Margaret tries desperately to get out of the pen. It doesn't work because there is a forcefield on top except for when her owner is there.
"Come!" Margaret cries.
Quigor comes to the pet to see what she wants. Margaret reaches up towards her owner, wanting to be taken out of the pen.
"Okay, Margaret," Quigor says, gently picking the human up.
As soon as she is picked up, Margaret tries to squirm free. Quigor realizes that the pet just wants free reign of the house and puts her back into her pen with her toys.
"No, Margaret. Stay. Play, Margaret," Quigor says, leaving her alone.
But Margaret doesn't want to play with the toys. She wants her paper and crayons so she can draw a picture of the beach. Then she can show it to her owner and go back there.
"Come play Margaret!" Margaret calls to her owner.
But Quigor is busy doing chores and can't play right now. They also can't be chasing the human around the house right now, which is why she's in her pen with her toys. "No, Margaret," Quigor says firmly.
Quigor returns later after their chores are finished to find the human hugging her stuffed animal and crying. Quigor carefully picks her up and holds her, petting her softly to try and calm her down. She is still holding her stuffed animal.
"It's okay, Margaret," Quigor tells her very gently.
"Play?" Margaret asks. She looks up and suddenly sees her paper and crayons on a very high shelf. It doesn't make any sense to her why her owner would put them there. ( Quigor had put them there while cleaning and had forgotten to move them down lower where the human can reach them.)
"Play! Play! Play!" Margaret cries, pointing to the paper and crayons on the shelf. She reaches towards them.
Quigor realizes what the human wants and gets them down for her. Margaret spends the rest of the night very carefully drawing a very detailed picture of the beach. Quigor watches her and recognizes the drawing as a flat illustration of the beach.
When she is finished drawing it Margaret points to her picture of the beach and says "Margaret come play?"
Quigor is quite amazed at this remarkable attempt to communicate with them. Then they realize what she was doing all of those times she pretended to draw. "This shows real intelligence, to be able to create a wax image of what she wants on flat plant material," Quigor thinks. But it is time to put the human to bed now so she cannot go to the beach tonight.
"No play Margaret," Quigor says gently, carrying her to the bathroom and then to her bed. They don't know how to explain to her that she can go to the beach a different day.
Quigor decides to teach Margaret the word for bed. They touch the bed and keep repeating the words to her until she understands and repeats it back to them.
"Good, Margaret!" Quigor says, placing her in bed for the night.
Quigor picks Margaret up out of bed in the morning. After she uses the bathroom she is carried to her highchair for breakfast.
Margaret is very confused about why she is still wearing her nightgown, when normally she would have been given clothes to put on before breakfast.
Quigor feeds the human pancakes and orange juice for breakfast.
Margaret stares in shock at her owner. She can't believe they are eating "teacups!" She spills her orange juice all over her pancakes because she is so distracted. They don't taste good covered in orange juice so she refuses to eat them.
Quigor is dissapointed to see that the pet has spilled her drink again and is refusing to eat. The "teacups" Quigor is eating are actually a type of fruit on this planet. They just happen to bear a strong resemblance to teacups from Earth.
Quigor takes the soaked pancakes away from their pet and cleans her highchair tray. They then pick up the human and carry her to the bathroom for a bath. They want her to be clean for her appointment with the vet today.
Margaret is gently bathed and then dressed in a beautiful light blue dress with Iacy trim around the wide skirt. Quigor has her brush her teeth and then brushes her pretty hair and places her in her pen with her toys until lunch time.
Margaret doesn't know she has a doctor's appointment and she wants her drawing.
"Come!" Margaret calls to her owner.
Quigor comes to see what thier pet wants. Margaret reaches towards them indicating she wants to be picked up. "Play!" Margaret says, making drawing motions.
"Okay, Margaret," Quigor answers, giving Margaret her paper and crayons. Quigor leaves to do some chores and make sure everything is ready for the pet's appointment.
Margaret draws a very detailed picture of the beach and colors it in. When she finishes it she calls to her owner again to "come."
Quigor has now finished their chores and started to prepare lunch. They come to see what the human wants.
Margaret shows her owner the picture she drew of the beach. She points to it saying "Margaret come play!"
Quigor looks at the drawing and understands what it represents. "No, Margaret," they tell the pet, not being able to explain any further to her. They leave to resume preparing lunch.
Margaret is very disappointed. She doesn't understand why her owner won't let her go to the beach. She sadly plays with her ponies in the toy beach she has made.
Her owner returns after a while and gently picks her up. Margaret manages to grab her drawing of the beach and show it to them again.
Quigor looks at the drawing their pet is holding. They carefully, gently take it out of her hand and set it down in her pen.
"Margaret come play?" The human asks them.
"No, Margaret," Quigor says gently, carrying the pet to her highchair and placing her carefully in it.
Margaret is fed baked fish and french fries for lunch. She sadly eats them, wishing she could go to the beach. Her owner eats sparkly flower slices with stuffed cubes. Margaret is given apple juice to drink. Quigor wishes they could explain to her why she can't go to the beach today.
Quigor gently picks Margaret up after lunch and carries her to the bathroom. But Margaret doesn't use the toilet. Instead, she frantically tries to figure out how to use the portal to go to the beach. She isn't going to take no for an answer. But she just can't figure out how to operate the portal. (Quigor has it set so that it won't respond for the human for her safety. It requires alien DNA to work.)
Quigor goes in to get Margaret when she won't come out of the bathroom. They find her trying to operate the portal when they repeatedly told her she can't go to the beach right now.
"No, Margaret!" Quigor says firmly, putting her collar and Ieash on her and carrying her out to their vehicle.
Margaret is now very confused. She looks around, wondering where they are going.
Quigor gently picks up the confused pet and carries her into the Veterinary Clinic when they arrive. Margaret now recognizes where they are.
The vet is happy to see Margaret again.
"Hi, Margaret. How are you doing?" They ask.
Margaret stares at them, confused.
"She seems to be doing pretty good lately, Doctor," Quigor answers for her.
"That's good. May I hold her?" The vet asks.
"Of course," Quigor replies, carefully handing Margaret to the vet.
The vet gently examines the human's leg where it had been bitten. It is now fully healed. "Her leg looks very good Quigor. You can begin taking her for walks again now Quigor," The vet says.
"That's wonderful," Quigor replies.
"Now I'm going to take some samples from her and do a complete physical examination to check her overall health. I don't want to frighten or upset her so I'm going to give her a cookie which will put her to sleep," the vet says, carefully handing Margaret to Quigor while they get her cookie.
Margaret smiles happily at her owner. She didn't understand any of the conversation, and she likes being held.
"Good, Margaret," Quigor says, petting her.
The vet returns with a big cookie and drink for Margaret. She happily takes it and eats it. It tastes very good. She likes her owner's "friend." They are always very kind to her. (Another ingredient in the cookie causes her to forget what has happened, which is why she never remembers that the cookies are drugged.)
Margaret falls asleep within a few minutes and is carefully laid on the examination table. The vet takes her blood and checks her pulse. They put drops in her eyes to dialate them. They examine her ears and teeth.
"She looks very good, Quigor," the vet says, carefully cleaning and examining Margaret's teeth while she is asleep. It is much easier and faster than how teeth are cleaned on Earth. The instruments are much better than ours.
Margaret is weighed. Her muscle tone and strength looks good, and her body appears to be healthy. The vet looks inside of Margaret's eyes to make sure they are healthy.
After the general physical examination is finished the vet says to Quigor "She looks very good, Quigor. You can take her home about fifteen minutes after she wakes up," the vet says, carefully placing Margaret in a soft bed and covering her with blankets.
Margaret sleeps for about an hour before she awakens. She doesn't remember being put to bed, but she always takes a nap when she's staying with her owner's "friend," so this isn't unusual.
Margaret says "Drink," and makes drawing motions indicating she wants her paper and crayons.
The vet brings Margaret a drink, but they don't have any paper or crayons. Margaret motions again for paper and crayons, pretending to draw.
"No, Margaret," Quigor tells her gently.
"What is it she's asking you for?" The vet asks curiously.
"Sticks of colored wax and flat plant material so she can make rubbings on the plant the material with the colored wax," Quigor replies.
"Interesting. You can take her home now if you'd like. I think she's ready. Only have her take naps know if she requests them or she seems extra tired. she doesn't need to take one every day anymore," the vet says.
Quigor gently picks Margaret up and carries her out to their vehicle. Her eye drops have completly worn off by now - they don't last very long.
They stop at an unfamiliar building which Margaret doesn't recognize. Quigor gently picks up their pet and carries her inside. Margaret holds onto her owner tightly, feeling a little frightened.
"It's okay, Margaret," Quigor says very gently.
Margaret looks around nervously inside the building holding onto Quigor who is very gently petting her. She sees a large space with many shelves and furniture. Margaret stares at the human sized highchairs and beds.
Quigor carries Margaret to a section with toys for pet humans in it and carefully sets her down. She is on her leash which allows her to waIk about three feet and look at the toys.
Margaret realizes they are in a store. She looks at all of toys with interest. They have a very good selection. Margaret stares in awe at doll houses, puzzles, and pony barns. They have many block sets for pet humans. Margaret looks at the block sets, seeing one with baby ponies and a playground for the ponies. She picks up the container and stares at it for a long time. The pet human block set containers have flat pictures on them which are easy for humans to understand.
Quigor reaches down and takes the container of blocks away from Margaret, placing it in a strange looking container that they have brought along.
"Play!" Margaret cries, upset, not understanding why her owner took the container of pony blocks away from her.
"No, Margaret. It's okay, Margaret. Good girl, Margaret. It's okay," Quigor says, not knowing how to explain that she can play with the blocks at home.
Quigor gently leads Margaret around the toy section. Margaret stares as she sees another alien leading a human girl with blond curly hair and a lavender dress on a leash. The other alien is about eight feet tall with gray and white speckled fur and a white tummy.
Margaret immediatley tries to run to the human girl excitedly, coming to the end of her leash.
"Margaret come play!" She calls desperately to her owner.
Quigor carefully picks Margaret up, petting her softly to try and calm her.
Margaret points to the other pet human and says excitedly "Margaret come play!"
The other alien brings thier pet human to look at the toys. They see how excited Margaret is.
"Does she want to meet my pet, Emily?" They ask Quigor. "It's okay for her to meet Emily. You can put her down and let her see my pet," they say kindly.
Quigor recognizes this alien as one of their friends. They carefully set Margaret back down on the floor.
"Thank you. She's very excited," they tell thier friend Mepo.
Margaret excitedly runs to Emily and hugs her. Emily hugs her back.
"What's your name?" Margaret asks in English.
"Emily," the other human answers.
"Can I play with you?" Margaret asks.
"What's your name?"
"Margaret."
"Okay," says Emily. She looks up at her owner. "Mepo! Margaret come play house?" She asks in the alien's language.
Mepo looks at the pets. "Wait, EmiIy," Mepo commands. Mepo looks at Quigor.
"Margaret can play with Emily if it's alright with you," Quigor says. "Look how happy she is. They seem to like each other."
"It's okay with me for them to play together," Mepo says to Quigor. Mepo turns back to their pet. "Yes, Margaret come play," Mepo tells Emily.
Author's Note: Thank you for reading Special Pet. I'm going to have to try to put the rest of this chapter up tomorrow in the next Part. Please consider voting or commenting if you enjoyed the story. Thank you!