Some Moral Support

It was a special day in the Ini household; Grandpa Ini had just turned 67! From the moment he woke up he was greeted with a delightful birthday breakfast in bed! Fluffy buttermilk pancakes stacked on top of a wide, neon yellow tray, accompanied by an assortment of fruits and, to top it all off, maple and chocolate syrup was drizzled all over the stack. Grandpa Ini practically inhaled the delectable meal made by the lights of his life: his wife, daughter and granddaughter. After many hugs and kisses, they all then gathered in the living room to give gifts. From his granddaughter, a large pack of lenses wipes along with a new case for said glasses. From his daughter, a brand new cane made with slick, polished wood to replace the slowly splintering stick. Then from his wife, a new suit and tie that he had been eyeing for a while every time they went into town. After several more hugs and kisses, they then ushered him into the dining room as Meena went into the kitchen.

Everybody had gathered around the table, killed the lights, and Grandpa sat on one of the big, sturdy chairs. Meena, the youngest light of grandpa Ini's life, gently picked up her grandpa's triple layered birthday cake, which had been cooling down on the windowsill for around ten minutes after being pulled out of the oven. Then as Meena's mother saw Meena nodding to her, motioning that the cake was ready, she and her mother slowly and surely sang "Happy Birthday" together.

"Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you!"

Walking in from the kitchen, Meena Ini held the giant three layered birthday cake for her grandpa, with all of the candles lit up with dancing flames on their wicks. Grandpa Ini ogled the cake, eager to dig into his family's most recent masterpiece. The breakfast in bed had sped through his digestive system to make way for the sweet treat! But as his granddaughter walked around to place the big cake at the table, the attention turned away from the cake and onto her daughter.

"Happy biiirthdaaay, dear graaandpaaaa~"

Meena's harmonious voice was the only noise that now filled the room, as the rest of the family had completely went agape from the teenager's talent. She had been known since the first years of her life that she had a knack for singing, and her family always encouraged her whenever she did so. But it never stopped the family from being astonished by her every time. Even now, they were all mesmerized by Meena simply singing her grandfather's birthday song.

"Haaapy biiirthdaaay, tooooooo yooouuuuu!"

As the young elephant finished the last verse, she relaxed herself and took a deep breath to let her lungs recover from her performance. When she opened her eyes, she folded back her ears slightly when she noticed that the rest of her family was staring at her. Meena looked at her three family members, and folded her cheeks began to heat up in embarrassment when all of them let out a collective "Awwww!" They just couldn't help themselves whenever they heard their little angel sing for them all! Meena slowly opened back up and let out a chuckle of embarrassment.

"What?" The young elephant giggled while asking. "C'mon grandpa, make your wish!" She put down the big birthday cake right in the middle of the table and gestured to her grandpa to blow out the candles. But Grandpa didn't exactly seem happy seeing his granddaughter dismissing her own natural talent. He lightly pounded his big hand on the dining room table, and proceeded to go into his usual rant about Meena and her talent. How she should join a choir, how he would be a star with Meena's voice, the usual. It was known by memory to everyone in the family, and they stopped him before he ranted for another hour. With a huff, grandpa Ini blows out the candles with a mighty toot of the trunk, accidentally causing some candles to fly out of the window.

The family all enjoys the cake, as not only was much love put into the cake, but it was one of Mrs. Ini's new recipes as well which never disappoints! Grandma Ini puts some leftovers in the fridge, then scrunches up together on the couch to watch some TV with her husband and daughter. Meena politely volunteers to clean the dishes after a slight debate, and then puts on her headphones to listen to her favorite songs while she scrubs the frosting and candle wax off of the plates. She slowly starts to hum some "Coldplayers" songs, and lightly taps her foot to the beat. Grandma Ini manages to hear Meena's hums over the sound of the football game, and lightly giggles to herself. She always loved it whenever Meena peeked out of her shell to sing some music.

Then suddenly, a sound came from outside of the house, which sounded as if something had fallen. Grandma Ini took notice of it, but after looking out of the window she saw nothing. She dismissed it as just the wind and sat back down, but then sharp, rapid knocks came from the front entrance. They were all frantic and quick but had the intensity of somebody trying to escape a criminal. After a brief argument ("I already got up earlier, you go answer it!") The Mrs. got up from her spot on the couch and approached the front door, where the knocks continued on and on without any signs of stopping. She could faintly hear a frantic voice from the other side yelling excitedly "Meena! Meeeeena!" For a moment the family exchanged glances with one another, wondering if Meena was expecting anybody that day. They all shrugged, and not wanting the animal to wait any longer, Mrs. Ini opened the door to greet the guest.

On the other side was a yellow and black spotted Jaguar, who was panting and sweating as if they had just completed a long, grueling workout. The jaguar wore slightly torn, dark blue jeans with holes that were not for fashion purposes along with a dark, completely black crop top with no design on it whatsoever. On their feet were worn down, green and brown sneakers that had been used and abused for years to the point where the soles are almost gone. Their tail flicked back and forth from side to side, and their mouth was open while she panted, showing their sharp, piercing fangs. In their right paw, there was a crumpled up piece of orange paper, which was slightly torn from some claw damage along the way. The jaguar practically stumbled into the house after saying a quick greeting through their rapid pants, and was greeted with similar reactions.

"Oh hello there Jude! How nice of you to come over!" Mrs. Ini invited the jaguar in, who took off their beaten, worn shoes to shoe slightly better slick socks. Jude took a deep breath to try and stabilize their breathing, but ended up just making things more difficult and became more exhausted. As they put a paw against the wall to prevent themself from falling over, Grandma and Grandpa Ini both almost leaped up from their seats when they heard the name of their granddaughter's old friend.

"Jude! Well isn't this a nice birthday surprise!" Grandpa waved his hand at the jaguar, fumbling with some leftover cake that almost fell. "We haven't seen you in ages, how have ya' been? What brings you here? Most importantly, did you bring me any gifts?" Grandpa Ini let out a chuckle, earning him a light smack in the arm from his wife. In the kitchen, the granddaughter hummed on, oblivious to what was happening in the next room over.

"Would you like some cake hon? We have lots of leftovers if you want a slice!" Grandma offered, but Jude stayed where they were to try and catch their breath. The family looked between each other, confused at why the old friend was so exhausted. All three approached the whiskerless child with genuine care on their faces, hoping that there wasn't something wrong. Taking a deep breath, Jude faced each of the elephants to greet and answer them individually.

"Nice to see you too ma'm, Happy Birthday sir, I'll have some in a bit. Where is Meena?!" They had said it so quick and desperately that it seemed hard to understand them at first. The exasperated expression on the jaguar's face was gone and now was replaced with an expression of pure, childish joy. The three adults glanced at one another, slightly worried about what might happen. Slightly confused, Grandma gestured to the kitchen doorway, where the sound of running water and humming could be heard.

"Meena's in there, but what's the fuss? You looked like you ran in from all the way across town!" Grandma spoke, only to be met with a loud declaration in return.

"I did!" Jude yelled proudly to the family, with just a touch of craziness in their voice. All three of the adults jumped slightly from the response as Jude began to adjust the paper that they had with them. After fumbling with the orange flyer, they managed to straighten it out and showed it to the three elephants excitedly. "Look at this! I found it downtown today and I knew I had to bring this to Meena, so I ran all the way down here!" The family all collectively read the large, bolded words on the paper and their jaws went slack; a bite of Grandpa's extra cake fell to the carpet, along with the rest of the plate. Jude saw all of their reactions from a narrow tear peephole in the flyer. After a few moments of silence, the birthday man broke the silence.

"Well what're you waiting for? Go on, show her now!" Grandpa yelled, shooing her off to the kitchen. The Mrs. and Grandma started excitedly giggling to each other, imagining what Meena could do and how excited she would be as well. Jude compiled with the grandfather's request and went into a full-on sprint to the kitchen, crumbling up the flyer in their paw a second time. As they ran into the tiled kitchen, the jaguar's heart skipped a beat when she saw the elephant washing some porcelain dishes and enthusiastically yelled "Meena! MeenoooOAH!"

The jaguar slipped on the slick floor, slamming their stomach into the kitchen counter and let out all of the air in their system. The crash Meena could both hear AND feel, as it made one dish slip out of her grasp and into the bathtub of a sink, causing her sweatshirt get wet. She snapped her out of the song-induced trance and her head spun around, making the little tufts of hair flop slightly from the spin. Seeing her friend clutching their stomach while coughing and gasping for breath, Meena ripped off her headphones and ran to their aid.

"Jude! Are you okay, are you hurt?" Meena put a caring palm on their shoulder as they attempted to get up. Their socks slipped on the tile again and they fell to their knees once again, almost knocking their head onto the kitchen counter. Trying to avoid talking, Jude gave a simple thumbs up and gripped the counter to help support them getting up. Their claws accidentally scratched the corner.

"What are you doing here? Didn't-oh please be careful-didn't you have work to do today?" Meena asked, both confused at her friend's sudden appearance and concerned at how they injured themself. Finally managing to get onto one knee, Jude brushed off their injury with a smile and a chuckle. Behind the two, the rest of the Ini family waited in anticipation for Meena to read the orange flyer.

"I know, I know, but don't worry!" The jaguar said weakly. Offering the crushed flyer to her, Jude said "You have to look at this!"

Meena took the orange paper hesitantly while the rest of the family funneled into the kitchen behind Jude. The timid teenager's anxiety began to spark as everyone began to loom over her shoulder, but she felt obligated to continue. Meena flattened out the flyer on the counter, and read what was on the paper after glossing over some of the cute illustrations and claw scratches. As she read down the paper further and further, her eyes sparkled more and more, making her friend smile as they finally fully stood up.

Singing Competition Auditions

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE

THE GRAND PRIZE

Of

$100,000

Open auditions at The Moon Theatre

The young elephant's face lit up as if the sun had shined down a beam of light right onto her as she finished reading! Meena looked to her friend, who seemed even more excited for this than she was. They had their hands gripped tightly around one another and their eyes had this sort of sparkle in them. The rest of Meena's family had the exact same expression as well. Jude said nothing and awaited to hear Meena's response and she gladly obliged.

"Jude, how did-where did you find this?" The young elephant asked with amazement. Her feline friend was more than happy to explain.

"Alright so, I was walking downtown ready to get some of those glazed doughnut holes from Joe's Coffee (You KNOW how much I like those things). But as I was about to go in, I just saw a bunch of these papers just-'FWOOSH!'" The jaguar made a sort of sweeping motion with their hands to make her point. "Right out of the top window of that big theater place! So I jumped up and grabbed one of them and I immediately knew that you had to see this! And then I just, ran! I didn't even stop for a bus or to get the doughnut holes, I just ran straight here from all across town!"

Meena looked from her friend to the paper again, scanning the flyer one more time to just to make sure that she didn't read something the wrong way. Once she confirmed to herself that she, indeed, read nothing wrong, her mind began to race.

'A singing competition. Here! In this city! Was this up somewhere before did-did this just release today?! Jude said themself that they saw them fly out the window, this must have been shown today!' She began to bounce up and down, but as her mind continued to wander, the sparkle faded from her eyes. The rest of Meena's family looked over her shoulder, eager to see an excited expression on their face similar to when she was a child in elementary school. But when they all saw Meena's usual timid expression, their hopes began to fade.

"Jude, you-we both know how nervous I get in front of crowds. I mean, a singing competition? I'll be in front of so many people, I'll just freeze up when I get to the stage." The smile vanished from Jude's face when they saw that Meena's stage fight had kicked in. But not wanting Meena to pass up another opportunity to show off her beautiful voice, her family patted her on the back to try and raise her spirits again.

"Oh don't you give your friend that!" Grandma Ini spoke up with a scolding tone. The young elephant's ears folded in when her grandmother placed her hoof on her shoulder. "They ran all the way here from Downtown just to show you that flyer! You gotta at least try!" Meena tried to hide behind her large ears again, holding the flyer closer to her chest to try and deal with all of the peer pressure around her.

"B-but I, I"-

"Meena, Meena girl! C'mon, look at me. Looooook at meeeeeeeee!" Jude playfully toyed with their friend, gently patting their friend by the shoulders. Meena, while the pressure boiled inside of her, uncovered her face a little to look at them in their determination-filled eyes.

"Do you know how much faith we have in you?" Jude asked. The elephant looked away and nodded meekly.

"Do you know how many times we've said you have an angel voice?" Meena nodded again.

"Do you really think that you would sound bad if you went up on that stage?'

"N-no I know!" She pulled away from her friend, almost causing them to slip for a third time. "But whenever I see all those people looking at-staring at me, I just"-

"Then just bring Jude with you hon!" Her mom butted in. Meena's internal alarms rose since her mother tried to involve other people to convince her, trying to do anything to make her go. Jude looked at Mrs. Ini somewhat startled, but then their face lit up and they looked back at their friend nodding very excitedly, only amplifying her sirens.

"Yeah! What she said, I'll come with you! I'll just be there to cheer you on though, don't worry, I remember what happened last time. I'll make sure that you don't freeze up! I will BE there Meena for you Meena! That is a promise!"

The elephant stared at her friend, who was letting off a hopeful smile to her. Despite all of the alarms going off in her head about how she shouldn't go, certain things helped defuse them. Her friend was here, out of the blue, and was now willing to help and spend time with her despite their countless jobs. This could be her chance to not only try to conquer her fear, but to also talk with each other about what they missed since Jude decided to take all of their part time jobs. She looked to her family, who were all giving her eager looks of anticipation to hear her answer to the question they were all thinking. Meena took one more look down at the flyer and made her final decision. She held it close to her, looked at her friend Jude, and gave a slow nod.

The entire family rejoiced, whooping and hollering for their daughter's decision. Jude ran up to her and gave the big elephant a gigantic hug, almost managing to lift her up! Their tail flicked even more from how happy they were, and her family were hugging each other just from her decision, as if she already knew that she was going to win. Meena hugged back and, going along with everyone else, laughed as well.

"Looks like I'm gettin' my wish after all!" Grandpa cheered, pumping his fist into the air.