Villa of Chinchilla

Villa of Chinchilla

By Will Schulte

Published by Will Schulte at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Will Schulte

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - Nativity Scene

Chapter 2 – The Woman

Chapter 3 – The Helpers

Chapter 4 – The Man

Chapter 5 – The Visitors

Chapter 6 – Weaner Barn

Chapter 7 – Day of Decision

Chapter 8 – My Five Wives

Chapter 9 – First Family

Chapter 10 – Papa’s Pride

Chapter 11 – Ranch Advisor

Chapter 12 – The Ranch Meeting

Chapter 13 – Tree of Life

Chapter 14 – Garage Activity

Chapter 15 – Property Hunting

Chapter 16 – The Partners

Chapter 17 – Additions and Subtractions

Chapter 18 – To Our Ranch

Chapter 19 – Building the Barn

Chapter 20 – Dreams Come True

Chapter 21 – The Great Flood

Chapter 22 – Showtime

Chapter 23 – In Sickness and in Health

Chapter 24 – For Better or for Worse

Chapter 25 – Resolve or Dissolve

Chapter 26 – Independence and Honors

Acknowledgements

CHAPTER 1 - NATIVITY SCENE

My birth is still vivid to me. Darkness filled my life from my earliest remembrance. It was warm at a constant hundred degrees. I floated in a watery substance. Once in a while my floating would carry me against smooth well-toned muscles. At first I would rarely feel the muscles, but as time went on I could feel them anytime I stretched my legs. With time the muscles grew closer and tighter against my body. The tighter they pushed against me, the more I desired to push back in revolt against them. They always won though. Effortlessly, they would push back against any and all my movements until I surrendered exhausted. After some one hundred eleven days, the muscles became tighter than ever before. The water in which I had been floating drained away. Only the tight muscles against my tiny body, weighing only an ounce, were left shoving against me. Those muscles pushed me into a narrow channel. I was being squeezed through a passage that felt too small for my body. Finally, the channel end abruptly. It was then the pushing of the muscles was helped along by a gentle but firm pulling. My head and neck were being towed out by a well placed mouth.

Darkness was broken as I viewed my first dawn. Shades of orange and red glowed through the tiny rectangular windows illuminating my home. This light allowed me to view a fluffy form of white and gray standing over me as she caressed my body. She was a blocky nine inch animal with a triangular head, wide on top and thinning to a point at her nose. Long, cat-like whiskers protruded out from the pointed nose. Punctuating the face were two black penetrating eyes. A wide silver collar could barely be distinguished sticking up through the deep fluffy fur around her neck. The ears were oval. White hairs extended out from the opening of the ears. The thick lush fur seemed to become denser as it grew from the neck to the torso. The fur was dark gray down the middle of the back and slowly became silver-gray as it grew down the sides of the back towards the belly. Mom shifted her weight so she sat on her muscular haunches resting on snow-shoe shaped rear feet. Her tiny front paws were delicately tucked up against her chest. Her underside was white complementing the darker back. The black and gray tail arched up and was full like the tail of a squirrel.

I have a son! she exclaimed. I hope I was not too rough on you. You’re my first.

No, no! I’m all right, I reassured her. You were quite gentle, Mom.

I experienced chill for the first time. The wire floor was cold against my still damp body. Frosty air was oozing through the windows left slightly ajar giving us fresh air.

You look cold! Mom cried in a shrill voice. Snuggle close to me and drink some of my warm milk.

The chill was soon dispelled as I nuzzled closer to one of my mother’s long narrow nipples hidden amidst her abundant white belly fur. Warm milk slithered down my throat and into my stomach warming me instantly.

As I looked around my cage after my first earthly meal, I saw wire covering the bottom, back, and front of the cage. The sides were made of pine. On the left wall hung a pan with a lid that could be opened or closed from outside the cage by means of a wire attached to it.

What’s that? I asked.

That’s a dust pan. We take dust baths in it when the Helpers open them for us. They won’t be opening ours for two weeks because the dust would hurt your eyes. You have to learn to shut them while bathing first.

The front door included a feed tray which supplied us with pellets. These pellets were tiny cylinders of various grains. Underneath the cage was plastic. Our droppings fell onto this. A two inch cube was sitting on the floor of the cage.

And what’s that, Mom?

That’s an alfalfa cube. You’re too little for that, but not for long. In a few weeks you’ll be ready to eat that.

At the back of the cage was a circular opening. On the right side of the cage sat a soda can opened on one side. It was then I became aware of the many sweet smells. Mother saw me sniffing the air and said, "That is alfalfa, oats, wheat, and barley you smell from the feed tray.

These aromas were pleasing to my tiny nostrils.

Along with the scents of the home, I became aware of the sounds. There was the lively chattering of the others welcoming another day to the ranch. Soft music sang from speakers placed around the barn.

Does that play all the time? I asked.

Yes, all the time, Mom replied.

Looking outside our cage, I saw long rows of cages standing as if they were in military formation. They were stacked six high. The walls of the structure were white concrete blocks. On the sheet rock ceiling was a system of pipes which led to each row of cages. Feeding from these pipes was a maze of plastic tubes leading to the individual cages. The water system was completed by aluminum tips connected to the plastic tubes. Water flowed to the ends of the tips providing us with water anytime we wanted it. Florescent lights hung down from the ceiling over the aisles between the cages.

At this time a vivacious male entered our cage through the circular hole in the back of our cage. He was even more gorgeous than my mother. He was larger and his fur was denser than Mom’s. Pop was so excited he ran swiftly around the cage. I escaped his scurrying by instinctively dashing into the soda can for refuge. He greeted us enthusiastically.

Hi, Beautiful! How’s our son? he questioned proudly.

He’s as beautiful as his father, mother responded. Come out here, son, and let your father take a good look at you.

Slowly I hopped from the can and looked at my parents. I wasn’t so handsome, only a small bundle of fuzz.

Well, if he isn’t the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, Dad said proudly.

Of course, Dear, Mom replied. What did you expect from our first?

Hey, everyone, I have a son! Dad yelled proudly so that all in the barn could hear him. I was embarrassed. Here I had just come into this world and now my father was bragging about me before I had done anything. Praise like this I didn’t deserve. He and Mom then chimed in chorus. Father got all the others excited. I became the talk of the barn.

So the Champ has had his son, I overheard a chinchilla call out."

Maybe he’ll be another Grand Show Champ, like his father, another added.

Then a flurry of activity took place in our cage. I scurried back to the can for safety. Mom and Dad were running around wildly. I certainly didn’t want to get trampled. They talked so fast I could hardly understand them. I made out only a sentence once in a while.

In another hundred eleven days you’ll have another son for me, maybe two, Dad bragged.

Mom only laughed and said, It would be nice to have some girls. The Woman would like that. She gets so excited when more females are born for her.

I was worn out from my birth and fell asleep in the can.

CHAPTER 2 - THE WOMAN

I awoke about an hour later. The silence of the barn awakened me. The rattle of keys in a door alerted my instincts. My parents were no longer scurrying around my cage. I edged toward the door. Whispers of the animals near to the entry revealed who it was.

The Woman is coming for her morning rounds, one announced.

The others echoed the news until it spread throughout the entire barn. I stared toward the door. Who was The Woman? Why were they so excited?

The door opened abruptly, pouring crisp April air into our cages like a gigantic invisible wave that we could only feel. She closed the door behind her and stood there for a moment tucking her keys into a large leather bag. In the twilight appeared a tall, slender figure. The mellow lighting from the sun was suddenly broken by the blinding florescent lights that glared down upon us. They startled me, but gave me a clearer vision of The Woman. She headed toward our row of cages, on the left side of the barn next to the windows. She had long brunette hair that hung about her shoulders. It bounded up and down with every step she took. Dark brown eyes inspected several cages. Those eyes were enhanced by long sweeping eyelashes and arching eyebrows. Her nose was narrow, but widened about the nostrils. The dimpled cheeks of the creature were recessed, marked by a thin jaw. Thin lips parted, displaying ivory colored teeth. She smiled at the chinchillas as she walked past the cages. Then those same lips uttered words.

I wonder if there are any new babies? she thought aloud as she surveyed different cages on her way toward us.

She stopped at some cages and peered in. Some doors were opened. From them she would inevitably hold up a new life between her long fingers. I realized then that others had been born that morning. I was just one of several thousand other animals in that barn. Restlessness overtook me. Instinctively I tried to conceal myself in the refuge of the can. I knew she would want to handle me and that thought frightened me. I tried to remain motionless, but it was useless. She saw me immediately with her skilled eyes.

My champion’s baby! she asserted. They have had their baby. The Woman unlatched the door and lifted out the can with me still in it. She poured me out into her right hand. Let me see you! The Woman said excitedly as she examined me carefully. Well, it’s a beautiful male. You just may be a champ yourself someday.

She too lavished praise on me; first, my father, now her. What could a little guy do? I wanted to be loved, but this was ridiculous. Everyone expected so much of me and I was only a few hours old. Somehow, I lost my fear of The Woman as she held me. Her sunny hand was reminiscent of the secure darkness I had known for so long inside Mom. The gentle squeezing of The Woman’s hand reminded me of the muscles before they abruptly shoved me out into this vast chilly world