Once Upon a Pet Show (A Redpoint One Romance) by J.A. Marlow

loved to play with, as well.
    The daubpups squealed and whistled at the
sight of it. Several jumped after it the moment she let it roll
towards the front corner so she could safely get inside to change
out the bedding. The job should have taken only a few minutes, but
the duabpups insisted on attention. Scratches, pets, playing with
their tails, playing with the ball.
    As she alternated between playing with them
and changing out half of the grass, she noticed a crowd growing on
the other side of the clear wall. It started with children, who
pointed and whispered at each other at the daubpup antics. Then
their parents started to gather. Then other adults. The daubpups
ignored them, continuing their fun, with the voices and sounds on
the other side blocked out by the solid front wall.
    Vallory didn't know how to feel about the
attention. Protecting any species included education of the public.
She'd put up a display at one side to give information in the form
of a small movie she'd made while they were still in their original
habitat. Before that habitat had been destroyed.
    But, to sell them as pets? No, she wouldn't do
that. She hadn't yet seen them reproduce. The group must stay
together if they were going to survive.
    She sighed. No luck with the meeting today.
Yes, she had three more meetings scheduled, but what after
that?
    "What are we going to do?" Vallory whispered
to Frumpmuffin as she rolled the ball back. Frumpmuffin put a paw
on top of the ball and gazed up at her with head cocked.
    "I'm serious. What do we do if we don't find a
place? I don't know where to take you after this."
    Frumpmuffin didn't answer back. Merely bumped
the ball towards her in the way that told her they still wanted to
play.
    Vallory gave a big sigh loud enough to attract
the attention of Clementine on the branch. She rolled the ball
away, and rolling bundles of daubpups pushed and bumped against
each other in their effort to chase and grab it. The children
outside laughed and pointed at the sight.
    She admitted it was funny. She stuffed the
last of the used grass into the bag and stood up. "Time for me to
go. Want to give me back the ball?"
    She couldn't even see the ball due to the mass
of dauppups over it. Then it appeared, with the colorful creatures
batting it between each other in their own unique version of
soccer.
    "Fine, have fun," Vallory said, cinching the
top of the bag tightly. She would need to take it down to the
incinerator. It wouldn't be fun carrying it through the crowd. Yes,
tomorrow she needed to do this earlier in the morning.
    She halted half way to the front door, the
duabpups wrestling for the ball around her feet. She frantically
searched the moving colors. Ticking them off in her mind in a
silent roll-call.
    No, not there.
    She turned. Clementine and Neon on the branch.
Pizza was busy making a new nest in the new grass.
    Oh no. Where was she? No bright copper body in
the bunch.
    Vallory dropped the bag of old straw at the
door and headed back for the rear of the enclosure. Even as the
daubpups climbed the bag as a new toy, she searched all the
crevices made by the artificial branches. Even rooted through the
grass to see if she was hiding underneath. Pizza whined at her,
telling her in the daubpup way to go away.
    Penny was nowhere to be found.
    A new anxiety built. Oh no. Please
no.
    One more count of the daubpups present told
her the same thing. One of them was missing, and of course it was
Penny.
    Why did Penny do this to her? Didn't they have
enough problems without her pulling a disappearing act?
    "Not the day for it," Vallory said out loud as
she pulled daubpups from off the top of the bag. Of course they
climbed on top. They loved climbing.
    She used the ball to distract them and allow
her to get her and the bag outside without one of them trying to
follow. She wished one of the enclosed carts were nearby. It was a
long way to the back of the building with such a big bag. Her arm
started feeling the weight by