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In the Family Way
© 2013 by Walter D. Reimer
(Characters courtesy of
Major Matt Mason and 
EOCostello
The story of the duCleds relationship and marriage can be found on the Spontoon Island website, in the following stories:
Inocenta Until Proven Guilty
Valentine's Dazed
The I Do's of March
Art by
TheTiedTigress
______________________________________________
Part 5.
Les:
As soon as we got up to our rooms in the east wing I apologized to Inocenta for my cousins’ behavior, and she told me that she didn’t care about them.
“Is mean,” she said.
I couldn’t argue. Tom and Dick really have a lot of time on their paws. Last I heard, the last job each of them had was a paper route when they were in primary school. And they botched that.
So they live with their mother, Aunt Catherine. I think she supposed that they would be the supports of her old age.
Instead of being millstones around her neck.
“I’m sorry, love,” I said. I’d said it before, but it needed to be said again. “Trust me, not all of my relatives are like that.” I thought a moment before adding, “Just the closest ones.”
“Is no matter, my darling Leslie-puppy,” Inocenta said. “Inocenta no marry them – pouf! Inocenta marry the padre of her sweet puppy-fawn.”
There was no way I could argue about that, so I kissed her.
Dinner was still a couple hours off, so we stretched out to take a brief nap.
Funny how a nap, post-marriage, can end up being so strenuous.
I might need a nap after my nap.
We freshened up and changed clothes for dinner, and we met the staff that Uncle Pierre had engaged for us. My valet was a beaver named Stewart and Inocenta’s maid was his wife Ellen. Very quiet and (after we said hello and made it clear that we weren’t going to treat them as servants) friendly.
Stewart also looked . . . disturbingly familiar. Couldn't put my finger on anything specific, though.
So cleaned up, dressed appropriately for dinner and armed with empty stomachs, we headed downstairs.
Herne was waiting for us at the foot of the stairs. “The rest of the family await you in the drawing room, Master Leslie. Drinks are being served.”
“Oh. Thanks, Herne.” I offered my arm to my wife and we walked off.
The drawing room reflected a lot of the family history – Victorian-style furnishings and watered silk wall coverings in a medium red, heavy furniture and the walls covered with paintings and photographs of generations of duCledses. Over the central fireplace a huge portrait of Irenee duCleds, the founder of the Family who emigrated from France back in the 1790s, dominated the room.
I used to really hate this room. It always felt like the Old Man’s eyes followed me around with a disapproving glare.
Aunt Catherine had taken the best seat in the room (as if she had a right to it – and with a pregnant doe in the room, too), fussed over by her nurse. The nurse wasn’t necessary, as it was well-known that my oldest aunt was as healthy as a herd of horses. But she always acted as if she were about to die in the next ten minutes. Richard and Thomas, drinks in paws, hovered nearby.
Uncle Pierre and Aunt Toni stood by the fireplace, and Toni was talking to my Aunt Louise. Louise was dressed to the nines in her latest creation (she had gone into the fashion business in Gnu York, and was moderately successful). She eyed us through a thin haze of smoke that issued from a cigarette she held in a long holder.
Seated in a wheelchair between Aunt Catherine and Uncle Pierre was my Great-uncle Baltasar, the oldest member of the family. A pretty Irish wolfhound in a white starched nurse’s uniform stood behind him.
Aunt Marie was also there, with her husband Charles and her only son Louis. I recall Louis being a lot thinner as a child.
He looks like a Zeppelin now, and he sipped at a martini as he looked around at the rest of the relatives as if about to make a speech. Not surprising, really – he was a three-term Congressman (Republican, of course; the family’s rock-ribbed conservatives to a fur) from a district up in Pennsylvania. Uncle Charles was in shipping, and he smiled pleasantly.
My second cousins Jeff, Pete Boggs and Lucille were talking together and had all stopped to watch us as we entered. Pete (his mother was related to my Great-uncle Andrew, I think) was a chemist at the duCleds Powder Works. For a guy who was a bit of a firebug as a kid, he was doing okay.
Lucille was in graduate school, studying medicine; she tossed back her blonde headfur and smiled at Inocenta.
Jeff looked a bit shocked.
“Hello, everyone,” I said, getting an encouraging nod and smile from Uncle Pete. “I want you all to meet my wife Inocenta.” I then introduced her around to everyone. When I reached Jeff I asked, “Where is Madeleine?” He was her brother.
“Upstairs,” he said. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Inocenta, looking a bit curious.
“She’ll be down for dinner, Les,” Lucille added, and almost giggled at my almost palpable relief. She turned to Inocenta and gave her a brief hug. “I’ve been wanting to meet you, and I know Cousin Maddy will be happy to see you too.”
Inocenta said, “Inocenta look forward to meeting Cousin Madeleine.”
A few freshened their drinks, while Inocenta had a glass of lemonade and I had a martini. Stirred; Inocenta could see that I was taking care of the shaking myself.
Tom kept maneuvering around, trying to circulate and say hello while keeping furniture between him and my wife’s hooves. It looked like Tom had learned a few things, showing that he’s at least capable of learning.
We stood or sat around for what seemed like hours but was actually only about thirty minutes before Herne was again at the door. “Dinner is served, Mister duCleds.”
“Thank you, Herne,” Uncle Pierre said, and took Toni’s paw. “Shall we go in?”
***
Inocenta:
Inocenta glad that the Herne-buck say it is the time for dinner.
The kicking of the shins give Inocenta an appetite.
Leslie-puppy take me by the paw and we follow Tio Pierre and Tia Toni into large room all in very dark wood with many windows looking out into the forest as the sun goes down. It is very pretty, and the table it is set so nice!
Leslie-puppy hold out a chair for Inocenta, as a proper gentlemel should do, and sit down himself on Tio Pierre’s right paw. Tia Toni sit to her mate’s left.
Tia Caterina sit at far end of the table.
It suit Inocenta well. Out of the sight, out of the mind.
Cousin Madeleine sit facing Inocenta. She is a doggy, like her darling Leslie-puppy, but very slim and sweet-looking. She have a nurse with her. Something about way Cousin Madeleine look at Inocenta make Inocenta glad there is a table between them.
The first course arrive, a very tasty soup of cream and asparagus for Inocenta while others have lobster bisque. For while there is no sound but spoons and slurps.
When the main course arrive Cousin Madeleine ask me, “So, you are my Cousin Leslie’s wife, huh?”
“Si.”
She look the delighted and she answer in the Español! Que magnifico! We start to talk, and she tell me that she is in the hospital most of the year.
“Porque?” I ask.
“La gente dice que soy enfermo,” she reply, “pero mi mente está realmente bastante clara.” She say no more, because the elderly fur, her Great-uncle Baltasar, wake up and start yelling.
Inocenta no make out what the yelling is for, and his nurse quiet him down.
The main course arrive.
It is the roast of beef everyone else has; Inocenta has the delicious grill of tomatoes con pesto, with the steamed baby carrots and a baked potato. Como es delicioso! There is the water and a muy small glass of the white wine for to drink.
Inocenta wonder why it is so quiet. No one is talking.
Perhaps they are all eating. Cousin Louis look like the fur who enjoy many meals very much, and no miss them.
Tia Caterina look like her food taste bad.
Inocenta enjoy her dinner.
Dessert is the light tart of fruit and cream, and Inocenta promise herself to thank the furs who make the food in the kitchen.
The fork hit the plate like the peal of thunder, and all look at Tia Caterina as she say, “Pierre, I want to talk to you.”
***
Les:
Talk about tension.
Throughout dinner it was thick enough you could have served it with horseradish sauce in lieu of the roast beef and no one would have noticed.
Uncle Pete sipped at his coffee and asked, “What, Catherine?”
“It’s about my allowance – “
“Now is not the time for this conversation, Sis.”
She glared at him. “I say it is.”
“It’s not as if you have a vote.”
Aunt Catherine seethed, ears back, and gave me a look that could have burned my fur off. Turning her attention back to my uncle she growled, “The directors – “
“Answer to me, not you. I’ve had my paws full putting us in a safe position, and I won’t jeopardize that simply because of the Three B’s.”
My aunt went pale and crested, but kept her yap shut. I could sense a family meeting in the offing, and was very happy that I wasn’t going to be part of it.
Or maybe I was. I was the one who stood to inherit the company when Uncle Pete retired.
Oh, my life.
The others had looked from one end of the table to the other like my aunt and uncle were engaged in a tennis match, and everyone looked at me as I cleared my throat.
“Well, shall we step into the drawing room for drinks and cigars?” I tried to smile in a winning way as I suggested this.
My generation looked pleased with the idea.
Inocenta nodded.
Uncle Pete and Aunt Toni looked at each other.
My aunts looked like . . . well, I’ll reserve that language to myself.
NEXT
FIRST
PREVIOUS
© 2013 by Walter D. Reimer
(Characters courtesy of
Major Matt Mason and 
EOCostelloThe story of the duCleds relationship and marriage can be found on the Spontoon Island website, in the following stories:
Inocenta Until Proven Guilty
Valentine's Dazed
The I Do's of March
Art by
TheTiedTigress______________________________________________
Part 5.
Les:
As soon as we got up to our rooms in the east wing I apologized to Inocenta for my cousins’ behavior, and she told me that she didn’t care about them.
“Is mean,” she said.
I couldn’t argue. Tom and Dick really have a lot of time on their paws. Last I heard, the last job each of them had was a paper route when they were in primary school. And they botched that.
So they live with their mother, Aunt Catherine. I think she supposed that they would be the supports of her old age.
Instead of being millstones around her neck.
“I’m sorry, love,” I said. I’d said it before, but it needed to be said again. “Trust me, not all of my relatives are like that.” I thought a moment before adding, “Just the closest ones.”
“Is no matter, my darling Leslie-puppy,” Inocenta said. “Inocenta no marry them – pouf! Inocenta marry the padre of her sweet puppy-fawn.”
There was no way I could argue about that, so I kissed her.
Dinner was still a couple hours off, so we stretched out to take a brief nap.
Funny how a nap, post-marriage, can end up being so strenuous.
I might need a nap after my nap.
We freshened up and changed clothes for dinner, and we met the staff that Uncle Pierre had engaged for us. My valet was a beaver named Stewart and Inocenta’s maid was his wife Ellen. Very quiet and (after we said hello and made it clear that we weren’t going to treat them as servants) friendly.
Stewart also looked . . . disturbingly familiar. Couldn't put my finger on anything specific, though.
So cleaned up, dressed appropriately for dinner and armed with empty stomachs, we headed downstairs.
Herne was waiting for us at the foot of the stairs. “The rest of the family await you in the drawing room, Master Leslie. Drinks are being served.”
“Oh. Thanks, Herne.” I offered my arm to my wife and we walked off.
The drawing room reflected a lot of the family history – Victorian-style furnishings and watered silk wall coverings in a medium red, heavy furniture and the walls covered with paintings and photographs of generations of duCledses. Over the central fireplace a huge portrait of Irenee duCleds, the founder of the Family who emigrated from France back in the 1790s, dominated the room.
I used to really hate this room. It always felt like the Old Man’s eyes followed me around with a disapproving glare.
Aunt Catherine had taken the best seat in the room (as if she had a right to it – and with a pregnant doe in the room, too), fussed over by her nurse. The nurse wasn’t necessary, as it was well-known that my oldest aunt was as healthy as a herd of horses. But she always acted as if she were about to die in the next ten minutes. Richard and Thomas, drinks in paws, hovered nearby.
Uncle Pierre and Aunt Toni stood by the fireplace, and Toni was talking to my Aunt Louise. Louise was dressed to the nines in her latest creation (she had gone into the fashion business in Gnu York, and was moderately successful). She eyed us through a thin haze of smoke that issued from a cigarette she held in a long holder.
Seated in a wheelchair between Aunt Catherine and Uncle Pierre was my Great-uncle Baltasar, the oldest member of the family. A pretty Irish wolfhound in a white starched nurse’s uniform stood behind him.
Aunt Marie was also there, with her husband Charles and her only son Louis. I recall Louis being a lot thinner as a child.
He looks like a Zeppelin now, and he sipped at a martini as he looked around at the rest of the relatives as if about to make a speech. Not surprising, really – he was a three-term Congressman (Republican, of course; the family’s rock-ribbed conservatives to a fur) from a district up in Pennsylvania. Uncle Charles was in shipping, and he smiled pleasantly.
My second cousins Jeff, Pete Boggs and Lucille were talking together and had all stopped to watch us as we entered. Pete (his mother was related to my Great-uncle Andrew, I think) was a chemist at the duCleds Powder Works. For a guy who was a bit of a firebug as a kid, he was doing okay.
Lucille was in graduate school, studying medicine; she tossed back her blonde headfur and smiled at Inocenta.
Jeff looked a bit shocked.
“Hello, everyone,” I said, getting an encouraging nod and smile from Uncle Pete. “I want you all to meet my wife Inocenta.” I then introduced her around to everyone. When I reached Jeff I asked, “Where is Madeleine?” He was her brother.
“Upstairs,” he said. He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off Inocenta, looking a bit curious.
“She’ll be down for dinner, Les,” Lucille added, and almost giggled at my almost palpable relief. She turned to Inocenta and gave her a brief hug. “I’ve been wanting to meet you, and I know Cousin Maddy will be happy to see you too.”
Inocenta said, “Inocenta look forward to meeting Cousin Madeleine.”
A few freshened their drinks, while Inocenta had a glass of lemonade and I had a martini. Stirred; Inocenta could see that I was taking care of the shaking myself.
Tom kept maneuvering around, trying to circulate and say hello while keeping furniture between him and my wife’s hooves. It looked like Tom had learned a few things, showing that he’s at least capable of learning.
We stood or sat around for what seemed like hours but was actually only about thirty minutes before Herne was again at the door. “Dinner is served, Mister duCleds.”
“Thank you, Herne,” Uncle Pierre said, and took Toni’s paw. “Shall we go in?”
***
Inocenta:
Inocenta glad that the Herne-buck say it is the time for dinner.
The kicking of the shins give Inocenta an appetite.
Leslie-puppy take me by the paw and we follow Tio Pierre and Tia Toni into large room all in very dark wood with many windows looking out into the forest as the sun goes down. It is very pretty, and the table it is set so nice!
Leslie-puppy hold out a chair for Inocenta, as a proper gentlemel should do, and sit down himself on Tio Pierre’s right paw. Tia Toni sit to her mate’s left.
Tia Caterina sit at far end of the table.
It suit Inocenta well. Out of the sight, out of the mind.
Cousin Madeleine sit facing Inocenta. She is a doggy, like her darling Leslie-puppy, but very slim and sweet-looking. She have a nurse with her. Something about way Cousin Madeleine look at Inocenta make Inocenta glad there is a table between them.
The first course arrive, a very tasty soup of cream and asparagus for Inocenta while others have lobster bisque. For while there is no sound but spoons and slurps.
When the main course arrive Cousin Madeleine ask me, “So, you are my Cousin Leslie’s wife, huh?”
“Si.”
She look the delighted and she answer in the Español! Que magnifico! We start to talk, and she tell me that she is in the hospital most of the year.
“Porque?” I ask.
“La gente dice que soy enfermo,” she reply, “pero mi mente está realmente bastante clara.” She say no more, because the elderly fur, her Great-uncle Baltasar, wake up and start yelling.
Inocenta no make out what the yelling is for, and his nurse quiet him down.
The main course arrive.
It is the roast of beef everyone else has; Inocenta has the delicious grill of tomatoes con pesto, with the steamed baby carrots and a baked potato. Como es delicioso! There is the water and a muy small glass of the white wine for to drink.
Inocenta wonder why it is so quiet. No one is talking.
Perhaps they are all eating. Cousin Louis look like the fur who enjoy many meals very much, and no miss them.
Tia Caterina look like her food taste bad.
Inocenta enjoy her dinner.
Dessert is the light tart of fruit and cream, and Inocenta promise herself to thank the furs who make the food in the kitchen.
The fork hit the plate like the peal of thunder, and all look at Tia Caterina as she say, “Pierre, I want to talk to you.”
***
Les:
Talk about tension.
Throughout dinner it was thick enough you could have served it with horseradish sauce in lieu of the roast beef and no one would have noticed.
Uncle Pete sipped at his coffee and asked, “What, Catherine?”
“It’s about my allowance – “
“Now is not the time for this conversation, Sis.”
She glared at him. “I say it is.”
“It’s not as if you have a vote.”
Aunt Catherine seethed, ears back, and gave me a look that could have burned my fur off. Turning her attention back to my uncle she growled, “The directors – “
“Answer to me, not you. I’ve had my paws full putting us in a safe position, and I won’t jeopardize that simply because of the Three B’s.”
My aunt went pale and crested, but kept her yap shut. I could sense a family meeting in the offing, and was very happy that I wasn’t going to be part of it.
Or maybe I was. I was the one who stood to inherit the company when Uncle Pete retired.
Oh, my life.
The others had looked from one end of the table to the other like my aunt and uncle were engaged in a tennis match, and everyone looked at me as I cleared my throat.
“Well, shall we step into the drawing room for drinks and cigars?” I tried to smile in a winning way as I suggested this.
My generation looked pleased with the idea.
Inocenta nodded.
Uncle Pete and Aunt Toni looked at each other.
My aunts looked like . . . well, I’ll reserve that language to myself.
NEXT
FIRST
PREVIOUS
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Dog (Other)
Size 618 x 800px
File Size 201.6 kB
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