(*laughs at Sal's comment about her random and quirkiness*... well check this one out and I wasn't even being watched)
Part 5“Would you look at this!”
Mr. Eevil ran into the living room where Mr. Happy was sitting.
Mr. Happy stood up abruptly. “What is it?”
“I just heard back from the ‘chewme, lickme, suckme’ foundation! And look!!”, Mr. Eevil held out a package of gum to Mr. Happy. “They loved my idea!”
Mr. Happy took the package and his face broke into a huge grin, ‘oh handsome! That is great! Now people will get to experience it at all times!”
***
“So I was there, right, and then I didn’t notice that the cow was on the other side of the apple tree, and so I was walking and all of the sudden there was this moo”
Tara laughed and looked at Willow as the two girls entered the living room.
“Willow! Tara! You must see this!”
Mr. Happy ran towards the two girls and thrust the package at them.
Willow and Tara looked down and saw what looked like a cow, and the cow was wearing a hat that said ‘I love to chew em!’.
Tara looked at Willow bewildered and Willow shrugged.
“No girls!” Mr. Happy said turning over the package. “Look there!”
On the other side was a label.
NEW FLAVOR Freshly Fermented Cheese.
Willow looked up at Mr. Happy and Mr. Eevil, who had joined them in the doorway to the living room, and grinned. “Wow…uh…who’s idea was this?”
“Do you really like it!?” Mr. Eevil asked, practically swooning.
Mr. Happy grinned and put his arm around Mr. Eevil, “of course she does! It will be a huge success! Mr. Eevil had the idea”, he said proudly, sounding as if he was going to branch off into a long speech about the wonder and power that is Mr. Eevil.
Tara smiled at them, “Great idea. I think that it’s very new and original”, she said with a tiny desperate glance at Willow.
Willon nodded enthusiastically, “uh...yeah! great idea! Uh… I …um…I have to go….um…to…zucchinis!”
Mr. Eevil and Mr. Happy looked at her strangely. “zucchinis?”
Willow looked pleadingly at Tara for help.
Tara quickly complied, “ah yes! Zucchinis! That is my…er…my brother’s cousin’s aunt’s pet goldfish! She…uh…she asked Willow to fish-sit and we haven’t fed him yet”
Willow nodded, “so…we better go! I mean, we would love to stay and chat and all but the goldfish awaits and I’m not one to slack on a job! Nope I’m miss-attempt-to-be-a-good-worker-girl! I have a job to do and I’ve gotta go and feed that goldfish so that I can do my job and make sure that…”
Tara grabbed Willow’s arm and nodded, “yes, let’s be heading
towards the goldfish now”
Tara and Willow quickly moved towards the door, and with a small glance back at Mr. Happy and Mr. Eevil, they ran out of the house.
Mr. Happy turned to look at Mr. Eevil, “didn’t Willow say that Tara was an only child?”
Mr. Eevil nodded and the two men grinned at each other and then sat down one the couch to study the new flavor of gum.
***
The two girls ran down the path, holding in their laughter until they’d reached the street, where they we sure that they couldn’t be heard.
“that was so funny!” Willow said through her laughter, “do you think that they believed us?”
Tara looked at Willow and laughed harder. “sure” she said, “with my smooth cover about my brother’s relation’s goldfish, who wouldn’t!?”
Willow stopped laughing and looked Tara in the eyes. “I thought you were great”
Tara almost blushed at Willow’s words because they had sounded so heartfelt. She gave Willow a small half smile and let her hair cover her face to try and hide the fact that she was flustered.
A silence passed between the two girls, neither quite sure what to say to the other.
Willow cocked her head and studied Tara. She had never really had a chance to look closely at her. ‘wow… she really is beautiful’.
All of the sudden, their eyes met, and they both smiled.
“well….uh…what do you wanna do now?” Tara asked softly.
“oh…uh…yes! Do… umm…maybe…I dunno…well, we could always take a walk, you know, um… walk and talk maybe cause walks are nice and fun and full of excersisey goodness and so walks are very good sometimes… but if you don’t want to I will understand cause sometimes excersisey goodness is not so much with the goodness and far more with the not so goodness so…”
Tara laughed at Willow’s babble, all previous embarrassment gone. “a walk is great!”
Willow grinned “ok, so a walk it is then!”
***
“so tell me” Tara started “little things about you Will, favourite color, favourite place, and birthday.”
Willow smiled, “um… my birthday was actually the day before we met, gosh… that seems like so long ago…”
Tara nodded kicking a rock, “yeah… it does… I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help celebrate with you”
Willow smiled, “ me too… oh! Favorite color….um…ok, this is gonna sound weird, I like blue….but…not just any blue!”
Tara nodded, a mock serious expression on her face, “got it”
Willow continued, “you know how, when you walk outside and it’s raining, not just any rain, but REALLY cold rain, and then you get all wet and soaked?”
Tara nodded.
“and once you’re all wet you get cold and your lips go all blue and numblike?”
Tara nodded again.
Willow grinned, “well… I have always loved that color. Frostbite blue”
Tara laughed, “and your favorite place?”
Willow smiled, “I don’t really have one…with me it’s more a favorite time and situation… certain people around”
Tara nodded and smiled, “I get that”
They walked down the rest of the path in silence.
“ So, about your mom? I mean, if it’s ok for me to ask… did you…are you ok after the sudden reappearance?” Tara asked Willow as the girls walked around the big lake near the farm.
Willow smiled, “yeah. I am. I mean, I wasn’t when it happened. It kind of scared me actually. Everything I knew changed. My mom. This HUGE business woman, big into the Mexican walking fish, who NEVER knew more than my name, which, she actually forgot from time to time, appeared practically on my doorstep. Not that she came to see me, but still she came, and everything was different. Sure she was still the same Gucci loving lady, and she still doesn’t really care about me, but I guess…” Willow paused, pondering her feelings, “I guess what I’m feeling is… a little disturbed… maybe, that it isn’t right that she should know all this stuff about the life I live, when she doesn’t really even WANT to know. But I guess that’s just me being Miss Silly…”
Tara shook her head, “no. It’s not silly Will. It’s not silly at all!”
Willow looked at Tara and saw emotion in her eyes. It looked like concern and worry and… ‘love?’
Willow opened her mouth to speak when
“Willow!”
They both looked up at the sound of the voice and saw, what at first looked like a walking flower.
“Fink?” Willow asked, cocking her head to the side, to assure herself that the flower was indeed Fink.
The walking flower nodded.
Willow turned to Tara and saw her bewildered look, “oh!” she cried, smacking herself in the forehead, “you haven’t met Fink!”
Willow grinned, “Tara, this is Fink. He is the garbage disposal cleaner. He comes by once a week to clean the disposal and polish the room doorknobs”, she leaned in and whispered to Tara, “he’s been doing it for as long as I can remember. He takes great pride in leaving a shiny disposal”
Tara nodded and looked at the walking flower man, “Hi” she said with a smile, “my name is Tara”
Fink looked up at her, “why hello there!” he said with a grin and waggled his eyebrows at her.
Tara did the best she could to stifle a giggle as she threw a glance at Willow.
“my my, Tara, what a pretty name you have” Fink said in his best attempt at being suave.
He looked like he was going to try and chat Tara up, and Willow quickly interrupted. “Fink! Tell me… what’s up!? You called me, sounded all desperate.”
The little flower man looked at her and then gasped, “you’re right! Mr. Happy sent me to ask you if you wouldn’t mind running into town to pick up some groceries for him. He is fixing some big romantic dinner for Mr. Eevil because of his acceptance with the gum idea. I would go but I still have at least six more doorknobs to go and they take at least an hour each to really get every little dirt mark off. It is a very difficult task that takes lots of concentration to do. That is why I am wearing this outfit. You probably didn’t notice but I am dressed as a flower. It is supposed to give me stealth and good luck”
Willow looked at Tara and shook her head, “no… I didn’t notice. Did you notice Tare?”
Tara shook her head quickly, “nope! Not even for a second!”
Fink smiled, “I understand…most people don’t notice… well! Will you do it?”
Willow nodded and took the list from Fink, “sure I will” she turned to look at Tara, “you wanna come? We could walk or…no…maybe best not to ride Anya”
Tara grinned, “oh! I’d love to come! And…yeah… riding Anya isn’t the best idea.”
Willow smiled at Tara and they began to walk in the direction of the town, leaving Fink to walk back to the farmhouse.
***
The bell jangled as Willow and Tara stepped into ‘Mr. Stumpy’s shop for stuff you need’
Tara looked around taking in all the sights. “wow… I’ve never been in here before….it’s…er…nice”
Willow laughed at Tara’s reaction and grinned, “yeah, Mr. Stumpy likes to keep the place well stocked”
“Will…” Tara asked faintly
Willow looked at her, worried, “what’s wrong!?”
“what?” Tara gulped “is that thing?”
Tara was standing in front of a large display case that was shaped like a nose.
Willow laughed, “ooooh! That! That’s Mr. Stumpy’s tissue display. If you look inside” Willow said, reaching her hand up it’s nostril to press a lever “then you can see this!” she said as the top of the nose flew up into the air.
Inside was a display of tissues with all sorts of designs. There were colored ones and striped ones, designed ones and plain ones, leopard skin ones and what appeared to be leather ones.
“Oh…” Tara said quietly to herself, taking in the magnificence of the collection.
“That one is my personal favorite” Willow said, smiling at Tara and pointing at a black and white speckled tissue.
“cow print!” Tara cried delightedly.
Willow grinned, “isn’t it great! That’s my dream one day…” she said, her face taking on a dreamy expression
Tara looked at Willow, “what is?”
“to own that tissue…” Willow said with a small smile, “one day that tissue will be mine…”
Tara nodded, studying the tissue closely.
Willow shook her head, “yeah, well, we have stuff to buy here! A romantic dinner, huh?” she asked Tara, grinning.
Tara smiled, “I do believe that is what he said”
Willow took out the list and handed it to Tara, then she grabbed a basket from by the door.
“nice basket” Tara said with a grin, “I’m really liking the sushi picture, it really adds to the effect the dolphins make against the hot pink background”
Willow laughed and began walking down an aisle, “ok Tare… you read it out and I’ll put it in the basket”
Tara nodded and unfolded the piece of paper. She looked at it, her eyes skimming the list. “uh… Will?” she squeaked.
“what is it?” Willow asked, concerned.
“I don’t think they sell this stuff here” Tara mumbled.
“oh, let me have a look Tare”, Willow said, making her way over to her. She took the list and read through it. “No…Mr. Stumpy should have this stuff…” Willow said, making eye contact with Tara.
Tara nodded and gulped, “I guess that they know best… let’s just do it”
Willow nodded and the two of them started down an aisle.
“First thing is blue vinegar” Tara said as Willow picked up an odd looking bottle and dropped it in the basket.
“next is sprinkles, but it says in brackets that it can’t be just any sprinkles, they have to be shaped like pencils and balloons”
Willow walked over to the cake decorations section and looked through the sprinkles array. “here we go!” she said, grabbing the package off the shelf. “last one too!” she said, breathing a sigh of relief, “I’m glad we came when we did! In this town they are in huge demand”
Tara checked the items off the list as Willow placed them in the basket. They continued like this until everything was checked off.
“did we get everything Tare?” Willow asked.
“yeah… oh wait! Did you find the purple easter eggs and the spicy watermelon?”
Willow looked through the basket, “yes and…” she said as she shuffled through the items, “ah! Yes!” she said with a grin. “all here!”
The girls paid for the items by putting them under Mr. Happy’s credit and started for home.
They walked in silence for a while. Not an uncomfortable silence but a contemplative silence.
“Will?” Tara asked, finally breaking the quiet, as they reached the road that led to the farm.
“hmm?” Willow asked, glancing over at Tara.
“these things…” she said, lifting up the bag she was holding, “this food…”
Willow nodded.
“Mr. Happy is making this stuff into a romantic dinner?” Tara asked
Willow paused, “wait…yeah…you’re right… they do tend to have a strange perception of romantic”
Willow smiled, remembering the other day in the sewers, ‘now THAT was romantic!’
***
“Mr. Happy, that was a wonderful meal! You really outdid yourself here!” Mr Eevil exclaimed.
“anything for you my darling”
The two men smiled at each other.
“So what’s next then?” Mr. Happy asked “what is your next big project?”
Mr. Eevil smiled. “I was actually thinking about doing a rendition of one of our times finest playwrights, Will Shakespeare. I believe he had so much potential, and had law permitted back then, we would have stage play after stage play of cows and the important things in life. What we need is a snuggly cow story. Love and cows”
Mr. Happy smiled widely, “that is a fabulous idea! I think you would do it great justice!”
***
Willow heard the voices coming from the kitchen. They were low and muffled so she couldn’t understand what they were saying. She grabbed on tight to her tail as she inched slowly along the wall. Tara had asked her to meet her tonight, dressed in her cow suit, and Willow did NOT want to have to explain herself to Mr. Happy and Eevil. Just as she was about to turn the doorknob, her hand slipped and smacked against the wood
“darn Fink” she muttered.
“is that you Willow? Do you need something?”
Willow sighed with relief when they didn’t come out into the hallway. “no! I’m fine!” she managed to squeak.
“are you sure Willow?”
“yes! Thanks anyway!” Willow called back, this time with a little more determination in her voice.
Willow made a second attempt with the doorknob, and just as she had the door open and was ready to run out it, Mr. Happy appeared.
“Willow!” he said rather giddily, “Mr. Eevil and I just wanted to give you and Tara this. We had so many leftovers from dinner that we would love you to have it”
Willow nodded slowly. Mr. Happy hadn’t seemed to pick up on her cow suit. “Thanks for that” she said slowly, trying her best to not draw attention to her clothes in any way. “well” she started, “I better go then”
Mr. Happy nodded and Willow dashed out of the house.
***
‘That’s odd…’ Willow thought, ‘didn’t Tara ask me to meet her here? Now?’
Willow sat down on a pile of hay, looked at her watch, and then surveyed her surroundings. It was dark, but the outside of the barn was lit up by the moon. “I kinda think that this is my favourite place” she said softly, “if you were here”
When the times passed, and no Tara came, Willow began to worry. Just as she was about to go look for her she heard a commotion coming from inside the barn. Willow rushed to the door and pulled it open. Everything looked quiet and calm in there. Not a sign of a struggle.
Willow walked into the barn and tried to adjust her eyes to the dark, “is anyone here?”
Just then the main lights came on and music came blaring out of a radio up in the loft.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!!” Tara yelled grabbing her in a hug.
Willow was close to tears as she surveyed the barn and saw banners and streamers, all blue. “frostbite blue” she said with a grin, wiping her eyes. “how did you do this?”
Tara smiled widely. “I went back to Mr. Stumpy’s when I left you”
MOOOOOOO…
For the first time Willow noticed that she was surrounded by strange looking creatures.
Tara grinned and dragged her over to them, “of course the HAD to come to your party! They even got all dressed up for you! Look!” she said with a grin.
“Buffy wanted to be a penguin and who am I to argue”
Willow smiled and looked at the cotton clad cow, “it suits her, really” she pet her on the head and they moved on.
“Dawnie insisted that I let her be a hairbrush! I tried and tried to get her to change her mind, maybe to be something nice like a puppy, but she wouldn’t have any of it!” Willow studied Dawn’s poster board hairbrush and pipe cleaner bristles. “wow…” Willow said with a small laugh, “it’s very you Dawnie” she gave her a little pat on the head.
MOOOOOOO….
“ok... ok! I get it! Hands off the hair!”
Tara gave Dawn a small frown as they moved on to the next guest.
“ I think Spike misses Xand” Tara said softly “when I asked him what he wanted to be the only time that he would actually approve of anything was if it was all yellow. It was between a banana and a sun. I went with the sun.”
Willow ran her hands over Spike’s face, tracing the lines of cow face paint. “ he should do this sun thing more often” Willow said smiling.
Tara laughed, “yeah, he looks so pale though… it bleaches his fur”
Willow grinned, “some people happen to like cows with short blonde fur, just look at Buffy over there”
Tara turned to look, just in time to see a huge drop of drool fall from her mouth. “oh…er…yeah… moving on”
Willow laughed as they moved up the barn to where Anya was standing, cowering in the corner. Willow noticed the dollar note stuck to her side
“She didn’t want anything but that… I wanted to do more but you know how picky she can be… particularly now…” Tara gulped, “ I had a little trouble with Anya actually… she kept trying to go after Xander but I soon solved that problem.”
Tara and Willow walked to the other end of the barn, “I dressed Xander as a bunny”
Willow and Tara stopped and watched and Xander walked into the wall repeatedly. “I discovered Anya’s immense fear of bunnies and decided to use it to our advantage. Now she won’t even go near him”
MOOOOO…
“see…” Tara whispered, “she’s all worked up.
The two girls stopped and stared at each other. Both were dressed in matching cow suits.
Willow felt the tears brimming in her eyes.
“Oh Will!” Tara exclaimed “don’t cry sweetie! That reminds me…”
She grabbed a hold of Willows arm and pulled her to one of the shelves in the barn. “THIS” Tara said with a grin on her face, “is for you”
Willow looked down into Tara’s hands and nearly burst into tears. “Tara…” she said, finding it hard to breathe, “you…you… bought it for me…”
Tara nodded and smiled softly, “Happy Birthday Will” she said placing the cow print tissue into Willow’s hands.
Willow felt the tears sliding down her cheeks, “this is the most amazing party I have ever been given… what am I talking about!? This is the ONLY party I’ve ever been given” her voice cracked “I don’t know if you know just how much this means to me… thank you so much Tare” she finished in a whisper and pulled the other girl into a hug, “thank you”
Tara smiled and hugged Willow tightly, “you deserve this Will” she said as they pulled apart.
Suddenly a rumbling sound was heard, “oh gosh” Willow said laughing, “I think I’m kinda hungry”
Tara smiled, and, pulling Willow with her, headed towards a table.
“oh wait!” Willow cried out, “I almost forgot” she gently placed her tissue down on the table, ran to the door of the barn, and grabbed a little plastic container. “Mr. Happy and Eevil sent this, leftovers from dinner.”
The two girls looked at the tiny container. They could see swirls of blue and purple and green through the plastic.
“I think I see a balloon” Willow said with a small giggle
“we COULD eat that” Tara reasoned “or we could eat the pizza and cupcakes I brought for us”
“cupcakes!” Willow squealed delightedly. She dropped the little container down on the table and ran to follow Tara, all thoughts of the ‘romantic dinner’ leftovers forgotten.
and now on to yet another amazing Vixy update!
***
"Oh, sorry. Uhh, I forgot that that doesn't seem normal, to the rest of society. It's just, we, well, we both really like cows. Really like them. To the extent of wanting to buy one, when we're older." - The Crying Game (by Vix84)
Edited by: Tara22 
at: 11/27/02 4:33:23 am
Sara 
by AmberEyedDragon » Wed Nov 06, 2002 4:25 pm 
sooo glad you like genderless cow!! It definitely is a cool sort of friend to have, what with the teaching of how to culture yoghurt and all. hmm.... what would Will and Tara do for cheese? well, I must say, a hell of a lot... and if you stick around you shall witness some more brave acts of heroism as our girls battle for the rights of cheese. you were thinking about cows and cheese the rest of the day?! *looks so proud*, why that's wonderful!! I am so happy for you!!
oooh... so glad you like it!! hmm.... wacky? I'm gonna take that as a good thing cause, the way I see it, wacky = laugh, laugh= happy, happy= good, so yep 
a good thing, oooohhh.... *smacks herself* I haven't been getting you into trouble lately have I? how rude of me! *hugs* you know I still care!! you should drop by chat sometime Krist, I am usually in there somewhere... (look under the table in there if you can't find me) Oh, Kristy! I forgot to add, they are not those Mr. men people. nope, they are individuals and proud of it.
<--- just for you
at: 3/13/03 3:17:21 pm
)
LOVE!
at: 11/16/02 11:30:56 am
<--- isn't it great 
This fic is sooooooooo funny. 
... sorry, i think i'm still a little emotional after reading Holly's update 
