"Is it yours?" he asks again, wiping the blood off my arm harder.
"I told you, it's someone else's." I fell asleep while eating under the console and, afraid I'd overheat, he took off my blanket and coat.
He finishes cleaning and turns me to look him in the eye. "Now I want you to be honest with me, it's alright I won't be mad. Did you make this other person bleed?"
Did I? I shake my head. The box shudders and he grips my arm as we tilt a little. Do I have to run again?
"Well," he jumps to his feet, "no more gloomy business. Do you like jungles? A lot of Disney movies are set in jungles- course, not before I picked you up- you'll like jungles; just remember to stay close."
Bounding to the console he slams back a lever and taps colorful light buttons. Squinting at a fuzzy screen he then says, "Alternately, we could be somewhere snowy. I don't, ah...Do you like snow?"
"No," I say loudly.
"Right." He bends his eyebrows. "Right, of course, you just came from snow."
I look around for the big coat in case I do have to go back into snow.
"Wehll," that word sounds different every time he says it, "let's get on with it anyhow. Put those socks and wellys on. Go on. You'll need them in a rainforest too."
I do as he says while he runs from one side of the room to the other getting things and talking happily. When I stand up to step into my boots I see a hallway beyond the console. I wipe my nose on my sleeve and walk to it.
"Oi, where you going? Door's that way."
My foot's already in the hallway, but he's been nice so I look over my shoulder. "I have to pee."
His face wrinkles in disgust. "It's the first door on the left. Don't get lost. And make it quick."
I don't remember toilets looking like that or how they work, but I wash my hands in the sink for a long time and splash my face. The mirror's small and too high for me to use. I'm afraid I'll see a monster, so I don't climb up to look in.
There's a loud knock on the door. "I said make it quick you've been in there eighteen minutes."
Eighteen is not long even I know that. I forgot about towels, so when I open the door he sighs and takes me back in to dry my hands and face. Then he turns me around and I hear his hands in his pockets. Uneasy, I turn around again, but he spins me without saying anything and pulls my hair back. I remember what this feels like and hold still until the hair thingy snaps in place. All at once I am very happy and very sad.
The mossy ground outside sinks beneath my boots.
"Spongy," says this doctor.
Warm, thinks me. I wipe my wrist across my forehead.
He left his brown coat inside and has rolled up his sleeves. "Go 'head, bounce on it. Watch me."
He springs up and down while making a ridiculous face. I smile.
"There it is, I knew you had a sense of humor somewhere."
He puts out his hand. I look at it to see what he's offering, but it's empty.
"No, no, I'm just going to lift you over that log- Oh, never mind." He walks ahead of me and leaps onto the log. "C'mon. You're tall enough to climb it."
"We're somewhere else," I say when I've climbed the log.
"Oh, good catch. Didn't realize you were on a spaceship did you?" The doctor starts to whistle. "Can you do that? Here, like this."
He pinches his own lips and I laugh. We practice whistling while we walk, and he teaches me the names of animals we see. I pick up a blue bug when he says I can, name it Henry, then let it go so it won't get lost.
"Why do you have two hearts?" I ask, wondering if bugs have hearts at all.
"Why do you only have one?" The doctor flips my ponytail. "A human has one heart, a Time Lord has two."
"Oh," I guess I should know what a Time Lord is, "but what does the other one do?"
"Well." He bobs his head to make his voice dip and rise. "One gets cold and the other stays soft. That's sort of an old saying that I just botched, but you get the point."
I swing from a vine that's touching the ground. "Hearts can't get cold they're inside you."
"Well, let's hope you're right. Let's hope your one little human heart stays warm." He pokes me in the ribs and I squirm.
We race through tree roots and cross a stream. Whenever I outrun him I keep checking to make sure he hasn't left me.
I'm ready to stay in the jungle, build a nest up in a tree, when he says we need to go back. I put down my latest friend, an orange lizard named Laura, and follow the doctor back to the ship. On the way I look for Mike, Juan, Elisa, and Henry, but they've all gone home too.
I let the doctor help me over the log because my legs are dragging and my stomach hurts. This time when he puts out his hand there are tree nuts in it, so I crunch them as he locks the door.
