Okay, so a friend of mine,  Ale informed me (among others) that it was the month of FebROOary. The month where we're apparently supposed to celebrate our friend the Kanagroos and love… lots and lots of love. You know cause fat bunnies and hypno-bears both get a week. And Orcs get Orctober. It's only fair after all. I was kind of working on a Kangaroo character anyway, so I thought why not? Hope you guys enjoy my submission for the month of FebROOary.

{The following story is heavily based in the world of a book/movie called “Trading Mom” (or “The Mommy Market”) While the characters do belong to me, I feel the need to mention that the actual idea originally belongs to Director: Tia Brelis and the Writers: Nancy Brelis (novel), Tia Brelis (screenplay)}

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The Mommy Market, Shin Shinsetsu {you know, cause I can't think of a decent alternate title}

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A trio of siblings were sick of their mother for one reason or another, so they turn to a magical old gardener for some help. She provides them with a spell that takes their mother away along with any memories that they have of her specifically. However, with her gone they’re in need of a new mother. So their friend turns them toward a place in town called the Mommy Market, a magical place where you have three chances to get any mother you want. However, if you are unable to find a new mother by the third try, then you can never return.

Well, whether you heard that story or not, this tale is quite similar to that of little Shin Shinsetsu. Now Shin didn’t particularly hate his Asian mother, she was just not nearly as loving as most mothers are with their children. She just wouldn’t let up about his future. Yes, most mothers are like that, but no matter how hard Shin tried it was never good enough for her. Shin was barely in the third grade and she wouldn’t let up about how he would never be a doctor if he kept getting just A’s (and at worse B’s).

Shin’s father did try his best to raise their boy and keep his blushing bride happy as well. Youta Shinsetsu was a doctor himself, and he would take the boy to watch him work. Even that fact didn’t stop her when it came to Shin’s future. She would yell and manipulate those two until at the end of the day, both of them would be crying in their beds.

As you can imagine, Shin had had enough. If she wanted the perfect family to yell at, then she could be somebody else’s mother. Once he had learned of the incantation, he didn’t wait long at all to cast it. Sure enough, the next morning she was gone along with over half of the things in the house. He was excited at first, but then he saw how his father reacted.

Not being one of the casters of the incantation made it so that he couldn’t even remember that he had a wife before. All he could remember was that he was miserable all the years that he was raising his son. Yes, he still loved him dearly, but he felt as if he couldn’t do it all on his own.

Now here Shin was, all the way downtown in the old district, walking down Childers Lane. It wasn’t that hard to find, but it took his whole allowance to get there by bus. Luckily, the Mommy Market was only open on Sundays. Most people weren’t paying attention to an unattended eight year old as most of them were already home from church or gone to work (like his own father was).

Shin didn’t even have to worry about sneaking away from a babysitter as that job used to belong to his mother when she was still remembered. As far as his father remembered, Shin would always be safe alone at home on Sunday nights. Not that it really mattered. Their building had guards. Which, unbeknownst to his father, didn’t mind when Shin (or “Shin-shin” as they call him) snuck out. Shin would have found a way to get there somehow. He needed a new mother, no matter what.

Rounding the corner he saw it for the first time. The entire place was filled from wall to wall with stalls, much like at his school’s science fair. At each stall was a mother who would show off their skills to the best of their ability. Some were cooks, others were ballet dancers. There were fun moms, smart moms, strict moms and even rich moms. And as if that wasn’t enough, there where what felt like hundreds of kids running around looking at all the choices that they could make for new mothers. And then there was also a line of seemingly satisfied children leading back out of the market through a metal gate with a turnstile.

Shin actually felt kind of lost at first. There was just far too much to see. He even decided to sample some of the cook’s foods as he asked a few questions about them. He would have taken them, but decided against it. Sure they could cook, but he wasn’t just looking for a one trick pony. There was even a few mothers who seemed more well rounded.

Shin especially liked the mother who Shin figured was a zoo keeper. Her name was Emma. She was smart, kind with animals, and her favorite animal was the kangaroo. She proved this by having a live kangaroo named Scarlet in the stall with her and was answering every question presented to her about them. Kangaroo’s were Shin’s favorite too. She even knew how to cook and loved children who were studious. The only issue that Shin could see was that she was Black, not Asian.

It’s not that Shin was racist or anything (he was only eight afterall), but he didn’t want to have to explain how he’s full Asian when one of his parents was clearly not. Shin did find a few mothers who were the right race, but they were not what he was looking for. One mother in particular, Suzumi, she was a doctor. She acted all sweet at first, but she gave Shin the willies. He did not want her. Anyone but her. Shin was glad to let another kid take her.

“Hey, you kid,” the boy at the front stall shouted for Shin, “are you okay?”

“Yeah…,” Shin nodded at the big kid who looked like he was on the verge of 16, maybe a bit older, “you looking for a new mother too?”

“Oh, no. I work here,” the teen stretched out a hand to Shin, “the name’s Seton. Is this your first time to the Mommy Market?”

“Yeah,” Shin nodded, “you don’t seem to have a decent variety.”

“Why? Are none of them catching your eye?”

“Well, she did,” Shin pointed towards Suzumi leaving with her new family through the gate, before shivering, “but not in a good way.”

“I see…,” Seton thought this odd. Most people who cast the incantation do so because they don’t even realize what they already had. As such, they’d have a variety of mothers just for show and certain mothers with their real mother’s face that they’d naturally be drawn to and choose wrong. It was what the Mommy Market was really for after all. This one, obviously didn’t need to learn that particular lesson.

It was just then that that Suzumi started yelling at her new family the top of her lungs. Something about how she’d improve upon their miserable excuse for a report card of A’s and at worse B’s. Yipe… Shin really did Need a new mother.

“Whoa, you really dodged that bullet, huh?”

“I guess so,” Shin looked at his feet, “but she’s one of the only Asians here.”

“Why would that matter,” Seton explained, “as soon as you put your coin in and step through that gate, no one but you would be able to tell the difference.”

“What coin?”

“Oh, wow, I should have figured,” Seton bonked himself on the head. He then took the key from around his neck and unlocked a box that sat behind the counter. He then took out three coins, “see the Mommy Market has only one rule. Every family only get three picks to find a new mother. No exceptions. You use one of these coins when you find the model you want.”

“Oh, okay,” Shin said as he took his coins, “so… if I go through that gate with a new mother, what’s going to happen?”

“She’ll become your new mother or at least for a trial version. If you don’t like her then you can just return her. No questions aske-”

“No, I mean what happens exactly? Does she just slip into the open space left behind by my mother or do other things change too?”

“Oh, I see…,” Seton had to really think about this one. As long as he’s worked there, no one had ever not picked the ones that the spell had picked out for them. There was just no combination of this woman that Shin wanted. It also did peak Seton’s interest in what would happen, “Well, why not just pick one for a trial run? See what happens. You do have three chances after all.”

“Okay then,” Shin smiled as he walked away.

“Oh, and you better hurry up,” Seton shouted after him, “We’re closing at five.”

Seton was right. Shin did have three chances. He could pick whatever mother he wanted for his first one. Any one at all. He decided to go with the black zoo keeper. That one would create the most obvious changes and even if it didn’t Shin really wanted to visit the zoo where his new mother would be working at.

Shin quickly glanced at his watch. It was 4:45, plenty of time to pick up Emma and take her home. He hoped with all of his might that Emma wasn’t already taken in the thirty minutes that he had last seen her. He turned one of the corners. Yep, there she was. She (like most of the mothers at this time) was preparing to close down her stall.

“Emma!”

“Oh hey,” the zoo keeper turned to the boy, recognizing him instantly, “want to challenge me some more?”

“No, I wanna adopt you,” Shin announced, “You’re not taken yet are you?”

“Well, no,” Emma laughed for a moment before smiling, “Good-o. Never thought that I’d be picked by you. ‘Ang on.”

“Then let’s go,” Shin hopped up into her booth, “I’ll help you pack up.”

“Veg out, I don’t want my new son getting himself zonked out because of me.”

“I don’t mind,” Shin smiled, “we only got five minutes!”

Shin and Emma finished packing up her things, but then stopped to look at her Kangaroo. Part of her particular magical programing was to bring the beast along with her.

“Now Scarlet,” Emma put a tether on the roo’s collar, “I want you to be a good shelly in our new home.”

“She’s coming with us?”

“Well, of course,” Emma smiled, “where I go, Scarlet goes. She’s a real sweetheart.”

“Cool,” Shin’s heart skipped a beat. This was the best! The pair rushed to the exit as quickly as they could. There wasn’t much of a line, but Scarlet wasn’t being cooperative. Shin was worried that they wouldn’t make it. The three of them only had so long before the Mommy Market closed and then Shin would have to wait a whole week before he could try again.

Finally came their turn in line when Emma remembered something she forgot. She had to tell the manager, Seton, that she was going on an unexpected adoption. Being the last in line, the guards didn’t mind when Emma tied Scarlet to the gate. She was only going to be a moment.

“Just a tick,” Emma said as she moved to the manager’s booth.

Shin was fine with waiting by Scarlet until she got back. That is until he heard the chiming of clock tower not that far away. It was striking five now. Shin panicked, had to go through now. He put in his first coin in the slot and stepped through the turnstile. He was surprised to find that Scarlet was gripping the back of his hoodie the moment he stepped through.

He turned to see that Emma, Seton, and the others were running towards him. Shouting something along the lines of “wait! Don’t leave yet!”, but it was too late. The clock struck the last chime as Scarlet jumped through the turnstile. It was then that something magical happened, the Mommy Market vanished. There wasn’t even a shimmer or anything like that. Shin just blinked and it was just gone. Shin would have thought the whole thing was a dream if it weren’t for the fact that he was still standing with Scarlet the kangaroo.

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“Oh this is bad,” Seton stared at the brick wall that used to be the exit, “this is very bad.”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

“I don’t know, this has never happened before,” Seton was bitting his nails now, “no child has ever left through that gate without their new mother before.”

Seton calmed down after a while. There were no cosmic bolts of lighting, or any oddities that were occurring on their side of the magic spell. Despite this, Seton knew that something was very wrong. He used a coin, but didn’t get the mother that he picked out. However, there was nothing he could do about it now. The shop was closed and one chance was used. There are No Exceptions. All that anyone could do was wait until next Sunday for when Shin would return for his second chance.

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Let me tell you this. Getting a kangaroo home from the market is surprisingly not as tough as you may think. Shin didn’t have to worry about money for the bus back home, because he had the bag that happened to contain Emma’s wallet. As for Scarlet, she was actually much more well mannered than when they were trying to rush her before.

In fact, Shin didn’t have that much trouble leading her onto the mostly empty bus. The driver didn’t even notice that he had a wild animal on board. Shin didn’t mind so much, he figured that maybe Emma would be waiting for him back at home or something. He felt so uneasy at the moment. Scarlet reached an arm around Shin all the way till their stop. Shin almost fell asleep, if Scarlet didn’t stand up and pull on the emergency brake.

The bus driver slowly pulled to a stop, which was enough to reawaken Shin from his would be nap. He looked out the window to find that they had stopped right at their apartment building. He would have thought this strange if he were older and not so tired. He took Scarlet’s hand and walked her off the bus. She followed silently, so silently in fact that Shin didn’t even notice when Scarlet stopped hopping after him and started walking beside instead. Shin used one of the keys hidden under his shirt to open the front door.

The night guard, by the name of Dan, tilted his hat at the two of them, “good evening, Scarlet. Shin-shin.”

Shin tilted his head at this at first. How could he not see that there was a freaking kangaroo walking right there in front of him? Also how did he know that her name was Scarlet. He decided that it must have been part of the magic. Scarlet was their pet or something. Dogs weren’t allowed, but the rules didn’t say anything about kangaroos. Yeah, that made sense to the eight year old. What didn’t make sense was that Scarlet seemed to chuckle to herself when he said it.

What Shin failed to notice was that Dan’s eyes were changed from brown to a deep light blue. The pair of them entered the elevator. Shin tried to press the button to their floor, but it was higher than it usually was. That was also odd, but not as odd as Scarlet once again helping him by pushing the correct button for the two of them.

“Um, thanks,” Shin said to the towering beast.

She just smiled down at him and pet him on the head. Once the elevator reached it’s destination, Scarlet once again held Shin’s hand, followed by a quick lick on his scalp. She now led the way straight to the Shinsetsu residence. Okay, now Shin was getting worried. Even more so when Scarlet started to speak.

“Now hold on,” she reached over her shoulder and dug into a purse that Shin didn’t remember her having on the way up, “I know I’ve got my keys in here somewhere.”

“You can talk!”

“Well, of course I can silly,” Scarlet laughed as she pet Shin’s head, before digging in her bag again, “now where are those keys?”

“Where did… You don’t have… I’ve got them…,” Shin tried to process what was going on.

“Oh that’s right,” Scarlet reached down and pulled Shin’s keys off from around his neck, “I almost forgot. Silly of mommy, right?”

“Mommy?”

It now occurred to Shin that maybe messing with magical incantations to replace his mother, might not have been the smartest idea in the world. Scarlet opened the door to the apartment before Shin could ask any more important questions. Entering his home, Shin couldn’t recognize the place. It was as if everything had been replaced this time. Sure, more of his dad’s things were there too, but there was furniture there that he’d never seen before in his entire life.

“What is all this,” Shin asked as he took off his shoes and hung his jacket on the hook by the door.

“Oh I guess you didn’t know,” Scarlet explained, “once you pick a Mommy, everything changes as if she’s always been here.”

“So, you’re my new mother?”

“No I’m your Mommy. Please call me ‘Mommy’,” Scarlet hugged Shin, “I always wanted a little joey to call my own.”

“Hold on,” Shin was worried, “I can’t be your joey-er son.”

“And just why not?”

“You’re a kangaroo. I’m not,” Shin pointed out, “That’s why I wanted Emma.”

“So you want to send me back to the Mommy Market and get her instead,” Scarlet was a little downtrodden at this, “you really don’t wanna be my little joey, Shin-shin.”

“I just don’t think it will work,” Shin tried to say no, but the more he looked at Scarlet the more he felt sorry for her.

“Okay, then,” Scarlet was fighting back tears, she sat down on one of the chairs strangely built for her body structure, “but the market doesn’t open up again for another week. Can’t you at least give me a chance until then? Please Shin-shin?”

“Well,” Shin knew what she was doing, he felt like he’s seen this before. He was being manipulated, but he just couldn’t resist it, “okay, fine you can stay for now. But only for a week, okay?”

“Oh thank you,” Scarlet cheered with joy as she leaped up and embraced Shin in a big old hug, nuzzling the top of his head again, “I promise you wont regret this.”

“Okay! Okay! Just stop it,” Shin giggled, “Scarlet! That tickles!”

“Not until you call me ‘Mommy’ first,” she nuzzled again.

“No!”

“Say it,” Scarlet razzberried in his hair, “Say it my little joey!”

“No way,” Shin tried to push her away from his head, but was failing miserably. She was just too strong for him. He was distracted long enough that he couldn’t see that his ears were getting longer.

“Call me Mommy!”

“Alright fine,” Shin crossed his arms as Scarlet finally stopped, “thank you mommy…”

“That’s better,” Scarlet nodded with a smile, before she got started again, “now tell me that you’re my Joey!”

She actually caught Shin by surprise this time. As she went straight for his belly instead to razzberry. Shin barely had time to breath as she somehow managed to rip his shirt right off of him, He couldn’t even answer her if he tried, he was laughing too hard. He tried to kick her away with his growing feet, but she easily held them in place.

“Who’s mommy’s little joey,” she asked between razzberries, “Who’s mommy’s little joey, Shin-shin?”

“Heheeha! I am! I am! Me,” Shin screamed as his toes ripped right through his socks, “me me me! Ah, hahaha! Ha!”

“Say it all together now,” Scarlet shouted as she gave him one last blow right on his belly button.

“If it will get you to stop,” Shin finally could stop laughing as hard, “I’m mommy’s joey!”

“That’s better,” Scarlet smiled at him, before putting on her serious face, “now enough playtime. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

Shin froze up. He dreaded that term for some reason, “Um… yeeessss…?”

“And is your homework done?”

“Um…,” Shin had to think about it. The truth was that since his mother disappeared, he didn’t feel the dreaded need to get it done on friday night like he usually did, “no ma’am…”

“What do I keep telling you Shin-shin,” Scarlet glared at him before it turned into a devious smile, “call me Mommy!”

“Oh no,” Shin gasped as he tried to cover his exposed stomach, it didn’t matter as Scarlet was aiming for the top of his head anyway. Shin was so shocked at this that his new long ears popped right into place at the top of his head without him feeling a thing. Scarlet finally decided to lift Shin back up on his feet. She lightly smacked the back of his pants, hoping that would be where the magic would hit him next.

“Now hop to your homework little joey, while I get dinner started,” Scarlet hopped back up to her now more anthropomorphic feet. Shin took note of this as he slowly started making his way to his room, “I said hop to it!”

Shin didn’t even question whether she was just making a pun or being literal about it. He just made a mad dash for the rest of the way to his room and shut the door. Now Shin did a double take. He barely recognized his room. Somehow it was much more roomy than before (and not just because he was getting smaller). No, something he held very dear was gone!

“Scarlet,” Shin shouted as he started to climb up to his desk. When did this get so hard?

“What did you call me!?!”

“I mean, mommy,” Shin realized his mistake just as he missed a step up the chair to his desk.

“Yes, my sweet little joey?”

“What happened to my bed?”

Shin heard only silence for a moment, before Scarlet laughingly replied, “just get your homework done or you wont be seeing your bed tonight!”

The still shrinking Shin didn’t question what Scarlet meant. He felt like he’s heard those words before. The truth was that his old mother said the exact same thing before, not that he could remember it. All he thought was, ‘she is so going back to the market if she doesn’t give me back my bed.’

“Did you hear me, little Shin-shin? Get started on that homework!”

“Yes Ma’ah-Mommy! Yes, mommy!”

“Such a smart joey”, Scarlet pat her belly as she took a look at herself. She liked what was happening to her body. She then walked over to the kitchen area, doing a little hop for each of the last three steps. She then wiggled her large tail, while putting on her apron. It felt so right to do that before she got started on a big dinner. She didn’t question she how knew to do any of this. She really didn’t care. She had a joey to take care of and a mate, who would be starving by the time he got home tonight.

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I may continue this story if enough people like it so far. I might not. Either way, I gave my two cents and I'm proud of it. I can't wait for a visit from the Valentine Kangaroo. I want those heart shaped peeps! Or at least some Dunkaroos. I haven't had a dunkaroo for so long…

Part Two. Love Father, Love Son