“Please, mum!”
“Stephan, honey. We have been through this. I’m sorry, but you can’t come out with us tonight.”
“Aww but mum, please! Please!!” Stephan whined as he tugged on his mother’s dress.
“Come on, son,” his father, an adult grey wolf, said firmly. “This meal out is for us grownups only.”
“But you’re going to the Temple!” the canine child wined. “One of the best Chinese restaurants in the world!”
Stephan gave a cute stare at both of his parents, widening his two large puppy dog eyes.
“How about 3 of us the three of us go to the temple for lunch in the next couple of days?” his mother, a chocolate brown Labrador, suggested. “Besides, you can’t go dress like the hound of Steele,” the Labrador added, referring to Stephan’s attire of a super dog onesie.
The offer of going to the temple some other time seemed to calm Stephan down. A yellowed furred lioness clad in a black dress entered the hallway and scooped up a canine child into her muscular arms.
“Leo, Chrissy, you two enjoy your meal out. The little one is in my safe paws,” the middle-aged feline purred.
“Thanks, mother,” the grey wolf grinned before giving his son’s head fur ruffle. “Be good for Angel, Steff.”
“You have fun, honey,” the Labrador says as she gives him a quick kiss. The adult wolf helps his Labrador wife out of the door as she is disabled and gets around aided by a wheelchair.
“My my, you're getting heavier, aren’t you, Steff,” Angel says in a jokey tone of voice as she holds the canine child in her muscular arms, with literally no effort at all. “What have they been feeding you? Unless you’ve been working out like your father?”
Stephan pauses for a moment, considering how to respond to his fantastic and much older family member. His adopted grandma, to be precise. However, the hybrid cub just called her Angel as he liked the name, and to him, she didn’t seem old enough to be Grandma. For a lioness in her 50s, Angel looks as though she is in her 30s.
“I’ve been working out, miss. Pumping iron for seven days in a row. I will be a weight lifter and a professional wrestler like John Cena when I grow up. Oh, and a famous explorer like Indiana Jones!”
Angel knew it was just him playing with his toy weights. Of course, there were the role models he saw on TV and his father. However, she honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he began to work out with professional equipment once he came of age. Quite a few of his family members and close friends of the family happened to be into fitness.
“That sounds wonderful, hun”, the feline purrs. “You know, it sounds like you have your adult life planned out ahead of you. Now I’m going to knock us up some supper, and what do you fancy eating?”
Stephan pauses for a few moments before he says, “Alphabet pasta, tomato soup, fried broccoli. Oh, and those nice crackers. Please.”
“Sure thing, hon. I fancy some soup and broccoli myself. Is there a film you’d like to watch?”
Now that’s a good question. The young hybrid begins to consider. A film that he and Angel can watch together.
“Go into the living room and pick out a film, Stephan. I’ll knock us up some supper,” the older feline explains to the young cub.
Not waiting to be asked twice, Steth darts off into the living room to pick out a film to watch whilst Angel prepares the food, frying broccoli in a frying pan so it has that nice crisp to it and boiling the pasta and soup in glass pans.
Minutes later, Steth dashes back into the kitchen. He was holding a VHS video case tape in his paw.
“Can we watch this film, please?” the young hybrid asks, wagging his tail and putting his best puppy dog eyes.
The mere sight of the adult VHS case made Angel gasp in shock. The front of the case had two almost naked adult felines on the front cover, barely covered by their skimpy jungle attire of loincloths. The title on the box is in bold red letters, which reads “The Jungle Queen 2, Ambers Wrath.”
“Stephan, no!” she growled firmly. “You cannot watch that film, and it’s rated an 18. Hand it over now.”
“Aww, come on, Angel. It can’t be that bad. Is it cause the characters are naked in the film? I’ve seen mum and dad naked whilst I’ve taken a bath with them.”
“Steth, your mum and dad are your family. It won’t be good for you to see other animals naked. Give me the tape.”
“Is there violence in the film? I’ve seen plenty of violence in those bat-wolf and Spider-pig cartoons that I watch on TV”, the puppy replies in a final attempt to persuade his caretaker.
“N-O spells no. We are not watching that film. Hand it over to me,” the adult feline replies firmly.
Sighing, the puppy hands the VHS over to Angel, who places the cassette tape, on the top of the kitchen cupboard, out of the diminutive canine reach.
“You can choose a film out that’s either a U or a PG. If you find a film rated a 12, 15, or another 18, then we won’t be watching anything tonight.”
“Am I in trouble, miss?” the young hybrid asks his caregiver. He has realised his mistake, and his voice tone sounds worried.
“You’re not in trouble, hon. However, it’s best if you don’t look at cases of these adult films. There could be something awful on the front cover that’ll give you nightmares. Besides, where did you find that VHS box?”
“It was on the coffee table, in an envelope”, the puppy replied.
“Hmm, well, your father shouldn’t keep these VHS tapes lying around for you to find. Pick out a film that’s either a U or a PG.
The puppy nods and dashes back into the living room.
“Leo ought to keep those VHS tapes that he buys from eBay in a safe place,” the lioness thinks to herself as she proceeds to stir the bubbling soup.
“Well, away from a five-year-old’s eyes, for sure. Then again, he’s probably stressed out with that job as a swimming instructor and busy with that training course for a child counsellor. He’s a hard worker for sure.”
Minutes later, Steth returns with a different VHS tape. To Angel’s relief, it’s rated a U, appropriate for a 5-year-old to watch. It happens to be the lion king, the 1994 animated film, one of Angel’s favourite films of all time. Besides, Angel had good memories. When she first adopted Leo, they watched the lion king together.
“Good choice Kido” the feline grins. “It won’t be long before our supper is ready. So, I’ll help you set this film up.”
After the lioness switches off the gas on the stove, she follows the puppy into the living room and places the videotape into the VHS player.
“There we go! It’s all set up for you, hon!” she announces.
“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back with our supper in a few minutes.”
“I don’t want you to miss any of the lion king, Angel!” Stephan says, a slight hint of worry in his voice tone.
“Don’t worry, hun. At least 10 minutes’ worth of advertisements before the actual film begins. Trust me. I’ll be back with our food before the actual film starts.”
“Okay, Miss Angel.”
Several minutes later, Angel returns to the living room, carrying a tray with the bowls of tomato soup, alphabet pasta, plates of fried broccoli, crackers, and two glasses of milk (Angel is a feline after all and can never get enough milk.)
Perfect timing, as the final advertisement is playing on the videotape. It happens to be for the classic 1989 film “The Little Mermaid.”
“Good film that”, the lioness comments as she places the tray down on the coffee table. “I remember seeing that film back in the early 90s when I was a cub, and I saw it at the cinema with my parents, my sister Crystal and my best friend, Racheal.”
The film begins with the epic circle of a life sequence as the two mammals tuck into their food. Angel can’t help but hum along with the song. The same goes with the catchy song “I just can’t wait to be king”, and Stephan attempts to sing a few lines from that song.
However, Angel does a great job singing “Be prepared”, as that song happens to be one of her favourite songs.
When it comes to the next song in the film, both Angel and Steth happily sing, “Hakuna Matata.”
All too soon, the credits of the film are rolling. For Angel, the film has gone by very quickly, and it’s probably because she’s enjoying every second of it. Glancing up at the clock, the time now reads 9 pm, and it’s bedtime for that young hybrid, who lets out a cute little yawn.
The lioness switches off the TV before she picks up Steth and carries him out of the living room and upstairs to his bedroom. Once in his bedroom, Angel helps Steff out of his Super-dog onesie and tosses it in a nearby wash basket. After helping Steff into his pyjamas, Angel guides him to the bathroom and helps him brush his fangs.
Once his teeth are clean, Steff returns to his bedroom and clambers into his warm bed. Angel tucks him in before she settles herself down on a nearby chair.
“How about a bedtime story, Hun,” She asks the puppy casually. “I could read one to you. Or perhaps I could tell you one.”
“Oh, yes, please”, Steff pipes, his bushy wolf tail wagging underneath the blankets.
“Could you tell me the story about when you and your sister broke down a hornet’s nest and got chased through the woods by the hornets?”
“Oh, that story? Um, sure, love. I suppose back in my youth; I did some crazy things.”
The felines mind begins to flashback to almost 40 years ago…….
***********
“You’ll never catch me, Angel! Your too slow!” a white lioness calls to her sister as she darts between the trees.
“Wanna bet crystal! You’ll see!” a yellowed furred lioness hollers as she pursues her sister through the woods. Honestly, why on earth had she agreed on a game of tag.
The two felines crash through some bushes before they stop dead in their tracks. They’ve both seen something several meters away from them. Hanging on one of the tree branches like a Mexican piñata, the size of a football is a rounded grey wasp’s nest. A few yellow jackets are crawling around on the outside of the hive.
“Hey, Crystal! Keep away from that hive!” Angel firmly tells her sister. “I don’t want those winged demons stinging you!”
“Oh, come on, Angel! These bugs don’t look threatening at all!” The white lioness inched closer to the hive. The few wasps buzzing around the outside of the nest don’t seem to sense any danger from the white-furred feline.
“You know, Louise Fisher told me that her uncle took down a wasp’s nest with just his bare hands and dumped it in a trash can,” Crystal says as she stares at it in fascination.
“I bet you that Louise is making that story up,” Angel tells Crystal in disbelief. “Besides, she and her family are crocodiles. Even if her uncle could pick up a wasp nest, then his scales probably protected him from the wasp stings.”
The young lioness then says, “You don’t seem freaked by these wasps at all, do you, Crystal?”
“Not! They don’t creep me out one bit!”
“Hmmm, really now? What if I was to dare you to break the nest down? Would you do it?”
“Of course, I bloody would! If you give me that light-up unicorn figurine of yours, return.”
“Woah, really?” Angel says in disbelief. “You’d seriously risk your life just for a toy of mine?”
Angel highly doubts that her sister would do something so reckless. Let alone have the guts to break down a nest full of wasps. A great example of putting Crystal up to a dare, which she bailed on, was daring her to sneak candy from Miss potter’s classroom during secondary school. Angel had a gut feeling that Crystal was just bluffing.
“Hell yeah, sister! Those dopey wasps won’t even know what hit them,” Crystal grins as she picks up an old snapped-off tree branch from the ground.
“You know, I’m sure that wasps get confused once their nest is destroyed. Besides, there doesn’t seem to be many of those insects buzzing around the nest. Perhaps there are not many wasps in that colony?”
“Well, if you say so, Crystal”, Angel replies. “I never knew that you were such a wasp expert.”
Angel still feels strongly that Crystal won’t even tap, the next with the tree branch.
“Yeah, Yeah, sure. Go right ahead, sister. Give that hive a good whack. I’m sure those wasps will be very grateful to you,” Angel says to Crystal sarcastically.
Unfortunately, Angel was utterly wrong. Before she knows it, Crystal has launched herself at the wasp’s nest and smacked it with the tree branch, causing the nest to fall to the ground.
Crystal hastily retreats to where Angel is standing just as a loud buzzing noise erupts from the damaged nest. Seconds later, a swarm of wasps emerges from their hive and begins to form the shape of an angry-looking skull face at the two lioness cubs.
“Run for it!” yells Angel before she and her sister shoot off like furry missiles. As the two cubs sprint through the woods, they hear a loud, angry buzzing noise behind them; as the wasp swarm gives chase, hell bend on wanting revenge.
Angel and Crystal crash through a clump of bushes before they are both stumbled by a fallen tree branch, which causes them to plunge headlong into a muddy bog. Instantly the sisters are submerged in the cold, sticky mud pit, and their fur and clothing are completely covered!
However, instead of clambering out of the mud and continuing to run, Angel gets a brain wave.
“Keep still and keep quiet,” Angel hisses at Crystal. “Those wasps won’t see us if we stay hidden in the mud.”
Crystal does as she’s told, and Angel holds her breath as she hears the buzzing sound of the wasp swarm nearby.
Several minutes go by, and the buzzing sound seems to subdue. Angel glances out from the mud and notices that the swarm has formed a question mark shape. Serval more minutes go by before the swam vanish into the woods, likely to repair their nest.
With the coast clear, Angel and Crystal crawl out of the bog.
“Oh god, no!” Crystal wines as she gazes down at her muddy t-shirt. “I hope the shirt isn’t permanently stained!”
“That’s the least of your worries, you dope!” Angel hisses at her. “Your damn lucky that we didn’t get stung!”
The lion sisters head back through the woods to their place with nothing else left to do.
“How on earth can you do such a stupid thing like that?” Angel asks her sister.
“I don’t know. I guess I wanted that unicorn figurine of yours,” the white lioness explains. “Besides, I didn’t think those wasps would chase after us, and there would have been so many of them.”
“Well, now you know. Now, we fell into that muddy bog by accident. Do not mention anything to mum or dad about smashing down the wasp nest, and they’d both go berserk…..”
Once Angel and Crystal had arrived home, their mother, Sasha, had not been too pleased to find them covered in mud. The older lioness sensed that they had been up to something and had crossly demanded an explanation. Angel told Sasha they had fallen in the soil by accident. However, the older lioness didn’t believe her and sternly demanded the truth as she glared at them.
Then Crystal had let it slip out of nervousness that she had knocked down a wasp nest. Sasha was furious.
“Girls! Have you both lost your minds! You could have gotten stung! You are both grounded! Forever!”
By grounded forever, Sasha just meant a very long time.
“Please don’t tell dad!” Angel pleads to her mother. “He’ll go mental!”
“No! I’m so telling your father, young lady!” Sasha replies firmly before she marches into the living room.
“Benjamin! Your not going to believe what the girls have done!” Sasha growls to her husband, seated on a couch reading a newspaper.
The male lion sighs before he calmly says:
“What have the girls done this time, Sasha?”
“They knocked down a hornet’s nest! That’s what they’ve done.”
“THEY DID WHAT!” Benjamin suddenly roars as he rips his paper in two before he storms toward Angel and Crystal.
“Girls! Have you lost your mind!?! I’ll help you find it!” the adult lion yells at both of his daughters, trembling in fear………
*************
“My father yelled at us so loud, the whole neighborhood heard. He even demanded that we write an apology letter to those wasps” Angel chuckled as she finished off her story to Stephan, who was giggling.
“I never knew your father could get that angry,” Stephan comments. “When I met him, he seemed like one of the calmest lions ever.”
“Well, you have yet to see the angry side of my father, hun. Now I’d try and get some shut-eye. It’s way past your bedtime.”
“But I’m not tired; Angel,” Stephan replies as he stifles a loud yawn.
“Yeah, right,” the adult feline chuckles before she tucks Steff into bed and plants a kiss on his forehead. She next flicks out the leading bedroom light, leaving the dim night light as the only source of light in the room.
“You’ll be asleep within minutes, little one.”
“I won’t be *yawns* I won’t be asleep, Miss Angel,” Stephan mutters.
Minutes later, the puppy hybrid is sound asleep with his thumb in his mouth. Angel gets off her chair and quietly exits the bedroom before making her way downstairs into the living room.
“9:30 pm. That’s not bad timing,” Angel thinks to herself as she glances up at the clock. “I’d give it another hour or half an hour before my son and his wife return home.”
Angel picks up a hardback of lord of the rings from the bookshelf and proceeds to engage herself in the fantasy world. She’s always enjoyed reading, her favorite types of books being fantasy stories and graphic novels. As Angel reads, she keeps an ear open if her young charge wakes up and needs anything from upstairs.
Half an hour goes by before the feline hears the clicking sound of the front door being opened. Shortly Leo and Chrissy enter the living room, greeting Angel.
“Hey, you two. How did your out meal go?” Angel asks them. “Also, how were Ryan and his wife?”
“Oh, it was great, mother,” The adult wolf replies. “That crispy duck I had was a perfect ten, and the interior of that restaurant was a spectacle to behold as always. It feels just like you’re in a real ancient Chinese temple. It’s always nice to catch up with Ryan, and he and his wife are all good.”
“I had a great time, " the adult Labrador says to Angel. “The roast chicken I had was delicious as usual. It was also great catching up with my brother and Penny, and they are both enjoying their jobs, and Penny is now expecting.”
“Well, that sounds great. I’m glad that you kids enjoyed your evening out. Besides you, two need to unwind from your work lives. Your careers as a company CEO and a swimming instructor are jobs that I could never take on myself.”
“Well put, mother. Well, put. Say, would you like me to put the kettle on?” Leo asks Angel causally. “I fancy a nice cup of red bush tea.”
“You just read my mind, son,” Angel replies with a grin. “I’d love a nice cuppa before I hit the hay.”
“And so would I,” Chrissy says, wagging her busy Labrador tale. “I feel like having my tea in bed.”
“Here’s an idea, Chrissy. How about I take you upstairs and help you get ready for bed?” Angel says. “In the meantime, Leo, you can get the tea ready?”
“That sounds like a great idea, Angel,” the adult female Labrador replies. “As long as I’m no trouble for you, I accept your help.”
“Honey, you’ve never been any trouble for me” Angel chuckles as she lifts Chrissy out of her wheelchair and into her muscular arms.
“Thanks, mother,” Leo says to the lioness politely.
The middle-aged lioness carries Chrissy out of the living room, up the stairs, and into her bedroom. Next, Angel helps a Chrissy out of her dress and her underwear before she changes the Labrador into an adult diaper.
“You're all done, honey,” Angel says as she helps Chrissy into a black nightdress. “You won’t have to worry about rushing to the toilet in the middle of the night or early in the morning.”
“Thank you, Angel,” Chrissy says politely. “As a nanny to Stephan and as my assistant at home, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Your welcome, love. Just doing my job.”
Chrissy then says, “Is Stephan asleep?”
“Oh, he’s sound asleep like a baby. Would you like to check up on him?”
The Labrador nods in response, so Angel carries her to Stephan’s bedroom. Chrissy carefully opens the door while Angel holds her in her arms. The Labrador peers into the dark bedroom to see her precious son sound asleep, quietly snoring with his thumb still in his mouth.
Chrissy smiles and quietly blows her son a kiss.
“Sleep well, son,” the Labrador whispers before she quietly closes the door.
“ya know, Angel, part of me wishes that I could give my boy a good night kiss; however, I’d be afraid that I might wake him up,” Chrissy says as Angel carries her back to her bedroom.
“It’s alright, Chrissy. Steff’s sleep matters, so it's best if you let him slumber.” the lioness replies as she places Chrissy down on her bed. “Tomorrow morning, he’ll probably want to snuggle with you and Leo.”
“Hmmm, probably,” the adult canine says as Angel tucks her in, “Stephan might even come into our room in the middle of the night for a cuddle knowing him.”
Then there’s a light knock on the bedroom door. A distinctive nock that Angel and Chrissy recognize as Leo’s.
“Come on in!” Chrissy calls.
The bedroom door creaks open, and Leo enters with a tray of mugs full of tea.
“Here we are,” Leo says as he hands out the mugs of red-bush tea to his family.
“So how was Steff tonight, mother,” Leo asks Angel as he blows at his tea.
“Oh, the kid was fine. I had no trouble at all with him whatsoever. We watched the lion king on VHS together. We had pasta and fried broccoli for supper, and the kid ate all his broccoli. For a bedtime story, I told him the story about the time Crystal and I went wasp hunting back when we were cubs. He fell asleep around half nine, which isn’t bad timing.”
“That’s great to hear,” Leo says with a smile. “As long as Steff didn’t get up to mischief, it's all good.”
“Well…. Steff did find an adult VHS tape on the coffee table and asked me to play it for him. It was one of those you brought from eBay, Leo.”
“Oh, he did, did he,” Leo says. “It wasn’t the Jungle Queen 2, was it? Well, that’s my stupid fault for leaving it there.”
“It’s alright, son,” Angel tells him reassuringly. “Thankfully, there was nothing horrific on the case design. Besides, I reckon you're stressed out with your job and training course as a child counselor.”
“Hmmm, good point there, mum,” the adult wolf replies as he stifles a yawn. “However, next time, I’ll hide my VHS films away as soon as they arrive in the post. Besides that, Jungle Queen VHS happens to be worth £80.”
“Is that VHS worth that amount?” Angel asks him in fascination. “My parents have plenty of old VHS tapes that might be worth something.”
The middle-aged lioness then notices the time on the clock and says: “Well, times a-ticking. I best catch up on my beauty sleep.”
She gives Leo and Chrissy a quick hug good night before she picks up her teacup and exits the bedroom.
Now alone with his mate, Leo strips off his suit and into boxers. He clambers into bed next to Chrissy and places his arm around her shoulder.
“Perfect end to a perfect day,” the adult wolf says as Chrissy rests her head against his shoulder. “Life is perfect.”
“Same. I feel that life has been good to me,” Chrissy replies as she sips her tea.
Chrissy then says teasingly, “Say, Leo…. Do you have a thing for female jungle warriors, clad in loincloths? I wonder if you brought that VHS tape as eye candy?”
“I have eyes only for you, love,” Leo says.
“Just messing with you, Leo. Besides, I know that you have a turn on when I’m clad in revealing outfits,” Chrissy tells him in a seductive voice tone.
“Perhaps I could buy a loincloth outfit for our next role play session. One akin to that of a female jungle warrior. I could tie you down to the bed and sit by the side of the bed in my wheelchair and give you a good whipping and a tickle.”
Her paw rests on her husband’s wolf hood.
“Um… that sounds great, Honey,” the wolf says blushing slightly. “As soon as your jungle woman outfit arrives, then sure.”
Meanwhile, Angel is in the guestroom, and she has settled herself down in bed. As the feline sips her tea, her gaze falls upon a photograph in a wooden frame on the bedside cabinet. The photo depicts Herself holding Chrissy in her arms, with Leo and Stephan nearby. The family is at Firewall city beach, and they are all clad in their swimsuits. A kind passer-by had taken the photo for them weeks ago.
Angel smiles as she observes the photograph. That day had been a great beach day for her. Those three canines are just like real biological family to her, and her pride that she’s happy to have by her side.
Angel finishes her tea before she lets out a loud lioness yawn. She has a relatively early start tomorrow, as she’ll be taking Stephan to school. She switches her bedside lamp off and wraps herself in the warm bed sheets.
“Life is perfect,” the feline thinks to herself as she sleeps.
