Bot Story:
    Book 1 – Nancy and the Ferrets

Chapter 7

Nancy stood with Weasy, watching the others dance. "That poor Marley, those fairies got him good. I don't think he saw that coming."

"No," Weasy said. "That was a little over the line. I don't think he really deserved that. It didn't really do much good anyway. We all have our bath rituals, except for Marley. I like a nice fur shampoo, but Sparkle and Millie also use conditioner, but a good shampoo is a must."

Nancy looked toward the table. "Now where are they going?"

Weasy tuned to look, "They seem to be headed to The Center." She watched as Scotty and Milliscent walked out of camp. "I see Lumina riding on Scotty's shoulder, but I don't see Nimbus. I wonder where she went."

"Who?" asked Nancy.

"Lumina and Nimbus, those are the faeries' names."

"Ah," Nancy walked toward the picnic table. "They seem to be done here. We should pick this up." She started stacking plates.

"Your hands are bigger than mine hon, why don't you carry the mugs and I'll get the plates." She looked in the pot and salad bowl. "Cleaned up everything but a few slices of bread."

Nancy was pouring leftover ale on the ground and managed to gather up five empty mugs in her right hand and three more in her left. Weasy had set the three remaining plates in the bottom of the stockpot and placed the salad bowl on top of the plates. She left the remaining bread in the middle of the table.

Weasy picked up the stockpot and headed toward the ferrets' front door, Nancy following. At the door Weasy had to set down the pot to open the door and once the two ladies where through she shut it from the inside. They carried the things back to the kitchen.

"Just set the mugs on the counter next to the sink." Weasy did the same with her load of dishes. She stood back, surveying the pile of dirty dishes. "I just love a good party. Lots of friends." She smiled.

Weasy continued, "Grab some more clean mugs hon, from that cupboard," she pointed. Then she picked up a dishrag and rinsed it out in water from the tap. "We usually start getting an influx of visitors about this time. They will have missed dinner, but not the party."

Nancy took down clean mugs from the cupboard. Arranging them on the table in two semicircles with their handles in the center, so she could pick them up easily.

"Ready?" Weasy asked.

"Yep," said Nancy. She picked up five clean mugs in each hand.

The two ladies walked back out to the picnic table. Nancy sat the clean mugs down in the bottom of the ale cart while Weasy wiped the tablecloth clean. Then Weasy sat down on the picnic table's bench facing the other ferrets, her back to the table. Nancy came over and sat next to her.

Nancy turned and picked up a slice of buttered bread, then turned back to face the party, taking a bite of the crust. "Well this has been a very good day."

Weasy smiled. "I'm really glad you could make it, your recipe was a big hit, and you made quite an impression on Marley too." She paused, "even my Mike likes you."

"I don't get out much," said Nancy. "In reality I'm disabled, so this is a real treat for me."

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that."

"Old age I guess," said Nancy. "A lifetime of not taking proper care of myself. The back is the first to go." She turned and studied Weasy's face; the gray hair along her muzzle gave away her age. "I guess neither one of us are 'spring chickens' any more."

"Chickens? You are silly, I'm a ferret."

Nancy laughed. "No, no, 'spring chicken' is an expression. It means you are not young. No longer a yearling."

"Ah, I get it," said Weasy. "Nope, well past the yearling stage. Some days I miss the wild energy that the younger ones seem to possess. I suppose I was that way myself at one time, but then it is nice to slow down too. Cuddle with my Mike instead of all the biting we used to do." She smiled, remembering how things used to be.

"I think that is what grandchildren are for. They bring energy back into our lives." Nancy smiled. "Plus they are so much fun to spoil, get back at our own children for all the trouble they caused us growing up."

Weasy shook her head; "We never had any children, so I suppose that would mean that grandchildren are out of the question."

"Really? No children, no babies?"

"Not a one," answered Weasy. "No kits. I don't know why. Mike and I just never really thought about it I guess."

"Well you don't always have to think about it you know. Sometimes babies, kits did you say? Sometimes kits just happen."

"Well, they didn't seem to happen for us. Maybe we didn't do something right." Weasy paused for a bit, "I never was real clear on what we were supposed to do." She looked down at the ground in front of her feet.

Nancy watched Weasy out of the corner of her eye and noticed that she was rather flat-chested. Then she remembered that Sparkle was too. Both female ferrets had the build of young girls, but were obviously not children. She got an idea.

"Weasy, what did Scotty mean earlier when he said something about Marley having hormone problems?"

Weasy shrugged, "No idea, he has never explained that part to us. I've wondered though. Millie seems to know too, but that could just be an act. She calls herself 'first bot' and seems to know everything." Weasy stated that last bit of information as if it were fact; there was no hint of jealously in her voice.

"Ah," was all Nancy said. She thought about Millie; she had no idea how old the skunk was, she had no frame of reference to judge a skunk's age, let alone a skunk that seemed to have so many human traits. She guessed maybe she was in her late teens. She was also developing quite nicely; Joe had noticed that part. "She's quite a flirt too," thought Nancy. She suddenly thought of something.

"Weasy," Nancy said, "Would you like to see some pictures of my children and grandchildren?"

"Sure!" Weasy slid closer as Nancy removed her tablet computer from her belt.

Nancy studied the face of the tablet for a few moments then started tapping on it with the stylus. "We have a family web site," she said. "We keep pictures on it."

"Fun."

"Here, this is my oldest son and his wife with their little girl Ella." Nancy held the tablet so Weasy could see.

"Nice," Weasy smiled. "The little girl is really cute. So that is what a human kit looks like?"

Nancy laughed. "She just turned six, I guess you could say she is a 'yearling'. My other son has a new wife and a new baby." Nancy set back to tapping on the tablet's screen. "This is them," she turned the tablet toward Weasy.

"Oh, look at that!" Weasy got this big goofy grin on her face. "So that is a human kit, it's so cute!"

"He, I got a grandson that time," Nancy beamed. "They named him Christopher James."

Weasy sighed.

"My daughter is twenty, she's not married yet." Nancy had been tapping on the tablet. "Want to see?" She turned the tablet toward Weasy.

"Oh, she's quite pretty." Weasy studied the photo. "If she were a ferret she would be pretty like Sparkle."

"Ah, but she doesn't bite like Sparkle. The boys I mean."

"How do you know, I don't think she would bring them home to bite them in front of her mom."

"That is probably more information than I wanted to know," said Nancy.

"Oh yes, sorry..."

"It's okay," said Nancy. "She's twenty now. Humans don't bite each other, we have other courting rituals." She remembered what Scotty said about ferrets biting the ones they loved. "She's away at college, living in the dorms."

"Oh, it must be hard when your children grow up and leave home."

"Yea, it can get lonely," Nancy sighed. "My husband is always busy. He kind of ignores me. He watches too much TV, he's probably watching TV right now."

"Does that mean..." Weasy stared then changed her mind. "So who is Joe then?" She asked casually.

"Ah..." Nancy felt her face grow hot.

"Sorry, I should not have asked that question," said Weasy.

Nancy stared down at her feet. "I think you could say that Joe is a foolish diversion," she said slowly. "I've not known him for long." She placed her hands on the front of her thighs and felt the boxes of raisins in her pocket. "Care for a raisin?" changing the subject.

"Sure, okay."

Nancy fished around in her pocket and counted three boxes of raisins. "Hey, three boxes... How?"

"Oh yea, that. That's why you never get rid of the last box," Weasy looked at Nancy. "They regenerate or something. A magic pocket I think."

Nancy pulled out one of the boxes and looked at the front of it. It was red and there was a picture of a lady ferret with a graying muzzle holding a wicker tray of green grapes. Above her head it said, 'Raisins'. Nancy's mouth fell open.

"Do you like it?" Weasy asked. "I posed for that screen shot last year."

Nancy grinned, "Very nice." She opened the box and took out a few raisins, popped them in her mouth, and passed the box to Weasy. Then she picked up her tablet computer from the bench. Nancy was staring at her tablet's screen; she tapped idly on it a few times.

"Oh my gosh, look at the time. It's really late." Then she turned to Weasy, "I really enjoyed my visit today, Millie called you a 'gentlewoman', she was right."

Weasy smiled at her, "Come back any time hon, you'll always be welcome here."

"I sure will. I've only been in V.R. a few weeks now, and there have been some good worlds and some bad worlds, but it's always been interesting. I'm thinking I should buy a citizenship, but money is tight."

"Citizenship or not, come back again, okay?"

"I will. Bye, bye, and say goodbye to the others for me." Then Nancy tapped at her screen a few times and faded from view.

Weasy sat watching the younger ferrets dancing. "Kits," she thought to herself, "we never had any kits." She sighed. She heard a group of people coming up the path from the east, she closed her eyes, wondering, and a list of citizen IDs appeared in her mind. She knew them from previous visits; they were decent folk.

She sat unmoving till they were almost at the picnic table. "Greetings," she said pleasantly. "Would you care for some ale? We have plenty. Clean mugs are in the bottom of the cart."

"Oh hi Weasy. Thanks." The visitors gathered around the cart helping themselves.

Mike came over, said "hi" to the new arrivals then joined his mate at the picnic table. "Scotty just 'grammed me. Nimbus got sick and went A.F.K. so they moved her to The Center to be safe. Also, Scotty and Millie are going to Amon-Ra to look at some things Lumina and Nimbus have made. He left us in charge."

Weasy nodded, her eyes were closed.

"You know what that means," Mike asked his mate. "That means we delegate and go to bed early. I'm tired and we have morning shift together."

Eyes still closed, Weasy smiled.

"I'll be right back." Mike got up and walked toward the revelers. The new visitors had joined the three younger ferrets, some were dancing already and two where at the Cyber Juke picking out tunes. Mike thought Sparkle would be the best one to talk to so he caught her attention and pulled her aside.

They spoke in low tones, Sparkle nodding now and then. Satisfied Mike returned to the picnic table and Weasy. "Arise my love." He bent down and offered his paw.

Weasy opened her eyes, took his paw and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. She briefly wrapped her arms around him and gave him a squeeze. Then she turned so she was at his side. Arms around each other and leaning against each other they walked slowly back to the front door of their underground home.

They entered the front door and carefully closed it behind them, walked down the hall and turned right, then right again. Mike removed his hat and placed it on a peg near the fireplace, he carefully unbuckled his sword belt and hung that on another peg. Weasy pulled off her dress and hung that up, then removed the twin flintlock pistols she had hidden on her person. She carefully inspected them before placing them in an open box on a shelf; she removed the harness with the gun holsters and hung that up on a peg next to Mike's swords.

Mike came back from the bathroom, his face was damp and he was ruffling his fur with his paws. "All yours my love," he said to her.

Weasy padded down the hall to the bathroom and finished preparing for bed, washing her face last. She returned to their bedroom and saw Mike staring out the front window toward the party outside. She closed and latched the bedroom door.

Mike closed the curtains to block out some of the light, and then turned to his mate.

"Mike, pick me up."

"What?" he asked.

"Pick me up. Like you used to when we were younger." She had walked over to his side near the hammock. She started running her paws through the fur on his chest. Then she turned so her back was to him, pressing against him. She reached up and placed her paws on either side of his neck.

Mike bent his head down and nuzzled the back of her neck, where her musk-oil glands were the most concentrated. He drank in her scent; it made him slightly intoxicated. His arms were wrapped around her chest in a light embrace. He opened his mouth, took in a large fold of skin and clamped down.

"Oh," she sighed and closed her eyes. She felt her knees go weak then let them go limp.

Mike easily picked her up off the floor; he grasped the sides of the hammock with his paws and heaved her up into it. Then keeping a firm grip on her with his mouth, he flopped into the hammock on top of her.

She sighed with pleasure feeling his weight on her back; he was so warm. She wiggled under him to get comfortable.

Mike released his grip, rolled off of her and onto his back. Weasy lifted the upper part of her body then flopped face down across his chest. He loosely wrapped his arms around her.

"This is perfect," he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

"Mike," she said softly. "Have you ever thought about having children? You know, kits?"

"I don't know, I never really thought about it."

"Well, we never had any kits. I might like some, but I suppose at our age that would be out of the question." Weasy closed her eyes and ran her paw through his fur.

"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe. Where do kits come from? Wait, I mean I know that part, but how do they get inside? Start growing?"

"I'm not sure..." Weasy was silent for several minutes, thinking.

"Mike? Mike are you asleep?"

There was no answer save for his steady breathing.

She pressed her ear against his chest and listened to his heart beating, and then she lifted her head a little and pressed her nose against his shoulder. She drank in his scent, he smelled yummy; there was no other word for it. His scent made her a little dizzy. She laid her head back down on his chest and closed her eyes. With the dizzy feeling and the sleepiness she felt like she was floating. She let the feeling carry her away.

<end of chapter 7>

<end of book 1>