Breakfast at Emma's
"Good morning, Emma", Moomin greeted the cowcap as he entered the greenhouse, carefully navigating a wheelbarrow through the door. It was filled with a various collection of vegetables and mushrooms. Frauke's endeavor of growing various specimens from Aerius had been quite successful, so they had begun adding them to Emma's food as well.
The cowcap mooed and came plodding over, gently bumping her massive head against the white Lockette. Giggling, Momme petted her head and fed her some carrots.
"Is it me you're missing, or the food," he asked jokingly. He did not expect to get an answer, so he was surprised when Emma licked across his face. Her tongue was warm, somewhat raspy, and smelled of freshly crushed carrots. Momme laughed and gently pushed her out of his way.
"Let me get to your trough, and then you can have breakfast," he told her. Emma was not too eager to let the wheelbarrow filled with tasty goodness get past her, but the gentle push of Momme persuaded her. The cowcap was already taller and much heavier than him. If she wanted to, she could easily overpower him. But thankfully, Emma was a very gentle and cautious creature. She followed Momme to the food trough across the greenhouse,
"Let's see what we have here for you," Momme said as he reached the food trough. He always told her what she was getting, play-pretending to be a waiter at a fancy restaurant.
"For staters, we're serving a fresh salad made from two heads of lettuces and a couple of radishes." When he stopped adding vegetables, Emma shoved her head into them, filling her stable with a loud munching. When she lifted her head again, there were only a few scraps of lettuce leaves left.
"We recommend fresh water along with it," Momme announced and walked over to the water pump to fill up the water through. There was still some left from the day before.
"Just one moment," he said, and went to the door connecting the greenhouse to the adjacent shack, where the tools were stored. He returned with a bucket and a scrubber. He was well aware that water was not getting stale overnight, but he wanted to make it a daily habit before he would forget cleaning and let the water turn bad. He was Emma's caretaker, therefore he had to make sure she would not get sick, especially not with something easily preventable. Emma was laying on the floor, digestion her breakfast, and watched him work. Because he didn't like working in silence, Momme began striking up a very one-sided conversation with Emma.
"We are thinking to get you some company soon," he told her. "Frauke said she really got the hang of growing Aerius mushrooms, and she's certain we can grow cowcaps, too. I think it would be good for you to have more of your kind here with you. I can't stay with you here all day and night, and you mustn't be lonely."
Emma chewed in response, but her eyes followed every move Momme made.
"Okay, I think we can serve the drinks now", he announced and filled the water trough.
"It's our very best, a great vintage. Today, actually." He then returned to the wheelbarrow. "As for the main course. We serve lettuce with a side of carrots, beets, and turnips. As dessert, we recommend our house-grown selection of mushroom. Bon apetite!"
Emma blinked at him, and slowly got up to inspect the presented meal. With a satisfied grunting sound, she dived in.
"I'll be back in a bit, after your morning nap", Momme told her as he was cleaning up the tool and the wheelbarrow. "See you!"
