Wilbur and Gulliver's First Meeting

-3-

After a bit of convincing, Wilbur finally talks Gulliver into messaging his crew. The sailor agrees to get out his phone and text them, even though they most likely won't reply. He reaches into his shirt pocket, but his face quickly turns puzzled.

"What's wrong?" Wilbur asks.

"My communicator...it's gone. Where is it?!"

"Okay, calm down. Do you remember where you left it before...you know, the incident?"

"Not really, it's kinda fuzzy. I usually keep it in my pocket though."

Wilbur takes a second to think. When he first found Gulliver a few hours ago, there may have been a few small objects in the sand. Of course, he was too panicked to check it out.

"You know what?" he tells the sailor. "It must have fallen out and washed up next to you. Here, why don't you stay put, and I'll go get it..."

"No, I want to go with you." Gulliver replies. "I probably need some time outside anyway."

"Are you sure? It's a bit of a walk. I mean...you've barely left this room since you came around."

"I'll be fine. I can take baby steps if I need to."

"All right, you can come. If you start hurting, though, I'll bring you back."

Gulliver smiles and gets out of bed. Wilbur grabs his jacket from the closet, and his extra fleece coat for Gulliver. He figures it's still pretty cold outside, like it was this morning.

The two walk through the hall into the main room, which Gulliver sees for the first time. Orville is at his desk typing, like usual. He briefly looks up to say hello before focusing back on the computer. Wilbur gives Gulliver a minute to look around, since the sailor appears to be fascinated by it all. It's as if he had never seen an airport before.

Finally, they walk out the door and begin heading toward the beach. Wilbur links Gulliver's wing in his and slows down his pace. To his relief, Gulliver seems fine with all the walking. It only takes a couple minutes to get there, even though they're slower than usual.

"So...here we are." Wilbur announces. "This is where you washed up. You know, I...uh, carried you to the airport by myself."

"Wait, really? Wow...you're so strong!"

"Oh, stop it." Wilbur teases, nudging Gulliver on the shoulder. "You're light as a feather. Besides, I do too much flying to work out."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Gulliver replies. He smiles gently at Wilbur, giving him butterflies once again.

"So, anyway..." Wilbur continues. "It's a good thing I wanted to go outside this morning, otherwise we may not have met."

"Yeah, that's right." Gulliver begins to walk along the shore. "So, let's see...where is this communicator? It should be here somewhere."

Wilbur follows close behind, and it doesn't take long for them to find it. He now remembers seeing it before. It's lying face-down, with a blue and white striped case. Gulliver slowly picks it up, brushing the sand off, to reveal a badly cracked screen.

"Found it!" the sailor exclaims, turning to face Wilbur. "Now let's hope this baby will turn on." He holds the power button down for a second, then starts clicking it frantically. He groans in frustration and throws the phone on the ground.

"Whoa there. Calm down, Gully." Wilbur reaches down and picks it up. "It just takes a little patience. It should respond in a second..."

"No, you don't understand. There are parts inside...it's not like a normal phone. They must have fallen out again. Dang it, I hate this stupid thing."