Chapter The Second.

I don't own the characters or the ideas. Sorry that it gets a little sad.

"Vince! Vince we have to go! Now!"

"Wha? Why, Howard?"

Howard ran in through the open kitchen door, his face as red as a pomegranate and his hair slicked down with sweat. Vince thought he looked funny, but nice too. Howard was always getting into some sort of panic. Last week it'd been a spider building a web above his bed.

...

"Vince! There's a spider weaving a web over my bed! He's plotting something, I just know it! Talk to him, please?"

"Oh, alright. But you should know, Howard, spiders are well hard to understand. Them pincers get in the way of their speech. Their elocution's 'orrible. And it's probably a girl spider too, you should know. Most spiders are."

Howard had just nodded, his head bobbing like a pink balloon on the top of his head. He'd agree with anything Vince said if it meant he'd get the spider out of his room.

Vince had been nervous about telling his new friend about his gift. Too many grown-ups had told him off for lying and being a naughty boy. But Howard was different. He'd gone along with the adventure into the attic where they'd battled the dust demon and had even given good design input on Vince's soup can castle. So Vince had told him about being able to talk to animals. Howard had said, 'Ok' and that had been that. But Vince had felt his heart jump. He'd already decided Howard was the love of his life, this was just the sugar on the flying saucer, the icing on the cake, the customized buttons that made a good jacket into a one-of-a-kind.

"Come on, Howard," he'd smiled, enjoying the way Howard's eyes crinkled up when he smiled in return. "Let's go chat up that spider."

...

Howard wasn't smiling now. And he looked far more agitated than he had been last week. His chest was heaving and he was leaning against the doorframe, trying to get his breath back. Usually Howard tried not to touch anything, including the walls, when he went in to Aunt Sherbert's house. It wasn't particularly clean and Howard's germ phobia tended to kick in when they were still a meter from the door. Whatever was bothering him must be serious.

"WemeedtoleavenowVince!"

"Alright, Howard," Vince said carefully. He stood up slowly from the kitchen table, pushing his colouring book and pencils away and turning toward his friend. Howard may be the older and more intelligent of the two but Vince secretly knew he was the brains of the operation.

"Why do we need to leave town, Howard?"

"Somebigboyswantmylunchmoney!"

Vince creased his brow. "What? Say it slower?"

Howard took a breath, shaking as he tried to pull himself together enough to be understood. He pulled himself up to his full height and planted his feet as he finally calmed down and Vince felt a tiny shiver go through him. Howard was impressive. One day he'd be an explorer or action man or something and when he was Vince would be there. He'd be the best side-kick ever.

For now though, he'd have to show Howard how to be a hero. He had the stance right but the crying would have to go.

"Some big boys want my lunch money, Vince," he said forlornly. "We have to leave town or they'll do something terrible."

He was still sort of crying and Vince felt sorry for him. Howard got scared easily and didn't think anyone would protect him. He didn't want to be protected by a kid who was more than three years younger than him (even though they'd agreed to pretend they were the same age). Vince thought it must be hard being Howard.

He crossed the small kitchen slowly and wrapped his arms around his awkward friend. Howard didn't hug back but he didn't freak out, which was an improvement on their first attempt. He looked up at his best friend, trying to be reassuring, when something Howard had said crept into his brain and made him confused.

"Why do I need to run away if they're stealing your money?"

"Because, um, because," Howard was trying to shuffle his feet, which was difficult considering Vince was still holding on like a baby possum.

"Because why?"

"Because you're my best friend, right?" Howard frowned down at him. "You wouldn't make me run away from town on my own would you?"

"'Course not, Howard," Vince smiled back, cuddling closer against Howard's chest. He'd never had a best friend before, or a friend at all really, but he liked it a lot. The adventures were genius. So were the hugs.

"Besides," Howard said weakly, putting his hands on Vince's shoulders and pushing him back gently. "They said they'd kidnap my girlfriend and cut off her hair if I don't give them the money by four o'clock."

"But, Howard, you don't have a girlfriend," Vince was really confused now. "Girls are scary, remember? And gross. Remember?"

"I know I don't have a girlfriend, you puppet. They're talking about you."

"Oh... Oh! No, Howard! Not my hair!"

Vince began to squeal and bounce from foot to foot. He loved his hair. He didn't care if they thought he was Howard's girlfriend. It was better than any real girl getting her hands on his Howard, but they couldn't take his hair.

"But I love my hair!"

"That's why we have to leave town!"

They agreed to meet at the end of the street in an hour with everything they'd need to begin their new life.

"And remember," Howard added as he raced out the door. "We're traveling on foot so you need to pack light. Just the essentials."

"Right," said Vince to himself. "Just the essentials."

As he turned to go to his room one of his aunt's ten cats slunk in looking mournful. None of the cats were happy. They didn't like living off tomato soup any more than he did.

"Just the essentials..." he whispered to himself.

...

Vince hadn't packed light. They been stopped by a passing police car after only two blocks. The officers had been ready just to send them home until the sound of mewling escaped Vince's enormous bundle.

There had been trouble after that. Bundling ten cats into a picnic blanket was apparently the wrong thing to do.

The boys had been escorted back to Vince's aunt's house but the state of the house had caused more problems. Auntie Sherbert had screeched over the treatment of her cats, attempting to throw a couple at the police until Vince was taken away. He'd screamed as they'd had to physically carry the tiny boy to the car.

"Howard! Howard, don't let them take me! Howard!"

But Howard hadn't been able to move. His mother had come running down the street at the commotion. So had everyone else. Auntie Sherbert was being restrained from reaching Vince, not to save him but to wring his neck for stealing her cats. Vince was wailing and scratching at the officer, his voice breaking in his anguish.

A second police car arrived and the crowd was ushered back to their homes. Vince was placed in a car which muffled his cries but didn't silence them entirely and Howard felt the tears tumbling down his face.

Vince was being taken from him. His Vince. His only friend. And it wasn't fair. He and Vince were supposed to be together forever. They were supposed to go on adventures together, see the world and the universe, and never be apart.

But the car was leaving, making its way down the street with Vince still banging his thin fists against the window. Howard broke away from his mother's arms and began to run, his long and gangly limbs flailing and not getting him very far very fast.

"Vince!"

But he was gone.

And that, Howard remembered, was how it ended.

...

For a while, at least.