The next parts were partially inspired by the events of the month of October 2003; the massive wildfires that swept across southern California. As I write, over 600,000 acres had been burned, over 3,000 homes lost and at least 20 deaths confirmed, including firefighter Steven Rucker of Novato, California. He and other firefighters from the Novato Fire Protection District, north of San Francisco, were working the San Diego County Cedars Fire in the area of Wynola, not that far from where I live, and were over-run by the fire when the winds changed unexpectedly. There are not enough words to describe the heroism of the men and women who work these fires; we are forever in your debt and you are forever in our hearts.
Wildfires, such as those of the past few weeks, are a common occurrence in Southern California. This time of year, factors such as low humidity and high post-summer temperatures combine with the hot, strong desert winds known locally as 'santanas' to make these wildfires almost inevitable. One unexpected spark, one miss-thrown match, one lunatic with a fire fixation can level a whole town within hours, a region within days.
Please be careful with fire, wherever you are. We can't afford to lose the people who run toward danger.
The Chibi Problem Part 27
Life goes on, you know?
Time waits for no man (or woman).
Tempus fugit.
Eventually, everything healed. I got well enough to clean my own house. I went back to work - even got a welcome back party. My car was fixed and Mike even had it detailed. I took up a regular email correspondence with Aunt Millicent, and even got email from the new bridegroom. About Chibis, of course.
And don't think I didn't notice the heavy hand of my darling cousin in some of those mails. I still think it's a shame; she'll chew him up and spit him out eventually. I just hope he makes it out with his career intact.
Even after my recovery, my gundam seemed to think I needed looking after. We seemed to have fallen into a routine of "make sure mommie doesn't do anything else to herself."
If I dropped the TV remote, someone would be scurrying up the chair with it before I could even reach for it. When my glass went empty another can of soda and a dish of ice cubes would appear. If I got up in the middle of the night, I had an escort. I couldn't leave the house to go anywhere other than work without BabyDoll on my shoulder.
I'd scared them, every last one of them, and they were taking no chances.
And you know what? I didn't mind in the least.
My human friends hovered for a while, then mostly returned to their own lives. Mike and Shawn took to hovering rather disconcertingly, making it their business to take care of my yard and my car long after I was well enough to do it myself. I couldn't seem to get them to stop, so I just got into the habit of ordering up pizza for the boys in camo a couple times a month.
The weather got warmer, things started pumping out pollen, the weeds tried once again to capture the backyard. Strangely, the Chibis developed an interest in cultivating the desirable plants and decimating the weeds. My yard was slowly being civilized. Wufeis and trowas were to be found turning soil while quatres waited patiently with armloads of cuttings taken from god only knows where. The duos and heeros attacked the pests with a vengeance. Within a month, there was not a snail or slug to be found, the aphids were a thing of the past and the ants had been reduced to manageable proportions and allowed only to do their 'trash clearing' thing. Mice, moles, gophers, rats and other small vermin also disappeared. The yard abounded with lizards and bumblebees, birds and butterflies. It began to look like something from one of those magazines...
Mike was so bemused by the whole thing; he couldn't seem to form the words to ask; just looked over the fence and shook his head in amazement.
I held my breath and jumped into a project I'd always wanted to try, but had never dared before. I bought some 2x12s and a truckload of soil and slapped together a raised-bed planter for my new garden. I began buying vegetables and color plants and actually setting them out in the ground, something that would have ended in death and disaster in the past. I had Chibis watering, weeding and picking pests like a veritable army of gardeners. And damn it, it was great! I suddenly had tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and even melons ripening everywhere I turned. I even dared to set out a six pack of zucchini and it was doing its level best to overrun the yard.
I took to visiting Park's and Burpee's online, surrounded by Chibis with lists of their favorites. I even ordered live ladybugs and praying mantis. BabyDoll and other selected adults made regular forays with me to Anderson's, as well as Lowe's and Home Depot in search of this variety or that. I was turning into... a gardener. Or rather, my Chibis were turning me into a produce-on-demand-section.
We settled into another of those comfortable, life-is-good periods.
~*~
Until three o'clock one morning when the phone began to ring.
I'm a fairly light sleeper; a ringing phone will pop my eyes open day or night. I'm not sure if Chibis qualify as light sleepers, but BabyDoll had the phone clutched in his arms on the pillow beside me before the second ring. And he was right there listening when the frantic voice began calling to me.
"I'm here, I'm here," I growled. "Take a breath."
"Oh, god, I'm so sorry to wake you, but I just don't know who else to call!"
I recognised the voice as Teola, the partner of a fellow chiber. She sounded almost hysterical, a scary thing coming from a woman who was a cop for twenty years.
I hitched myself up against the pillows and reached for my water bottle. "Teola... Calm down. What's wrong?" And then it hit me. Ruthie always makes the phone calls. Teola hates the phone. "Where's Ruthie?"
"Shit!"
It came out as a wail.
"The canyon is burning! Ruthie tried to hose down the gundarium... She got burned... They took her to the hospital... I have to go, but I can't take the Chibis!"
"Burning? Holy shit!" I bounced off the bed, scrabbling for clothing. "When did this happen? It's not the season!" Fall is fire season in Southern California, not spring.
"It started about an hour ago... I don't know how... Can you take the Chibis? She almost wouldn't go; she's so afraid of losing them."
"Of course," I began before I remembered.
Ruthie is a hobby breeder; she breeds mostly quatres and trowas, but she has a single heero/trowa pair that produce just outstanding chibits about every two years. As with the rest of my chiber friends, Ruthie doesn't know I have a gundam living in my yard. Did I dare risk exposing her Chibis to the rough edges of a wild gundam? Conventional wisdom says no way.
"Teola, I gotta tell you, I have some wild Chibis hanging out here."
Teola loves Chibis the way most people love their pets - as pets. For Ruthie, her Chibis are her children, and she is every bit as protective and indulgent as I am.
"Hell, I don't care!" Teola exploded. "I've got a dozen adults and eight chibits crammed into my car, and they're screaming fit to wake the dead what with the fire and the sirens and Ruthie being hauled out, practically kicking and screaming! Just shove the cages into the garage and throw a sheet over them until I figure out what to do! I don't even know if we're gonna have a house left come the dawn!"
"Where are you?" I was trying to hang onto the phone and dress at the same time.
"The Circle K just off 78 at Twin Oaks. They took her to Palomar. God, they may have to move her to UCSD, if the burns are bad."
"Okay. Just sit tight. I'll be there in..." I calculated the distance and how much speed I dared at this hour. "Fifteen minutes."
"Oh, god I owe you so much!"
She hung up before I could reply.
Well, doesn't that just suck?
~*~
I found Teola at the Circle K, pacing the parking lot and shredding the hell out of a Styrofoam coffee cup. She looked like she needed a cigarette badly, but she quit last year and is determined not to backslide. In a case like this, a little backsliding would be understandable.
I parked next to her little Chevy and had barely gotten vertical when she enveloped me in a huge hug, babbling incoherently. I returned the hug and began trying to find the woman I knew amongst all that panic.
"Hey, relax," I commanded gently, giving her shoulder a little pat. "You have to be able to get back to Escondido in one piece. C'mon, let's swap 'em over so you can get going."
I don't do the maternal fussing thing very well, just not a natural 'care-giver', towards humans anyway, I suppose. But Teola hates being fussed over, so she probably wouldn't mind.
BabyDoll was with me, of course, waiting in the car. You don't think I could manage to get out of the house before dawn without him, do you? I considered myself lucky I didn't also have Angel and Killer, but they had been given instructions to prepare for guests.
Ruthie's terrified Chibis were crammed into four carriers. The quatres were making most of the noise, of course, but the lone heero boomed his 'omae o korosu' at a frightful volume. Bet there wasn't a predator within half a mile, and every dog in the area was probably cowering under a bed.
BabyDoll met and surpassed them all, as we set the crates into my car.
"Shinigami!" he roared, and the silence was almost shocking. "Oi!" he snorted then. He began moving from crate to crate chirping reassurances and explaining what was happening.
Teola gaped at him. "Holy shit! I didn't know they did that..."
I shrugged, nudging her back to her car. "BabyDoll is pretty special; a regular little major general. You get on back to Palomar. Tell Ruthie I'll keep the guys as long as necessary, and not to worry about them." I gave her a quick hug. "Give that one to Ruthie, and call me when you have news. Oh, have you called anyone at LINC?"
She shook her head, groaning. She and Ruthie were coordinating an event for the Lesbian group. It was supposed to be the following Friday night, but I doubted Ruthie would be in shape for it. The group would need to make arrangements to fill in for them, and also would want to rally around to help.
"Okay," I said, "I'll call Sharon and tell her what's up. Now, go on; git!"
With Teola safely (I hoped) headed back to her partner's side, I got back in my car and addressed the Chibis.
"Okay, guys. I know you're all scared and anxious -" the heero gave a derisive snort at that "- and angry, but we're going to take good care of you until your mommie is better and you can go home. You've met BabyDoll; he has two mates and three chibits, as well as lots of friends at home. So, try not to fret too much, okay?"
Silence for a moment, then a single, plaintive "Kind...?"
Could they come out of the crates soon? the quatre wanted to know.
"Sure can, sweetie," I reassured them. "Just as soon as we get home."
The whole group exhaled a relieved sigh.
~*~
I put the car straight into the garage upon arrival. Mornings were still rather brisk, and I'd dashed off without a jacket. I had to put the top down to get the crates out of the car. Why is it that things go in easy, then have to be wrestled out, or have to be wrangled in and then fall out in your hands? Why is it never easy in-easy out?
I first set the crates in the garage, guarded by BabyDoll, and stepped into the house to review the troops. I was taken aback by the changes the Chibis had made in the relatively brief time I was gone.
Six plastic dorm crates had been set up, pyramid style, in the dining room, and lined with blankets and plushies, with another blanket folded and laid over the top of the whole thing. A plate filled with Chibi-favorites sat on another crate nearby. Also with the plate were tiny Tupperware glasses and bowls. A quatre-trowa pair, the official make-yourself-at-home committee, waited patiently atop a stack of fresh towels. The table lamps were on, rather than the overhead light, and it looked very comfortable and secure. A perfect temporary shelter.
The rest of the gundam was outside on the patio, trying not to look intimidating. Angel and Killer had their chibits on the deck of their Chibi-castle, anxiously awaiting their reunion with BabyDoll.
"Wow," I breathed. "This looks great, guys. How did you know there are six pairs?"
The gundam quatre raised one elegant little brow and snorted at me. The trowa lifted one shoulder. I talked to Ruthie several times a month; of course, they knew how many Chibis she had.
Score another one for the omniscience of Chibis. Rather than let myself dwell on the implications of that, I retreated to the garage to begin the exodus.
BabyDoll had the crates open already, and was hugging and petting on the guest Chibis affectionately. Teola had used snaphooks to secure the cages, but BabyDoll has been able to open those since he was six months old. If I want to keep a Chibi secured, I know enough to use a padlock, although the duos are perfectly capable of picking the lock, if they choose.
Everyone settled down soon enough, except for one of the quatres. I recognised him as Ruthie's first and favorite; only logical that he would be more concerned about his mommie.
He began an anxious conversation with the gundam quatre, while the gundam trowa and BabyDoll assisted the rest of Ruthie's darlings with making themselves at home.
Ruthie's heero gave Angel a raised eyebrow, and they 'omae'ed back and forth for a few minutes.
He was the only one I really had any misgivings about, and since he seemed to be a well behaved sort of guy, I relaxed and retired to the kitchen for a soda. I came back to find Ruthie's quatre babbling frantically to BabyDoll.
I've been too long in the company of Chibis; I had no trouble following the conversation.
Ruthie - Mommie - was hurt before the quatre - I think Ruthie called him Berber - could tell her about the orphans, and Teola - Other Mommie - didn't know how to hear. The orphans were afraid of the fire; they hid under the skirting of the mobile home, but they were also afraid of Teola, and wouldn't come out when Berber tried to get them.
I choked on my soda.
"Orphans?!" I yelled. "There are Chibis still out there?!"
Berber leaped sideways into the arms of his equally startled mate, and they both gaped at me. Guess they hadn't expected me to understand.
BabyDoll turned anguished eyes my way crying, "Moi! Shiii! Oi, shiii niii...!"
I sat down hard on a dining room chair, suddenly surrounded by the gundam.
"Holy shit!"
Damn...
Chances were, they were already gone. If the fire was close enough for Ruthie to get burned trying to save her babies, any stragglers were probably history. Probably. Maybe. Most likely.
I looked at BabyDoll. He looked at me.
Do you need to ask?
TBC...
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