“Oof, I’m super duper pooped.”
I practically ripped the leg brace off my aching foot and flopped back onto my bed, letting the mobility aid drop to the floor. In the fading twilight a green glow faintly outlined one of my plushies –a cute little round chimera that Summer Snow won for me at a carnival years back– as I picked it up with my PA and held it in front of my face.
“Oh, Pudgy,” I told it, “Today’s been really really busy and stressful. It feels like I haven’t been able to catch a single break.”
“That’s okay, Fall Flowers,” I said in a deeper voice like the plushie was talking to me, “You’ve got us to cuddle. Is there anything on your mind?”
“Yes, actually! Thank you for asking. I love my siblings so much, but I wish they would pick up the slack more often. I feel like if Mom and Other Mom aren’t here, I’m the only one keeping everything running most of the time! This day has left me so frazzled and frayed.”
“That sounds rough. What happened?”
“Well, first I had to take out the trash from all over the house, and every time I ended up having to clean up a big, stinky mess for one reason or another. I think I got something yucky on my cute clothes almost as soon as I got dressed, and of course I didn’t have time to change. In the middle of that I found out that not only could Summer not help out with anything, but in fact I needed to take her to a game no one told me she had. This was in addition to me having to drive the moms to the airport immediately after that. All this when I already had to round up and sell a buncha our veggies by myself because Spring flaked again!”
“You know those photoshoots and vlogs are important to him, and he puts a lot of time and care into getting his adorable outfits just right. If he wants to keep up his social media presence, he has to post stuff regularly.”
“I know, but couldn’t they have delayed it for just a teeensy bit to make sure none of us needed any help first? The least they could’ve done is tell us they wouldn’t be available!”
“No, that wasn’t very nice of him, but you know he can be a little self-absorbed sometimes. What about Winter Warmth? Couldn’t he have done something?”
“I guess I could’ve gotten her to help, but I didn’t want to distract her from working on her music, not after she finally started getting through her artist’s block. I already felt bad that he had to take out his own diaper pail.”
“So you were alone in your chores. But you handled all of them like a pro, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s not just that. Somewhere in all the chaos my stubborn stomach finally decided it wanted to get things moving down there and end my constipation, but it kept happening at the worst possible time! At least twice I had to fight hard to tell it ‘no, not here, not now’, and now I think I’ve once again missed my chance to empty my backed-up belly for a couple more days. As if that wasn’t enough, my body thought it would be really funny if it went on double period today of all days.”
“On the plus side, you were able to sell everything at the market, right? It can’t be all bad.”
“I mean, yeah, but as soon as I got home, I had to help Winter with a humungo stain he couldn’t get out of the couch cushions. I haven’t had a moment’s rest to change my diaper at any point today, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been leaking ever since lunch time. I almost got to relax, before I remembered Summer still needed a ride back home. And on top of all that, every second of the entire time my stupid leg Would. Not. Stop. Hurting!”
I dropped the plush and screamed into my pillow.
I sniffled and wiped away the tears that had started forming in the corners of my eyes. Sitting back up, I looked at my messed-up hind paw. “I’m sorry, leg, for calling you stupid. I know that like me, you’re doing the best you can.”
“Knock knock.”
I looked over at my bedroom door to see a white carbuncle with blue hair and a fiery orange jewel standing in the doorway, thick glasses obscuring her icy blue eyeballs. All he had on was a purple tanktop and a sky blue belt-style diaper.
“W-Winter, how long have you been here?”
“I didn’t hear a lot of what you were saying, just…actually pretty much everything.”
I blushed. “You…weren’t meant to hear all that. I was just being a big ol’ whiny pamps.”
“You weren’t being whiny; those were legit reasons to be upset. I’m sorry none of us could step up and share some of the load.”
A bit of orange briefly appeared behind his head as he nervously scratched the back of it with his aura.
“And I, uh, I’m sorry about the couch thing. I should’ve been wearing protection if I wasn’t gonna be holed up in my room.”
“You’re fine. That wasn’t even the biggest serving on my problem plate today.”
“Yeah, but it didn’t help. I made you spend spoons you didn’t have.”
“Silly billy, I’ll always have the energy for my family. You all mean the world to me. But you know I can’t lie: I’m exhausted. I almost feel like taking an edible and plopping straight into bed.”
“You, uh, wanna listen to an audiobook together, or something? I can make popcorn.”
“Yeah, you can. With just your body heat too, I’ll bet.” I stuck out my tongue playfully.
She chuckled. “Heh, I’ll take that as a yes. We were doing Psy-Fi, right? What book were we on, again?”
“Girl, if you can’t remember, it means we have to listen to it from the very beginning!”
“And if you can’t remember, you might have to do a book report this go-around.”
“Hahaha, while you make the popcorn, I’ll take a quick li’l shower, and then we can get all cozy and listen to something.”
“Deal.”
