FREE STORIES 2012(110)

"Whoever came up with the design didn't think everything through," Jack said. "Like the forklift starter battery. Obviously they thought the battery wouldn't go dead because it wouldn't if someone was using it day in and day out."

"The designer is an idiot then." Renard snorted with disgust. "Because only an idiot thinks that things will always work out the way he images. He plans for the good but not the bad, or the horrible nor the utter disasters."

"Something has gone very wrong. And if we don't take care of…" Jack paused as he realized that they couldn't keep calling the baby simply "it." "If we don't take care of whatever we name the baby, he will die."

"So what do we call it?" Alfie asked.

They considered the sleeping baby curled inside the blue food bin.

Renard suddenly snickered.

"What?" Jack and Alfie both asked.

"You put it in a manger?" the cat laughed.

"What's a manger?" Jack asked.

"Something that holds food for ponies." Renard glanced up at the heat lamp. "Nice and warm here." He climbed into the bin to tuck himself against the baby's back.

"What are you doing?" Jack hissed, not wanting to wake the baby. "You don't like it."

"I can't help myself." Renard looked away, embarrassed, as he started to purr. "It's like this is home. This is where I'm meant to be and it kind of pisses me off even as I can't help wanting it. There's this little voice that I don’t think is actually mine, whispering how wonderful it would be to both read a book together and then sit discussing the story."

"We'll have to name him." Jack said.

Renard snorted. "His name is Jesus."

"Jesus?"

"And this shall be a sign unto you." Renard quoted something. "You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."