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Kevin FoxBoy 6) Kitchen Duty

Why was she doing these things? Why had she looked at me at the Vet's when she ignored me that morning leading me to training? What did she want me to do? Why not just Command me as Humans did, as she had done before? I had learned not to talk while I was chained and led, but Mistress Pamela, the Vet, and now Betty the Chrome Collar foxgirl were all teaching me to want, to need more training!

In the kitchen Betty unchained my paws and brought me to a sink. Wash your paws. She started telling me more words. Knife, fork, spoon, napkin. Table, chair, place mat, place setting. Bowl, plate, water glass. Take the clean flat things to the table. Put them just this way on the place mat. Bring a deep tray with hot water to the table, put the used flat things in, bring them back. Put them one by one in the very deep tray. Make sure they don't stick together or have food on them. Fill the very deep tray with flat things, put in all the things from the tray with water. Close the door, push a button, hear water move quickly. Make sure the flat things don't hit each other. Put all the water from the tray in the sink. Tell her if it doesn't all go down.

It was a lot to learn at once. Wait for the light to go out. Open the door slowly to avoid the very hot air with water in it. Wash your paws again while the flat things cool. Take out the hot flat things. Put them in groups by size and shape. Put the other flat things already in groups on top so they get used first. That's how they get to be clean flat things you take to the table. And always: if you forget, or it doesn't look the way I showed you, come tell me or another Chrome Collar. We'll make sure it all works right so the Humans don't get mad.

That rule I already knew from Whips and Pain: do everything right so the Humans don't get mad! Beg for help to get it right. Now I had other slaves to help me, but only if I forgot or couldn't do the work right. Betty and other slaves helped me learn Kitchen Duty.

* * *

I learned Kitchen Duty for a few days. My paws were always unchained but held about a meter apart by leather strips tied to my wrist cuffs and waist cuff. The chain might hurt the flat things, the 'food plates'. They did look a little like the lock plates for the doors, and the push plates at the sink for water and soap. My training was opening my mind to think. Now I knew that a word went away from just a different word for each thing; one thing could hold other things and one word could mean a group of things.

I learned Canine group meant wolf, fox, dog; Feline group meant lion, tiger, leopard, kitty. Mix group meant all of them and more. I had not known why Humans called me Kevin or Fox or Boy or FoxBoy or just You; now I knew each group used different parts of a thing to get its name. I was part of Male because of my hanging Balls, part of Boy because I was still young, part of Fox because of my snout shape; but why part of Kevin? Was I the only Kevin?

I was and still am Kevin FoxBoy Four Seven; I'm still a FoxBoy but older than Boy. Yes, there were other Kevins, not all foxes. There were even Humans called Kevin! Whip and Pain had taught me to name them all Master, before I knew that too was a group. A Human named Pamela Wilson was different than a Human named Pamela Harris, but I named both of them Mistress Pamela. There were even more Humans named Wilson, and more named Harris. These names were groups, too!

It was too much for me to learn at once. I was given time after Duty to think and learn, then I would have to know and Obey. One day as Betty the Chrome Collar foxgirl led me Upstairs from Kennel towards Hallway she dropped my leash. I walked around her to Door as usual before I smelled something, stopped, and turned around. I was afraid when I saw her bent over partway, and frozen when I saw blood on her thighs!

On Kitchen Duty I had seen blood for the first time when a short Mouse had slipped on a wet floor and hurt himself. A Human looked over from eating, got up, and walked quickly to a door plate. It wasn't the Open plate so I hadn't used it. She spoke quickly but I knew the words Vet, Come Quickly, and Slave Hurt Bad. And Kitchen was where I was, where the Mouse was. I ran over to the Human without thinking and knelt as the slave I was, and begged Her to say if I could do something to ... Help. She looked at me silently for long enough that I got afraid, but just as I ducked my head the Vet ran in and She just said "Mouse. Kitchen."

The Vet went over to the Mouse and gave him a Shot so he stopped screaming. The Mistress asked me if I really wanted to help and I said "Yes, Mistress. May a slave Obey?" She looked over at the Vet who told me to Come and Hold Down the Mouse while He got -- something. I knew it was not the time to ask Him what word, He gave me an Order, so I Obeyed. The mouse's left back paw was at an odd angle and had red water on it and the floor. My tummy felt like it was jumping out, so I looked away but held the Mouse.

The Vet looked at my steel collar and called me a Good Boy. I wanted to kneel at His feet as a slave should but He told me to Stay. The Mouse seemed to be asleep from the Shot but moved feebly as the Vet made his leg straight and moved the paw. It made an odd noise, like a Human boot on the crushed stone of the No Mixes parts of the Kennel. My tummy wanted to jump out again, but I held it in. The Vet called out for a tub of water. I had been told to Stay, who would get it? I was mind-frozen again when the Human who called the Vet went and got it Herself! She knew what to do, and just did it instead of Ordering a mix! Now I was big afraid. All this just for a slave? Oh, to rinse the red water.

The Vet called me Kevin and told me to lift up the Mouse. I was stronger than a Human at my age and the Mouse was small. I held him close to me as the Vet held his leg from moving and told me to get up and come to his Office, where he had felt me. Both of us went out of the Kitchen through doors that were already open to the Vet's Office. I put the Mouse down on the steel table and He told me to go back to the Kitchen, He had work to do. He broke open a bag as I turned to go, and the bad smell made me run to the Toilet near the Shower because my tummy was jumping again and wouldn't Stay. Then I rinsed my mouth at the Sink and went back to the Kitchen.

I went back alone. There was no Human to lead me. Not even a Chrome Collar slave. How could I do this, go past the doors? They opened when I pushed, the Vet hadn't closed them. When I got back to the Kitchen, the other slaves and even the Mistress wanted to hear about the Mouse. I said that the Vet was working and told me to come back to Duty. Alone. She paused and looked at me but before I got afraid again She said "So you knew the way, without being led?" I said, "Y-Yes Mistress." "And you came back without looking around, just here?" Again, "Yes, Mistress." "OK, back to Duty, everyone!"

It was a few days later I saw Betty's blood. My tummy moved but Stayed Down. I couldn't go past the door ahead of me or behind me without her. I didn't mind-freeze but it felt like someone else was moving my paw to the door plate, not the Open plate. I heard a noise from the above voice-plates and spoke to Beg, "Please, Masters, help a slave in fear. Betty the foxgirl has blood on her and I don't see the Vet!" I let up on the plate as I had seen the Mistress do earlier.

I heard an angry Human voice from the voice-plates. "Who the -- something -- is that? A slave on the in -- something ?! Tell me what and where you are! Push the plate again! Now!" I got afraid but Obeyed and Pushed the Plate again. My voice didn't want to work but I pushed out "K-Ke-Kevin F-Foxboy F-Four S-Seven from K-Kennel Nine at H-Hallway with B-Betty Foxgirl. She's Hurt!" Then I let up on the plate. "Stay right there! We'll get you and -- something ..." I only heard the word Stay.

Soon a Human walked quickly through the other Hallway Door. I fell to my knees and saw Betty try to get down, too, but she fell over and moaned. The Human told me to Stay again, went near her, and told her to Kneel. She tried to Obey but then the Human saw the blood and talked to His hand. I saw it wasn't really His hand but He held something that talked back. More Human secrets. The Human Guard called for the Vet who came and rubbed His eyes like He didn't want to see. I knew I didn't and kept my eyes looking down at my open knees.

The Vet told me to come help Betty. My paws pushed my tummy down as I Obeyed. The Vet saw this and spoke very gently to me, "She's not hurt bad, Kevin. I need you to be a grown-up fox now and help her to stand." I put my paws under her hips and shoulders and lifted her. She took her own weight back and stood up, but then her knees bent and she pushed big on me. I held her and looked at the Guard then the Vet. Betty tried to stand again and stayed up. "Please, Masters, it hurts here." She held her left paw just below her tummy and her right above it to her right side. She and I were just slave mixes so she didn't talk to me.

I was getting to know the way to the Vet well. I helped Betty as the Guard got more mixes to clean up the floor. The Vet walked with us to open and close doors. I was feeling warmer than I should just from helping Betty walk and begged to tell the Vet. He turned around to look and stared at me. Not my snout or collar but where her tail brushed my leg. He laughed a little and told me it was OK, just keep walking. At the Vet I helped Betty on the table, and asked Master Vet if a slave may know, where is the Mouse?

I saw him in an unlocked cage in the Vet's Kennel, lying with his legs out, sleeping. His ankle was broken from the fall and would take time to heal. The Vet had told me these words the day he'd felt me. I asked if I had helped the Mouse and the Vet seemed surprised but said Yes. And please may a slave help Betty too? Do you really want to, or did a Human tell you to ask? No Human, may I help?

The Vet looked at me gently and said Are you a grown-up fox now, Kevin? I was just a little older than a Human at six, but I'd done Wash Myself, Kitchen Duty, Carry Duty and Walk Help. I could do more. I was Growing Up. I needed to do more for Betty. I still had no idea why her tail felt good on my leg. But she needed me, I would help her, unless Master told me to go to other Duty. The Vet told me to come hold Betty's paws, not like Chains would hold her but just so she knew another mix was there. She smiled at me as our paws met but then gritted her teeth as more pain hit her. Her paws hurt mine for a second then relaxed.

The Vet gave Betty a Shot and she relaxed. Now the Vet felt her, starting at her back paws up her legs. No pain there. He moved to her front paws, pushing gently at her fingers and wrists. No pain, good. Arms up to shoulders. Closed snout, face, head, ears. He was feeling her a lot more than he had felt me, maybe she was hurt bad? Betty! Any pain where I touch you? Not yet, Master. She was giggling, I didn't know why. Something in that Shot? I remembered the drink He gave me, that made everything smell good, and I just watched, to learn more.

Now Betty's breathing changed. I got afraid, and the Vet stopped feeling her. She calmed down and He started again, down her neck, shoulders, chest,... How was any of this helping her tummy or side, where she said it hurt? But she wasn't gritting her teeth or pushing my paws. He paused at her chest, then bent down to listen to her breath or heartbeat as he slowly moved his hands over her. I'd seen Betty before wearing just the fur and Chrome Collar as she led me to Duty but this was the first time I saw her chest was rounder than mine. I looked down at myself and back at Betty; yes, her chest was rounder. Is that what hurt her, the roundness?

Suddenly I heard the Vet speak sharply to me, Kevin! Are you paying attention?! I let go of Betty and hit the floor with a thud even before He finished speaking. I cowered and whimpered on my knees as the slave I was, until He said it was OK, come and hold ... um ... the fox ... girl. He was looking at my legs again. What was it with the Vet and my legs? He'd taken time with Betty's thighs, and I thought it was just where the red water, the blood, was coming from. Now I wondered, legs? Something about her legs, my legs, fox legs, mix legs? All legs? I'd seen him look at Mistresses' legs walking away; but I'd seen all the Masters, looking at Mistresses. I was just afraid to look too.

Now the Vet was feeling Betty again. She'd had more pain but the Shot was making it a lot less. She was breathing slower again but cried out in pain when He pushed her side. He said He didn't mean to hurt her, he wasn't angry, but her pain had told him where to look next. He got out something and we both stared at it thoroughly confused, because it looked like a Kitchen salad server but with a wheel between the grip parts. He told me to close my eyes, I wasn't old enough to see what he did next, just stay with ... um ... Betty so she wouldn't be afraid. All three of us knew I couldn't stop anything that would scare her, but I Obeyed.

Even when I heard Betty giggle again, take in her breath and hold it, and wiggle around.