“Why is Kitty doing dat Papa?” Sonya asked. Her front teeth had just fallen out which made it hard for her to pronounce “th”.

Papa didn’t look up from his book so Sonya scootched over, careful to keep Kitty all cuddled up, and tugged on his sleeve. “Papa, Kitty looks scared.” After a few more tugs Papa finally looked away from his book.

Sonya held up Kitty, “See her ears are so pointy!”

“Did you shake her again? Bunnies don’t like it when you do that.” He responded after glancing at Kitty.

Sonya crawled to her knees to lay Kitty on her chest. The pearl-white dress crinkled as Kitty struggled, but Sonya hugged her harder. “No, we were having tea Papa.” She grabbed her teacup filled with water and held it up to the fluffy anima’s twitching nose. “Isn’t that right Kit- OW!” Kitty bit the arm she was snuggling with and wiggled out of her grip.

“Did you get bit darling?” Papa asked.

“Mhm,” She sucked on the bite mark. Papa upon seeing the small bite put on what Sonya called his mean face. His eyebrows got really scrunched up and his nose crinkled like Kitty’s.

“Don’t be mad at Kitty…”

Papa slid off his glasses and glared at Kitty sitting in the grass a few feet away from their blanket. Kitty wasn’t looking too fluffy, her ears were pulled back and pointy with her little bitty mouth open.

“Why’s she drooling Papa?”

Papa’s mean face morphed into his… She didn’t know what this face was.

He pulled out his phone and held it to his ear. Sonya crawled past the picnic basket and held out her arms to be picked up by Papa. He instead motioned for her to stay put while he spoke into the phone. She tilted her head to catch what he was saying.

She squealed, “Babies? Kitty is having babies!?”

She bounced and clapped.

Papa returned his phone to his pocket and shook his head. “That was Mr. Buckley, Kitty is sick darling.”

Her tiny fists fell to her lap. “Sick?”

“Very sick, and she is hurting. You don’t want her to be hurting right?”

Sonya shook her head. Her hair slapped her face.

“Me neither.” He reached into the picnic basket and took out a big metal stick with a curve at one end. She immediately recognized it, a lot of the boys at church sported smaller ones on their hips. The priest had two big ones on the wall behind him.

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“She grabbed his arm, “No don’t hurt Kitty, she didn’t mean it.” Sonya pointed at the bunny, “see she is crying.”

Papa patted her head, “I’m not going to hurt her, I’m going to help her. Do you want to help Kitty too?” Sonya nodded so hard her eyes felt like they were going to pop out.

“Okay stand here, in front of Kitty… there you go.”

Since Kitty had hopped a couple of times, Sonya stood far enough that she could play a game of hopscotch between them.

“Now before we help Kitty, have you been praying with Mama?” She said yes. “So, you know what happens when we pass away?” Sonya nodded, “You either go to heaven or…” She put her hand over her mouth and then pointed down.

“That’s right darling. Now Kitty is feeling bad right now and she’s going to have to move on in a few days.”

Sonya balled up her hands into fists with so much force her cheeks turned red.

“I know darling, but you said you wanted to help her right?” Papa asked. He turned the stick over in his hands so that the curvy part was facing her. After some struggle, he pulled one arm over the stick, pried open her fingers and placed them on a little loop, and instructed her not to squeeze. The other arm held the stick a little further away.

Papa knelt behind her and reached around her to place his hands over hers. Hot breath tickled her right ear.

“You don’t want Kitty to feel bad for long before she leaves right?”

Kitty’s body blurred; her cheeks burned as the sun beat on her face.

“Let’s help her together.”

And he whispered something that Sonya would later realize he probably didn’t mean to: “It’s in the hands of God now.”

He squeezed Sonya’s fingers around the little loop. The stick let off a loud pop and shook her body. She squeezed her eyes shut to block out the noise.

A few seconds passed.

“Open your eyes darling.”

She shook her head.

“Open your eyes.” Papa had his mean voice on.

Sonya peeled open her eyes to greet spaghetti and meatballs with cheese on top.

Her brows scrunched up together, “Is Kitty…” Papa placed the boom stick back into the basket before returning to face her. “Kitty doesn’t hurt anymore, and I’m proud that my big girl helped me today.”

He wiped her face with his sleeve and offered his hand.

Sonya gripped his thumb and they walked away from where Kitty stood. Some of the other kids looked at her as they walked, but most didn’t. None of the mamas or papas stopped to look at them.

Papa ruffled her hair, “Hey do you want to see Mr. Buckley today?” She didn’t respond.

“I know you miss Kitty, but I bet if you behave Mr. Buckley has a lollipop for a special girl.” Sonya looked up to her Papa with wide eyes, “Can I wear his ste… steposcope?”

He chuckled, “Yes, I think he’ll let you wear the stethoscope.”

She jumped up and down as she walked causing flecks of brown to join the red that specked her white dress.

ɸ

“He’s dying, asshole.” She nodded at the now clear exit, “We need to bring him to a hospital, usually the poison takes six hours to take hold but...”

Chet glanced at Walker’s limp body, only his chest, shoulders and head were out of the water. Foam dripped from his mouth, but every couple of seconds he would softly cough up either more foam or water.

“That thing dead?” Chet nodded toward the mush that oozed in the water.

Sonya frowned at him, “Should be, I put about a dozen rounds of lead into it. Any more and I was going to have to pull out the special stuff.” A glob of frog fell into the water with a sloppy plop. She grimaced, “Only the meaty slap of God’s dick could save that ugly bastard.”

He voiced his agreement. Chet scratched his head as he surveyed the exit, “Head or legs?”

Sonya opened her mouth to say something, but before the words came out her gun twitched up toward Chet. Sonya’s twitch caused Chet to turn just in time to watch Walker whip the metallic device toward his face.