My kind-red-fur And My white-hair-glitter-gold
The grass was warm under my feet, and the water cold on my back, as kind-red-fur scrubbed the dirt off me. He chattered all the while, talking to me and him both, stopping only when hard-face-sharp-stick came close. My kind-red-fur calls him August. August has used his stick less often on me, since kind-red-fur taught him how to talk properly. He still uses the stick though.
White-hair-glitter-gold runs over when August stops yelling at Jacob. She is laughing, happy, and kisses my face. She kisses Jacob as well, only stopping when I squirt water on the pair of them, because kind-red-fur has stopped scrubbing my back, and he should start again. Jacob laughs too, picking the brush back up and starts rubbing my back again, wiping water out of his eyes. White-hair-glitter-gold asks to be picked up, and I oblige, sitting her behind my neck. She takes a smaller brush and rubs my head gently, talking to us both.
They leave eventually, so I can eat the warm grass in peace again, listening to the noise of the small-inferior-four-legs in their cages. I am allowed to be smug, because I fit in no cage, though I have to wear the annoying-metal-bracelet that gets stuck in the ground. I pretend I don't know how to take the silly sharp stick out of the ground, though why hard-face-sharp-stick thinks I don't know how to do this is beyond me. I showed Jacob my trick once, and he thought it was very good. I was thirsty, and the pink lemonade was only just out of my reach, so I pulled the cold-grey-stick out of the ground and went to drink, putting the stick back in the ground when I was finished. I like making kind-red-fur happy.
Hard-face-sharp-stick yells at him a lot, and he yells at white-hair-gold-glitter as well. It makes me sad, especially when white-hair-gold-glitter gets her face wet and makes strange sounds. She comes into my carriage at night when this happens, curling under my trunk for a few hours before leaving. She likes to sing to me, and sometimes I hum along as well, though I like to hear her better. I don't know why white-hair-gold-glitter stays close to August, when he is mean to her. I think she likes Jacob better, but she never shows it when hard-face-sharp-stick is around.
The performance tonight is special. White-hair-gold-glitter wears her favourite sparkle-skin, and puts the pretty headdress that she made on me. She also wears her pretty headdress, that she calls a tiara. I like her tiara. As a game, I lift in out of her hair, and put it on my head, waving my trunk as she laughs and squeals, trying to snatch it back. My poor white-hair-gold-glitter is too short to reach. Kind-red-fur is cleverer than he looks though, and get my ladder, shimmying up at to sit on my back and take the tiara off me. I whack his head with my trunk to let him know what I think of his cleverness, and then gently lift him off me and put him back on the ground next to Marlena. Jacob never comes into the tent full-of-noise-and-twolegs with me, he will only ever work in the ring with me when it is empty. Perhaps he does not like to wear the sparkles. Oh well.
White-hair-gold-glitter looks around before kissing him quickly, and climbing atop my head. She pats me gently, and kind-red-fur disappears just before hard-face-sharp-stick appears beside us. The stick looks different when I must perform. It is covered in pretty ribbons, but it is even sharper when I perform. I see August sharpen it sometimes. He speaks a few words to Marlena before disappearing again, and I hear him yell to the noisy-twolegs before white-hair-gold-glitter signals to me that it is time to move into the ring.
The lights are dazzling, and the twolegs scream when I appear, as though they have never seen anything quite so magnificent as me. I suppose they haven't, but I would like them much better if they didn't make quite as much noise. I ignore the silly twolegs, and listen to my quiet white-hair-gold-glitter, who asks me to lift her and perform with her. I do love performing with my white-hair-gold-glitter. I do everything she asks, even the things that are difficult, because she asks so very nicely, and always says please. Marlena has never even picked up the sharp stick.
Tonight I decide I will play a little joke on her and hard-face-sharp-stick, and while she and August dance in front of me on the box-to-make-twolegs-grow-tall I pluck August's shiny black hat from his head, and stomp on it, squashing it under my foot. White-hair-gold-glitter laughs in delight, and while hard-face-sharp-stick looks angry and surprised, he cannot do anything about it in the ring. Even the silly twolegs would notice if he started bashing me with the sharp stick in front of them all. My little joke over, I carefully place my happy white-hair-gold-glitter back on my back and we both bow, before I leave the ring.
Kind-red-fur helps Marlena down from my back, and she leaves me, running over to the almost-as-beautiful-as-me-but-not-quite horses, with their funny feathers sprouting from the tops of their head. It annoys me a little, because I love her far more than the sprouting-feather-horses, but I suppose she knows, because she always performs with me first. Kind-red-fur walks with me gently out of the ring to my carriage, and helps me take the harness of my head. He has a special treat for me tonight, toffee-covered-red-fruit, which tastes so good. He stays with me for a few moments, rubbing my shoulder and telling me how well I did, as if I didn't already know. My kind-red-fur can be very stupid sometimes, but I love him anyway.
He leaves me to go help take care of the other inferior-to-me animals, but remembers to fill the water-trough full before he leaves, letting me lie down and sleep in peace.
I'm think of writing in a second chapter, to show Rosie's POV of August's death and perhaps onwards, but can you guys let me know what you think of this first? Please review so I know wether I should write more chapters to it!
SaintClaire