Out of the Blue

Chapter 5

Church was a...n experience for Lisa. She had nice enough clothes for services but Russell definitely wanted her to go shopping for clothing appropriate for mass.

Lisa got to see how Sundays went for the Changs, who were glad to get that day (mostly) off. Marcy made her clean her room, citing that everyone had to keep their space clean.

Lisa never cleaned her room at home, her mother instead doing all the housework. She hated the manual labor but she did feel a sense of pride when she was done.

There was a knock on the outer door when she finished putting away the last of her laundry. "Yes!"

Marcy opened the door. "Come here."

Lisa gulped. Was she in trouble? She walked to Marcy, who led her to the master suite.

Marcy put her hand on the door handle. "There are dogs in here."

Lisa didn't understand that at all! "Huh?"

"Dogs. We have many animals but we've kept them in our rooms so you wouldn't get scared. But I'm tired of lookin at 'em so they've got to go. Which means you've got to meet them."

"Oh." Lisa liked dogs. She thought they were cute and cuddly and she always wanted one. "Can I have a dog?"

"We'll see." Marcy opened the door and clicked her tongue.

The horde of mongrels stormed over, all jumping and barking.

Lisa grew very afraid. Only one was cute and cuddly (Ecru)! She hid behind Marcy and hugged her tightly.

Marcy clicked her tongue again. "Sit!"

Ecru kept barking, the smallest of the bunch.

She leaned over to look him in the eye. "Sit."

He whimpered and laid down.

She straightened and brought Lisa to the front of her body. "Meet Lisa."

Lisa felt like crying. She didn't want to meet these monsters!

"Secret." Marcy called. "Come."

Secret got up and walked to Lisa. He sniffed her then stood in front of her, howling at his brothers.

One by one, Marcy had them come up to smell Lisa. Once they had her scent, Marcy dismissed them and they found other places to be in the villa, curiosity satisfied and crisis averted.

Secret went to the bedroom and climbed in the bed to nap.

Lazy bastard... Marcy pursed her lips before taking Lisa up to the third floor.

"What's up here?" Lisa was so shaken.

"The kids."

"Oh." Lisa tried to relax. The worst was over.

Marcy went to each of her children's rooms to introduce Lisa to the different animals they had.

Lisa wasn't partial to the cats but loved Sparkle (the mini pot belly piglet). She was terrified of Snowball and Shū but thought Shea was so soft and docile. She didn't care much about the fish but she thought it was funny they had a hen named Sugarcube.

Mally proudly showed off his salamander named Sinbad (after the actor) that matched Socrates, his father's, which was in the master suite.

Mickey showed off her pet owl, Sunny. That really freaked out Lisa, who hated birds. Marcy, who also hated birds, approved.

Riley showed off her bunny, Skittles. Shū was her number one but she loved Skittles to pieces.

Lisa liked Skittles.