I knocked on the door softly as I pulled my jacket closer to my neck. The sound of my knuckles on wood reverberated throughout the empty hallway. It was early in the morning just before I went to work. Gus was sleeping quietly in his travel carrier, nestled within the folds of his blankets. He stirred slightly as I pulled off my glove and pet his head with the back of my index finger. My attention was pulled away from him as the door opened.

"Good morning!" a smiling bearded face said to me.

"Morning, I have brought for you another thermos, as always," I responded as I pulled out the warm metal from inside my jacket. I handed the metal cylinder to him, shifting my weight so as not to wake my baby smurf. He took the thermos gently and placed it on a nearby table.

Dave had been my downstairs neighbor for the past eight months. He was a retired firefighter and to my surprise a smurf fan. He had never really talked to me before but he suddenly opened up when he saw me one morning with Gus. I had been having difficulties getting him accustomed to being alone while I was at work but it was to no avail. I would either come home to see him huddled on the floor in tears with his room half destroyed or have him pull a disappearing act when he hid out of fear. Not wanting to put the little guy through more trauma, I decided it would be best to find him a sitter.

I had been juggling between two different ones when I got into that conversation with Dave. He expressed great interest in Gus and smurfs in general much to my surprise. Before I had known him as some quiet old man but he was very friendly and talkative once he started to open up. I told him of my plight with finding a sitter and he volunteered. While I was happy, I knew I was going to have to warm Gus up to the idea. The little smurf had become quite attached to me, preferring to cling to me or be in my shirt pocket when I was home. The thought of him getting comfortable with anyone else was going to take some work.

We started slowly, with Gus first getting used to seeing Dave and having him recognize his face. I would have him come over when I was done with work and hang out for an hour or two. My diminutive blue companion was wary at first, hiding behind my ankles or climbing up my pant leg and clinging to my chest. Eventually, Dave was no longer a stranger and Gus began to feel comfortable with him. We knew we had made a breakthrough when he allowed Dave to pet him. As we were doing this, I also gave Dave the rundown on how to care for Gus. Despite being a small little thing, he had a lot of energy and needed to be watched when he was out of his room. He was very curious and loved to explore and climb. I fed him every morning and night as well as at noon when I came back to eat lunch with him at home. He required a fresh bottle of smurfberry juice mixed with milk and was allowed vegetarian snacks as per a smurf approved diet. He enjoyed playing games like hide and seek and can spend hours playing with his little smurf toys I bought him. When he would get tired, he would crash hard, sometimes falling asleep on the floor right where he sat. It was kind of cute because his arms and legs would flop around loosely when you picked him up. I usually just placed him in his bed or on my chest and he would wake up hours later. He required diaper changes frequently but it was not as horrible as a human baby. I bathed him every week but I taught Dave how to just in case Gus got into a mess while I was away, giving him some smurf approved soap for good measure. There where many aspects to his care I went over with Dave, yet I never felt like I was able to reach the full depth of the effort I gave to this little smurf. He really had become my heart.

I very gently took Gus and handed him over to Dave who took him and held him close. He looked through the bars, flashing a toothy smile when he saw the little cerulean being snoring away.

"Precious creatures, aren't they," he said, as he slowly took Gus's carrier and put him down on his couch.

"I'm crazy for them," I responded, "thanks once again for watching him."

"No problem, you're doing me a favor honestly. He is great company since the missus left," Dave said as he rubbed his hands together, the cold wind ripping through him.

"Aha, don't get too comfortable, I'm going to need him back later," I said as I waved and started to walk to my car.

"You got to come back from work first!" Dave joked softly as he closed the door behind me.