Rockabye Goomdrop

Mock-Strawberry watched the ongoing thunderstorm from the couch by the window. The wind howled and the trees shook as they were pelted with large raindrops. The sky lit up with a loud crash as lightning struck in the distance, interrupting Mock-Strawberry’s train of thought. 

Mock-Strawberry continued watching the rainstorm as they absentmindedly stroked their lima beanie’s soft green fur. Suddenly, another flash of lightning lit up the sky, this time hitting a large tree branch. The branch fell from the sky, landing on an old rotting tree trunk and crushing it. In the rubble that was once a dead tree, Mock-Strawberry saw a small yellow blob. Is that a rare kind of mushroom? Mock-Strawberry wondered, or maybe a child’s lost toy? 

Now Mock-Strawberry’s interest had been caught. What was that strange yellow object? Mock-Strawberry shooed the lima beanie off their lap and walked over to the door. With the rotted tree gone, there was nothing protecting the mysterious yellow object from the rain. What if lightning struck again in the same spot? What if the wind blew the object away? Mock-Strawberry needed to act fast, they threw open the door and started walking towards the yellow object, their loyal lima beanie at their heels. The rain started coming down even harder, but Mock-Strawberry pressed on, determined to solve this mystery. As they got closer, they began to hear soft whimpers coming from the little yellow blob. “An animal!” Mock-Strawberry gasped, quickening their pace. Finally Mock-Strawberry reached the little yellow blob, it was cowered amongst the remains of the tree trunk it had been hiding under, shivering like a leaf. 

Mock-Strawberry quickly scooped up the small yellow creature, and turned back towards the house. “Let’s go!” they exclaimed to their lima beanie before sprinting back towards the house. By the time they got back to the house, everyone was thoroughly soaked. Except for the little yellow blob, it seemed to be pretty good at repelling water. The lima beanie ran inside as soon as Mock-Strawberry opened the door, stood in the exact center of the living room, and shook itself off, getting everything inside wet in the process. Mock-Strawberry sighed before doing the same, there was no harm in shaking the water off yourself after someone else had already done it and made a mess. Either way everything would have to be dried off, and it was faster than finding a towel. 

The beanie had run to the closet and pulled out a bunch of blankets and towels, dragging them over to Mock-Strawberry, who sat down and began drying everyone off the rest of the way. First the lima beanie, so it wouldn’t track any more water throughout the house, and then the little yellow blob, that wasn’t wet so much as it was cold. Lastly, Mock-Strawberry dried themself off. Mock-Strawberry turned back to the little yellow blob, which was now looking at them with it’s big eye, in an endearing sort of way. It snuggled up to Mock-Strawberry and began making a sort of purring sound. Mock-Strawberry had to admit, it was pretty cute, even if they had no clue what it was.

A few hours later and the storm was still going full force. Mock-Strawberry was curled up on the couch in a nest of blankets, with their head resting on the back of the lima beanie as if it was a pillow. The lima beanie was chewing on the corner of a blanket as it slept, not seeming to mind that it was being used as a pillow. Snuggled up in the crook of Mock-Strawberry’s arm was the little yellow blob, who had buried itself in Mock-Strawberry’s soft warm fur. With their other paw, Mock-Strawberry held a cell phone, reading the response they had gotten from Behr. The little creature was a goomdrop, Behr had told them. If it wasn’t raining tomorrow, Mock-Strawberry was welcome to stop by, and Behr would tell them all about goomdrops and teach them how to care for it.

Mock-Strawberry began to slowly drift off to sleep, all the excitement from the day had really drained their energy, and the lima beanie made for a very nice pillow. The goomdrop was warm as well, it reminded Mock-Strawberry of linens fresh out of the drier. Their eyes drooped closed and the phone fell from their paw with a small clatter. The storm continued to rage outside, but Mock-Strawberry, their lima beanie, and their new pet goomdrop all slept soundly through it, keeping eachother warm throughout the storm.