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Mimi

It was a fantastic day to be a mimic; and an even more fantastic day to be Mimi Bloom!

Because today was a very special day. A very special day indeed!

Today was Mimi’s wedding day!

Mimi had been looking forward to this for a year, now. Ever since she had gotten engaged to her wonderful Don Flamingle.

Mimi’s handsome Flamingle….

Oh, Mimi loved her Flamingle!

He was the most handsome and thoughtful boyfriend that Mimi’s Mama Becky could have ever brought home for her! Even if he was brought home on accident.

That had been another fantastic day to be Mimi Bloom.

Actually, a whole lot of days were fantastic days to be Mimi Bloom!

And all of those fantastic days were fantastic because of Mimi’s Mama Becky.

Mama Becky was the best mama that Mimi could have ever asked for; for seventeen years, Becky had always done everything she could to make sure that Mimi was as happy as it could possibly be at all times.

Mimi loved her mama.

Mimi loved her mama a whole lot!

And, now, Mimi was a mama, too!

And Mimi was going to be a great mama, just like Becky!

And Mimi was going to make sure its babies always had fantastic days, just like Becky did for her!

‘Babies!’ Mimi gave a happy chirp, and licked each of her four babies in turn as they tongued her underside for their breakfast. ‘Perfect babies! Special babies! Good babies! Mimi loves Mimi’s babies!’

The babies chirped happily in response.

‘Love Mama!’

They replied.

‘Love!’

‘Mama!’

‘Love Mama!’

Another round of licks were pressed onto the babies’ faces, and Mimi began to loudly purr.

Today was a very good day to be a mimic. And an especially good day to be Mimi Bloom!

‘Kenneth Bloom, you know better!’

Mimi trilled with humour as it heard its Pépé Ken being scolded by Mémé Isa.

Pépé Ken had done something naughty again!

Pépé Ken was always being naughty in some way or another.

Like when he would leave doors open.

Or sneak Mimi and her Flamingle treats under the table at dinner.

Or pretend he wasn’t home when someone knocked on the door.

Pépé Ken was funny like that, Mimi thought.

‘All done!’

‘Done!’

‘Full!’

‘Finished!’

Mimi’s babies finished feeding and began to playfully tumble around the special little pen that Becky had set up for them, and Mimi took the time to stand up and shake herself out.

Mimi loved its babies. And it was very happy that Becky was letting her keep them.

Not all mimics got to keep their babies, when they had them. Mimi’s first mama hadn’t been allowed; that was how Mimi had ended up with Mama Becky!

But Mimi was very lucky, and was allowed to keep all four of her babies!

Becky had made Mimi promise not to have any more babies. Which Mimi agreed was a good idea.

She loved her babies, of course, but she never ever ever wanted to go through giving birth again. That was the worst, most painful thing Mimi had ever been through in its entire life!

EVER!

And Mimi’s Flamingle had agreed that it was far too scary to watch Mimi be in so much pain; so they would have no more babies! At least not for a long time, and not without a lot of very serious thought about it, first.

It also made Mimi very happy that she was allowed to be left unsupervised with her Flamingle now. And she didn’t want to make her Mama Becky feel like they had to be separated at night again by breaking her trust and having another brood.

‘Mimi!’ Becky’s voice called from the kitchen, and Mimi gave a trill and stood to attention. ‘Baby! Baaaaby! Breakfast! I have beef mince!’

Mimi’s mouth watered so much she had to lick her lips; but she didn’t move.

She wasn’t going to leave her babies alone.

No, no. Mimi was going to be a good mama! And that meant that Mimi’s babies couldn’t be left on their own! Not until they were older!

Mimi knew this was how to be a good mama because when Becky was a very little girl, she wasn’t allowed to be alone. Someone had to keep watch over Becky at all times to make sure she didn’t get hurt!

So Mimi wasn’t going to leave her babies alone. Not even for beef mince!

No! Oh, no!

Not even for sausages!

‘Pretty pink?’ a honk sounded from the door and Mimi saw Don stumbling in. ‘Pretty pink Mimi? My pretty Mimi! Breakfast is ready! Go eat! I will watch the brood!’

Mimi gave a grateful trill as Don leapt the barrier and licked her on the face. ‘Perfect Flamingle! Mimi thanks Flamingle.’

‘Mimi baby!’ Becky called again, and Mimi hurried out to find her mama. ‘AH! There you are, baby! Hello! How are you?’

‘Mimi is good!’ Mimi replied. ‘Mimi is happy! Mimi cannot wait for Mimi’s wedding!’

‘I know, right! I can’t believe it!’ Becky exclaimed, placing Mimi’s breakfast on the small dining table that sat in the corner of the room, near the big dining table that the rest of the family ate at. ‘Are you nervous?’

‘Mimi is not nervous!’ Mimi answered, jumping up on a chair and chomping down on her meal. ‘Not at all! No, no! Not nervous! Excited!’

‘Good, good,’ Becky let out a long breath, and Mimi paused to look up at her.

‘Mama’s nervous?’ Mimi asked, giving a comforting trill when Becky nodded. ‘Mama should not be nervous! Today is going to be a good day! A very good day! Yes! A very, very good day!’

‘I hope so,’ Becky gave an anxious chuckle, before standing up and stretching. ‘When you’re done with breakfast we’ll, like, go and stuff, yeah? Get there early and stuff and set up. Make sure everything’s where it needs to be.’

‘Good idea! Mama is very smart!’ Mimi chirped as its Mama Becky began to pace. ‘Mama is very—‘

‘—Becky, bébé!’ Ken’s voice called from the other room. ‘Could you please come here?’

‘Kay, Daddy!’ Becky called her response, before crouching down to peck a kiss on Mimi. ‘Alright, you eat up. I’ll go get your carrier, yeah?’

‘Yes!’ Mimi agreed, and went back to its breakfast. ‘Mimi will eat up! Mimi needs to eat a lot, so that Mimi can make a lot of milk! Milk for Mimi’s babies!’

And Mimi did eat! Every single scrap in its bowl. And then, just for fun, it nibbled on the bowl a little before finally jumping off its chair and heading into the lounge.

It could hear Becky and Ken in the garage, packing things into the car, and decided… not to go and get under their feet today.

Maybe next time.

Mimi shook herself out, stretching each of her long, spider-like legs in turn, before leaping onto one of the couches and licking at the leather.

Lick! Lick!

Lick lick lick!

It felt very nice to lick the couch.

Very nice!

And Mimi was very excited, and couldn’t help herself!

Lick lick lick!

Lick lick!

Today was going to be a perfect day! So very very perfect!

Only one thing could have made this day more perfect, and that was if—

Mimi paused her licking, slowly pulling her tongue back into her mouth as she recalled a very special person; one that she hadn’t seen for a very long time.

Mamé Barbra.

Becky’s own mama.

A very kind-but-firm woman who always made sure Mimi and Becky were behaving…. She’d gotten very very sick one day, and then never come home.

Mimi missed its Mamé.

Mimi missed its Mamé a whole lot….

The only thing that could have made today more perfect, was if Mimi’s Mamé could have come….

A low whine escaped the mimic as it gazed around the room; its eyes falling on the large wall of photos Pépé Ken had set up.

There were lots of pictures of Mamé Barbra on that wall. All different pictures of her. Very very nice pictures of her.

Mimi gave a chirp, and skittered along the couch so it could get a closer look at the pictures. Then it used its sticky, spidery legs to slowly scale the wall up to a very pretty picture of Mamé Barbra… and lick it.

Lick….

Lick lick….

‘You miss her, huh?’ Isabel’s voice spoke from the doorway, and Mimi glanced up to her with a sad trill. ‘Yeah… me too.’

Mimi shuffled on the wall as Isabel approached; affectionately licking the woman’s finger when she held it out, and purring when she was pet down her back.

‘She was beautiful, wasn’t she?’ Isabel asked, her eyes falling to the pictures of Barbra. ‘She never used to smile that much when we were young. You’re lucky you got to see it.’

‘Mimi was very lucky,’ Mimi agreed, licking at the photo again. ‘Mimi’s mamé was a very good mamé….’

‘Do you want to bring her with you?’ Isabel asked— And Mimi perked up with an intrigued chirp.

Bring Mamé?

‘I’m sure Ken won’t mind if you do,’ Isabel commented, and Mimi gave a surprised trill as she reached over and removed the picture from the wall. ‘You want to take her?’

‘Yes! Yes! Oh! How clever! How clever!’ Mimi gave a loud, excited cry as it scooped the picture of its mamé into its mouth and leapt off the wall onto the couch.

It ran back and forth on the couch, excited by Isabel’s very smart idea, before running off to tell Becky it had one more thing to bring.

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