Pen Beneath The Bush

Vulpix For Christmas (The Letter VN/Pokemon)

Just a few more days until Christmas. It looks like it will be a white one. Luke and Hannah are snowed in along with their staff and their goddaughter, Kylie.

Hannah does her best to keep her business affairs in order through her iPhone. Luke finds it as an opportunity to drink.

"I wish people could drink absinthe properly," Luke scorns before he takes a sip of whisky in his hand.

Hannah rolls her eyes. "I wish a certain someone wouldn't drink so much."

The glass cracks. "I'm sorry darling. It's stress you see." He stands up and clicks his fingers at a maid. "You there, be a good girl and sweep that mess up for me. Thank you so much."

The maid does as she's told. For if she says how she really feels about the man, she would be unemployed. Luke is notorious for his melodramatic behaviour expected from a boy half his age. He is the naive king of his empire and Hannah is his wise consort; a dominatrix in disguise. "I can't believe it. In four months time, I'm going to be a father. Christmas is going to have a whole new meaning."

Hannah crosses her arms. "Get.away.from.the.cabinet."

"Yes," Luke replies, staring at all the alcohol lined up in pretty rows. "Our twins are going to be spoilt. They'll have the best toys in Luxbourne City, I'll guarantee you that." He walks back to the cabinet and picks up the silver goblet. "I say that calls for a celebration. I'm having a drink."

Hannah slams the doors shut, takes a tiny a key from Luke's blazer pocket and locks the cabinet. She throws the key on top. "You're having lemonade."

Luke hisses, "Lemonade? How boring."

"Remember what the doctor said." Hannah links arms with Luke and walks over to the kitchen.

"Enough about the doctor, this is about me, you and our family." Hannah pours lemonade from a bulky bottle. Luke bits his lip. "ALDI! What are you doing buying supermarket crap when we can afford nicer things?"

"Why spend £10 for a bottle of lemonade when you can get it in the shops for under a quid?" Hannah asks back. "I'm trying to cut back on our spending, darling."

A roar outside causes Hannah to jolt. The bottle slips from her hands and bounces on Luke's shoe. "Did you hear that?" she gasps, "it's coming from outside."

"Buttercup!" Luke calls. "Slow down, you'll fall." He skis on the fizzy puddle and tumbles out of the kitchen. He lands on his knees.

Hannah scowls at him again. "This is why I told you to cut your drinking down." She opens the door inviting the blizzard in. She looks around and sees nothing but canine footprints in the snow. The footprints end at their door. A white fox with blue eyes and cloud-shaped hair and tails puts its front paws onto the carpet. Hannah smiles. "Why hello there! Why don't you come in."

"Vulpix?"

"Come on, don't be shy."

"Shut the door: it's freezing!" Luke shouts as he charges down the stairs. He watches Hannah pick the creature up in her arms. "What's that? Looks like a pokemon."

Hannah closes the door and looks at Luke. "It is a pokemon. This is a vulpix, Luke."

"That's not a vulpix. Vulpixes are brown."

Hannah cradles the vulpix tighter. "And what would you know about pokemon?"

Luke scratches his head. "I know a fair bit. From when Kylie woke me up at half-past five cause she thought she spotted a ho-oh. Turned out to be just a fearow."

"So that's where you went?" Hannah covers her mouth and pats his back. "You and Kylie didn't get hurt did you?"

"Oh, we're okay." Luke brushes his hair over with his hand. "Kylie was a bit disappointed naturally, so I treated her to parfait and now she's in bed."

"Yeah." Luke takes a look at the vulpix and pats its head. "It looks very cute. I think we should hand it to RSPCA and give it to its owner."

"I don't think it has an owner. It would be in its ball otherwise. I think it's a wild one."

Luke sighs. "I suppose you'll want to keep it."

Hannah smiles. "Yes! Of course, we should keep it. I want to call her Buffy."

"Buffy?" Luke squinted. "How do you know it's female? It could be male?"

Hannah nods. "Vulpix has a 3 in 4 chance of being female."

"Still a 25% chance of being male."

"Why don't we ask her?" Hannah suggests. "She can understand human speech. Don't you Buffy?"

"Vulpix!" Buffy lifts her head and kisses Hannah's cheek.

"Wait a minute!" Luke takes a step back.

"What's the matter?"

"Is it safe to have? Pokemon can be pretty powerful creatures. I do want to keep the house this time."

"I'm pretty sure this mansion will be safe along with your wine cellar and vineyard."

"And the helicopter?"

Buffy jumps from Hannah's grip and runs upstairs to the master bedroom where the balcony looks over the garden. She wags her tail at the sight of snow covering a helicopter. Something about the helicopter triggers Buffy.

The couple follow Buffy into the room. Luke takes a brief gaze out the winter wonderland and then turns his back on Buffy. "I can't take you in it with this weather, I'm afraid."

"How about some food?" Hannah picks Buffy up back in her arm. "Our Butler is a delightful cook. And yes, we'll have to take you into town and buy you some nice clothes and toys. Oh, it's so wonderful having a vulpix for Christmas."

While Hannah shows Buffy around the mansion. Luke tiptoes back to his beloved alcohol cabinet with his goblet. He jumps high enough to retrieve the key as it slips into his hand. He opens the door and picks a drink. The sweet jingle from the glass bottles felt like music to his ears. Luke puts the bottle back, closes the door, locks it, ensures that it's locked and then puts the key in his blazer pocket.


"If you're going back into the cabinet, there'll be trouble Lucille Mitchell Wright!"

"Of course not," Luke lies with a grin and gin. He makes his way back into the kitchen. The maids have already swept up the lemonade from earlier. "Don't get stressed, it's not good for the babies."

The smirk on his face refuses to go down even with the cheek ache. Hannah and himself love dogs. For years they've been talking about making their dreams a reality. Now it feels that they've made the right track. Luke wants a dog and Hannah wants children: they now have both lined-up.

Luke bursts into hysterics when Hannah responds. "Your drinking isn't good for the babies either."

He leaves the lounge without his goblet.