It was a beautiful day on the planet Jammbo. The dodos were hopping about and the music was all around as normal. "Such a nice day" Goomo smiled laying in a hammock admiring the sky. He reached down to grab a sandwich to find there were nibbles eaten off of it.
"Wait.. I didn't eat any of my sandwich yet. Who did?" He sat up to see what had eaten bits of his sandwich. Not finding anyone around he laid back in his hammock and shrugged. He took a few bites of the sandwich dropping a few crumbs on his shirt. After licking his fingers he looked up to see a dodo eating the crumbs off his shirt. "Were you the one who nibbled my sandwich?" Goomo laughed a bit petting the creature. The dodo smiled and yawned. Then it laid on Goomo's stomach to sleep. "Looks like you have the right idea, my little friend!" He yawned petting the dodo. He dozed off soon after.
A few minutes later "Eeeeeeeeep!" a high-pitched squeal woke Goomo and the sleeping dodo.
Goomo sat up quickly looking for the source pushing the dodo off into his lap. "Wha- where's the fire!" He saw nothing except little Rita with a huge grin.
"There's no fire silly!" She said as she got closer to pet the dodo. "It's the dodo! He was sleeping on your tummy!" she giggled. Goomo down looked at the dodo to see him on his hind legs tugging at his shirt. He let out a series of peeps and squeaks. "You shouldn't have sat up like that! It seemed to have really startled him!" She said snatching the dodo away to hug it. Terrified, he struggled to get out of her arms. "What's wrong little dodo? Don't you want to be held?" The little girl said, a little confused. It jumped out of her arms and crawled back into the hammock. They both watched it return to tugging on Goomo's shirt as it was before.
"Apparently, he just wants to lie here" Goomo said laying back down watching the dodo happily rub against him. Rita sighed "Oh well. Maybe another dodo will want to play with me" She then walked off.
Goomo started to doze off again when he was interrupted... yet again.
"Heya Buddy!" Bello said standing over him holding a ball. "Wanna play catch?"
"Sure!" He smiled sitting up. He then remembered the dodo so he put an arm around him to keep close to his body. Goomo got up from the hammock still holding the dodo close. "Um... Goomo, you can't really play catch very well if you're holding a dodo next to your chest" Bello laughed.
"Oh! right!" Goomo said setting the dodo back down. The dodo stared back up at Goomo sadly. It squeaked and got on its hind legs reaching for him. Goomo sighed and picked the dodo back up and petted him. "Don't worry, little buddy! I won't be long!" The dodo smiled just until he was sat back down again. Goomo ran off to play catch.
"Here it comes" Bello said throwing the ball in Goomo's direction. Goomo ran to catch it but the dodo got in his way and he missed it. The ball instead flew off through the window of Mina's lab shattering her test tubes and beakers. Bello cringed after realising what he had just done. Goomo then ran back over to him.
"Why didn't you catch it!" Bello asked Goomo.
"The dodo was in my way!" Goomo explained picking up the dodo "I almost tripped on him running for the ball"
"Well, Mina's gonna hand us our jelly 'cause of this!" Bello said grabbing Goomo by the shoulders.
"Nah... Mina wouldn't do that!" Goomo said "She knows I already have enough jelly in my fridge at home"
Bello grabbed his deadlocks worriedly "That's not what I meant! She's gonna-"
"Gonna what?" Mina said startling the boys and holding the ball under her arm. She tapped her foot impatiently.
"Oh uh.. Hi Mina!" Bello grinned nervously "Sorry about your window... and your lab materials"
"Ugh! Can't you play ball away from my lab?" Mina roughly tossed the ball back to Bello, almost knocking him over. "It's a lucky thing that you didn't shatter anything containing dangerous chemicals... very lucky!" She said leaving. Goomo held the dodo in his arm and pet him. The dodo happily rubbed against him. "Can you put the dodo down so we can get back to our game?" Bello asked holding the ball. Goomo sighed and sat the small critter at his feet. The dodo walked back up to him and tried to climb his ankles to get back in his arm.
"I dunno, Bello. He seems pretty attached to me" He said picking him up once more. Bello noticed the change in his behaviour once he was in Goomo's arms. He could almost hear him purr.
"I've never seen a dodo get so attached to someone so quick." Bello said dropping the ball to pet the dodo. "I wonder why he's acting like this"
Goomo thought for a moment. "Maybe, it's because he nibbled some of my sandwich and he thinks I have more".
"Doubt it. Dodos do that all the time. I've seen folks throw crumbs to them nearly every day and they never act like this." Bello said shrugging. The dodo rubbed against Goomo's stomach and let out a happy squeak. Bello laughed. "Well... I guess we can play catch another time. You ought to find out why he's acting like this, though."
"Yeah, I can't hold him here forever! My arms will get tired and I won't be able to collect whistle nuts!" Goomo laughed. "I think I'll ask Mina. She's smart. She might be able to tell me why he's so attached to me."
"Good plan!" Bello said grabbing his ball and leaving "See ya, buddy!"
Goomo then went to Mina's lab. "Heya Mina!" Goomo smiled walking into the lab. Mina was sweeping the last bits of broken glass into a dustpan and sighed.
"Oh, hey Goomo" she said pouring the glass shards into a rubbish bin. "Listen, Mina, I'm really sorry about the ball and stuff" Goomo began "It's fine. Like I said, nothing totally dangerous" she said putting up the broom. "You need something?"
"Well... I need help with this" He says pointing at the dodo he's holding. "He's been like this all day! I layed down to take a nap and there he was"
Mina carefully observed the dodo. The dodo rubbed his head against Goomo's stomach and happily squeaked. "Hmmm..." "Hmmm what? Is he sick? Is he hurt?" Goomo asked Mina anxiously. "Negative. He's doing just fine" Mina said petting the dodo a little. "I do have a hypothesis, however as to why he's clinging to you like this."
"What is it?" Goomo asked still anxious for an answer.
Mina sighed trying to find the right words. "Well, you see, your midsection has the consistancy of a soft memory-foam cushion and there's enough surface area for the dodo to rub against." She said quickly.
"Huh?" Goomo said, a little confused. "Could you repeat that, only a little slower"
"Your stomach." She said poking it with the eraser end of her pencil. "It's like a cushion."
Goomo looked down at the dodo rubbing against his plump belly then at Mina. His bottom lip quivered. "I know what you're trying to say"
"What?" Mina said.
"You're saying I'm fat!" Goomo cried.
"Well, actually..." Mina began, regretting saying anything about it.
"That's exactly what you're saying." Goomo continued.
"So, you're a little on the chubby side.." Mina said trying to calm him down. "But, what I'm trying to say is, I believe that's why the dodo is so attached"
"You're just making fun of me!" Goomo said using his free arm to wipe his face. "I'm gonna go home!" Goomo ran out of the lab in tears.
"Goomo wait! I didn't mean it like that!" Mina called to him but he didn't reply. "Drat! I knew I shouldn't have said anything"
Goomo went home pouring tears.
"I thought she was smart! I thought she had answers!" Goomo said eating a jelly sandwich. "But all she could do was tell me how fat I am! She knows I'm a little sensitive about my weight." The dodo looked up at him sadly. He nuzzled against him and squeaked as if to comfort him. "Oh, little dodo, I can't hold you like this forever. I wish I knew why you're acting like this." Goomo said taking another bite of his sandwich. Some of the jelly dripped on his shirt. The dodo licked at it and grinned. Goomo petted the dodo. "I'm sorry, but I need to be able to play with my friends and other things." Goomo looked at the stain on his shirt from the jelly. "Like changing my shirt." He sat the dodo down and went to his closet full of purple shirts and yellow floral print shorts. The dodo followed him, wagging his little tail.
"Ah, here's a good shirt" Goomo said taking a shirt out the closet. He took off his shirt and tossed it on the floor. He struggled a bit to get it over his helmet but got it on anyhow. "Nothing like a nice clean shirt, eh dodo?" Goomo said smiling then noticed the dodo wasn't trying to climb up on his ankles. "Um, dodo?" he said looking around. He then spotted the dodo curled up in the shirt he tossed on the floor, almost like he had made a little bed out of it.
"So it was just the shirt? You liked my shirt?" Goomo said happily as he knelt down to pet the sleeping dodo. The dodo smiled and purred. Goomo sat the dodo and the shirt up on his bed and he laid down on the bed himself. "Haha! Like I said before, you have the right idea!" He fell asleep with the dodo next to him.