Nano-Sapiens: Carter and the Thanksgiving Consultation

Carter and the Thanksgiving Consultation

Carter shook himself. The shake started at his big, black nose. It worked its way down through his body – his long, double coat of black and white Newfoundland fur floofed out as the shake moved down to his tail. He let out a sigh as his tail expanded to its full bush like fluff before he sat.

Then he called up the stairs, his translated voice coming from near the blue LED on his collar. “Kathy, are you ready?”

His young, human friend moved out of the shadows at the top of the stairs. Her face turned darker than normal as she shook her head. “I don’t wanna to go.”

Inside, Carter sighed. Kathy’s parents, Edmund and Raihana, had warned him Kathy was going through a shy stage. He could smell the sour burst as she thought of interacting with other humans. He tried to remember how, as graduate students, her parents had tried to coax him into saying something other than “sheep”.

“Come on down,” he insisted. “I have a surprise for you.”

Curiosity warred with resignation as the little girl crept down the stairs. Finally, she stood in front of him, her bright blue jeans and yellow sweatshirt contrasting strongly against his white and black fur. Her “maroon” Texas A&M purse, a strange human only color that looked the same as UT burnt orange, was a dark shadow against the other vibrant colors. A warm hint of cinnamon fought the sour shyness.

“First, we’re taking an EMX Barker autonomous flying car taxi to see Aunt Beccy, Uncle Woody, and Brinkley.”

He waited expectantly, but the girl’s face remained impassive. He could smell the untranslatable scent of her disappointment. Oops, he thought. Boys like tech toys. Not girls. My little sister, Valerie, liking the new taxi service made me forget.

He tried again. “I brought something for you to borrow.”

His collar muffled his voice as he reached behind him to grab something. “You have to promise to take care of him. I’ve had him my whole life.”

Kathy, finally won over, moved closer and received the drool-dripping prize into an outstretched hand. “This is my sheep. It smells like family.”

Kneeling his best friend, other than her brother, wrapped her arms around him, ignoring the drool on his mane as readily as she’d ignored it on the little stuffed animal. “Oh! Carter! This means so much to you.”

Her little-girl voice became adult serious for a moment, and her scent cleared to be just Kathy, instead of a sharp tones of fear. “I will take exceptional care of him for you.”

***

She spent most of the drive reading on her phone, the little sheep in the crook of one arm. He’d barely gotten the title and author from her. It was L. Neil Smith’s The Probability Broach. She did offer that while it had talking gorillas and dolphins, there were no talking dogs – although it sounded like another book had a talking coyote.

For the most part, Carter lost himself in the trip. He never tired of looking down at the cars below every time the cold gas jets came on and they “flew” off one of the new ramps that had replaced overpasses. Timothy, his Maine Coon cat dad, had told him it made freeways cheaper to maintain and allowed for more greenery.

All too soon in his opinion, they were at his aunt and uncle’s house.

Kathy slipped the sheep and her phone into the big maroon purse. “How are you related to them?”

Seeing the waiting faces as the car landed in the street, Carter gave a meaningless boof of happiness. “I’m not. But they helped Mom and Dad when we first moved into our own home. And they just became my aunt and uncle, despite being ridiculously allergic to cats.”

He never got to introduce them. For a non-Nano-Sapiens dog, Brinkley, his aunt and uncle’s Newfoundland dog, was normally really well behaved. But the black Newfoundland was just too happy to see Carter, whose nanos took a short break as he played in pure giant-breed dog style with Brinkley.

They played together as only giant breed dogs can play together. Romping and roaring. Turning and rolling. Until all they could do was pant.

Fortunately for the yard and the nearby humans, neither Newfie could continue galumphing about too long. By the time Uncle Woody had coaxed a once-again shy Kathy to reveal her name, the two dogs were ready to follow everyone else inside.

Carter could smell the effort Kathy made, but she quickly grabbed Brinkley and, once inside, hid herself behind him, returning to her book.

Carter turned his attention to his two human extended-pack members. His uncle’s short, dark, blonde hair was still the same, but his aunt had changed the style of her lighter blond hair. Again. He admired humans’ their ability to make those sorts of style choices – as a Newfie he was mostly limited to well-groomed or scruffy.

Uncle Woody nodded at him and tilted his head towards where Brinkley and Kathy were cuddled together. “We actually asked you over to talk about Brinkley.”

His aunt nodded her head also. “We’re thinking of paying for nanotech shots for Brinkley.”

Carter tilted his head as he thought about this. After a few moments, his mouth opened and he let his tongue loll out before answering. “I think that’ll be awesome. But you have to remember, after the shots, Brinkley will be a person, not a pet.”

His aunt and uncle nodded in unison this time.

Beccy explained, “We know. We remember when you first moved in. We thought it would be fun raising another child, this time without dealing with being allergic to the cats.”

Carter shook himself. “So, you sort of know what to expect. If you do need help, there’s a lot of Nano-Sapiens here in Texas, and I’ve heard that there’s classes for helping new Nano-Sapiens get up to speed on our culture.”

His aunt scritched him between the ears. “We remember. You guys grew up a lot faster than human children did in someways, but you didn’t have any of the background that we get from our longer childhood.”

At that point, a beeping noise came from the kitchen. Uncle Woody got up and bustled off while Carter and Aunt Beccy collected Kathy and Brinkley.

At the table, they saw two turkeys. One was a full browned bird.

Carter sniffed and then sneezed. “Are those truffles between the skin and the meat? And it’s stuffed with leeks?”

Uncle Woody answered him, “Yes. We thought Kathy might like to try something a little different. I got this recipe from a historical cookbook.”

Kathy looked over, interested despite herself, but Carter and Brinkley looked at the other turkey breast. It was boneless, skinless, and it’d been simply baked with nothing else.

Carter started drooling even more than normal. “Oh, is that dog-safe turkey breast?”

The humans all laughed at the hunger in his voice.

Everyone, even Brinkley, paused while Uncle Woody said grace. “Lord, we thank you for this food and for the hands and paws that prepared it. Bless us as we share it together. Amen.”

At Carter’s look, Woody explained, “Our butcher just hired a Nano-Sapiens Maine Coon cat.”

Kathy cut up food for Carter and Brinkley while Uncle Woody carved the turkey for the humans.

Carter told Kathy, “It’s okay to put my plate on the floor. I don’t want to confuse Brinkley about what dogs are allowed to do or not allowed to do.”

Uncle Woody said, “Are you sure? I don’t mind.”

Aunt Beccy thwacked him on the arm. “I do mind.”

Everybody sat down to eat. Well, Carter and Brinkley stood there to eat.

Kathy pulled out of her shyness and up to compliment Woody on the turkey.

Aunt Beccy asked Kathy, “Are you… What book are you reading?”

Kathy explained about the book and how she’d actually just finished it.

Aunt Beccy went over to the side table where she’d put her phone down. “I’m lending you a copy of H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy. Growing up with Carter, I think you’ll enjoy it. It’s about discovering an alien species and the trial that decides whether or not they’re sapient. But cuter than that sounds. It’s a lot like Heinlein juveniles and Neil’s books.”

Everyone was quiet as they finished eating.

Afterwards, Kathy took Brinkley away again to read her borrowed book. Carter and his aunt and uncle had some lazy conversation while they rested after the feast.

***

Later, after summoning a flying taxi, Carter and Kathy sat together in the back seat. Kathy seemed to be a little more talkative.

Carter told her about the conversation about Brink… About getting Brinkley Nano-Sapiens shots. “I think that I want to write a book. I’ll call it What to Expect When You’re Expecting a Nano-Sapiens.”

Kathy smiled and nodded, not really getting the joke. “I like them. They left me alone and let me read.”

She paused for a moment. Patting her purse, she softly offered, “Thanks for loaning me your sheep. Weirdly, it really helped.”

After a moment of thought, she looked over at Carter. “How much do you remember from before your nanotech shots?”

Carter paused to think. “Not much. Mostly smells. But I was really young. You know, little puppies. We only have one working brain cell at first, and it’s mostly about eating and playing.”

Kathy nodded. “After his shots, I’ll have to warn Brinkley. He’s not allowed to share any of my secrets.”