Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own them.
Authors Note: Hey guys! This is just a little bit of young Shawn and Gus that came to me after watching 'Earth, Wind and... Wait for it.' I think that the bird Gus had was named Mrs. Mugglesworth, but if I've spelled it wrong, or if you notice some other sort of mistake, then please let me know. This is my first published story.. EVER so reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for reading!
Saturday mornings were generally some of the most eventful in the history of the Guster household. It was on a Saturday morning that Joy brought home her first soccer trophy, after scoring the winning goal in the last few seconds of the game when it seemed that all hope had been lost. It was a Saturday morning that Burton Guster first invited Shawn Spencer to visit, and a large number of ER visits had occurred on Saturday mornings since then. However, it was on this particular Saturday morning that Mrs. Mugglesworth was met with her unfortunate demise.
----------------------------------------
As the way it always seemed to work with Murphy's Law, things had started out well. Extremely well in fact. On this particular Saturday morning, Winnie found that she had accomplished a rare feat, commonly sought after by housewives everywhere. She had the entire house to herself, and the complete silence that went along with it. And yet, something about the absolute silence didn't feel quite right.
Burton had stayed the night at Shawn's, and Henry would be bringing the boys round later, but that wasn't it. Joy had a soccer game out of town, and her father had taken her; they wouldn't be back until later on that afternoon, but that wasn't it either.
It wasn't often that Winnie had the house to herself like this, but still it seemed like there was something... Off. Her eyes fell on the birdcage sitting on the countertop, and she realised where the lack of sound was coming from.
Ever since they had brought that bird home, it had made a racket. First it started of screeching at all hours of the night, then it had started to mimic the telephone at three in the morning, and then it had finally learned how to talk. But now, no sound came from the cage.
Winnie put away the papers she had been organizing and made her way over to the countertop, preparing herself for the worst.
She gasped at the sight before her.
Mrs. Mugglesworth, Burton's cockatoo lay on her back on the bottom of the cage, feet sticking straight up in the air.
There was no way that she would let Burton know about the death of his latest pet. Working quickly, she found an old shoebox and placed the body inside, taped it closed, wrapped it up in an old plastic bag, and then placed it in the trash. This way the boys wouldn't see it, even if for some strange reason they did go through the trash, which honestly wouldn't really surprise her.
Next she set to work on her distraction, pulling out a mixing bowl and all of the ingredients necessary for chocolate chip cookies- which happened to be burtons favourite, she smiled to herself over a job well done.
One thing that she had failed to notice however was the single feather which had come loose earlier and landed on her sleeve. The feather was then knocked off during the course of cooking and floated away, only to land on the tray of cookies ready to go into the oven.
----------------------------------------
The door swung open, and suddenly the house was full of the noise which was normally produced by two eight year old boys.
"Mom!"
"Mrs. G!"
The boys let their noses lead them to the kitchen, where they found Winnie with a tray of fresh baked cookies. Henry followed behind them in full police uniform, carrying a box of Tupperware containers that his wife had wanted him to return for her.
Winnie quickly glanced towards the empty cage, wishing that she had thought to move it before the boys had gotten home. But then again, that would be even more suspicious. It shouldn't matter, Burton had never really been all that observant anyway...
"Hey, where's Mrs. Mugglesworth?"
But Shawn was.
"What are you talking about Shawn? She's right the- Hey! She's gone." Burton turned to his mother, obviously distressed. "Where'd she go?"
Winnie looked to her son, story already formed in her head, "Well, I had to-"
"Her cage is still here," Shawn interrupted while taking in every detail, and using the skills that his father had taught him in an effort to figure out what had happened, "And the window is open. Did she escape?"
Burton's eyes widened and he looked towards the window, "No, No she just-"Winnie started, but was interrupted again.
"Her food and water dish are still there, so she mustn't need them anymore..." He trailed off as he noticed what looked like a feather baked into his cookie, and gasped "You baked her into the cookies!"
"Shawn!" Henry barked at him, and all Winnie could manage was to stare at him in shock. That boy never failed to surprise her.
"Mrs. Mugglesworth!" Burton wailed, tears forming in his eyes.
"No, No, Burton, Honey," Winnie gave Henry a meaningful look. "I had to take her to the Bird sanctuary."
Burton looked up at her with wet eyes, "She's not dead?"
Winnie shook her head, "She's at the Bird sanctuary, with all of the other birds. She will be much happier there."
"Oh, cool." Shawn spoke around a mouthful of chocolate chip cookie, "So can we go visit her sometime?"
"Uh..."
Burtons face lit up, "Mom, Please! Can we?"
"No." She said it a bit too quickly from the way that burtons face fell, as tears started to form once again. "Nobody can see her. She has a very rare bird disease, which is why I had to take her there in the first place. If you look at her...She will...Uh... Her feathers will fall out."
Shawn looked up at her suspiciously, "Then how come-"
"Shawn!" Henry put the box he had been holding on the countertop beside the empty cage, and grabbed Shawn around the arm leading him towards the door, "It's about time we headed off."
"But dad, I thought you said-"
"Change of plans kid, get moving."
Winnie watched as Shawn grabbed a handful of cookies before being dragged from the room by his father. She then turned to her son, who was still staring at the doorway his best friend had disappeared through.
"Gussie, how do you feel about getting a hamster?"
That's it, people. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought.
