Cleaners From Venus - Soul Monday

July 01, 1778

...

...CRACK!

— Gotchaaa!

My cousin Dan shouted, as if he wanted someone other than his to hear his voice, and see what he had done. Many of us would do the same, even me. Look at that Basilisk. He, no, it is more accurate, is bleeding. I heard a cracking sound, so it must have reached the bone of the head. It's something we do not do for pleasure, but a thing called 'responsibility', or another excuse that sounds like the same word. Good; very good.

— Your turn Jack – Dan said, after he went next to the murdered creature and went near me, holding of the same rock with the same hand he used to threw that pointy rock over it, stained of the same red of it.

— No, thanks – I looked to my feet and I saw a whole lot of worms in the soaked ground, who went swimming. Distracted, without looking upon his face, I had to say something, at least. — Go for it yourself, Gappy – then he went away, and I followed him from behind, to find some Basilisks and their nests.

Well, about the worms... From below the grass they came in, writhing and twitching as my tail. When there's clouds, there's plenty of worms, and when there is, rarely or almost never, a shard of the sun from a hole in the sky, they seem to burn, as they twitch and writhe more and more. That's why worms usually live in the soil. There's no sun beneath the ground, I guess, as much there is no sun underwater, or there is the sun at dusk. Unless you made a hole in it, maybe there would be sunlight to be seen.

With many worms, what else to do than eat them? Eating is better than being eaten, isn't it? There are people in this world that can eat anything, like worms can eat the soil, but I can't. I can't eat the dirt of the ground as these worms do, and I can't eat bricks, woods, ashes, coca leaves...

I am forced to eat things that I don't like and forced to not eat things that I like, and forced to not eat things that can't be eaten. Forced to wear clothes that fit with my height, bless the old with a pair of hands, take a bath each time I am covered of the same dirt these worms roll into, sleep when the clock ticks XX with the little arrow and VI with the large one, as if worms do sleep without a pair of eyes. They do have eyes, do they? I don't know, and I don't care.

Babies do have eyes, but for some reason they can't see, so why can I see if I was a baby, and if worms had been blind like babies before, then why can't they carry on an eye? Babies do have teeth, but for some reason they can't eat without turning the table into a mess, so why am I not allowed to do the same, like the worms, who do not have such a thing as a table to be feeded? Babies poop whenever and wherever they want, so why have I been taught to only do my priorities on a thing called bathroom? Can't I just open a hole in the ground and do it, for the sake of my necessities to be freed from my body, and for the sake of the worms, who need to be feeded from the waste of anything?

Worms... They look so pathetic, insignificant, I thought, when I was about to step over them. My nails can cut them in half, there'll be no pain, does a worm bleed like a Basilisk?... No. This doesn't feel right. In the end, they bleed as much as me. Rain falls upon everything here at Burmecia. Even above the dead, when I saw the body of those Basilisks Gappy's killed with a single rock.

Every life has a valor, no matter how insignificant it comes to look, daddy once said. I wonder if such words are allowed to be taken when it comes to Basilisks. They are a plague, they are meant to be killed. From worms to them, I just take the first, but now that I think about it, from the instant I went following Gappy to another place besides his house.

We are the worms that stand below these clouds, daddy would say, or maybe he said. I don't know what it means, but it seems important. Maybe I'll understand, or maybe I'll never be able to. Some people spend their lives without learning nothing, and like worms, they stand below others, and they feel fine. Some people who are worms stand below the others above the soil, and when they come to see the light, they painfully burn and return to where they lived sitting still all along.

Some are worms who act as a bait for the ones called as fishes, and a few worms are willing to be given and be eaten by the fish we know as Bahamut, thought some say he is a dragon, but I, like many, doubt it, and never we had been punished of thinking this way. That he's a god, sure he is. Is Bahamut 'he', or 'her', this I and us don't know for sure. Maybe both.

As I know, Daddy ain't such a person that fits with these. He's kind of unique, or maybe he's the one who was the first to step from beyond the shadows. Daddy, please forgive me, but you are more likely a scarecrow, for the silent kept on that sewed mouth of yours. I'm kinda like him, uncle Clyde once said. There are things better kept locked than released, like a box full of pins that once felt on the ground... Ouch! I remember it. The pain over my butt, and how it lasted that day. See? I thought of 'butt' instead of saying 'butt', thought, butt is more appropriate than 'ass', or the same followed by 'hollow', or something like that. Ouch! Not again! Other pain that I once felt in one of these days...

Daddy would never say such words. To think, we are allowed, but to say, we must think first. It becomes unfunny for all the boys to keep saying 'shit' or 'dick' every time. It just... doesn't work. At first, it's cool, but then... it gets old, until a month passes. Then, everything starts again. Over and over. Over and over. Over and over...

— ...Jack? Jack? – I heard a voice, and there was Dan, in front of me. No, no, that was before. Yes, Dan... Now, Dan, the 'Gappy', stood above me, he always thought to have been there, but for real he stood above me and everything, in a place where the breeze kept pushing his hair and clothes backwards of his – Are you alright, Jack? – He said, looking over at me. I was looking at a rock instead, and only my ears were all to his words, for a moment.

— Of course I am – you jerk. – Don't bother, this Jack here is fine.

— Jack, I know you are lying. – Gappy looked over at me. Then, I looked back. I saw those eyes before, the eyes of his looked like daddy's. – Come on Jack. Keep it up with me. You'd never been afraid all this time to climb, haven't you? Even here?

I said nothing. Like before, nothing else came from my closed mouth, except my breath, whom my nose took care of as I climbed to where Gappy was. It's easy to crawl over the walls when you're a Burmecian kid born with those sharp nails. That place... seemed familiar, and of course it was. Jack, this is your house, and once again you made it there. In front of me, I can see as many houses with the same shape of bell as mine, and from behind me, I can see the outskirts of the city, and the palace, bigger than my house.

I and Dan live here, in the countryside. It seems more peaceful, to compare this place with the market around the city. This and that place are both part of the same kingdom, yet they are so vague in similarity. The only thing that resides there that resembles the city are the people. While Lennie and some other adults went in there, we kids stood in there, to be taken care by the mothers, a few dads at the neighborhood who stood at home, by the maids who were mostly there on our birth, any adult is doing the best to take care of the children of his and the children of others. In the end, we're all siblings and cousins of the rain.

My house, there I was. Usually, I prefer to stay outside, because it's boring, boring like the gray color, the same one we carry on with us. That's why we wear clothes, I guess, because it would be truly boring to see gray each day, as if the clouds and houses were enough. Some colors seem funny, like this green of my and Gappy's clothes.

Daddy used to wear green and maybe still he wore it, beneath the thick and cold armor given to his. Lennie seems to wear green, but that ain't green. Inside and outside, these houses we live in are gray, and cold, and dark, but when you paint them, and put the orange of the fire in the fireplace, you should be able to see and feel the heat, or else, you turn gray forever, like gramps.

No, he didn't become gray at home. He was outside home, like me and Gappy, yet so near of it, like us as well. Daddy said that gramps became the candle of a fire; 'you can blow a candle, but you can't blow the fire', maybe he said it, or maybe someone else standing there next to his coffin, I wonder. Whew...

— What's the deal, Jack? – I heard Dan, who sat near me, above the ceiling of my home.

— Nothing new, Dan. – I said this only. Dan understood, and remained on his own, like his finger remained inside his nose.

I'm kind of anxious these days. Distracted as well, as I saw that finger of Dan on his ear. A lot of expectations keep gathering over me, like the potential diseases Dan is about to gather as he sticks that nail belonging to the same finger of before into his mouth. At least, he spitted those pieces of nail out of the nail cutter of his, the teeth which remained still over his jaw, instead of sucking then together with the wax and snot taken from the inside of his. From inside of Dan, they came outside of his, and then they came back to where they belong, on the way found by his owner.

Cleansing or bad behavior, who cares, if there's no adults to catch us in the act? Well, I wish they could, like daddy. Dan seems more happy, even with uncle Clyde away from him. I wish I could be happy like him... Each time Dan smiles, everyone near him can see the huge, huge gap beneath his front teeth, those from the up and from the bottom, and now that almost all of his teeth felt, it became easier and less harder to not miss such.

That's the reason why I call him 'Gappy' sometimes, when we are on our own. I would never call Dan this way in public, maybe because he would be ashamed of himself. Gappy's is supposed to be a funny way I found to make fun of Dan, a rather childish one, but I am a child, after all. But I know an attempt to make fun of him with many, who do not understand what is funny, would result in the fun that Dan carries on to be gone, and more of the same unhappy, unworthy feeling to fill in within me later.

These days... Not only me, but he, she, we, they... everyone who stood like this afternoon feels the same, a lot of the same I feel. The sun keeps shining above us, yet we rarely see it in the glory of his, as rare is the grayish sepia of this hour. We are tired of seeing gray each day, so as they say, Bahamut changes the color of the sky. Only a few spots of sun can be seen, and felt, unlike this pain.

I feel pain, like everyone, then I feel nothing, like everything. When there's a lot, I can't do anything. It's like someone dumped the sand of a desert over me and I can't get out, it's something alike.

It has been almost a full week since daddy and the others I don't know, except for a maybe few, went away from home. So, I'm just quiet there, on my own, even with Dan along the way. He's on his own way as well, and I just stumbled across his, like he did with mine. Why, daddy? How and what am I supposed to do without him? Without you...

Daddy.

Some call him 'Bart', others went into a full 'Bartholomew', I once heard a 'Brandford' being spoken, but I call him by daddy. I used to call him 'pappy', though I don't recall such a thing. Now, it's all up to me. That's what dad would say. No, he once said it, before he left to the world outside. But he ain't here to say it no more. Even if he was, he would say nothing. But his presence, at least, mattered. I know my daddy won't come back soon. Lennie is doing the best she can to take care of me, but... why?

Ever since I was a baby, if I can, at least, recall it, since it was such a long time ago... yeah, right. Since I was a little baby, I felt more like daddy's than my mom's. No, I felt mom once... this one who stands here is 'Lennie'. Some call her by 'Lenna', others went into a full 'Lenneth' and many times I heard 'Crescent' being spoken by those on her way. Why, Lennie?... As a mother, she calls my daddy by 'husband', or 'Bart', like anyone else. And that's what Lennie is. Daddy can't find for himself Lennie's been lying, and he still believes she's my mom. Guess he was fooled by the bait of Lennie, her disguise as both my mother and a woman.

— Girl, woman... it's all the same, like a seed is a plant that's supposed to grow up – I said, and I am able to see a kind of truth in his words. Dan... he doesn't give me a damn for what I am talking about, does he? I don't care. No, I care. – Hey Dan, I wouldn't mind to tell more about Lennie. You see, I once saw her without any undies...

— ...Really? – Dan raised his snout, then I felt the quick movement of the wind when the neck of his turned his face and hat to me; the same quickness returned, to be released into the slap of my hand over his face. Gappy's cheek turned red, more colorful than the one from before. I hope I didn't break another tooth of his. Please, just a tooth...

— Gotcha! – you idiot. Though, to be fair, I once saw Lennie this way, the way she came. Daddy too, and so do I.

That bodysnatcher... Lennie kept the same body as mom. She once saw and still sees me without a piece of cloth as well, so we are even-steven, I guess? Whatever, it's not of my interest. Adult heads work differently than ours; sometimes, uncle Clyde tells some things to daddy that only makes sense on his head. To think they once were children as we...

I told Dan more about Lennie. For some reason, he likes her. Now he sure is listening to me, isn't he?

— I never allowed anyone to touch my sensitive area – I told him. – Besides me, and mom, no one else lay a hand in there when I took a bath. Daddy has his own, so why would we bother? But Lennie... Yes, Lennie. She dared to touch it. Each time I take a bath, she does it. I can do it on my own, so why the need for such a thing? Does Lennie think I just kind of 'forget' to clean my entire body?

— ...Heh he – Gappy laughed, and gently showed off the gap between his teeth. Now it was his turn to make fun of me, and I am somehow glad to see it. – We're lucky to have such an opportunity. My dad told me that most Alexandrian and Lindblumnian boys rarely take a bath.

— Yeah. Uncle Clyde told me the same thing. Isn't he funny?

— Yeah, sometimes he is. I guess only he can understand what he's talking about... Why do you ask?

— Nothing. Just nothing...

Daniel Brandford, or Dan in short, sometimes spoken as Danny by his father and only... that's one of my many cousins, the only one who seems to be near me, and be allowed to stay in such a way. The expressions of his change with a word given by another, with an intention or without it.

Is he happier than me? He seems so. Though, I can see Dan is suffering as well. He is laughing now. I made him laugh, but I wonder what he does when he's not with me, or when he is alone. Sure, his mother is there with him, but when she is not? Brothers don't usually stay together. When babies, they are attached within each other on the only crib, but when they grow up, the division begins, like the multiplication, the addition and the consequent subtraction of a family member.

And I know of such thing even without growing up with a brother, as I once thought. Lennie... Is it truly her fault to disconsiderate me as her son? W-what am I saying? Is Lennie... my mother? No way! No way, no way, no way... Mother would never spend more time carrying a spear instead of her; mother would never feed me with the tip of that thing, so I can become the next Dragoon; mother would never force me to be a Crescent like she was; mother would never leave me alone, but Lennie...

Sob...

— Jack? – Dan noticed it. It came from my eyes, and it disappeared into the rain – what's the matter, Jack? Your father is bothering you, isn't it? – Dan seemed to know what I felt, but he was too away from the truth be told.

— Not exactly my daddy, but the fault of his cost too much for me – I said... weeping like a willow. – What exactly bothers me is Lennie. You see, mom was the one who truly carried me all along inside her, that's the truth. This Lennie just came in there to take her place. Other than Lennie, that javelin... also bothers me. You know, there's a tradition around Lennie's, no, mom's family. Her mother, my grandma, used to feed her since she was a baby with the tip of her javelin, so she could someday become a stronger Dragoon Knight. I admit... it would be kinda cool to become one, but... it doesn't matter...

— ...Why!? – Dan exclaimed. For a while, he stood quiet, like he did many times I talked to him. I caught him by surprise this time.

— I already said... it doesn't matter. Anymore.

Now I see why the shock...

To have such an opportunity, to be born as a Crescent, a family of Dragoon Knights who came before me, and now I just left such a thing hanging over a tree. But I had my reasons, my prospects, like daddy has his own, and even Lennie has her own kind.

Lennie... Would she care about me? Would she rather leave that spear in the corner instead of me? Would she even care if I cried for too long? Would anyone bother if I let myself disappear into tears like an ugly Squonk in front of all? Lennie went carrying on a spear instead of me, as if she only cared... about that... javelin... than... me. Sob... I don't wanna be a Dragoon Knight. Although it would be cool, I... sob... just can't. Sniff...

To be fair, without daddy, and without mom, there would be no Jack. Though, there are many Jacks around this place. I am another one of those Jacks. A common name given here and there, Jack means nothing more than 'mass'. Everyone, or mostly the people are Jacks, or Johns, for the boys. Only a few names stand out of the box for us, like Daniel, Bartholomew, or Clyde. I don't know what names they gave in to the girls. Merida? Brunhild? Or maybe Lenneth?

Lenneth... my mom and only. Lennie thought she could take her name because it was unique like mom was to me. How dirty was and still is that trick of the tail. These girls, and their dolls, have by far more variety of names and ways to fool other than me, a single Jack around the neighborhood of, I guess, twenty Jacks?

Man, what do I do to stand out from those Jacks there? I am a troublemaker, like many, thought my reputation doesn't stand out from the others with the same name. They only hit you until you cry, but for me who's already crying, they keep kicking in, as this name given to me. Jack... how and I supposed to become unique? 'Jack, the Brave?' No, that's impossible. 'Jack, the milkman?' Maybe. And what about... 'Jack, the Dragoon Knight!'... No, it sounds the same as 'the Brave' one. What if, one of these days, I accidentally cut my feet with the tip of that spear? Or worse, if the tip got stuck on my feet? Sheesh...

I don't even know if people should call me Jack 'Brandford' or Jack 'Crescent'. Heck, even Daniel is known as 'Brandford', so why don't I? This tie on my tail says I'm a 'Cr', a Crescent, but the one who wrote it was also a Crescent... My mom. Daddy, who's a 'Brandford', married a 'Crescent'. The Crescents have a role, an important one with history, or so they say. The Crescents who became Dragoon Knights, in a single sentence. No Crescent that became a milkman is remembered, or maybe they was when alive. I don't know the difference between a Dragoon Knight and a Major, but they do sound important. Gramps was a famous Major, and still he is. Daddy doesn't seem to be the same as gramps; thought I never saw that man alive, only a statue of his and what daddy told me.

Daddy could have chosen another name, like his own, on the same way as gramps chose the name to be daddy's, but instead he decided my name to be Jack. Daddy... Did you choose my name to be Jack so I could find for myself how I stand from the rest? Brandford or Crescent, I am Jack, I guess. No, I don't guess, I believe I am Jack, and I can find for myself something that makes me stand out from the rest. You have my word, even if you can't hear it, daddy.

Now, talking about names... Lennie. You can't fool me, Lennie. You... just... can't... She thinks as important as mom was, doesn't she? Daddy has no valor then? Respect is the thing I can't find over the deceptive Lennie. No, respect do I have for her, in a way. Even if Lennie is not my mom, she's still a lady, isn't she? Now that I feel slightly fine, I told Dan more about the current situation. She looks different today. I would say she went from a stranger to fatter, but that would be kinda offensive, even if I had the will to say so.

Daddy said to me every woman is meant to be treated like a lady, so did uncle Clyde. Of course, daddy and Clyde never told me about what I can't think about, just what I can't show into words. So, if I told Lennie all what I think about her, and I wished I could, then I would be losing my father's trust and confidence in me. This... I can't lose. I already lost my mom, and I can't lose daddy.

— Lennie... She pretends to force me to say such words, ain't I right? How deceiving. Mom was not this way.

— 'Fatter'?... What do you mean by it, Jack? – Dan looked over at me. He had doubts, as much as I once had. Well, I had then, until yesterday.

— Don't you see it, Dan? Lennie is carrying on... – I paused briefly, as if the breath of mine ceased, words had been eaten, like before when Lennie hurled everything in a bowl, and said in full sentence after, with certainty in her eyes, that I got – …a little brother.

— WHAT!? Gappys raised atop the ceiling of my house, as a face full of joy filled in the gaps of his smile. – Whoa, Jack! My thanks for ya! – He said, holding my hand to congratulate me.

Thanks... but for what, Dan? Shouldn't you have been congratulating Lennie instead? What do I have to do with such a thing? And Lennie... why, Lennie? Yes. you are carrying on my little brother, in the same way mom carried me. Does that mean something?

Yes, it does. Daddy once told me that when two rats, one male like him, and a female like mom love each other so well, they have children. How does one get inside the female one, I don't know. Dan says he does, but I don't believe in most of the things that found a way to exit into such gaps. ...yall!... Daddy loves Lennie, as he loved mom.

He knows mom will never come back, and so he believes Lennie is like mom, Lenneth, does he? Only because Lennie is a female that he got into her pants, as Dan once told me, and still I don't know what the heck he was talking about. ...yall!... You don't believe in daddy, don't you, Lennie? Won't he return? Will you give the baby his name if he doesn't? ...Hiyall!... Lennie... you may be the mom of my brother, but you aren't my mom. You...

— ...Hey! Hey! HEY!...

— Huh? – I heard someone, or something. The voice of a kid. – Did you say something, Dan?

— H-I Y-O-U A-L-L.

Oh... there it was.

It wasn't Dan, but a kid below us. In full letters, for the last time he repeated the way he found to catch our attention. He wanted it, and insisted, and got it somehow. Kinda irritating, but effective. And yes, it was a he.

Boys usually go outside to play, while girls play with each other inside their shelters. Whereas Dan looks awfully the same as me, that boy seemed to not be me. A boy wearing green, like many, and as soon as we approached his, descending the ceiling we climbed onto, we saw himself.

— Hi. – He said, after all he passed through to call our attention. A single 'hi' was enough.

Younger than me, and Dan, we shared the same height, or was it the hat, mine or maybe his. Same hat, but the flaxen was on his hair, instead of the yellow near the laurel of mine and Dan. Sharing a smile, green eyes like ours fixed at us, waving arms and slightly releasing his knees, to the front and back, back and front, as his tail went to left to right, right to left...

How anxious he was to see us and talk with us. That loud 'Hi' greeting, followed of a same smile of anticipation, and both eyes open wide enough to clearly see us said such. I and Dan didn't know who he was, neither did he knew who we were. He had a 'Hw' on the tie of his tail, as much as Dan had a 'Brd' on his and I had a 'Cr' on mine. I wondered what that meant...

— Hi there. – Dan said, when I was there, thinking about the meaning of 'Hw'. He touched the hat of that boy, slightly tapping the head of his, three times, and still the boy shared the same smile, as his eyes went closed in those seconds, and opened once again, to stare at us. He wasn't afraid, like many would, but instead, he stood there, with a serenity hard to be found in children of our age. – What's your name, boy?

— My name?... – The boy stood quiet for a moment, like his legs and the tail of his.

The smile of his changed into an expression of doubt. Then, after some seconds we waited like this, he took out his hat, and hold tightly with both his hands onto the same, now found above his chest, as he let some rain fall and pour over his hair. As the drops of water keep gathering on the top of his head and went into the tip of his now long strands, covering a lot of his face, yet we could see the eyes of his and the smile who once again made an appearance, as the name that boy was about to spell to us.

— My name... I am... I am Fratley.

Oh, Fratley... There's no single Fratley I knew, only his, and I didn't knew him either.

I don't know what Fratley means, but it does seem unique. We asked more to Fratley about him, who he was, and so he did the same to us. We first asked his age, to which he replied, but before he could, first he shook his body, letting all the rain felt upon his hair, whom he turned backwards of his, to be scattered in all directions near him, like us.

We didn't mind, and what we only did was to stand there for an answer, as the hat of his came back to where it belonged once. It took a while to realize why in first place Fratley took out the hat of his, but now I know why. There are some folks, mainly adults, there that took out their hat, helms and kneel before someone, on a signal of respect.

That boy didn't kneel, but he took out the hat, even under the rain that increased a little now, to show some respect, if that was his intention. I don't know, maybe he just had done it because he saw someone do it, like his father, or someone else. I believe that he would do it anyway, wouldn't he? Quite... interesting of his part.

Now, about his father... Dan asked whom Fratley's father was, to which he replied by showing his tail, and the orange tied wrapped into it, the same with the 'Hw' initials, or as Fratley said, 'Highwind'. I recall I heard such a name before, but I didn't care about it. Now that we knew that Fratley was a Highwind, Dan came up with the next question, related to the age of that boy. To reply, he raised his right hand, and we could see his fingers raised in the same way, except for the thumb.

We counted one, two, three... Four. That was the age of his. Fratley, age 4, son of a Highwind... I guess it was all we need from his. After we finished, Fratley led the same hand he used to show us his age to grab something hidden in the pocket. There was a piece of cookie, a little crumbled, but still Fratley was able to eat most of it, as the rest turned into bran, that fled into the gap of his both hands covering the mouth of his.

Still, I could say he was smiling, as his eyes told me. Closed or not, they told about him, even if he didn't know. Nothing could take away that smile of his, except the doubts he felt. In the end, to make amends with him was good, because he seemed to need it. He was both hungry and less anxious, now that we spoke with him, and he spoke with us on the way. Fratley had siblings, but like I mentioned before, they mostly don't seem to be with each other like friends, but rather a bond of blood is what makes them together.

— Well... bye, Fratley – I said, as I followed Dan to his house. As we went away, someone other than us followed us as well. It was that boy, the same Fratley from before. He just went along with us, finished his cookie, but not our conversation yet.

— Hey, Fratley. Why do you keep going with us? – I asked. Fratley kept something he wanted to say but could not, I knew it. After he went through the process of cleaning his cloth of the remnants of the cookie eaten, he spoke to us.

— I... I didn't say bye yet. – He said. That was a good reason for the boy who took out the hat in plenty of rain. I felt, somehow, bad to leave him on his own. Dan as well. Sure, Fratley knew his way back home, and we forgot to say goodbye to him. No, saying goodbye wasn't the issue, but if that was supposed to be the last goodbye of ours to him. Oh my...

— Then why don't you say it now? – Asked Dan. He didn't thought the same of me.

We looked at Fratley, who stood still even when we blinked. He also blinked, faster than the common way, so maybe he could hide the eyes. His mouth becomes a horizontal line, like the ground we step in, but even the ground has curves, unlike the expression that kept still of his. One of his eyes was about to shed a tear, but when you're in the rain, you can't see a cry, but only hear a moan.

I heard nothing that came under that hair onward to his face. The hair was the only part of Fratley that was allowed to move, not because of his, but of the breeze that came now, to refresh the drips felt like sweat above our skin, and the breath of his snot, because his mouth was kept closed.

— I... I... – Fratley said, or pretended to say. He couldn't, and had no way to say so.

I knew how he felt, a bit, so I had to do something, because that's what really bothered Fratley. Not him, but me, a friend of his. I don't know how many friends he has, but he seems to have not so many. Maybe he also misses his father, like I miss mine. Dan also misses his father, but he does have someone other than his mother and brothers to be with beyond himself.

But this Fratley... I don't even know who he is. I know Dan is my cousin, I gave him the nickname 'Gappys', but Fratley is just a silhouette of who he is. I only know he's four, has a father by the name Highwind, and eats cookies. Well, anyone can eat those, but that's what I knew about him, for now. Now, give him a chance, Jack...

— It... it's... because... Because you're other than me, and the nearest other I could find, besides mommy... – Fratley... Just look at the way he spells 'mommy' out of his mouth. He looks so confident, so filled in by the joy of saying such. Yet, he seems sad to be spelling in such a way. He kind of reminds me... I got no daddy and no mom. I'm the one in such a worse situation to compare with him, but I feel that I am also the one who can help with his doubts. – So... so...

—...'Will we ever see each other again?' Is that what you were going to ask us? – Fratley looked upon me. Before, his chin and snout went on a crestfallen position, together with his hair and tail. Now that I said something, he listened and raised the head and the entirety of his fallen position, to look at where that voice came in. – This, I can't answer. Now, Frattie, ask for yourself: 'Will I see Dan and Jack tomorrow?' If you know the answer, then do something that says you choose the answer you seek.

Fratley heard me clearly, I knew he did. It took some time, a short one, for him to tell me his answer. His legs waved back and forth, his tail from left to right, and as usually he had done, like before, he opened his eyes to allow a stare, not a frightening one, but some kind that caught our attention on a way we agreed to be caught by such, and with the eyes wide open of his, came a curve for the line located below them.

It was a smile, that smile who grated us once and now. Fratley needed no words to say which answer he chose. The only word he said was a 'bye', as he went away running and holding off that hat with the little hands as his.

Daddy... If Fratley can await for tomorrow, then so can I. If I can't await for what will happen, I might get upset, so upset that I'll end up doing nothing, and all I want is anything. Anything but nothing awaits for me, and us. Mainly us.

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