The Observatory

Mock-Strawberry jumped at the loud thud of the stranger’s paw hitting the wooden door. It’s definitely not a ghost, Mock-Strawberry decided, a ghost’s paw would go right through the door. Realising the stranger had probably assumed Mock-Strawberry had already left, they quickly spoke up. “Oh! Uh-” Mock-Strawberry said, realising they hadn’t actually thought out what they were going to say yet. “-I’m not here to cause trouble!” They quickly exclaimed. The red eye reappeared at the keyhole. The stranger was listening.

“I just wanted to see what was over here, I heard from Dahlia that there used to be an observatory around here, so I wanted to see if I could find it because I figured an observatory would have a telescope, and if I had a telescope that I could use, I would probably have an easier time finding where my catterfly hid all my socks. I don’t actually wear socks though, so I'm not entirely sure why I even have them, they just kind of showed up one day. Anyways, the other day I gave my catterfly some strawberries instead of clovers, because I ran out of clovers, and I can’t give them clovers if I don’t have any. So it got mad at me because it wanted clovers, not strawberries, so it stole all my socks and flew away with them. I tried to follow it but it disappeared into the clouds, taking my socks with it. It finally decided to come back home yesterday, but it must still be a bit mad because it didn’t bring my socks back with it. I’m pretty sure it’s hidden my socks somewhere high up, so I figured if I had some binoculars or a telescope I might be able to find where it hid them, because I-” Mock-Strawberry rambled, before getting cut off by the stranger exclaiming “Enough!” in a loud voice.

Mock-Strawberry stopped talking. “Sorry,” they mumbled, “I kind of go off on tangents sometimes. Oh wait- I'm supposed to not be talking. Oops.” The stranger sighed from behind the door, but then they cracked the door open. “Let me get this straight. You tried to break into the old observatory because you wanted to use the telescope to find your missing socks that you don’t even wear?” The stranger asked. “Right.” Mock-Strawberry replied. The stranger raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Mock-Strawberry shifted their weight from foot to foot as they awkwardly waited for the stranger to respond. The stranger remained silent. “I can give you some of my socks once I find them?” Mock-Strawberry offered. “If you want them. Cuz I uh don’t really wear socks -or shoes for that matter- but if you wear socks, I can share some with you.” Mock-Strawberry rambled as they looked down at their paws. “I appreciate your offer, but I’m not much of the sock wearing type myself,” the stranger said, “but how about this: you help me fix up the old observatory, and I’ll let you use the telescope whenever you feel like it. I’ll even give you a spare key so you can use the telescope even when I’m not here.”

“Deal!” Mock-Strawberry exclaimed, “What do you need me to help with?”

A few hours later, Mock-Strawberry was busy repainting the walls of the observatory. The stranger, who had introduced himself as Paexis, was on the other side of the room, trying to clean the dust off the windows. A mischievous dust bunny was “helping” Paexis clean the windows. Every time Paexis turned around to rinse off the rag, the dust bunny would put its paws on the freshly cleaned window, making it dirty again. Mock-Strawberry tried not to laugh at this, and tried to concentrate on repainting the walls. 

This continued for another twenty minutes, until Paexis got so fed up with the dust bunny’s antics that he grabbed the dust bunny and started washing it. Mock-Strawberry burst out laughing. The dust bunny had such an offended look on its face that Mock-Strawberry couldn’t stop laughing. 

“Here.” Paexis said gruffly, “Take this and keep it out of trouble.” He placed the now soggy dust bunny in Mock-Strawberry’s paws and went back to cleaning the windows. Mock-Strawberry took a clean, dry, rag and began drying off the dust bunny so it wouldn’t track water everywhere. “How about we call it a day?”  Paexis asked, “That way you can get that pesky dust bunny settled in at your house. And keep it out of my fur.” he muttered under his breath. “Oh, I almost forgot, here’s the spare key.” He said as he tossed the key to Mock-Strawberry.