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Congratulations: Twins!
By The Chronicler
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Knuckles whistled softly. "Lady, you've got some explaining to do."
She shook her head at the panting mare. "So, you gonna tell me who
the father is so he can do the right thing by you and the babies?"
The big brown eyes shifted, lifting her head slightly to look up at
her vet. She didn't like lying on her side on the ground... despite
the fact that the floor of her stall was thickly covered with clean,
soft straw. She didn't like being poked and prodded. And she really
didn't like the idea of her brand new, moments old foals out of reach
and being unable to get to them. But, being sedated, her belly
stitched up, she didn't have much of a choice in the issue. Thus, she
snorted at her vet, voicing her dislike of the situation, then
lowered her head again, relaxing.
Knuckles huffed. "Don't you snort at me! You were the one that went
around the entire paddock, whoring every stallion you saw." She
scratched the mare's flank.
"I'll be damned!" Rawhide exclaimed, coming around the corner of the
stall.
The girl glanced up at him. "Is that a confession?"
Rawhide frowned. "Huh?"
Knuckles chuckled. "Never mind." She rose to her feet, pulling elbow
length gloves off. "So, what do you think?"
Rawhide stepped around the mare and crouched down beside the twin
foals.
Both were as white as virgin snow, with one black ear each, on the
opposite sides. Three of their four large hooves were black as ebony.
"They both made it!" Rawhide was pleasantly surprised. It was very
unusual for a horse to have twins, and twins that survived... "Wow."
Knuckles smiled slightly. "Yea. It was a good thing you asked me to
hang around. Mom needed a c-section to get her babies out."
Rawhide glanced sharply at the mare. "Lady gonna be alright?" he
wanted to know, shifting enough so that he could pet the horse's neck.
Knuckles nodded. "I'm gonna keep her sedated for a while. Make sure
the healing gets a nice start." She glanced at the foals who were
trying to get their slim, wobbly legs under them. "We're gonna have
to hand feed them. I don't want them nuzzling her underbelly."
"But if they don't get that initial connection with Lady..." Rawhide
started, concerned.
"We'll lay the feeders over her side." Knuckles scratched her
chin. "Hopefully just being close will help the bond. but we should
be prepared to having to hand reer them."
"Oooooh! Twins!" Mrs Johnson squealed as she came up to the side of
the stall. Reaching behind her, she yanked Perfect Tommy up beside
her. "Look! They're gorgeous! What are they?"
Rawhide smiled as Buckaroo and Peggy also made a showing. "One of
each. colt and filly." he answered after checking.
"And they're okay?" Buckaroo asked, knowing how rare this was. "They
look kinda small."
"Small, yes." Knuckles answered. She paused for Peggy and Mrs. J's
squeals as the colt managed to get all four legs under him. "But
they're both equally strong and healthy. Clear lungs, good heart
beats, solid muscle definition..."
"This is all good, right?" Mrs. Johnson asked.
"Very good." Rawhide answered.
"And the mother?" Peggy wanted to know.
"How's Lady?" Perfect Tommy finally spoke. After all, she was his
horse! "She alright?"
"She'll be fine. You won't be riding her for a while, but she'll be
fine." Knuckles assured.
Buckaroo crouched down to examine the stitching. "C-section?"
Knuckles nodded.
"Nice stitches." he offered.
The vet grinned at the praise.
"So, daddy..." Mrs Johnson nudged Perfect Tommy. "What you gonna call
them?"
Tommy frowned. "Daddy?" He was not at all comfortable with being
referred to as a father.
"Speaking of daddies..." Peggy winked at perfect Tommy who was
obviously growing even more uncomfortable. "Do we happen to know who
is responsible?"
"Now, that was exactly what Lady and I were discussing before you all
came a visiting." Knuckles admitted. She looked down at the foals,
scratching her chin in thought.
"Hey, remember when Tiny busted up the barn not so long ago?" Peggy
brought up.
Rawhide huffed. "Damn beast knocked down every fence on the property.
Found him the next morning on the other side of the Institute."
Knuckles nodded. "He was teasing my cats at the Wild Game Shelter.
Nearly had to feed them each a cow to calm them down."
Mrs J laughed. "Busted through the kitchen door, ran right through
the dinning room, and out the front door."
"Hoof prints on the Jet Car." Buckaroo grumbled, trying to look
disapprovingly, but couldn't help but smile a little. Despite the
destruction, it had been amusing.
"Told you to keep that garage door closed." Rawhide reprimanded.
The doctor's eye brows rose. "I was just pulling the car in!"
"Point is... remember why we figured he went nuts?" Peggy reminded
them.
"'Course!" Rawhide pushed his stetson back. "Lady was in heat. The
little flirt set of the entire herd."
"Ummm.... isn't Tiny a Shier?" Perfect Tommy pointed out. "I mean....
he's huge... and Lady, she's just a little thing..."
"Love will find away." Peggy sighed, leaning down on her husband's
back.
Knuckles huffed. "That wasn't love, Peggy. That was all one-hunred
and fifty percent lust!"
"Oh!" Mrs. Johnson growled. "Where is your sense of romance?!"
Perfect Tommy nudged the girl. "I assure you, her idea of romance IS
one hundred and fifty percent lust."
"Not tonight." Knuckles assured him.
Perfect Tommy winced. "Hey..."
"So..." Buckaroo cut off any continuation of THAT discussion. "We're
betting on Tiny as the sire?"
Rawhide waved a hand at the foals who were both standing now, moving
about, testing their young legs. "Look at those hooves. These kids
are gonna get big. And the colt has puffs over his front pair."
Knuckles nodded. "Tiny's the daddy." she agreed.
With that declaration, Mrs Johnson crossed the barn to the shier's
stall. "Congratulations, Tiny! Twins!" she announced.
The huge shier lifted his head to look at the girl. not seeing an
apple being offered, he snorted his displeasure, then returned to
whatever it was he had been doing.
Perfect Tommy crossed his arms over his chest. "Should sue that big
donkey for child support."
