mind, and drive to the hospital as fast as possible.

___________________________________________________________

“The preliminary results from the MRI showed two growths: one here,” Doctor Bradford said, pointing to the cerebellum, “and one here, in the frontal lobe.”

Jim’s heart sank. He felt unsteady on his feet, and like he was going to vomit.

“It’s brain cancer, then,” the man choked out.

The doctor raised up his hand. “We can’t be sure that the tumors are malignant—we’ll need a biopsy done as soon as possible in order to determine the next steps. I’ve taken the liberty to reserve a spot that just came open on the calendar for two days from now at 7:00am. If you want, we’ll set that in stone.”

The burly man turned to the hospital bed, where his heavily sedated wife slept. Then he turned back to the doctor and nodded.

“Ok, I’ll confirm the time with the scheduler. Best that we take care of this now, and find out for sure what we’re dealing with. Just…don’t jump to conclusions. I know this is hard, Mr. Brannon, but I can promise that we’ll do everything we can to take care of your wife.”

___________________________________________________________

“Daddy!” seven year old Katharine yelled. She ran to Jim and threw her arms around him. He squeezed the little girl tightly with his strong arms.

Katelyn, who was usually bubbly and energetic, stood up from the couch and walked over to her father. She hugged him, but didn’t say anything.

“Hey, girls. Did you all have a good night with your Uncle Tommy?”

“Yes, daddy! Uncle Tommy showed us pictures of the baby fluffies that were born at his office this morning!”

“Oh, he did, did he?” Jim looked over at his brother, who still stood next to the front door. Tom, who was eight years his senior and the oldest of his siblings, was a fluffy vet with a practice in Matthews. “Maybe he’ll show you around the office one of these days. Hey, can you both run and get your bookbags? I’ve got a couple things I need to ask your uncle about?”

The girls ran up the stairs, though Katelyn looked back over her shoulder once. She was old enough to know that something had gone terribly wrong that day, but knew better than to talk about it in front of her little sister.

“How is she, Jimmy?”

Jim sighed. “Not good. She’s got two tumors on the brain—they probably didn’t think I noticed, but they’re pretty damn worried. So worried that she’s having the biopsy on Friday.”

“Jesus. Is there anything I can do?”

“I couldn’t ask you to take time off from your practice indefinitely, Tommy. I called Martha’s sister out in Indian Trail a few hours ago. She said the girls can stay with her, at least until their mother comes home. I’ll take them to school tomorrow, and then she’s going to pick them up and keep them through the weekend. They were going over to Carolina Beach on Friday night, anyway, and said it’s no imposition to take them, too.

“Good. That should distract them a little,” Tom replied, as the girls ran back down the stairs.

“Daddy,” the little girl said with a tone of concern, “is mommy gonna be ok?”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. The doctors just want to keep her for a few days and run some tests. She’ll be home when you get back from the beach with Aunt Mary and Uncle Ryan on Sunday.”

___________________________________________________________

Sunday came, and with it came speedy results from the biopsy. The conclusions weren’t good—Martha’s brain tumors were cancer, were very aggressive, and because at least one was inoperable, she probably had less than two months to live. She likely wouldn’t make it to Christmas.

What’s more is that she had multiple seizures on Saturday night after her biopsy. There was no way she would be out of the hospital any time soon, let alone before their daughters got home from the beach.

He left the hospital on Sunday afternoon for the first time since Thursday, hoping to at least get the house cleaned before the girls arrived. There was no easy way to tell two preteen girls, “your mom has cancer, and she’s going to die in the hospital”.

Just what the hell do I say? God, how am I supposed to get them through this? He pounded his fist on the steering wheel as tears formed in his eyes. Soon, his wife would die, leaving him a widower, but he was a grown man—he was concerned about his daughters. The girls were at an age where their mother’s passing would hit them the hardest—too young to understand death, too old to be ignorant of death, and both desperately in need of her example.

A light clicked on the dashboard—the car was nearly out of gas. Of course. He pulled into the nearest gas station and started to fill the tank. As his mind perused a thousand thoughts, his eyes focused on a store at the intersection’s opposite corner.

It was a fluffy store. Not one of the big chain ones—most of those had closed up shop a couple of years ago, when Cleveland was destroyed—but a small, independent store. He had likely passed by it in his car a hundred times, but this was the first time he really noticed it. Since it would be a few hours until he really needed to be home, he drove to the store and parked.

The store was clean inside, and smelled like so much pine mulch. All around, there were pens full of colorful foals. Some were playing with balls or blocks, others chased each other around the pens, and some took care of their necessities while he quietly observed.

“Hi, sir! Welcome to the ‘Forever Friends Emporium’! Are you looking for a forever friend today?”

Jim thought for a minute. He had never seriously considered getting a fluffy pony, regardless of how much Kathy begged. Still…

“Yeah, you know, I have two daughters. I’m thinking of buying one for each of them.”

The sales lady nodded. “Of course! We love little girls here. How old are they?”

Jim and the clerk discussed the girls, what kind of fluffies each would prefer, and how to care for them. He ended up deciding on a pastel green pegasus filly with a yellow mane and tail for Kathy—she always did love green—and a white earthie filly with an ice blue mane and tail for Katie. He chose the earthie less for its colors than for its playfulness—it suited the older girl’s personality well.

___________________________________________________________

“Hewwo, nice wady! Be nyu mummah?”


“Oh daddy, she’s so cute! And look at her little wings!”

Jim laughed for the first time in nearly a week. It felt good seeing Kathy so happy, especially knowing how hard the next few months would be. She held her tiny pegasus high up in the air, and it fluttered its wings excitedly.

“Wuv upsies! Wuv upsies! Babbeh am fwyin!”


The man then turned to see his older daughter’s reaction. To his surprise, she clutched the little white earthie to her chest. The girl’s face was obscured by her long, black hair, and she remained silent as she cuddled the tiny foal.

*coo* “Wuv nyu mummah!”


When Katie finally looked up, she had a smile on her face even though tears streamed down her cheeks. The foal continued to nuzzle at her neck as she finally spoke.

“Thanks, dad.”

___________________________________________________________

Kathy was too young to understand what it meant when her father said that her mother was still in the hospital, and that he didn’t know when she would be home. Fortunately, the fluffy pony was just the distraction she needed. It cuddled up and went to sleep next to her that night (after it had made good poopies in the litter box, of course).

However, Jim discovered later in the evening that Katie had things pretty well figured out. She walked into the living room long after Kathy and the fluffies had gone to sleep, while he was still watching late night TV.

“Hey, sweetie. Better get some sleep before school tomorrow.”

“Dad…what’s going on with mom?”

Jim sighed. His daughter was smart for her age, but he had hoped—irrationally, he knew—that this conversation could be put off forever. “No keeping secrets from you, huh? Your mom…passed out at school last week. They ran a bunch of tests, and…well, they found out that she has a brain tumor.”

Even the cleverest twelve year old would be jarred by that news. She cringed, and tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped them away with her shirt sleeve and said, “I knew it had to be really bad. Can they do anything?”

“They don’t think so. I’m going to call another doctor for a second opinion tomorrow, and the doctors at CMC are going to keep trying to find a way, but it’s…yeah, it’s really bad.”

The girl threw her arms around him and sobbed desperately onto his shirt. He stroked her hair and struggled to hold back his own tears. Now wasn’t the time for him to be strong—he needed to be strong. His two little girls needed him, and he wanted nothing more than to take away their pain!

“I’m sorry I didn’t let you know what was going on. I had a feeling you knew, and I hope I didn’t worry you.”

*sob* “It’s ok, daddy. I know what you were trying to do. You were just trying to protect Kathy and me. When we got home, and mom wasn’t here, and you gave us the foals, I was afraid she was already…”

The sentence went unfinished. Katie started crying again, although not as intensely as before. Once she settled, she smiled at Jim again.

“Thanks again for the fluffy, dad. I’ll take good care of her.”

___________________________________________________________

Snowflake woke up with a yawn. She opened her big, blue eyes (which had an almost lavender tint) and surveyed the big world around her. The sun was just starting to rise, and it gave meager light to her mummah’s room. She saw big posters on the wall of people chasing after balls (Snowflake loved balls!), a dresser with a mirror, and her litter box and food and water bowls off in the corner.

The one thing that she didn’t see was her mummah. And she needed to make poopies. But there was no way she could get down from the bed.

“Mummaaaaah! Mummah, hewp! Snowfwake nee make poopies!”


Mummah burst into the room wearing only a towel. Snowflake just narrowly avoided making scaredy-poopies on the bed.

“Oh, Snowflake, I’m so sorry! I thought I’d be done in the bathroom before you woke up! Here, let me get you to the litterbox to make your ‘poopies’.”

“Fankoo mummah! Am bestes’ mummah evah!”
The foal quickly squeezed out a few logs before hopping out again. Then, she watched as mummah got dressed.

“Hee hee, mummah am siwwy!”


The girl giggled. “Why’s that, Snowflake?”

“Mummah am puttin’ wotsa not-fwuff!”


“Oh, you mean my school uniform? Yeah, it’s gonna be cold today, so I’m wearing a coat.”

“Mummah nee gwow fwuff—den nu nee’ wotsa not-fwuff nu mowe.”


“That’s silly, Snowflake,” she said, as she finished getting ready for school. “Ok, sweetie. I’ll be back this afternoon.”

“Bu-whuah? Whewe mummah goin’?”
the foal asked, breathlessly.

“Momma has to go to school. School is where people learn things.”

Snowflake stomped her hoof.
“If mummah goin’ fo skoow, den Snowfwake wan gu weawn fings, tuu!”


Mummah laughed out loud. “Silly fluffy! Fluffies can’t go to school!”

The little fluffy struggled to hold back tears.
“Bu-bu-bu’ Snowfwake wan gu wif mummah! Snowfwake wuv mummah!”


Scooping up the foal, mummah looked her in the eyes. “Come on, don’t cry! You know what? I’ve got an idea!”

___________________________________________________________

Mummah’s idea was the bestest ever (except for mummah staying with her, anyway). She had talked to her human sissy, and they had agreed that Snowflake could spend the whole day in mummah’s sissy’s room playing with her fluffy!

Snowflake was happy that she got to play with the little green pegasus, whom her mummah had named “Tinkerbell”. Tinkerbell loved to play ball, so the pair spent most of the day chasing a red rubber ball around the room, only taking breaks to eat, sleep, and make more poopies.

When they woke up from their fourth nap of the day, the little pegasus asked,
“Snowfwake-fwend wan pway huggies-tag?”


The white earthie grinned, and then her green friend took off running.

“Am gon’ get’chu, Tinkewbeww!”


“Nu can catch! Wingie-fwuffs am da fastes’ fwuffs evah!”
She stretched out her wings to emphasize the point, but then got distracted, tripped on carpet fibers, and faceplanted on the floor.

“Oof! Uhuuhuu…Tinkewbeww haf smeww-pwace huwties.”


Snowflake, sad that her friend was hurt, rushed over to help.
“Hewe, wingie-fwend! Snowfwake gif huggies…huggies make evewyfing bettew…”


*coo* “Wuv wawm huggies!”


A few minutes later, while the foals were still hugging, the bedroom door creaked open. Two familiar girls stood in the doorway.

“Mummah!”


“Mummah, mummah, ‘oo came back!”


“Of course I did, Snowflake! Momma loves you! Did you have a fun day with Tinkerbell?”

“Oh yus, mummah! Snowfwake an Tinkewbeww pway baww, an huggies-tag, and gif huggies, an make fwuffpiwe, an pway baww!”


“Aww, I’m glad you had fun! Wanna go back to my room and play?”

“Huwway! Gon pway wif mummah!”


___________________________________________________________

Snowflake had an almost perfect life. Mummah played with her in the mornings before school, and in the evenings while she worked on homework. While mummah was gone at school, the white filly got to spend all day with her friend Tinkerbell. The pegasus’ mummah even gave them a set of blockies she found in her closet!

That weekend was clear and sunny. Mummah had to go for a “sokkew game”, but it wasn’t nearly as long as school was—The fluffies got to spend the rest of the day playing in the grassy backyard with their mummahs. Daddeh cooked human nummies on the grill, and even let Snowflake try a drink of his silly water—she didn’t think it tasted pretty.

Since both girls’ bedrooms were at one end of the upstairs hallway, mummah asked daddeh for a baby gate to put across the hall so the foals (who were fully grown fluffies after a few weeks) would have more space to run around. Now, they had double the play area!

“Nu wun fast nuff, Tinkewbeww! Snowfwake gon’ catchoo!”


The green pegasus mare was as fast a fluffy as Snowflake had ever seen—but the white earthie mare was smarter. She cut a corner in mummah’s room while Tinkerbell went the long way around, and finally caught her!

“Hee hee! Snowfwake finawwy win huggies-tag! Nao gif huggies!”


The two best friends hugged each other and cooed. Then, Snowflake noticed something odd—no light was coming through the window.

“Tinkewbeww, it am dawk-time! Whewe mummah?”


“Huuu…Tinkewbeww nu kno. Gon nee’ nummies soon!”


The mares waited at the baby gate. They waited and waited. Their mummahs and daddeh still didn’t come home. Soon, they were tired, and made a fluffpile at the gate so they would awaken when the humans got home. Still, they didn’t come.

“Huu huu…Tinkewbeww am hungwy! Nee nummies!”


“Nu cwy, Tinkewbeww! Come on, wets gu fine nummies!”


Both fluffies sniffed around, but couldn’t find anything that smelled like nummies. The closest Tinkerbell came was an old tube of lipstick she rooted out from under Kathy’s bed. She bit off the end and chewed, but quickly spat it out.

*hack* “Dat nu nummies! Nu taste pwetty!”


“Tinkewbeww nee’ num nu-taste-pwetty nummies if can. Tinkewbeww an Snowfwake may nu fine odda nummies!”


Reluctantly, the pegasus scarfed down what remained of the lipstick. Snowflake settled on the corner of a cardboard box she found once she nosed Katie’s closet open.

After the unsatisfying meal, the mares went and lay down on Snowflake’s soft beddie and cried themselves to sleep in their fluffpile. They didn’t hear the family arrive in the middle of the night, nor did they hear both girls cuddle up on the floor next to them with a blanket. It had been a long, difficult day for everyone.

___________________________________________________________

“Eggies am gud nummies, mummah!”
Snowflake cheered, as she chewed up the bit of scrambled egg that Katie gave her. The girl smiled down at her.

“I’ve already called the school, so they know you’ll be out the rest of the week. Nanna’s flying down this morning—she’s offered to stick around for a while to help around the house.”

The fluffies—being simple-minded creatures—hadn’t noticed it, but a lot of the chores around the house had been put on the backburner in recent weeks. Katie had done most of the cooking, even packing lunches for the whole family. Jim had spent most of his time at the hospital, attending to a wife he could not help, and with whom he couldn’t even converse, given her comatose state.

As soon as he finished buttering the toast, he leaned over and kissed the girl on the forehead. “I’ll take care of the dishes after breakfast. Why don’t you and Kathy play with the fluffies for a while?”

He, Katie, and Kathy all sat down to the quietest meal that had ever taken place in the Brannon household. Even the fluffies were subdued, content to rest at the girls’ feet. After a few minutes, the green pegasus broke the silence.

“Mummah, what am ‘Nanna’?”


“Silly girl, Nanna is our grandma!”

“Wiww Nanna sho Tinkewbeww how fwy?”


“Huh?”

Jim chuckled. “She probably heard me telling Katie that Nanna is flying down today—on a plane, Tinkerbell, not with wings—and she’s going to stay here for a while. Say, speaking of flying, I picked something up for you a couple days ago.”

He pulled a small paper bag off of the dining room credenza and handed it to Kathy. She quickly removed the small, colorful book within.

“I thought the fluffies might like to hear that one. Especially Tinkerbell, since she talks so much about flying.”

The pegasus fluttered her wings.
“Yus, daddeh! Tinkewbeww wan fwy! Wuv fwyin’!”


After breakfast, the girls ran to the living room and sat down on the couch, with their fluffies in their laps. Kathy handed her sister the book, and Katie started reading aloud.

“The Fluffy Who Flew to the Moon, by Stephen P. Cochrane…”

Snowflake shivered in her mummah’s lap, clearly nervous.

“What’s wrong, Snowflake?”

“Huuu…Snowfwake am scawedy. Nu wan fwy tu da dawk-time sky baww—am tuu high upsies!”


“Nu wowwy, Snowfwake! Tinkewbeww fwy fow ‘oo! An Snowfwake mummah neva wet nuffin bad happen tu Snowfwake!”


With that, the earthie seemed satisfied. Katie squeezed her tightly and continued the story.

___________________________________________________________

The next few days were confusing for Snowflake and Tinkerbell. They had never seen so many people in one place in their lives! Afraid that the fluffies might be trampled underfoot, daddeh told their mummahs to keep them in Katie’s room, where both girls would sleep while all of the company was in town.

A few of the guests were children, and every one of them wanted a chance to play with the ponies. Katie, being the oldest and most responsible, supervised the play to make sure that there were no incidents, and that child and fluffy alike had an enjoyable time.

Snowflake was happy to have mummah home so much—she wondered if “skoow” had gone away and was never coming back. And all of the human attention she received from the other kids was a welcome addition to her days. But then one day, everyone left. Even mummah left the house with daddeh and Tinkerbell’s mummah, and the white earthie feared that the fluffies were in for another scary day of having to scavenge for nummies.

Just when she and her pegasus friend were about to resume chewing cardboard, the front door opened. She got so excited she almost made bad peepees on the floor, but managed to control herself enough to get to the litterbox and relieve herself, then she ran to the gate.

“Mummah, mummah! Snowfwake miss ‘oo!”
The green pegasus also scrabbled her hooves at the gate, eager to catch a glimpse of her own mummah.

When Snowflake saw her mummah at the end of the hall, her heart filled with sadness. The girl leaned against the wall, wearing a black dress that gave stark contrast to her pale white skin. She cried uncontrollably with her head in her hands as she finally released the pent up grief that had been building for days on end.

“Mummah…haf wowsest saddies?”
the mare said gently.
“Haf wowsest heawt-huwties?”


Mummah choked back a sob for long enough to nod, but then started shaking as her grief overtook her again. Snowflake wanted nothing more than to give her the biggest huggies ever—huggies made everything better—but she couldn’t get through the gate.

“Snowfwake—Tinkewbeww see Snowfwake mummah…bu’ whewe am Tinkewbeww mummah?”


At that moment, the front door opened again. Katie composed herself as her father and sister walked in, and she continued down the hallway to her room. Snowflake ran out to hug her legs as soon as the gate was open, and Tinkerbell bounded down the hall to her own mummah. Katie reached down and scooped up the earthie in her arms.

“Snowfwake gif mummah wotsa huggies an make da heawt-huwties gu ‘way!”


The girl closed her bedroom door and sat down on the bed. Snowflake kept her word, hugging and cuddling her as she sat there and sobbed into the white mare’s soft fluff.

___________________________________________________________

Mummah had lots of saddies over the next few weeks. She never showed it to the same degree she had on the day of the funeral. But when a loved one dies, every action and every moment for some time after provides an acute reminder of the loved one’s absence.

Snowflake didn’t understand the cause of her mummah’s heart-hurties, but she did the only thing a fluffy knows to do under the circumstances—and possibly the best thing that any of us could do. She gave her lots of huggies and love.

December was unseasonably warm that year. The Charlotte area doesn’t often see a white Christmas, but temperatures hovering in the 70s Fahrenheit meant lots of afternoons spent in the backyard playing with the fluffies. Snowflake and Tinkerbell loved playing huggies-tag in the grass, and daddeh cooked lots of tasty nummies for the family to eat outside on the cool, clear evenings.

The white earthie mare happily scarfed down any table scraps the family gave her. Tinkerbell, who had developed an affinity for leftover Thanksgiving turkey, found other human nummies didn’t quite suit her palate.

“Snowfwake wuv mummah! Snowfwake wiww dancie fo mummah!”
The mare reared up on her back hooves and wiggles her front ones in the air. Both girls giggled, and Katie reached out her hand. In it was a half-dozen nonpareils from the Christmas candy dish.

“Fankoo mummah! Snowfwake wuv sweet nummies!”


“Ok, girls. It’s getting late. We should probably head to bed, if we’re going to drive up past the lake for a Christmas tree tomorrow.”

“Can fwuffies haf a beddie-time stowie, daddeh?”


“Of course.”

Katie leaned over to the mares, who both sat on their haunches, and asked them, “Sooooo…what story do you want to hear tonight?”

Snowflake looked at Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell looked at Snowflake. Both fluffies grinned knowingly.

“Da Fwuffy Dat Fwy tu da Moon!”

“Da Fwuffy Dat Fwy tu da Moon!”


Kathy and Katie both laughed. “To think, Snowflake…you used to be scared of that story!”

“Snowfwake nu scawedy nu mowe, mummah! Snowfwake kno dat mummah neva wet nuffin bad happen tu Snowfwake!”


“Good girl, Snowflake. You’re such a big, brave fluffy. Momma loves you soooooo much!” She lifted the mare up to her chin and snuggled her.

“Hee hee hee! Heaw-pwace tickwes! Snowfwake wuv mummah!”


___________________________________________________________

*BLEEAAAAGHHH*


Snowflake woke up early in the morning, before sunrise. Her first signs that something was wrong were the pain in her tummy and the growing wet spot underneath her. Then, she had vomited.

“Huuuu…mummah…Snowfwake nu feew gud…am sowwy fo make sickies-wawa…


“Hmmmm?” Katie said, as she woke up. “Huh, what is it, Snowflake?”

The mare started quivering, and another series of retches startled Katie to action. She quickly turned on the light, and saw what had happened.

“Oh my god, Snowflake!” She rushed over to the fluffy’s side to comfort her.

“Snowfwake sowwy fo…fo make bad peepees, mummah…”


“It’s ok, Snowflake. It’s not your fault. Hold on, let me go get dad,” the girl said. Then, she rushed out of the room, leaving the white earthie alone in her rancid bed. The pony shivered in fear, confusion, and overwhelming nausea, as she listened to her panicked mummah yelling as she ran down the hall.

___________________________________________________________

Jim Brannon had planned out a wonderful day for his daughters. First, they would get up at their leisure and get dressed. Then, he was going to take them to the little roadside diner on the other side of Lake Norman for breakfast. The girls would pick out the biggest tree on the Christmas tree farm for him to cut down, and he would spend an hour negotiating with them on a tree that would actually fit in the living room. Once they got it home and he had mounted it in the stand, all three of them would decorate it, then spend the rest of the evening drinking hot chocolate and watching Christmas cartoons on TV. Heck, he even knew what he was going to order on the pizza.

But it was 6:00am, and the day had already gone horribly wrong.

Instead of sleeping in his bed and recharging for the glorious day ahead, Jim and the girls sat in one of the cold rooms in his brother’s clinic, waiting for Tom to come back with the blood test results. Dr. Brannon suspected liver disease based on the external symptoms—Snowflake’s uncontrollable, dark colored urine, her nausea, and the yellowing of her normally pretty, pale blue eyes. Dear God, if that was the case…

Tom opened the door, and all three Brannons whipped their heads around to see what he had to say.

“Jimmy, could you come out here for a minute?”

Fearing the worst, he followed his brother out into the hallway. The doctor turned on the light in his office, and both men stepped inside.

“How bad is it, Tommy?”

“It’s…what I expected. Which is to say, it’s as bad as it could be. She’s got a really high count on all of the enzymes normally found in the liver. Really high. I’m afraid the liver damage is irreversible. What does Snowflake usually eat?”

“We feed her kibble, but she’ll eat about anything we give her.”

“Table scraps?”

Jim nodded. “Table scraps, candy, beer…if we’ve had it, then she’s had it, too.”

Tom sighed, and then scratched at his balding head. “Ah, shit.”

“What? You don’t mean it’s the food? I thought fluffies could eat about anything!”

Shrugging his shoulders, the doctor replied, “Most of them can! But, in some cases, the food we eat can be as toxic to them as it is to dogs and cats. That’s the problem with their genetics being such a mixed bag—you can’t really tell from one to another what they’re gonna be sensitive to.”

“Shit. So, there’s nothing you can do to help her?”

The older brother shook his head. “No. I’d say she’s got ten to twelve hours left, tops. The only thing left to do is to relieve her pain.”

“Euthanize her?”

“The only pain is from the pinprick. After that, it’s like falling asleep.”

“Ok. Let me tell Katie. She needs to know.”

___________________________________________________________

“Mum…mah…haf saddies ‘gain?”


Snowflake looked up sadly at Katie, whose tearstained cheeks betrayed the strong image the girl tried to show the fluffy. No matter how much the girl tried to hide it, the white earthie always knew when her mummah was sad.

“Nu cwy…mummah. Snowfwake gif huggies…make saddies gu…’way…”


Despite the burning pain she felt throughout her small body, Katie’s embrace made her happy—as though all the hurties could go away. The fluffy hadn’t vomited anymore since the one time in the car ride to the vet’s office, because she had nothing left in her tummy.

“Katie…Uncle Tommy is about to—to do it. You should say goodbye before we go.”

“No.”

“Sweetie, you don’t want to be here for this. It’ll only leave more bad memories in a year that’s been full of them.”

“Daddy, she needs me. I couldn’t be there for mom, because the doctors wouldn’t allow me to. But I promised to take care of Snowflake. I was the one who gave her all that food. If I can’t be with her now, then none of it will have meant anything! If it’s ok with Uncle Tommy, I want to stay.”

Snowflake could see the man with very little mane shift on his heels before he spoke. “I don’t have a policy against it, but that’s between you and your dad.”

Jim relented. His daughter had stopped calling him “daddy” when she was nine years old. This was the second time recently that he had noticed her using it, and he recognized it as a sign of emotional desperation. “Ok. I’m not going to stop you. Kathy, the three of us should go. Katie deserves to have some time alone with Snowflake.”

The white fluffy watched as Tinkerbell, her mummah, and daddeh all left the room. The nice mister picked up a long, pointy object—one which she had seen before and recognized as an object to be feared—but she was too weak to resist.

“Nu huwt Snowfwake wif pointie-owwies…am gud fwuffy…”


“Shhh…it’s ok Snowflake,” he said, before turning to his niece. “From the time I put this in, it will take her about ten to fifteen seconds to fall asleep. I don’t want to start before you’re ready.”

Katie nodded. “Snowflake,” *sniff* “momma loves you very much. You’ve been the best fluffy ever. You’ve given me lots of hugs and love when I needed them most.”

“Mummah…pwease teww Snowfwake ‘bout da fwuffy dat fwew tu da moon ‘gain…”


New tears welled in the girl’s eyes as she started to tell the story. She had memorized it, as both her fluffy and her sister’s requested it every night.

“Once, there was a pretty white fluffy with pretty white wings. Every night, the fluffy would walk outside into the cool night air, and she would look up at the big, bright moon in the sky…”

Snowflake rested her tired eyes as her mummah continued the story. The pain in her tummy throbbed, but she tried to hold back her tears. Mummah had been strong for her. Now, she had to be strong for mummah.

“How she wished she could reach up and touch that big, bright moon! She wanted nothing more in the whole wide world.”

The fluffy barely felt the syringe’s needle break her skin, as she was so distracted by the story she loved so much being read by the child she loved even more. The last thing she knew was that the fluffy had leapt into the sky, flapped its wings, and was on its way to the moon. By the time the fluffy in the story returned home, Snowflake was gone, and Katie could do nothing but hold her tight and cry.

___________________________________________________________

The party would start soon. Katie had insisted that she and Steve show up early so that she could show him around. A small metal plaque labeled SNOWFLAKE had been placed on the ground near the brick wall at the edge of the backyard.

“After that happened, I started reading books about nutrition. Then, when I found out just how many awful things can happen to people because of poor nutrition, I decided to make it my career. And I have her to thank for that.”

“You had her for such a short time, but she made a huge impact on your life, huh?”

“Yeah,” Katie said, playing with the large diamond ring on her left hand. “Not unlike Candy did for you, right?”

“True,” Steve said, thinking back on how much his life had changed since the pink pegasus wandered onto his farm. Thanks to her, he had met the woman of his dreams, and now, they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

“C’mon. Dad said that the family just landed at the airport. Once Uncle Tommy gets them here, I know he’s gonna threaten to drink you under the table.”

“Hmmm…should I be concerned?”

“We’re Irish, so the answer is ‘yes’.”

The happy couple walked back to the house, arm in arm, as the moon hung lazily in the pale blue afternoon sky.

THE END