I still think this is all nonsense, Ethel thought to herself for the millionth time after Bug had left for the day. Sure, somehow, he knew about Brutus, poor dog. I wish I had gotten to him sooner. And yes, Bug really does seem to be able to talk, but Ethel had had a long life and seen some other pretty strange things. When she was a teen, and her family took her on an animal survey of the Guyana rain forests, she had met another talking animal. Now, at the time and for a long time after, she had figured it was some weird fever dream, but now that she had met Bug, she was sure it really happened.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    She now wondered if it was possible to track down that Capybara. Cal claimed Bug’s life had been radically extended, so perhaps he was still alive. This was something for her to ponder later. For now, she had decided she was going to stick around Cal and his band on whatever nonsensical adventures they were going on. She had to spend her retirement time somehow, so why not this?


    She was enjoying this much more than she was willing to tell them.