Flag once if you want. ------------ It wasn’t often that Dusty Rose Thornton felt sick enough to stay home. She was a sheriff, and that meant that she was determined to do her job, rain or shine, sick or healthy. That was why she was alarmed when, upon waking up, she was hit with a feeling of dizziness and an extremely painful headache. She tried to stand, but her legs gave out on her only a few seconds after she set her paws on the floor. She groaned and rolled over, lying on her coral pink rug for a second, observing her home. It was an old building from the days of the wild west, and it stuck out like a sore thumb against the rest of the newer, more modern buildings. Still, this was the house closest to the station, so this was the house she had picked. Lucky for her, it made a wonderful home. Her queen-sized bed sat on one side of the room with a white nightstand sitting next to it. A window overlooking the street allowed sunlight to pour in like golden honey, although given today’s gray skies there wasn’t much sunlight to be had. Hopefully they would get some rain… it was getting awfully dry out there. Across the room there sat Dusty’s dresser. It was also white, and it had a lamp on it. Next to the lamp were several books and Dusty’s usual clothing, her hat and her satchel. The room was softly lit today, and Dusty couldn’t help but feel relaxed despite having just fallen over a few minutes earlier. It was such a cozy place. Finally gathering up her strength, Dusty stood up on shaky paws and walked over to her dresser, throwing on her usual outfit. She was careful not to snag anything on her green cactus tail, and her watchful, bright green eyes observed her paws as they placed the brown materials over her light tan fur. Finally ready to start the rest of her day, she cautiously exited her room. After carefully making her way down the stairs and into her kitchen without injury, she sleepily poured herself a cup of coffee. What was going on today? Her cactus tail had begun to throb with pain, and Dusty realized that today was not her day. She sighed, reluctantly accepting the fact that she could not go to work today, and called up the local deputy. After the phone rang several times, Deputy Petal finally picked up. They sounded far less exhausted than Dusty, but Dusty knew that her friend and colleague was still drinking their latte when they finally answered. “Hello?” Petal’s voice sounded singsongy over the phone. For a large Gila Monster with a flower in one of their eyes, they were awfully cheerful. “I won’t be able to come to work today,” Dusty said with a weakened voice, “I’m sick. My head is spinning and my tail hurts. You’re going to have to manage things on your own.” You could almost hear the extremely concerned expression on Petal’s face. “Do you think you’ll be ok? I hope you get better soon!” they exclaimed, pausing to think for a second before adding “If you still feel crummy this evening, I’ll come over and bring you some soup, ok?” “Thank you.” Dusty replied with a smile. Petal was such a wonderful person. They and their husband had only just moved into town last year when they left the neighboring one, but when the previous sheriff stepped down and Dusty took their place, Petal was the obvious choice for deputy. They were smart, strong, and fair to everyone, doing their best to resolve fights, which was something very unusual for their species of lizard, given as Gila Monsters are normally known to be rather aggressive critters. “Bye!” Petal cheerfully signed off before hanging up. “Get well soon!” Dusty put down her phone and sighed. The pain was worse than ever now, and she figured a doctor’s visit was in order. Standing up, she hobbled out the door. ----- It was needless to say that the doctor was very alarmed to see his sheriff (who was almost never sick) walk slowly into his office. The young coyote let out a surprised yelp and immediately dropped his pen, allowing it to roll onto the floor before he bent down to pick it up. When he was done with that, he finally rushed over to Dusty, examining her closely. “Come with me,” he said after about a minute of scouring her face and delicately prodding her tail in an attempt to find out what was wrong, “I’ll take you to Doctor Mulligan.” (continued in notes and credits because of the darn word limit)
(continued. Read instructions first) Doctor Mulligan was a large bobcat. In the typical fashion of the residents in town, some part of him was plant matter. In this case, his tail bob was actually a cactus, just like hers. Dusty sat down on his table, waiting to be examined while the young coyote (who she would later learn was named Aloe) whispered a few words to Mulligan. Finally, the doctor came over. He carefully examined her, taking her temperature, asking about her symptoms, and taking notes. Finally, after much chatter and the sound of his pen scratching on paper, he stepped back and gave her the diagnosis. “You’re blooming.” “What?” “Blooming,” Doctor Mulligan elaborated, “Sheriff Dusty, your tail is blooming.” Dusty looked at him, incredulous. What on Earth did blooming mean in this case as a medical condition? “You’ll be fine,” he continued, noticing the look on her face, “It’s just that your tail is beginning to flower. I’m estimating that it will go into full bloom sometime this evening, although I can’t be entirely sure. You should head up to Flor Oasis very soon if this is your first time.” More silence and confusion. Mulligan sighed. “Flor means flower in Spanish.” “I knew that.” She replied. Mulligan tilted his head to one side. “So why do you seem so confused?” “I- well, I guess as you might put it, it’s my first time. I don’t even know what’s going to happen or where this oasis is!” she exclaimed in mild frustration. “I’m so confused!” Mulligan placed a paw on her shoulder and handed her a map. “You’re going to be ok. Don’t worry.” ----- The oasis was beautiful. Flowers of nearly every color and species native to the area bloomed all around, hence how Flor Oasis got its name. Joshua trees and juniper bushes also adorned the landscape around the large pool of water, accompanied by agaves and yuccas and even a few palm trees. Animals made soothing night sounds off in the brush, and Dusty could hear the howling of the coyotes at the nightclub back in town all the way from up where she now sat. She took a sip of the water in front of her and waited, watching the sun set slowly on the horizon. She hoped Mulligan was right about her diagnosis. He had told her that all first-time bloomers in the town came here and drank from the oasis. It was supposed to ease the stress and pain of the first few flowers. Dusty had to admit, she did feel better now that she was relaxed and hydrated. Now, all there was to do was wait until the sun finally finished sinking below the horizon and the moon had begun to shine a little. Dusty dozed off. When she regained consciousness, she began to feel a weird tingling in her tail. The sun had just finished disappearing, and the moon was out, shrouded by clouds. It was raining, and when she looked behind her at her tail, she gasped. There stood a small pink flower, the same color as her rug back home, blooming from her body. Another had also begun to appear, its color contrasting beautifully against its green background. She smiled, not daring to touch it, and allowed the rain to slick back her soft tan fur against her body, tilting her face up to feel the droplets on her snout. She laughed a little, unable to completely express the wonderful surge of happiness inside of her. She had done it. She had bloomed. ----- End.
