K2p2 pressed herself into a corner as much as she possibly could. If she had ever imagined how she'd meet her fate, this certainly wasn't one of the possibilities!
Yet here she was, in a corner of the Fennec Room with hundreds -- thousands, maybe? Millions? -- of the little foxes sitting at attention in front of her. She'd never heard of them eating human flesh...but they kept licking their lips while fixing her with an especially hungry look...
"Are you okay, k2?" She heard Amethyst's voice, though she couldn't pinpoint from where.
"Uh, yeah, I think so."
"Hang in there -- I'll try to get to you, and EW's on the way." Amethyst didn't have to imagine what k2 was going through; she'd experienced the same thing earlier in the month. Though she'd never heard of a Fennec preying on a human, she knew of videos on YouTube showing young Fennecs in the wild crunching on scorpions in much the same way a teenager munches popcorn....at any rate, she was pinned in place until midnight. When that time arrived, the foxes trudged away, looking disappointed.
Almost an eternity seemed to pass before k2 heard EW bellowing, "Excuse us...pardon us... let us through, please!" The vulpine sea parted just enough to allow Amethyst pushing EW's wheelchair through. The two Gatchamaniacs stopped when they were about twelve Fennec rows away.
"Are you okay?" EW asked.
"Yeah. Just a little creeped out, though."
"I know what you're talking about." Ame muttered.
"What happened?" EW asked as she looked around her; the Fennecs had turned their focus to her.
"Well," k2 replied, "I just came in here to get a dose of cuteness when, all of a sudden, I was surrounded."
"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Amethyst asked.
"Now that you mention it," k2 said after a moment's thought, "several of them kept looking up before the mob appeared."
"Huh." EW's brow furrowed. But then she felt a couple of paws on her right knee. She looked down and found Flash there, giving her an expecting, hungry look. "What's up, Boo?" she asked while stroking his ears. She picked him up and set him in her lap.
Meanwhile, Amethyst looked up, hoping to find what some of the Fennecs were looking at. She saw the ceiling...more ceiling...still more ceiling...okay, maybe they weren't looking that far up...so, maybe there's something on a wall...
"Hey," Amethyst tapped EW's shoulder, "do you think they were looking at the calendar?"
American sports stadiums have giant, state-of-the-art digital scoreboards. Gatchamania.net has the same technology compacted into several 120-inch screens spread throughout the site and used as calendars. One of these was in the Fennec room. The month: February. Each event was marked by a picture -- Valentine's day had a heart, Chinese New Year had a goat (for the Year of the Goat), birthdays had a cake with the usernames of the celebrants in the frosting, and so on.
"Huh." EW said as she looked at the electronic calendar. "Oh, hey! Happy birthday, k2!"
The Fennecs exploded in a cacophony of happy squeaks, wagging tails, and dancing around.
"Is that it?" EW asked Flash, "You wanted to wish her a happy birthday?"
"Are you saying they know how to read?" Amethyst couldn't believe it.
"Not per se, but I think they figured it out somehow --" EW saw Flash's face take on a crestfallen expression. "What?" Flash gave her another hungry look. "You want something to eat?" He licked his lips and a Fennec off to her left made a few "nom nom" sounds.
"What the heck could they want?" Amethyst's voice had taken on a very slight hint of exasperation.
"Cake?" K2 had said it without realizing. Once again the air was filled with happy screams and dancing. So many tails wagged so furiously that a small haboob formed on the opposite side of the Fennec Room.
"You know," Amethyst said, "I could go for some birthday cake."
"Me too." With that, they turned to leave."
"Hey!" K2 cried, "What about me?"
"Hold down the fort," EW replied while Amethyst wheeled her toward the door, "We'll bring back a cake big enough to feed...uh...a lot!"
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“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them." --Ray Bradbury
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Happy birthday. K2, Hope you have a wonderful day. 
