Good As New

Sweet Smile

The sun slowly began to lower itself behind large hills as shades of pink and orange painted an irreplaceable image in the sky, signaling that the end of the day was near, especially for an orange heeler who was clocking out from the airport, passing by her coworkers who bid Chilli farewell.

She walked to her car until the sound of a familiar voice coming from across the street caught Chilli's attention. As she got closer, she saw Doreen and an unfamiliar woman clapping for a kid who looked only a few years older than her eldest daughter.

Doreen noticed Chilli in the distance and smiled ear-to-ear. "Chilli, you need to see this." she cheered while the kid hid their face behind the woman's tail. "Don't worry honey; Chilli doesn't bite; she wouldn't hurt a fly." Doreen tried to reassure them, but they didn't move from behind the woman as she patted the child's head as a form of comfort and gave Chilli an apologetic look.

Chilli was no stranger to shy kids; she had gotten a lot of experience from Bingo and Lila with how to properly talk to an inverted child without making them overly anxious. She bent down to their level while the child peeked out from their tail shield to meet Chilli eye-to-eye. "Hello my name-" Chilli paused. "Well, I think you already know my name." She chuckled, and the child couldn't help but smile as well. Chilli's voice was so soothing to them.

"What's your name?" she questioned.

"My name is Y/n" they softly spoke as their tail began to wag.

"That's a nice name." Chilli said sweetly making Y/n's smile grow wider while the woman beside her looked flabbergasted.

Chilli continued. "Y/n Doreen said you can do something special and I would love to see it but only if you are comfortable with it."

Y/n moved closer to Chilli. "There's something behind your something behind your ear." Y/n said while hesitantly pointing to Chilli's left ear.

Chilli felt the back of her ears but found nothing. "Are you sure?" Y/n nodded reaching out their hand and swiftly pulling out a cookie from behind her ear and putting it in Chilli's hand.

"Aren't they great? it's not every day you see someone with tricks up their sleeve." Doreen praised. Chilli nodded in agreement. "How did you do that? She asked."

Y/n put a finger over their lips. "A magician never reveals their secrets." Chilli chuckled. "I walked myself right into that one didn't I?" Y/n nodded as their tail waged more enthusiastically than before.

Multiple beeps went off on Doreen's watch. "Oh, my bus will be here soon, Y/n thank you for showing me your magic tricks." She went into her purse and pulled out a twenty. "Take this for your troubles."

Y/n was mesmerized by the money in their hands. "Twenty dollar bucks." They whispered to themself as the woman put a hand on their shoulder. "Y/n what do you say?"

"Thank you Ms. Doreen." the old dog waved them off as she walked away. "Think nothing of it honey, take care Chili you too Valentina." Chilli bid her farewell though her attention was quickly brought back to Valentina when she put her hands on Chilli's shoulders with admiration written all over her face. "Are you a goddess?" She asked "Um...no." Chilli said confused.

"I don't believe that you have to be an angel or some kind of supernatural being. Y/n barely talks to adults, so I thought this could be a good way for Y/n to step out of their comfort zone a little bit, They didn't talk to anyone but the moment you come in they start singing like a bird."

Valentina dramatically dropped to her knees and put her hands together. "Please, oh please tell me how you do it, I can barely get them to an adult that isn't me." She begged.