“Oh, Bolt, look how grown up he is!” Kira sighed, as she and Bolt were laid out on the vibrant green June grass, watching their only son, the Border Collie-American White 交叉, 十字架 Xeno (pronounced zee-no) prance around the lawn with ecstatic joy. He was a teen now, but still enjoyed bounding across the 草 in the summer.
“I’m gonna get you, Dad!” Xeno called out, racing over to his father, who jumped up in a playful stance.
“Oh no, you’re not!” Bolt challenged, and ran off. Xeno danced after him, a spring in his step.
Xeno was the complete opposite to his dad. Bolt was slim and fit, where as Xeno was a little on the tubby side, and ran out of breath pretty quickly. Bolt was intelligent, and understood all commands, whereas Xeno was, to be fair, a bit thick. He knew what it meant when Penny called out, “Xeno! Dinner!” But apart from that, he was a bit clueless. But his dad was teaching him. Xeno was getting better.
Xeno, like I mentioned earlier, was a Border Collie-American White cross. What made him different, even though he looked almost exactly like Bolt, was the fact he was a lot fluffier and had one brown patch round one eye. His royal blue, tight-fitting 领, 衣领 had a golden tag, which had an ornate peculiar ‘X’ on it. He had inherited Bolt’s lightning mark, but on the right side instead of the left, which was quite rough on the edge instead of smooth and pointed, like Bolt’s.
“Bolt,” Kira caught her partner’s attention. Bolt turned his head to face her, “we have visitors.”
Bolt was thrilled. Along the fence stalked three cats. One was his life-long friend, Mittens. He and Mittens had met in New York on that eventful 日 he had been shipped from Hollywood in a box, and still thought he had super powers. The 下一个 cat along was a slim brunette cat. Quite young and handsome, Onyx was a perfect match for Mittens. He had a large puff of 毛皮 round his neck that made him look remarkably like a lion. The last cat was just a little bit older than Xeno. He was the scruffy, awfully skinny teenage son of Mittens and Onyx – Redmond. He was a typical teen. His 毛皮 looked like he’s just got out of the basket, he listened to the 音乐 that humans composed, 由 artists like The Kaiser Chiefs and P!NK, and the thing that distinguished his age the most was the fact he was a depressed, irritable and moody git. Well, that’s feline puberty for you.
“Redmond! Buddy!” Xeno called out, and the thin, untidy brown cat waved back. Xeno and Redmond had been 老友记 since they were both able to walk. They had known each other and been pals for that long.
“Y’alright, Xeno?” Redmond 说 with a grin, jumping down from the fence and onto Xeno’s wide back. He shook his head, making his large, puffy fringe cover his left eye. “Long time, no see, mate.”
“Why’ve 你 been gone so long?” Xeno asked curiously.
“Ah,” Redmond 说 with a glance to his left, “we’ve been in a spot of bother with the local Bulldogs, 你 see. They’re the British ones, and they’re always pissed off with us. But this time they got really mad. Just because we forgot to get them their weekly contribution of meat!”
“What did they do to you?” Xeno’s concerned voice left Redmond touched. So he told him.
“They kicked us out of the alley we lived in. It’s like humans not paying the rent. It’s fair, I suppose. We didn’t pay our rent because we wanted the meat for once, and they repossessed us. Oh well, there’s tons of better places we could live…”
Redmond gazed fondly at the house Xeno, his parents and person lived in, and sighed.
“Wait,” Xeno said, looking first at Redmond’s expression, then the house, and putting two and two together, “you want to live with us?”
“If it’s too much hassle, 你 know –“
“That would be bloody awesome!” Xeno wagged his tail manically and barked a couple of times. “Oh my Dog! 你 and me could stay in the same room – It would be like a sleepover every single night!”
Redmond had a lot of looks to him. He was a deep shade of brunette like his father, and had inherited the white patches on his muzzle and chest from Mittens. He had a big fringe of puffy, flyaway ginger hair, and ears like a Fennec Fox. He was extremely underweight, and looked even 更多 so when stood with Xeno, who was the complete opposite.
Meanwhile, Bolt was having an in-depth father conversation with Onyx.
“So… What’s it like for you?” Bolt asked with a sly grin at Onyx. “What’s raising a teenage son like for you?”
“Oh, it’s hell!” Onyx 说 with a deep and tired sigh. “Mittens is always having to yell at him to turn the stereo down, because he’ll annoy the neighbouring humans in the flats, and he won’t lick his 毛皮 down, saying scruffy is ‘cool’…”
“Ah, we can differ,” Bolt said, looking at his son talking excitedly with Redmond. “Xeno is wonderful. He only plays his 音乐 quietly, and doesn’t like that loud, hectic stuff. He prefers the slow and catchy tunes of Owl City and Take That, 你 know. All that sort of music.”
“And what about his temperament?”
“Good as gold. Loves games and playing with Kira, and is always tidy when it comes to looks.”
“Bolt! Pal, it’s been so long!” Mittens had interrupted this conversation to 包, 换行 her long, skinny arms around Bolt’s neck.
“Hi, Mittens,” Bolt said, laying his head on her shoulder. “I heard you’re having a rough time with Redmond.”
“Oh, don’t get me started!” Mittens said, looking glumly to the side. Bolt decided not to continue that conversation.
“Seen much of Rhino lately?”
“Rhino?” Mittens nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, I spoke to him quite recently. He’s got a daughter now, called Tricia. His wife Fenchurch is very talkative, I must say!”
Bolt looked fondly at Mittens as she continued to rant about Rhino and his family. He continued to gaze, until a frustrated cough from Onyx broke it.
“That’s my wife you’re staring at,” Onyx huffed.
“Oh,” Bolt stuttered, now thoroughly embarrassed, “yeah – Right. Sorry.”