Story 4: Furental Control
11:00 am
It's yet another Monday morning down in Royal Woods, Michigan. Rita was in the living room, holding sweet little Lily Loud, snoozing comfortably in her arms, discussing about watching over the fifteen-month-old child as the parents made plans to go watch a romantic movie and then some lunch afterwards while the Loud kids were still in school for the day with an inexperienced, and somewhat lazy, female teenage babysitter they have just hired just for the day. They were a bit nervous since the last babysitter they hired had some bit of complications, but that didn't stop them from hiring another one. Charles the dog and Cliff the cat were sleeping together next to the stairs, overhearing their little conversation.
"Now, do you have any questions or concerns about our bouncing baby Lily?" She confidently asked, handing Lily into the babysitter's arms.
"Don't you worry about a thing ma'am. I got you covered. "
She winked to the woman with a smile, before Lily woke up in the sitter's arms, babbling and giggling about.
"She's a cute little kid you got there too!"
Lynn Sr. barged into the room, running to the teenage lady with a list of things to do, regarding about taking care of the baby in question.
"Honey, we gotta go! The movie's starting in less than a half hour from now!" He said, handing the slip of paper to the sitter.
"Wait what?! I thought it starts in about an hour!"
"Yeah, well for some reason they decided to push it forward approximately about a half hour so we need to go now if we want to catch the movie on time!"
"Dang movie theaters and their inconsistent time slots!"
Rita headed towards the front door, placing her hand on the knob as she proceeded to slightly twist it at a forty-five degree angle, opening the door in front of her before taking a step out on the porch.
"I'll be waiting in Vanzilla!" She said, before walking outside to the good old vehicle.
The father figure of the house, turned to the sitter, explaining what they have written on the paper as a heads up.
"This list should tell you everything you need to know and do about our little Lily. We'll see you at two if all goes well!"
He sprinted out the front door, shutting the door from behind before getting in Vanzilla, driving off into the distance as the sound of the engines omitting from the vehicle faded out.
It was almost quiet in the house now due to the baby's constant cooing, slightly disturbing the pets' slumber after her noises lasted for a brief period of time. After the babysitter felt like she was in the clear, she whipped out her cell phone and dialed up one of her best friends, instantly chatting away as soon as her call was being answered, before she plopped down on the surface of the couch behind her with little Lily in her soft hands.
The conversation the girl had was loud, lasting a couple of seconds, before it reached to the point where it got Charles and Cliff to awaken from their sleep, feeling a bit cranky and irritated about their sudden disturbance. They responded with soft growls before the two animals tried to fall back to sleep, trying to block out their conversation by covering their ears with their paws.
Ten Minutes Later
It unsurprisingly didn't work for them after it lasted a whole lot longer than they thought it'd be.
The pets were fed up with the sitter's speaking as they got up on their fours, walking towards and sitting right in front of the unsuspecting teenager with Lily sitting right next to her, smiling and cooing. Cliff stared at her, distracted by her appearance, thinking she's pretty cute. Charles barked at the two, grabbing Lily's attention immediately, admiring the canine's appearance.
"Doggy!" she said.
After another bark, it grabbed the sitter's attention for a brief moment. She jumped a bit, before responding to Lily.
"Yes Lily, that is a dog!" She said with a half-hearted reaction before talking on her phone again.
"Nah, it was just their dumb dog. I'm babysitting for someone. "
Charles softly growled to the sitter, before calming down due to Cliff setting his paw on the dog's head, softly stroking his fur, growing more sympathetic overtime. Lily called out to the cat, trying to grab his attention.
"Kitty!" She giggled as Cliff meowed back to her in a positive tone. The sitter noticed Cliff, sitting down in front of her, placing his paws on her legs as he meowed once more.
"Yes Lily, that's a cat!" She calmly said, before setting the baby off to the side of the couch.
"I'll be back in a minute! Don't you stop being adorbs!"
She started to get her rump off of the couch, standing up as she headed to the dining room and into the kitchen, leaving the list of objectives behind on the surface of one of the couch cushions as the dog and the cat sat and watched. The bouncing baby girl rolled around on the blue, soft and comfortable couch surfaces for a brief period of time before she reached the edge of the couch, in danger of falling off.
Charles yelped out a word or two as he sprung into action as Cliff's eyes widened as he watched the dog jump in to saving the baby from hitting the floor. She fell off the couch, and Charles walked under the descending baby, breaking her little disproportionate fall, catching her as she landed on his furry back.
The two pets sighed together in relief, before Charles struggles to carry the baby waving his arms high in the air on his back.
"Well, that was close." Cliff uttered.
"Yeah, clearly. " Charles responded.
"How could she just leave the kid unattended like that?"
"Yeah! Like what's her problem?"
"Giddy up!" Lily giggled, kicking her feet in the air.
Charles was slightly mad at the teenager behind her back for that little mistake. Cliff on the other paw, had a heel realization about their current situation they're dealing with right at the very minute. He gasped.
"Wait a sec, we're talkin' in front of the kid! Don't you think the girl and the kid here are gonna understand what we're sayin'?"
"Don'tcha worry 'bout that. We can understand what they're sayin' but they can't understand what we're sayin'."
Cliff hesitated to think about it for a beat.
"Oh... really?"
Charles responded with a simple and noticeable nod before he looked around the interior of the living room, eventually noticing the unattended slip of paper, still laying on top of the couch.
"Hey cat, snatch that slip of paper up there."
Cliff walked over to the couch, picking up the paper from the couch, observing the writing on it as he showed it to the struggling dog, getting his head bopped by a happy Lily.
"It's a to-do list that they gave to the girl. Pretty simple instructions they got on there too. "
"What does it say on there?"
"Feed the baby at least once or twice, change her diaper if necessary, keep her clean at all times, and especially out of harm's way. They'll be back three hours from now also. If ya ask me, that last one's pretty much done. "
"Oh, that shouldn't be so hard." Charles reacted, as Lily dismounted off of the white dog, waddling around the room in front of the two pets.
"I bet we could make better babysitters than that irresponsible teen. "
"Wait, what? We're just animals, playin' our role as pets though!"
"Yeah, but it's also our job to protect this family at all costs. And we're part of this family!"
"Are you sure we can do this?" Cliff worried, as Lily's diaper started to omit a foul smell heading towards the two unsuspecting animals.
"Well cat, If we managed to pull off an amazin' rescue of that pup that we got locked up inside that animal prison, I'm pretty sure that watchin' over this kid'll be a breeze through a fresh meadow!"
"I ain't gonna argue with that unrealistic logic there. Life in this house's a big mystery after all. I mean, I can stand on my two back legs, tall 'n proud. "
Cliff turned to the audience for some advice, bluntly saying these specific words as he stood up on his back legs, front paws on his hips.
"You out there readin' this oughta calm down sometime and remember that this is just a cartoon show. No need ta get so worked up over somethin' like this!"
The cat got back down on all fours, plopping his rump on the carpet floor as he looked over to Charles.
"Felt pretty good finally gettin' that outta my system. "
"Alright cat, take a deep breath..."
As the cat and dog closed their eyes, inhaling the air to de-stress themselves, the overwhelming stench of Lily's diaper crossed paths with Cliff's big black nose, causing the disgusted feline to open their eyes wide, drooping his feline ears as he started wafting the stench away from him.
"Oh, gross! Dog, did ya just..."
"What?" Charles questioned before the same stench entered the canine's nostrils, causing him to react and do the exact same thing the feline did, looking directly at the baby's backside.
"Hoo boy. Smells like the kid needs a change."
"Well go ahead and change her!"
Charles immediately jumped, looking at Cliff as he nominated the dog to do the dirty job.
...Wha- me? Scuse you?"
"Hey, somebody's gotta do it! I mean, you're the dog! You can literally tolerate thousands of smells out there in the world, includin' baby stink!"
"That's preposterous! Just cause I happen to be a dog myself doesn't mean you should be stereotypical about it, sayin' that all dogs worldwide love the smell of stink. "
The two animals were still inhaling the stench of Lily's smelly diaper, wafting the air to clear it once more before Charles walked over to the baby, slightly lifting her up from the floor as he stood on his hind two legs. "Hurry dog, just change the kid's diaper already!"
"The stuff's upstairs in her room though if I'm gonna change her!"
"Then let's go, before it gets worse!"
Another Ten Minutes Later
Upstairs in the hallway, Cliff was waiting on the outside of the door of Lily's room, while Charles was struggling on the other side of the door, taking his sweet time trying as hard as he can to attempt to change Lily's diaper without any kind of complications whatsoever.
"How ya doin' in there, dog?" Cliff asked in concern. "S'all goin' great, cat!" Charles nervously responded.
"I think I got it!"
Cliff gets his hopes up.
"Really?" He said as the situation met its conclusion, the door opened up with Lily walking out into the hallway completely in the nude. Her face covered in spots of baby powder now, still omitting a foul smell from filling up her diaper before Charles popped his head out the door, sighing as he failed to get the job done himself.
"...I don't got it." The dog admitted.
"Clearly. She still stinks too!"
Charles hesitated, scratching his head as he was thinking up of an alternate plan to clean little Lily up and completely draw out her stink before he hatched up the idea.
"Well cat, looks like we gotta try plan B." He suggested.
"Grab a bar of soap, rag and a bucket and meet me outside while I go after the kid!"
The dog ran out of the room, chasing the baby as he held a clean diaper in his mouth before Cliff made a break into the bathroom to obtain the cleaning supplies.
In the kitchen, the sitter was still on her phone, chatting along with her bestie on the other line as she was looking for a baby bottle for Lily to drink from. She rifled through the pantry, eventually finding one way in the back, grabbing hold of the object as she untwisted the top with the side of her thumb, filling the cup with formula before heading back into the vacant living room, where Lily was nowhere to be found in the interior as she jumped, dropping the bottle as it hit the carpet floor below.
"Girl, I'ma have to call you back." she reacted with tranquil fear as she ended her call.
"Great goodness, what have I done?!"
Her fear of something going wrong was clear as her voice started to crack, building up her anxiety before she attempted to find her, calling out to the baby as she searched all over the house, starting with the room that she's currently inside at the very moment.
"Lily... where are you?! Ohhh, I'm gonna get in so much trouble..."
She stood still for a second as she caught a whiff of something in the air.
"Why does it smell in here all of a sudden?"
Outside next to the doghouse, Charles hooked up a garden house with a naked Lily sitting next to the intelligent animal by his side, still giggling with joy as it rocked back and forth before Cliff joined him outside with the supplies he was commanded to obtain to do the job, setting them down in front of the two.
"Okay dog, here's the stuff."
"Great work, cat. " Charles said, placing the hose inside the bucket along with a bar of soap before turning on the hose as it blasted inside the container, filling up the big bucket up with clear water.
"So, might I ask exactly why we're givin' the kid a bath out in the warm outdoors?"
"Doggy doggy!" Lily uttered, patting the white canine on the back.
"Two answers to that: Beats makin' a noticeable mess inside the house, and that I needed some fresh air after attemptin' to change her. I also took the time to crack open a window to let some of the stink out. "
Cliff hesitated for a small amount of seconds, before making another suggestion.
"Well, can't we just lick her clean, like how a mother cat does with their kin?"
"Um... cat, listen to yerself for a little bit and you'll soon realize why we're not gonna be doin' that suggestion. "
Cliff thought about the words he just uttered to himself, soon came a realization that there's a little flaw in the plan.
"Oh..." The cat uttered in disgust.
The bucket was filled to the rim with suds now, water leaking out from top of the container. The two pets were ready to freshen up and obliterate Lily's stench, but not before Charles went back to turn off the hose.
"Ready, cat?" He said to Cliff.
"Toss the rag. " The cat responded as the dog grabbed the rag from the green grass, tossing it over to the cat.
He dipped the rag into the bucket of suds before pulling it back out, applying a soft force on top of the young naked infant, lathering her head in suds as they started spreading to her back. As it lasted for about half of a minute, Lily squinted her eyes, as she not only was trying to make her no suds get into her eyes, but also rather confused as to what the animals were doing to her, unknowing that they were just trying to take care of her hygiene.
"Poo poo?" She uttered.
Charles started sniffing her all around, finding out if she still smelled musky to the two pets. Turns out, the soap did draw some of the stink out of the baby.
"It's workin' cat! Keep at it while I start the hose up again!"
As the cat still lathered the naked infant, he started thinking about the teenage babysitter, who's still inside the house.
"I wonder what that lady's doin' in there..."
"Forget her. "
"Kitty?" Lily uttered in confusion.
Back inside the house, the teenage babysitter grew more afraid as she walked around in circles, thinking about what type of horrible things that might've happened to baby Lily.
"Oh, where could she be? I've looked all around the first story of this house and no luck! No possible way she could be outside, not a single door was open!"
She prepared herself to check upstairs, spewing out some motivational choice words to get her in gear.
"Alright, If she's not down here, she might be upstairs. Don't you worry, Lily! I'll find you... eventually. I hope... "
She ascended up the stairs, walking through the hallway as she prepared to enter the room at the end of the hallway, starting with Lincoln's claustrophobic room.
Back outside, Cliff was still lathering the baby with a satisfied smile as his reaction, now covered in soapy suds from top to bottom all around.
"Alright, guess I'm done bathin' the kid." He said, confident with the result of his deed. Charles brought the hose to the two, preparing to spray the suds off of her body.
"Great work, cat. Now time for the rinse cycle!" He said.
The dog closed his eyes as he turned on the hose, water blasting out with an intermediate pressure which endured for a couple of seconds before shutting the hose off, reducing he pressure to just a few drops per second as the happy canine opened up his eyes.
"All clean!" He said before realizing that he missed little Lily completely, instead accidentally showering the now wet and unamused Cliff. Lily was laughing again now, clapping her hands as the soaked cat himself stared blankly into his eyes, before he bluntly gestured his paw towards the giggling infant.
"Oopsie! Sorry 'bout that!" The dog blushed with a sheepish smile, barely showing his teeth.
He started the hose back up again, the pressure soft enough to just wash the suds off the front. Cliff grabbed Lily by the side, flipping her so the water can her the remaining spots of suds from her backside. After a few seconds passed, Charles shut the water off.
The dog walked over to the soaked baby, sniffing her all around once again as she had absolutely no idea what the animals were doing before he gave his stamp of approval.
"Aha! She doesn't stink anymore!" He said, inhaling the stench of the aromatic soap they used on the child.
"Ahh, smells like her ol' self again."
"Yeah, that's nice. Next I suppose you'd wanna put that nose of yours on her-"
"But, we don't have much time, cat. Help me get this diaper on the kid."
Cliff lifted Lily up in the air, holding her stationary as Charles slipped her little feet in the holes of the diaper, pulling them up to her waist as he made sure they wouldn't fall off of her before he set her back down on the grass.
"What have we accomplished so far? You got the list on youse, cat?"
"Yeah. " The cat responded, whipping out the list along with a writing utensil, crossing out the items that they have completed together as he read them aloud. Lily made an attempt to waddle away from the two pets to the back side of the house, but Charles was quick on her tail to thwart her unpredictable plans, biting down on the tip of the puffy diaper to prevent her from getting away from the animals.
"So far, we've changed a dirty diaper and kept her clean, along with keeping her outta harm's way. All that's left now is ta just feed her. "
"That's... g-great, cat!" Charles responded, still holding the tip of Lily's diaper as it would soon start to slightly sag, exposing a good portion of her smooth baby butt an inch or two away from the dog, widening his eyes as he thought it'd be just enough to make him let go of her diaper, giving little Lily a chance to escape their grasp as it started to slightly tear. Cliff noticed Charles' awkward situation as he wondered what to do from this point onward to rectify the problem.
"Cat! Help!"
Cliff walked over to a giggling Lily, laying down in front of her before Charles put his face on her clean backside, pushing her up on top of the cat, before he got up on all of his fours, giving sweet little Lily another pet ride.
"Kitty, up!" Lily giggled.
They headed to the back together, ascending up the porch steps and having Charles himself enter through the doggy door to open the door for Cliff and Lily to enter, closing the door from behind the two.
Yet Another Ten Minutes Later
Back inside, the anxious teenager had checked through all the rooms in the upstairs hallway, getting so close to breaking down crying trying her absolute hardest to try to find the baby in the house.
" Why is this happening to me?! I've searched every inch and corner of the second story, and no baby!'
She felt like she wanted to cry from this very moment, but she had to be strong and fight the tears, as she wanted to be filled with determination to prove that she can handle her job as being a babysitter.
"No Miles, you need to be strong!" she mumbled under her voice, as she proceeded to descend down the stairs into the living room, before attempting the give the first floor another shot to see if luck would be on her side this time.
"There's only an hour left, I can't throw this all away now... I'll try the kitchen again I guess."
As she entered the interior of the kitchen, luck was finally on her side again as she found baby Lily riding on top of Cliff, drinking from her sippy cup with Charles sitting next to the duo.
"Oh m'gosh! There you are!"
She took in a deep breath, exhaling in great relief as she walked over to the animals, grabbing little Lily off of the cat.
"I was so worried about you Lily! You shouldn't run off like that, you could get hurt!" she said, before Lily belched loudly.
"Now, let me see if those rambunctious animals caused you any harm..."
Charles growled to the teenager again in protest, with Cliff just sitting there watching this little situation go down.
"Quit your growling at me, okay?" She uttered, taking a step back from the mad dog.
"Just stay right where you are, and leave us be!"
The teenager walked out of the kitchen, making her way into the living room as she sat down on the surface of the couch again, setting little Lily on the carpet floor in front of her, now feeling a little sad as she was about to shed a tear or two as she wanted to continue playing with the two animals, despite not knowing what they were doing with her, she had fun.
"No no no, please don't cry! You'll be okay."
Salt water tears started streaming down the baby's face as she threw her head down, sniffling for a while as a little bit of remorse and sympathy started to overcome the babysitter, trying to do anything she can the cheer little Lily up and stop those waterworks of hers. The pets crept over to the edge of the dining room that leads to the living room, overhearing the situation with the two girls as Cliff whipped out the list from earlier today, crossing out the only thing left to do off of the list.
"What does she think she's doin' now?" Charles quietly muttered to Cliff in anger as he's trying not to draw any attention to them before bringing his head back behind the dining room wall.
"We gotta think of somethin' ta get that cryin' kid back, away from that lady!"
The babysitter hatched up a little story about her experiences about animals to tell Lily in hopes to get her to stop the crying.
"How about I tell you a little story?" The babysitter suggested, causing Lily to pause her crying session for a brief moment.
"...Poo poo?" Lily uttered, sniffling as she fighting her tears.
"Yeah." She answered with a smile.
The two pets peeked into the living room, observing the sitter telling a little story to Lily.
"Nothin' bad I suppose..." Cliff mumbled to Charles.
"Ya also need ta shower as well. "
"Would ya quit sniffin' me back there?"
"Sorry, force of habit. "
The babysitter heard some noises as she looked around trying to find where they were coming from, but not before the Cliff got stealthy and hid back behind the dining room hall.
The sounds had stopped, and the sitter resumed her bond with Lily, preparing the story for her to listen to.
"Did you know back when I was just a kid, I was very afraid of dogs? I had a bit of a rough experience with them, no pun intended. It's just that one time, I tried to play with one of the dogs at my neighbors house that he swore was real friendly, and not very aggressive towards anybody. "
"...Doggy?" Lily uttered to the sitter.
"Yep. It was all going just fine... until out of nowhere, he sank his sharp teeth right in my arm. Caught me by surprise, because I did not see that coming at all. I had to go down to the hospital to get my bleeding arm checked out, and it left me with a visible scar that I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. Because of that horrifying incident alone, my parents had us relocate to another town, in an duplex apartment where they don't allow any and all common house pets for the safety of my behalf. Every time I look at my arm, the memory still haunts me like the living nightmare it is now. Not only that, between you and me, I secretly didn't want this babysitting job as I was sentenced to community service by my father over something I didn't agree with. All I really wanted was to just go out into the city and have some fun, hang with my gals at the mall and participate in all the sales they got going on and stuff..."
Charles started feeling sad and remorseful for growling at her twice today, throwing his canine head down in shame as he just now learned her little backstory.
"Oh no..."
"Dog. Did ya hear that?" Cliff asked.
"Yeah, I sure did." Charles answered.
"Now I know why she's been tryin' ta avoid us the past couple of times... what are we gonna do? I feel so bad for her now. "
Cliff literally put on his thinking cap for a minute before he unequipped the cap, hatching an idea!
"Okay! Here's what we're gonna do." He said, before grabbing onto Charles' head, whispering in his ear for a brief moment.
Yet Another... Okay, this gag is getting boring now.
Back in the living room, The sitter just finished her little backstory to tell to a happy, babbling Lily Loud, clapping her hands as she rocked back and forth.
"...Well, that's the story about my experience I guess." The sitter chuckled.
"I'm very sorry that I left you alone on the couch. It was a rookie mistake, and I promise that I will not let it happen again. Can you please forgive me, Lily?"
Lily stared blankly at the sitter before she responded neutrally with little hesitation.
"Poo poo."
A few seconds of laughter later, her cell phone picked up a notification. She whipped out her device to check her notification. It was a text message from an unknown number.
She was confused as to who was the sender of the text, but curious to try and figure it out, she started to read the text aloud to herself, becoming more and more fixated as she looked at her phone.
Heyyou!
We're really sorry to hear aboutyour arm back when you werejust a child. But, you must remember that you shouldntjudge all dogs because of what one dog has done to you. Dogs have been a human's best friend for a very long time and they always will be forever. Not all dogs are the same you Imow, all they really want is some love and affection from anyone willing to offer it to them. But, we will letyou know that this dog here likes you very much and wants to play with you, and he makes a promise to never attackyou or anybody else out there in the world. We hope you can understand!
XOXON
After finishing off the last bit of the text message, she looked up from her phone to find good ol' Charles, sitting obediently in front of the teenager, wagging his tail as he smiled at her before sticking out his tongue, happily panting. She was really confused now, still trying to connect the pieces together on what exactly was going on.
He slowly walked toward her, putting his head under the palm of her dangling unoccupied hand as he moved it around, presumably wanting her to pet him. She responded with gentle strokes to the dog's head with a small smile, as he stopped moving around to enjoy the comfortable and soothing feeling to his furry canine head.
"You're... a good dog..." She nervously uttered, worried that she might experience the same horrid pain again ages ago.
Charles tried a little something to sooth her assumed fear of dogs. He tried telling her that he loves her, but she didn't get what the dog said at first.
"Oh, you're trying to tell me something?" she said.
Charles walked over in front of the girl, sitting down on his rump on the carpet before speaking once more.
"Arf-ruff-roo!" Charles said, loud and clear. The sitter managed to understand this time.
"You... love me?" She said to Charles, before he nodded his head in response.
"Aww, that's so sweet. And I thought you didn't like me at first. "
She smiled and chuckled to herself.
Cliff walked over and rubbed against her legs, purring as it shared its energy with her, but not before she got up to tickle little Lily sitting next to the happy canine as she giggled and laughed.
~End~