With a renewed purpose, Missy made sure everything was put into action for the healing of our new visitor.
When she had enough energy to pull herself up from the sheet on the lounge, the kid was placed into a bath she grimaced through.
I watched by the side while Missy scrubbed at the mud and flowers to reveal the bright white and black skin beneath it.
After being bundled and dried in a warm towel, a hot bowl of vegetable soup was placed on the ground before the kid who scoffed it like a wild animal. She didn't even place her hands on the bowl when her face pushed it around the floor to lick out every scrap.
When it was refilled, it was splattered all over her and the house again.
I didn't even have time to lift my cooling one out of the way when the kid came scrabbling around the corner to scoff down mine before running off for her bowl to scrape around again.
Huffing at Missy's withheld laughter, she went to replace it so I could retreat to the kitchen bench instead out of the reach of the little animal.
She sure was an irritating thing. It was like watching a tornado fly through the house and into each room it disappeared briefly into.
It was nice when it was quiet. Now, not so much.
I growled to the kid who tore past and skidded into the chair Missy was sitting cross-legged in with her bowl she held up high.
"Will you stop ruining everything?" I narrowed my eyes at the little head tilting back.
There was a dismissive giggle before it turned to Missy and leapt up into her lap to nuzzle against her face.
"Just like Mama" it crooned.
Everything in me flared instantly.
I left the bowl and the bench to stomp over and drag the kid from Missy by its tail. When it hit the ground with a whine, I bared my teeth and sat between Missy and it.
"She's not your mother" I hissed, ears flattening.
"Soup" Missy's voice fell quiet with concern as her hand touched my head "it's OK."
"It really isn't" I snapped to the kid instead of her "you aren't supposed to be here."
The kid backed up with a whimper. It's eyes darted from me to Missy then back again.
"Get out of here" i hissed.
It scurried for the back door to burst through it and tumble down the stairs before the door slammed shut behind it.
Missy got up from her seat with a disappointed sigh at me.
"You didn't need to be so cruel" she muttered back as she hurried for the door after the kid.
Why was Missy so set on chasing it? The kid was looking for her family, why not just let it? It was up and obviously feeling well enough to continue on along the tracks it had been following up here.
Stubbornly, I took my place by the fire. I wasn't freezing myself for a kid determined on destroying the only help she had.
She was ignorant and loud and far too careless.
Missy didn't need that in her life that was already so carefully planned.
I lifted my head when the back door opened again and Missy swung herself around it with the kid held against her.
Feeling myself sour at the sight, I moved aside when she lowered the quiet kid beside me and bent to our level in front of us.
"Soup, I need you to be good to Stew while we look for her parents."
"Stew?"
The kid looked to me with a small grin at the same time I frowned at her.
"What even is your name?" I asked her.
"I like Stew" she replied, her long tail beating on the floor like an excited dog.
Shaking my head at it, I grumbled at Missy.
"That means no fighting" Missy warned me "and no terrorising" she added to Stew "you two need to get along, ok?"
Stew nodded while I looked elsewhere.
"Soup" Missy soothed me "it'll be good for you to have some company around that is just like you."
I glanced at Stew's beating tail and perked stance that I huffed at.
"I'll pass."
Missy chuckled a little and rubbed both our heads as she got back to her feet.
Her clothes were filthy from Stew. They'd take forever to scrub clean and dry in this weather.
"I like her" Stew smiled to me "she's nice."
"Of course she is" I laid back down at the fire while Stew watched Missy hunt down clean clothes "everyone loves Missy."
"Missy" Stew tested the name, her tail flicking again that I swatted away when she watched Missy head back to the kitchen to start packing up the soup "her food doesn't come in cans."
I scoffed at the obviousness.
"Mama gave me a special bowl with my name on it" Stew spoke as she watched Missy divide the pot into smaller portions "and the food came from cans. It was like hers, but shaped funny."
My head lifted at her words and I frowned at the back of Stew's head. There was a reason why this kid was so malnourished. From what she said, she was being fed, but what? Something shaped funny in a can? Was she just describing most foods that were picked off a grocer shelf?
"Were the cans yellow? Maybe with a ring of black?"
They were the cheapest brand labels. Missy had a few of them in her cupboard for when things got scarce.
"They were blue. Some were green" Stew pondered "they had pictures of animals on them. I like the pictures. They changed when the food did."
She smiled as my gut clenched on the realisation of what she was saying.
"Mama gave me all the different sorts. Do you get different sorts too?"
My eyes trailed to Missy and the soup she was putting into the fridge that Stew watched intently.
I got up and moved beside Stew now, dwarfing the kid who glanced up at me.
Now that I was so close, I could see the mark around her neck from where a leather collar would have been placed. It had been there so long that the skin was indented into the unmistakable shape. There was even a buckle on her left side.
Did Missy see it too? Did she choose not to focus on it so it didn't upset Stew?
"Your Mama..." I started slowly "...was she who you were looking for?"
"She takes the train to work" Stew nodded back, grinning when Missy rubbed both our heads affectionately on her way past "sometimes, she's gone all day. She said that she would be back, but she is still working."
Missy parked herself in her chair with a patch of mismatched fabric that she started to pick apart at the seams.
"How long ago did she get on the train?" I asked while checking on Missy smiling to herself.
Stew thought, humming and flicking down her fingers. She stopped at three and placed them all down sadly.
"I don't know."
"How long were you following the tracks for?"
Stew thought again, looking at the wall in the direction I had found her.
"I.... don't know."
Her ears dropped down before her red eyes started to glisten.
"Did she lose her way home?" she whispered.
I didn't want the kid causing another scene. With her visibly upset, I was running on seconds before she dissolved into tears.
"Maybe she's staying out of the storm?" I offered "it's been so windy and rainy lately that the train drivers wouldn't see where to go. Better to be safe."
"Yeah..." Stew sniffled "yeah. She's just late. She'll be waiting at home for me."
"We'll find her" I agreed with a little nudge of my hand to guide Stew away "just give it some time."
Stew trotted over to Missy and snuggled up against her legs hidden beneath the sheet of stitched squares she was still picking. Stew looked up at Missy with such admiration that it reminded me of how I had been the same way when my life had crossed Missy's path for the better.
It would all return to that soon enough, I just had to give it a little more time.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
