Doreen & Callie: The Bed of Monkey Joe

[x-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Callie gives Monkey Joe his new bed and the girls do a bit of talking and bonding.

Doreen was sitting cross-legged on her bed, reading, and trying to make sense of her geometry book. She had her comics near her and Monkey Joe was sifting through those, turning pages on Superman: Doomsday. Doreen sighed, and put her pencil in her mouth, chewing on the wood. Her front teeth were starting to hurt again.

“Why does this stuff have to be so hard?” she muttered around a mouthful of pencil.

Although she and Doreen had worked over their (well her) initial complications, Callie had was still not spending much time in the room she shared with the younger feral. This time, however, was not because of wanting to avoid an unsavory situation but rather Callie found it difficult to concentrate in there. Her AP exams were fast approaching, and Callie needed as few distractions as possible. But a girl could only study for so long before a break was needed, and of course other homework to be done. So a return to her room to drop off her study materials and pick up her movie was a must, and while she didn't want to dawdle she decided to take a few minutes and check on her roommate, who by the looks of things was hard at work herself.

"Hey Doreen," Callie said brightly as she placed a stack of papers on her desk. "What's up?"
Doreen looked up and smiled, pulling the pencil out of her mouth, “I’m just trying to figure this stuff out,” she said as Monkey Joe pushed a comic over. He liked the pictures. “It’s kinda hard, you know?”

"What are you studying," asked Callie as she searched for a DVD off her bookshelf. Finding it, she turned back around and wandered over to Doreen and peered over her shoulder. "Ah, geometry. Well let me know if you ever need any help."

“I will. I was failing it back home,” she admitted.

Callie nodded as she looked over some of the problems Doreen was attempting. She didn't need to go far before finding an error. "You might want to look over this one." She pointed to the problem in question with an encouraging smile. "You're really close. I promise."

“Really? I hope so. I’ve been trying to study since I got here. It’s a lot easier here, really,” she said, looking at the problem that Callie had pointed out. Monkey Joe came over and sniffed at the paper too.

The appearance of the pet squirrel on Doreen's homework still caused Callie to jump, though admittedly less than she used to. But seeing the squirrel triggered a neuron to fire and she remembered something that until now had been forgotten. "I promise. Just check your addition. Oh! I almost forgot!" she exclaimed as she hurried over to her bed and reached beneath it, pulling out a shopping bag. "I bought something for you, and well Monkey Joe really."

“Oh, you did?” Doreen asked, Monkey Joe perking up at the sound of his name. She slid off the bed, putting her shoes in the sandals she kept by the edge. She wasn’t filing down her toe nails anymore, she decided. It made shoes uncomfortable but sandals work. “What did you get him?”

The taller girl's smile turned coy. "Why don't you let him open and see?" She laid the bag on the ground with the opening facing the squirrel. "Go on..."

“Go ahead,” Doreen said, giving Monkey Joe a little push to help him along. He jumped down and wandered into the bag slowly, like he was expecting it to be full of mouse traps. Doreen rolled her eyes, her friend needed to learn how to trust people.

There was happy squeaking from inside the bag and Monkey Joe pulled out a light, but cottony soft looking covered cat bed. He drug it to the foot of Doreen’s bed and went in, snuggled down and then went out and looked expectantly at Callie.

“Not everyone is going to give you food. She was right you know, you are getting chunky,” Doreen said in English to her friend as she went to lean down and give him a pat on the head.

"It organic cotton," Callie explained to Doreen as she watched the excited squirrel discover his new bed. She had been true to her word on buying him one, she had just been too busy and forgot it was there. He seemed to like it, which made Callie sigh in relief; she didn't quite know how the critter would react to it. "I never said he was chunky... I mean squirrels are fat usually aren't they?"

“Oh no, not you! This one squirrel that lives on the grounds called him the… well, she said he was,” Doreen looked down at Monkey Joe and then leaned in close to Callie and said very quietly, “She said he was fat.”

It was all Callie could do to keep from laughing. Squirrels weren't, in her experience, the slimmest of creatures, but Doreen was treating him like he was a child that she was keeping a secret from. Squirrels didn't understand, they were squirrels. "Well I'm glad he likes the bed. I really should go watch this movie; I have a report due for Italian so I'll get on that. Remember, if you need any help all you need to do is ask, okay?"

“Okay. I hope you get a good grade on your report,” Doreen said brightly, getting Monkey Joe some peanuts from a bag she had on her. “I won’t bother you until you’re done. Reports are hard.”