FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

The paperwork needed to get Jack into the building was much less than yesterday, so once his dad was done with it, he practically ran to her room, taking multiple wrong turns along the way and almost running into someone before finally seeing Jenny standing by the right door, her otherwise-stoic lips turning into a small smile as she waved to him and said, “Hi, Jake! How're you doing?"

“Hi, it's Jack," he corrected her. Her cheeks turned a light red and she laughed at her own mistake.

“Where's Grape?" Jack asked.

Jenny quieted down and said, “I love your enthusiasm, she's in her room. She's just as excited as you are."

As dad caught up, he and Jenny greeted each other, and Jack rushed into the buffer room. The door to her room was closed, but it only took a few taps on the keyboard for Jenny to open it. Grape was drawing when Jack entered, another plane from the looks of it. She wore a short-sleeve white shirt and black shorts that looked too big on her. When she heard him walk through the door, she stopped what she was doing, and the two, picking up where they left off, plopped onto her bed and started pretending they were airplane pilots again as if they never stopped. Jack was the pilot and Grape the copilot.

“Not even a day knowing each other and they're already good friends," Jenny commented as they observed the two children practically dumping the contents of the bedside chest onto the floor.

“Well, can you really blame them? Grape didn't know anyone her age before this, and Jack just moved across the country from where he lived since he was born."

“It's good, though. She needed someone her age," Jenny said. She looked back at the kids, and the two were now taping blue-colored paper onto the wall.

And so every day for the rest of the week, Jack would visit Grape in the facility, and they would spend hours together, supervised by the same adults that were there initially. Playing and drawing all sorts of imaginations. Their favorite was pretending to be pilots and flying an airplane high in the sky. Sometimes, they'd encounter a giant monster attacking the plane, or an erupting volcano spewing black smoke into the sky, or a forest with trees as tall as skyscrapers, and they would have to navigate their way out of danger. This would happen for hours upon hours, with the encounters getting more and more absurd.

It was Friday, now, and the two were still at it. The adults were simply amazed they managed to stretch such a thin concept so far, and neither seemed particularly tired of it, either. Jack and Grape were “flying" trying to find somewhere interesting to land. They had already explored all the places Jack could think of, but Grape had an idea that neither thought of. She pulled the “plane" upward, higher and higher into the sky until they saw only stars. Jack wasn't quite sure how to feel about this new turn in the story, but he just went with it. It's not like he could've thought of anything better.

“Aren't planes not able to go this high?" Jack asked. Mostly to himself. He's well aware that his companion isn't exactly the most knowledgeable on planes.

“I dunno," Grape responded. She pointed to nowhere in particular and said, “But look, Venus!"

Suddenly, a huge planet, bigger than Earth, was on the horizon. Jack accurately imagined it as a hot wasteland, but Grape thought it was something more swampy, or at least habitable. The plane--or ship, as it should be called now--began to descend onto the foreign planet. Once it “landed" they left the ship (visualized by the two hopping off the bed) and examined the surroundings.

Grape bent over and began to imitate picking up small items into her arms. Jack, in a mild state of confusion at her actions, said, “What're you doing."

“I'm picking flowers!"

“There aren't any flowers on Venus," Jack responded, “It's too hot for anything to grow here.

“Well…" Grape drifted off, trying to weasel her way into making flowers on Venus make sense, “We can pretend there are."

Fair enough. Jack grabbed a piece of paper from the table and started sketching the American flag onto it. If they're gonna be there, might as well claim it for the country. For the next five minutes, there was complete silence between the two, only the sounds of pencil on paper and the distant conversations of the adults were heard. Jack was preoccupied, and Grape wasn't exactly in the mood to talk after Jack said no to flowers on Venus.

Grape eventually stopped picking fake flowers after she got bored of that, and she went over and checked in on Jack.

“What is that?" she asked while pointing to the drawn flag. Jack looked at her for a few seconds, waiting for her to say she was joking. She only stood and stared at him, waiting for an answer.

“It's the American flag," Jack said. She tilted her head slightly at his words. “I didn't draw it well, but it still looks like it, right?"

She shook her head, “I dunno. I've never seen one."

“You haven't!?" An astonished Jack asked.

Grape shook her head again, “I've seen the Vermont flag, though. It's hung in the hallway."

How? How do you see the state flag before the national flag? What kind of life did you have to live in to completely miss that? And in America, of all places? Jack knew her life was extraordinary compared to his, but seriously?

“You've never seen it?"

“Uh-uh."

Strange. Has she ever even been outside?

“You had to have seen it on like, a show. You said you've seen old space movies, right?" he asked.

Grape nodded.

“It had to have been there, then," he said.

She shrugged in response. Jack didn't press her on the topic any further, and instead turned back and continued drawing the flag, while Grape looked over his shoulder in interest. He was coloring in the stripes now. The red was a bit too bright, almost an orange, but as long as it got the job done, then he was fine with it. Afterward, he tried his best to make a flagpole from taped paper, which at best, held up for a few seconds. He walked a few feet away from the table and imitated the moon landing. He didn't remember even a single word of the famous event, so he just said, “I claim this planet for America!"

A few of the adults chuckled at his reenactment. Grape only tilted her head in mild confusion, but she went along with it and the two continued exploring the planet until they got bored and stopped. By the end of the day, they were simply sitting and drawing. Jack was drawing his interpretation of The Rocket. It wasn't his best work, but it got the idea across: a mostly red and white somewhat cylindrical rocket that jumped straight out of a picture book he remembered reading when he was younger. Grape was drawing a lot of squares and rectangles, mostly colored yellow or black. She saw him lean over to look at what she was drawing, so she held it up to him so he could get a better look.

“It's a big city on another planet, colored entirely in gold, with a sunset in the background," as Grape continued to elaborate on her image of the city, Jack began to see it better: a vast city, bigger than any Jack visited, shimmering in vibrant buildings and streetways for as far as the eye could see. A citadel that was matched by no city on Earth. At least, that was Jack's perception of it.

The two continued on in relative silence, and soon after, the day drew to a close. Leaving wasn't nearly as difficult on them as the first day. They both simply said goodbye to each other, knowing they'd see each other again tomorrow, and unlike the first few days, there was no overexaggerated melancholy anymore. Just before Jack left for the night, Grape ran up to him and put her arms around him, although in a slightly stilted way. It was the closest he'd ever been to her. The softness of her fur was made even better by her radiant warmth, and a light peach smell to her. For those few seconds, time stood still. Neither of them moved, Jack paralyzed from shock and Grape savoring the moment. Jack noticed her tail pointed up and swaying back and forth slightly.

“Thank you for being with me," was all she said before breaking the hug and running off to catch up with Jenny, her tail curled up as she left.

It happened too quick for him to process it, he just stood in the halls, dumbfounded, his face burning up. His dad was holding back a laugh as he ushered Jack to continue walking. During the drive, dad asked the usual “did you have fun?" and “how was Grape?" that he asked every ride home.

Jack responded with the usual, “yeah," although he was more distant than normal, and the car was soon overcome with silence. He could only think about the hug he received. Up until that point, Grape always seemed like a hands-off kind of person. She always kept her distance, even as they got to know each other better, and only came close to him on her terms, mostly to smell him. That hug was special. It showed she trusted him to an extent, like a real friend.

The two made it home shortly, and Jack found himself lying in bed, wide awake, still thinking about the hug. Did this mean Grape loved him? No, it couldn't. They've known each other for what, less than a month? Love didn't develop that fast, did it? Jack had no clue. He never had to think about love before. Maybe it was just nothing, and Grape showing platonic affection. Maybe that's how her species show affection on whatever world she came from.

Jack pushed away the strange thoughts his mind wandered to, and turned to his side, trying to finally get some sleep.

As the days drew on, Jack and Grape's playtime got so elaborate that they had to start writing down what they were doing just so they wouldn't contradict each other, although they still did all the time. Jack only missed one day, and it was the day Grape had a scheduled in-depth physical. Beyond that, he would spend hours with her every day of the week, although there never was another hug.

Most of it was the same, although a few conversations stood out, like that time he asked her, “Where do you come from?"

They were drawing at the time, and Grape hesitated answering. It took her a good three minutes, but she ended up responding with a shrug.

Not satisfied, Jack said, “Isn't there at least some place?"

Once again, she went silent. She stared at the table, trying to think of a satisfactory answer.

“Here?" Grape finally answered in an unnerved manner. With that, Jack acknowledged he probably wouldn't get a good answer, and settled on Vermont as her birthplace.

Eventually, it was the morning of August first. A day that not too different from the others. Jack rolled off his bed and quickly showered and got dressed. He spent the previous night trying to think of things that he and Grape could do. Running out of his room, he saw his dad preparing breakfast. Fried eggs and toast. Not too complicated, but Jack didn't consider himself too picky, so he wasn't complaining. Jack pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table, which was in the kitchen.

“Where's mom?" Jack asked.

“She's out getting a few things from the store. She should be back any minute now," dad responded as he transferred an egg onto a plate.

“Okay. When will we visit Grape today?"

His dad slid a plate of breakfast to him, and responded, “You can't today."

Alarmed, Jack said, “What?" Why?"

“You will be helping your mom pack for the trip back, remember?"

“No," he said, having remembered.

“Well, you are, and you can't join me today," his dad said in an affirmative manner.

Jack looked away from him, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that he will be leaving Vermont. Dad put his hand on his shoulder, “If it makes you feel any better, you can visit Grape tomorrow before you leave. I'll make sure that happens."

That didn't make Jack feel any better. In fact, it made him feel worse. He didn't want to leave Grape. He wanted to stay and continue to play with her, but he knew his parents weren't gonna let that slide. He needed to go back to Santa Barbara and continue his schooling there.

The day flew by for him, although not in the way it did when he hung out with Grape. More like he was constantly focused on packing his room or helping his mom pack. They didn't need to pack everything, as dad was staying around to continue to work in Vermont, but Jack had to go back.

As mom was preparing dinner, spaghetti and garlic bread, which was way too much for just the three of them, the door opened, and dad walked in. Jack was playing a video game in the living room, a platformer starring a particularly flamboyant purple fly, when his dad set down his briefcase by the couch, giving a long sigh, “Today was a long day."

“Really? What happened?" mom said as she gave her husband a hug.

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, “Just a lot of arguing with one specific person."

He sat down on the couch after removing his dress shoes.

“Oh, calm down. She may be artificial, but she's a growing child, Pete." His wife said while sitting next to him and putting her hand on his shoulder. “You gotta bear with her."

Jack got up from the sofa and went to hug his dad. He didn't pursue the topic further, instead directing attention to his son.

“Jack," he started, “You can visit her for a few hours before you leave tomorrow, but you have to be at the airport by four in the afternoon."

“But why do I have to leave? Can't I just stay with you?" Jack said.

“I know you wanna stay, but your mom has work in California she needs to go back to, and you have school. Don't you want to see your friends?"

“I mean, yeah but…" he tried to think of a rebuttal, but prior to meeting Grape, all he talked about was going back to Santa Barbara and meeting up with his friends. Over the phone, they talked endlessly about the antics the group would get into when Jack finally returns. He knew them since he was in kindergarten. Abandoning them would be the ultimate betrayal. So he kept his mouth quiet, not wanting to get too heated over it. Over the next few days, he would visit Grape just like he did all summer. He pushed the idea of leaving her out of his mind as much as possible and kept a visage as long as she was present. That was, until Friday came.

Jack felt a lump emerging in his throat as he walked down the halls of his dad's workplace, heading for Grape's room for the final time that summer. Several hours from now, he would be on a flight journey back to Santa Barbara. He stared at the plain white tiles in silence, his legs dragged solemnly across the floor. He didn't want to come here today. In fact, he preferred to just abandon this altogether, and leave Vermont without even looking at Grape again. Yesterday was another day he missed, not because he was busy, but because he felt sick. It aligned unusually well with his mental well-being at the moment. Finally, after what felt like forever, he and his dad reached the door to her room, and like the past weeks, they met Jenny at the entrance.

Jack greeted her with a wave, and dad said, “Hey, Jen."

“Hi," she greeted back before turning to Jack, “Grape is waiting for you in her room, you're all she's talked about today."

He didn't want to face her, his anxiety reached an all-time high as he walked across the small room between the hallway and her bedroom. He accepted that he would leave, but facing her again for the last time hurt him.

“Jack!" Grape ran out before he even entered her room, and grabbed his hands. “Where were you yesterday? Anyway, I've been thinking of more things we can do on The Rocket."

The Rocket was the name for their spaceship. It wasn't creative at all, but when Jack suggested a name for their ship a few days ago, that's what Grape wanted. Jack put on a smile and followed her to the bed, which became the place where they pretend to play pilot. A few weeks in, the adults even brought cardboard for them to make a control panel. Jenny and Will helped to paint on the buttons and colorful lights adorning the panels just like the old movies and TV shows. Grape was unaware of Jack leaving, why Jenny and the others failed to tell her up to that point, Jack didn't know, but he just wanted to enjoy his final day with her.

The day went by a lot slower than he wanted. Jack simply went along with Grape's ideas, not really feeling like playing that day, his mind was focused completely on the fact that this was going to be the last he was going to see of Grape. She, on the other hand, seemed to have a blast, ignorant of Jack's disinterest in what was going on. From what Jack managed to tap in on, they were flying over a jungle-like planet, with purple leaves and bright red trunks. The Rocket was running low on fuel, so they would need to find somewhere safe to land so they could refuel. Grape pointed to a random part of the room and said, “Look, a refuel station!"

Conveniently, a small, metal building appeared in the distance, and Grape navigated The Rocket down to it and they got out (shown in reality by the two jumping off the bed) and she imitated pouring fuel into the gas tank.

Despite her attention being focused on her task, Grape looked over and saw Jack staring at the floor. Finally sensing something was up, she walked over and said, “Jack? Everything okay?"

Having been broken out of his trance, he simply shook his head, looked over to her, and put on a smile, “I'm fine, what were we doing? Refueling our ship, right?"

Grape, not convinced of his words, said, “What's wrong?"

His smile faded, and his eyes returned to the floor. He found it hard to put into words what he wanted to say. Nothing he thought of would articulate just how sad he was over leaving, made even harder due to Grape's ignorance of that fact.

“I-" he cut himself off, before going back and thinking of his words. “I'm leaving to go back to California on Friday," he finally said.

“What? Didn't you just move a few months ago?" she responded.

“Yeah, but it was just for the summer."

Grape's happy-go-lucky demeanor was long gone, replaced by a combination of confusion and sadness, “What?"

Jack didn't respond, so she moved to the exit, getting the attention of the adults outside. He refused to follow her, but he heard her say, “Is Jack really leaving?"

He heard Jenny start, “Yes, but we didn-"

“Then why didn't you tell me about it?" Grape nearly screamed at her in response.

“Calm down, Grape, he needs to go back to school."

“Why can't he go to school here with me?"

“He has friends in California, and he's been looking forward to going back." He heard his dad say. He wasn't wrong, but he wanted to stay with Grape now. At the same time, though, his California friends were anxious to see his return, and he became somewhat torn over Grape and his other friends across the country. The rest of the day was just as gloomy. Neither Grape nor Jack were in the mood to play, despite both trying to go back to pretend pilot. They settled on drawing for the rest of the day. It was about 7:30 pm when Jenny and Jack's dad entered the room. Both kids knew what that meant, except unlike the past days, neither pouted over it. Everyone walked outside, Jenny and Grape to get the child ready for bed, and Jack and his dad to leave.

As they all stood at the entrance, Grape and Jack just stood and stared at each other. It was all silent when Grape suddenly flattened her ears and teared up. She tried her best to hold it back, but there came a breaking point and she couldn't anymore. She hugged him and cried into her shoulder. Jack couldn't help but mirror her actions, and the adults in the hall simply let them get their emotions out before they left each other. It was loud--the crying, begging not to leave, the two attached to each other and refusing to let go. Other passersby would stare as they walked by, trying to ignore it and not wanting to get involved with crying children, although with them being in the middle of the hallway, it was hard to just go past without taking at least one glance. Eventually, the crying died down, and the two kids just stood and embraced each other. After a solid five minutes, Jack broke the hug, and they stared into each other's eyes, one final time. Jack only barely managed to see her slit eyes past her (and his) tears.

“Ready?" dad said, the tone of his voice void of his usual confidence. His son nodded, and the two moved down the hall to the exit, while Jenny embraced Grape, before leading her in the opposite direction. Jack looked over his shoulder and saw the white fur of Grape for the final time.

It was straight to the airport now. The drive there was deafeningly quiet, and when they finally arrived, it felt like hours passed, despite only taking thirty minutes.

Mom met up with them there, and they all waited. She bought Jack some candy, but that didn't fix the impending reality of leaving Vermont, and more importantly, Grape. The wait in the airport wasn't as bad as the car ride, as Jack calmed down over time. Eventually, Jack and his mom said their goodbyes to dad and boarded the plane. She secured a window seat, but let her son have it, she'll probably be sleeping through most of it anyway. The engines roared in anticipation, eager to get into the air. As the flight attendant repeated the same information everyone hears at the beginning of every plane ride, Jack stared out the window in disinterest. The plane started moving, and in no time, they were accelerating exponentially.

Jack looked over Vermont for the last time before the plane reached higher and higher in the sky. He and his mom were on a flight to DC, then there to Dallas, then finally landing in Santa Barbara. He lucked out with a window seat on this flight, but all he could think about is Grape and the hours he spent with her. The engines droned away in the background as he tried to sleep, stifled by his bittersweet memories of her. Sleeping would be the plan for all three of the flights, although this was a shorter one than the others, being only about an hour long.

The last memory he saw before drifting to sleep was a teary-eyed Grape, giving him one final hug.

The next two flights were about as interesting as the first. The flight to Dallas had a four-year-old child crying and kicking Jack's seat the entire time. The last one had someone playing rock music into their headphones so loud that he could hear it clearly from two seats behind them, but they made it back. One of mom's friends drove them back to the house and they settled back in. His friends visited the day after, and they helped to mend the hole in his heart left by Grape. He went out with them every day leading up to school, although he couldn't shake the image of Grape burned into his mind. It never left him, even as school started and homework piled up. Every day, he would call his dad, and ask how Grape was doing, and even ask to talk to her. He never could, something about the overseers not allowing it. Jack had no clue why, and dad expressed similar confusions. Regardless, the fact that he knew Grape was safe and healthy made him content.

For most of the time outside of class, Jack was roped along onto strange adventures with his friends all over the city, which helped to distract him from Grape (and also school). Darren Washington convinced the group to climb onto the roof of the school in the evening of a Saturday. Nobody was there to see them, so they didn't get in trouble, but Steven almost fell off the roof, which was enough for them to stop what they were doing and get off. In another instance, they tried to dig a hole to the center of the Earth at the beach. They were told to stop eventually, but they managed to get to about four and a half feet deep, which was taller than Antonio Moreno, at least. In the evening of Halloween, they managed to get their hands on a bunch of Coca-Cola bottles and Mentos packets, and they made a gigantic bottle rocket in Bill Scott's backyard. It got the group in trouble with Bill's parents, but Antonio's expert fake crying skills saved them from a call to their own moms and dads.

Although all through that, the texture of the soft, white fur adorning Grape's body and the strange, yet captivating smile of her never left his mind. He wished he had some form of contact with her, but his dad was always so coy about it, which frustrated him. Every time he asked, he was turned down again and again. He yearned for the day he could go back and visit her, but that was a long way away, if he could even get the opportunity.