Suuuuuuuper long chapter ahead, but I couldn't find anywhere to break it off that woudn't have made the story seem unnatural. But I guess this makes up for me not updating in so long.
Chapter 9: The Suspender Man
A year had passed since Jon had been found by Gorie.
"This is it son, what you've been waiting for all this time! Mardi Gras comes back tonight!"
Jon smiled excitedly. He had never really figured out why, but when Gorie had found him, all he wanted to do was to get away from his brothers and perform at Mardi Gras. He wasn't entirely sure what his brothers had done to him, but he knew it was bad. However, since he had missed Mardi Gras, he became a street performer and made a bit of money, which he shared with Gorie, who had become a great friend of his.
"Come here Jonny, I'll redo your makeup before the show." Jon nodded and sat in front of Gorie. He touched his cold hard face with his makeup brush. Although Jon was a robot, he and Gorie had mutually decided that he should pretend to be a human when performing. He wasn't sure what would happen if the public found out that he was a robot. He didn't mind pretending to be a human though. He was just happy to be living with Gorie and loved singing and playing his banjo. Oh, and his suspenders. The local people who heard him perform didn't know his name, and just called him "The Suspender Man." Jon liked that. He thought it gave him sort of an air of mystery.
"Alright, finished! Go get em' Suspender Man!"
He patted him on the back and handed him his banjo. Jon smiled in return, "I won't be out too late! And I'm sure to get a lot of coins today, so I'll bring back something nice for you to eat!"
Then he walked out the door and onto the porch. He breathed in the smell of the thick bayou around him. It was the only home he could remember have knowing.
He walked down the stairs and onto the ground. He hopped from one stone to the next. Usually he would just walk straight through the mud, but he didn't want to get his shoes dirty today.
As he walked into town, everyone looked his way, cheering him on. They called out, "Hey, Suspender Man!" and "Suspender man! Over here!" one man tossed a coin into Jon's hand. "Play us the two cent show!" Jon smiled and strummed his banjo. He liked it there. He felt as if he had finally belonged somewhere.
When the Steam Powered Giraffe had come to New Orleans for a Mardi Gras parade, they had long since given up that they would ever see The Jon again, and figured, as much as they had hated to admit it, that their beloved brother had fallen apart somewhere, never to be found. The entire band had an unspoken uneasiness about coming to a place so close to where The Jon had died, and The Spine had made a mental note that if he was ever to come across the rusting chassis of their departed brother while in New Orleans, to not let Rabbit or anyone else see it.
However, they were glad to have Hatchworth back. Since he had been in the vault for so long, he hadn't really had the life experience that his older siblings possessed, but that was okay. He was a bit quiet at first, but once getting the hang of...well, being alive again, he seemed to brighten up.
The entire band had played a very good show in the New Orleans parade, but the crowd seemed uninterested in them. After the show, Rabbit came up to The Spine on the tour bus. "I'm going out for a walk."
The Spine nodded. "Alright, but don't be out too late. We have another show tomorrow and I don't want you falling into stasis in the middle of it like you did last time."
Rabbit scoffed as she put on a jacket. "I doubt anyone would even notice. Yeesh New Orleans is a tough crowd." She scampered off the bus and out into the dusk.
Rabbit was walking on the edge of town, very close to the deep bayou. The sun had already set and Rabbit was whistling and letting her thoughts wander. She turned her head to gaze at the violet fog and sighed. "Getting back to the bus is going to be pretty hard in all this fog."
"Howdy stranger!" A man holding a banjo appeared before Rabbit seemingly out of nowhere. Rabbit jumped back but relaxed her guard. She knew this man meant no harm. The man was wearing a very ruddy looking black outfit, with bright red suspenders. He had a dusty black top hat and a banjo slung around his shoulders. He had a light accent, like he had just acquired it recently, and had shoulder length light brown curly hair that was very tangled. Rabbit noticed he also had bright blue eyes.
Rabbit smiled, the man seemed sort of...familiar."Hello there!" Rabbit gave her usual charming smile and held out her hand to shake. The man shook it vigorously. That was odd, Rabbit thought, usually no one can shake hands with a robot like that. But, she shrugged it off.
"I like your Mardi Gras costume! Very original."
Rabbit made an irritated face. She knew she hadn't gotten much attention in their performance a few hours ago, but really? It's not like she blended in with the crowd. Well, maybe she did around here. "It's not a mask. I'm R-R-R-Rabbit. The singing musical automaton. I was in a parade earlier."
The man seemed taken aback by the fact that he was a robot, but shrugged it off. The man tipped his hat. "Well nice to meet you, R-R-R-Rabbit!" The man winked. Rabbit rolled her eyes, like it wasn't the hundreth time she'd heard that one already. The man thought for a moment, "Oh! I think I saw you play at the parade! You and your friends sure do sing awfully well! But, I'm pretty sure the crowd came to see me, so sorry if I stole some of the attention."
Rabbit was shocked. "The crowd came to see you?" She looked at the man's dirt-covered face and ripped clothes. "No offence, but...why?"
The man's face lit up, that was his cue. "Well I was just heading home for the night, but I guess I can do this one more time." He cleared his throat. "Mrs. Robot I am a suspender man. And this banjo has shown me the promise land. Now I'll play you a song, but in return, you flip the shiny coin right here in my urn. I'll play you something fine, my music will blow your mind!" He kicked a small dirty looking urn towards Rabbit and wiggled his eyebrows as he smiled a familiar looking goofy smile. Rabbit got sad when she looked at him. She wasn't sure why.
Wait, yes she was. That goofy smile, the bubbly personality, the silly way he threw around his instrument, the top had, the suspenders, and even the golden locks on his head. This man was just about a perfect human Jon.
Curiousity and pity getting the best of her, and Rabbit checked her pockets for coins. The humans usually didn't let her have money, and Rabbit didn't know how to use it too well. But she did find an oxidizing penny in his pocket. She had picked it up because it reminded her of herself. She flipped it in the man's jar.
The man giggled and began to sing beautifully and strum his banjo in the most heavenly way. He could obviously see why the entire city came to see him. But Rabbit was less focased on the music and more focused on the voice singing it. It was soft, but not quiet. Very similar to his own voice occasionally. She would recognize that voice anywhere. It was the voice of her long lost brother, The Jon.
As soon as the man had finished his song, Rabbits jaw dropped. It was The Jon. She wasn't sure how, but it was. She was sure of it.
The man cracked his neck and smiled at Rabbit. "Buddy ya gotta pay for more."
"Th-Th-The Jon! It's you! Why are you all human like?"
The man was confused. "How do you know my name? I don't tell no one! I'm The Suspender Man!"
Rabbit grabbed Jon's slender shoulders. "Know it? Jon! I was there when you got your name!" Jon's face was full of confusion. "Jon! Don't you know who I am? I'm your sister! Rabbit!"
He scratched his head, "I don't have a sister."
Rabbit rolled her eyes, "Well, you used to think of me as your brother, but I'm your sister."
Jon's face soon became full of fear as he backed away from Rabbit. "You-you can't be one of my brothers! I-I-I ran away from them! I never want to see my brothers again!" Jon couldn't let her find out that he was a robot as well. It would ensure that she was his sister, and she would take him back to wherever he lived before. Jon didn't want to go back. Jon turned to run away but Rabbit grabbed his wrist. Her face turned serious and full of concern. "Jon...what happened to you this past year? I heard that you fell off that train, and now you look like this..."
Jon started to panic, "I-I don't remember anything my past, but I remember my brothers! They hurt me real bad so I ran away!"
Rabbit looked at the man for a long time. They were both feeling a swirl of emotions. Rabbit was sure this was The Jon. It had to be. She slowly grabbed Jon's other wrist, not wanting to alarm him any more.
"Jon, I'm going to take you back to the bus, okay? Back to The Spine and Hatchy and Steve. Your friends. Okay?"
"No!" Jon tried once again to get free, but simply wasn't strong enough. Rabbit silently thanked Pappy for making her the stronger of the two. Rabbit threw Jon over her shoulder, who was kicking and screaming like a child, and rushed back to the bus.
By the time they got to where the bus was parked, Jon had stopped struggling and went limp, more bored then upset at that point.
Rabbit burst through the door of the bus. "Spine! Hatchworth! Come quick! I found The Jon!" The Spine and Hatchworth soon appeared at Rabbit sat Jon down on one of the bus seats. He was no longer struggling but he was definitely not pleased with the current situation.
The Spine sighed and rolled his eyes. "Rabbit, this man may look like The Jon, but there's one small thing you're missing."
Hatchworth prodded the man. "He's not made of metal." He said. "I may not remember The Jon that much, but I can tell that."
The Spine glared at Rabbit and turned to the man.
The Spine tipped his fedora, "I'm very sorry for my sister sir, we lost our brother in this very city about a year ago, and you reminded her of him." Then he turned to Rabbit. "And as for you, you know very well that The Jon is most likely...no longer with us."
"No but this IS The Jon! Just listen to him sing!" Rabbit insisted. Jon sat up straight in his chair, clutching his banjo. "No sir you need to give me another coin for me to play!" Despite the situation, Jon's still gotta earn a living.
"Spinnnnnne!" Rabbit pleaded. The Spine sighed and tossed a quarter into the mans hand. "If you don't mind?" he asked as Jon smiled and picked up his banjo. He played a beautiful song, his voice dancing on the notes of his banjo.
When he had finished, The Spine did have to admit that even he did find this to be a pretty unlikely coincidence. Especially since he was in New Orleans, one of the closest towns to where The Jon had fallen off that train. He was about to ask the man a few questions, but Hatchworth was closely examining Jon's banjo. "Sir, if you do not mind me asking, what is that instrument?"
"Er, a banjo."
"But Mr. Reed had a banjo. It didn't look like that." Hatchworth said.
Jon rolled his eyes. "Fine, you caught me, it's a banjolin. Sounds like a banjo but played like a mandolin. I can't play the banjo. Never got the hang of it. But what does this have to do with anything?"
The Spine moved uneasily, "Excuse me sir, but if you don't mind me asking, have you suffered any memory loss recently?"
The man looked kind of nervous. "Well, about a year ago, I got hurt real bad. And now I can't really remember much of anything before that." He added awkwardly. "Except, that my brothers were awfully mean to me, so I ran away from them to come sing in Mardi Gras."
The Spine was taken aback at Jon's story. He was fully convinced. He and Rabbit exchanged glances and looked back at Jon.
"Sir-"
"Call me Suspender Man, it's what everyone 'round these parts does."
"Suspender Man, are you quite certain you're...human?"
Oh no, they're on to me, Jon thought to himself. He hoped he was a good actor. "What kind of question is that? Of course I am!"
The Spine slowly picked up Jon's hand and pricked it with a needle. Nothing came out.
"Ow!" Jon pulled his hand away suddenly.
The Spine tilted his head, "Does that hurt?"
"Of course it does!" Jon exclaimed, "You robots might not understand, but we humans feel pain when we get cut-"
"'We robots' can feel pain as well. However, we do not bleed. Why don't you bleed?"
"Well..."
Hatchworth was quietly examining his head. He then snatched off his hat and wig. "This is fake."
Jon was very embarrassed, "Hey! Okay so Im not as young as I used to be! So what?" He snatched back his wig and put it back on his head. Human or not, Jon didn't like having his hair snatched off.
"Thank you Hatchworth, but we have this under control." The Spine paused and his gaze shifted back to Jon. "Please continue."
"Well, er, I..." He said sheepishly.
The three bots looked at each other. It was obvious at this point that this man was The Jon, but now they just had to get him to drop the act.
The Spine sighed, "I'll be right back." he said as he left to go rummage through his things. He soon returned with a jar of makeup remover.
"Why do you have that?" Rabbit yelled. The Spine shot her a glare that was obviously meant to be taken as "Drop it, it doesn't matter."
"Sir," The Spine said while opening the bottle "If this doesn't work then you can leave."
Jon looked a bit unsure but did not protest when The Spine sat down next to him and began rubbing the cream all over his face. Jon looked into The Spine's bright green photoreceptors. Even though he could not remember ever knowing him, for some reason Jon felt safe around him. He felt like he had saved his life more times then he could count. He wondered if he could actually be his older brother somehow. But, he couldn't be, his memories of his brothers were of them being mean to him, and literally beating him to near death.
Er...maybe not actually. Jon thought for a moment, he actually didn't remember that part. He remembered leaving his brothers because they were mad at him, and being hurt very badly. Maybe the two events were entirely unrelated.
It was about that time when The Spine finished his work and smirked. "Now look." The Spine put a mirror in front of him. It clearly showed his robotic face. He touched his face, he wasn't used to seeing it without makeup. He then turned toward the others. "Fine, you got me, I'm a robot. Happy now?"
Rabbit kicked The Jon as hard as she could. "Jon! Why would you lie to us about this? We thought you were dead, do you know how worried we were? How could you be so stupid?"
"Ahh!" The Jon yelled and crawled under a bus seat, hugging his knees. "Please don't hurt me!"
"Rabbit," The Spine said to her in a stern tone, "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps The Jon was telling the truth about his memory, and all he can remember is us being mean enough to him to make him flee across the country and nearly get killed?"
Realization dawned on Rabbit. "So...hitting him isn't the best idea?"
"You think so?" The Spine said sarcastically.
The Jon was very frightened. Gorie...I have to get to him somehow... I have to tell him that my brothers found me and that we have to hide somewhere before they can hurt me again. The Jon took a deep breath, summoned all his courage, and made a break for the door. "Stop him!" The Spine yelled. Rabbit ran over to block his path and Hatchworth grabbed him and held his arms back.
"Let me go!" The Jon yelled.
"The Jon!" Rabbit yelled, "We don't want to hurt you! Promise!"
"You just kicked me!"
Rabbit smiled guiltily. "Hehe...yeah, sorry about that."
The Jon tried to break free but Hatchworth's grip was just too strong for him. "Stop it The Jon! You used to be my big brother! We do not apprieciate you running away!"
He stopped struggling and put his head down. He had lost. "Alright, I'll come with you, I'll do whatever you want. But, you have to take me back to the old man, just so he knows what happened to me."
The Spine sighed. "The Jon, we're not kidnapping you. If you had your memory, you would come with us willingly."
The Jon looked at The Spine, Rabbit, and Hatchworth. "You know...I don't quite remember my brothers, but I remember that I left them. Why would I do that if you were nice to me like you claim to be?"
Rabbit and The Spine looked down. "Well..." Rabbit began awkwardly, "You had a bit of an accident before you left, and m-m-may have overheard Peter talkin about how shuttin' you down-but we weren't actually gonna do it! We promise!"
Jon's eyes widened. "Like, turn me off? But why?"
The Spine looked a bit guilty, "We thought..." The Spine paused, looking for the right words.
"We thought you had a couple a screws loose up in your ol' noggin!" Rabbit blurted out.
"Yes, thank you Rabbit. Before, you were very...odd. Sometimes you would just, say things, that didn't really make sense. We thought you were and maybe even a bit childish, despite your old age, and we wanted to maybe see if we could fix you, if you were broken. We were never really going to shut you down for good."
"Wha? How old am I?"
"You should be about 116 now."
The Jon's gasped. "Whoa! Sure wasn't expecting that one..."
The Spine put his hand on The Jon's shoulder. "We know this is probably a lot for you. When Steve and the Walter Girls get back we'll see what we can do about your memory." The Jon nodded slightly and Hatchworth put him down on the seat to wait for the others to come back.
Hope you liked it! Also I'm running out of ideas faster than the speed of light pls send help
