Chapter 5: Steps
"Come on Aus! Come on!" Brandy encouraged. Austin smiled as he shuffled, one paw leaning forward as he attempted crawling across the carpet. He managed a few small shuffles forward before landing on his stomach. He didn't let it bother him, opting to push himself back on hands and knees as he readied himself for another attempt. As Brandy watched carefully she heard the doorbell buzz. "Oh! Your cousins and Aunt Chilli and Uncle Bandit are here!" She declared. "Come on, let's get the door." She scooped up the tot and headed toward the door. A moment later a blur of blue and red charged through.
"Hi Aunt Brandy!" Bingo declared. "Hi Austin!"
"Hi Austin!" Bluey said, stopping to kiss her little cousin on the forehead. She looked up, "Hi Aunt Brandy, I'm happy Austin is better. Mum told me you had to take him to the hospital."
"I'm glad he's better as well." Brandy said, not wanting to subject her niece to quite how bad he'd been.
"Hi Brandy." Chilli smiled, quickly kissing her sister on both cheeks. "It's good to see you again."
"Hey Brandy, how's the little one?" Bandit asked, tickling Austin's left ear.
The tot sneezed as his ear flicked involuntarily at the touch.
"Doing well, he's just started crawling."
"Get out! Already?" Bandit said, looking impressed at the nappy-clad blue heeler.
"Well, he is a bit early…" Brandy smiled, proud of his recent progress.
"He's only seven months!" Chilli stated.
"Here, take a look." Brandy set Austin on the floor and walked across the room, crouching down. "Austin! Come here! Come to mama!"
Austin smiled as he pulled himself along, half crawling-half scooting across the floor. Within a minute he'd reached Brandy, who happily received him. "Good job Aus!" She kissed his stomach as he licked her face.
"Yay! Nice job Austin!" Bluey cheered for her cousin.
"Good work!" Bingo clapped.
Bluey turned to the adults, "You told about when I was a baby and started walking, how long was that after I started crawling?"
Chilli tilted her head as she thought back. "It was about three months for you."
"What about me?" Bingo asked, tugging on her father's tail.
"Well, you were a little later because you had to spend some time in hospital when you were born." Bandit replied, gently picking up his daughter. "You didn't start walking until you were a little over one, which was… four months?" He looked at Chilli, who nodded to confirm, "...Yeah, about four months after you started crawling."
"Oh, okay." Bingo nodded. "So Austin'll walk in a few months?"
"Yes, but we can't rush him." Chilli responded, "Remember the story I told you two about when Bluey started walking with that crazy baby race? It'll happen when he's ready."
"Wait, we already know how Bingo and I started walking, what about you?" Bluey asked, looking at the adults.
"Yeah, how did you start?" Bingo said, looking up at her father.
"Why don't you go first?" Chilli said, motioning to her husband.
"Why don't we sit down and we can all share?" Bandit said as he sat on the couch. He patted the cushion beside him and the girls snuggled in. Chilli sat on the other end and Brandy was across from the sofa on a loveseat, Austin on her lap.
"Well, it was 1981. So, keep that in mind when I share some of this because these are things that wouldn't happen today…"
***1981***
"Mum! I'm hungry!" Rad said, the three year old jumping up and down in place at the edge of the freshly mopped kitchen.
"I know love, you told me three times already." Chris replied, rolling her eyes as she rubbed her pregnant midsection. "You have to wait until the floor's dry if you want something from the fridge. "Why don't you have some of the fruit from the kitchen table?"
Rad turned around to look at the bowl of fruit. "No. I don't like fruit."
Chris sighed, "Well then you'll have to wait." She paused, "Where's your brother?"
Rad shrugged. "I dunno. He was on the porch last I saw him."
"On the porch?!" Chris shouted, speed walking toward the home's front. "How'd he get there?"
"He was by the door playing with the knob. He opened it."
"And you didn't stop him?!"
"No." Rad replied.
"Mate, when I'm done with your brother you're in for a whalloping. You know he's only one! He isn't allowed out on his own!" Chris got to the front door to see Bandit holding onto the banister looking out onto the cul-de-sac from behind a large potted plant.
"Bandit! Get your bottom back in here!" She called.
He turned around, revealing that he'd taken off his nappy.
"Bandit!" Chris hollered.
The young blue heeler's ears lay flat against his head as he marched inside.
***MH***
"Wait, your first steps were because you were in trouble with Nana?" Bluey laughed.
"Yup." Bandit nodded.
"Always the same, weren't you?" Chilli asked, pecking him on the muzzle. The girls made gagging noises.
"What about you mum?" Bluey asked, looking up at her mother. "Were you in trouble with Granddad?"
"No, unlike your father I didn't get in much trouble when I was younger. Some of us had the decency to be well behaved."
"Or to be good enough at hiding when we weren't." Brandy added with a sly smile. "Let me tell you how your mum started walking."
***1983***
Brandy was sitting on the floor playing with her new blocks. She'd gotten them for her birthday a few weeks before and had decided that today she was going to make a castle for her dolls to live in. As she stacked a rectangular block on top of a cube she saw her younger sister crawling into the room. Chilli grabbed onto the edge of the sofa and started sidestepping toward her sister.
"Chilli, don't knock over my blocks." Brandy warned, eyeing her sister suspiciously as the little red heeler had a small smile grow on her face.
Chilli edged closer, the smile growing wider.
"Chilli, I mean it!" Brandy stated, trying to move her blocks away from her sister's grasp.
Chilli neared.
"I'm gonna move to the middle of the room, then you can't knock them over!" Brandy declared, scooping up her blocks and moving to the center of the wood-paneled room. "I know you can't knock them over here because you can only crawl!" She stuck out her tongue.
Chilli took this as a challenge and let go of the couch. She pivoted and started running full speed at her older sister. Brandy stared dumbstruck as her little sister crashed into her, causing the two to tumble to the ground.
"You're supposed to walk first, not run…" Brandy muttered.
***MH***
Bingo cackled as Chilli blushed slightly at her sister's telling of the first time she walked.
"And you say we're cheeky!" Bluey smiled.
"Okay, I admit I was a bit cheeky as a baby." Chilli said, waving her hand. "But I grew out of it by the time I was your age."
Brandy raised an eyebrow skeptically, knowing there were plenty of times when Chilli hadn't been perfectly well behaved.
"What about you Aunt Brandy? How did you start walking?" Bingo asked.
"Actually, I don't think I ever heard how you started walking." Chilli said, trying to remember if she'd ever been told.
"Well, I suppose it's only fair I share."
***1980***
"Mort, have you seen Brandy?"
"No love, I thought she was with you in the kitchen." Mort called back, not looking up from his paper.
"She was, but she got loose from the playpen again. Latch came undone."
"I'll have to fix that later." Mort remarked. He folded down his paper, revealing a little red heeler crawling across the carpet in the living room.
"She's out here." He called.
Mrs. Cattle appeared at the doorframe to the kitchen, watching Brandy crawl across the brown shag carpeting. "Oh, I think she wanted to see you!"
Mort smiled, "Come on love, come to daddy!" Mort encouraged.
Brandy accelerated, reaching the coffee table in the middle of the room. She paused and reached up to steady herself, wobbling slightly as she grabbed on. After a moment she was up. She hesitantly took a step forward, then another. She was tottering toward her father.
"Mort! She's walking!"
Mort beamed as Brandy reached his legs, hugging onto him. She babbled as she rubbed her snout into his fur. Mort happily picked her up and held her to his chest.
***MH***
"I wonder what Austin's first steps will be?" Bluey said, looking at the tot bouncing up and down in his mother's lap.
"I don't know, but whatever they are, I'm sure it'll be great." Brandy replied, looking down.
***MH***
The rest of the visit passed by quickly, with Chilli and Bandit taking the girls home and putting them to bed shortly thereafter. The couple were in their bedroom, Chilli looking at her phone as Bandit finished up brushing his teeth in the bathroom. He spat and wiped his face, then joined her a moment later.
"So, what do you think?" Chilli asked, hesitantly showing an image on her phone.
"I think he's beautiful." Bandit said, placing his hand on Chilli's. "But I'd love any of them the same."
"I know." She smiled. "He seems lovely. Did you see the video on their website?"
"I did. I think I've watched it a dozen times." Bandit smiled.
"Well, what do you think? They said we could visit tomorrow. Should we? Or should we wait?"
"Let's do it tomorrow." Bandit said. "We can drop the girls with Stripe and Trix, then head over."
"And if he's the one?" Chilli asked nervously.
"Then we'll introduce the girls and see how it goes." Bandit stated.
Chilli nervously tapped the sheets. "How are you the calm one all of a sudden?"
"With everything that happened with Austin, having another doesn't seem that bad."
She sighed. "I just hope it works."
"It will, and if not with him, then someone." Bandit kissed her forehead. "We'll figure this out."
She smiled. "Thanks."
***Author's Note***
Hello everyone! I hope you liked this chapter, we're heading a bit more into fluffy territory from here on. I thought it would be fun to look a bit at the parent's past and how they were growing up, seeing as we've only got glimpses here and there. We've only got a few more chapters in this story, but I intend on a sequel series as soon as it's done. For those who didn't pick up on it, Bandit and Chilli are going to start looking at being adoptive parents, and they're going to be visiting a foster home to see a little boy they might adopt in the next chapter (it will be a brief break from Brandy and Austin). Put in your guesses for what breed he'll be! Thanks again!