Jack is sitting in the stiff bench of a city bus when he gets the text. He's got a tight hold on Jay's harness with his other hand, to keep the boy sat down properly, as Jay always wants to sit on his knees to look out the windows.
They are both looking at Jack's phone as he scrolls through Instagram. Jack's feed a mix of things he wanted to see, and Jay wanted to see. Workout posts, famous dog posts, HuPet owner posts, some YouTubers Jay liked. But then the text came, a simple notification that Kurt Daniel has sent an image. Jack opens it, seeing paperwork flash onto his screen. A thick stack of black and white papers sat on top of a manila envelope. Jack doesn't get too long to read over the image before his phone vibrates and the message scrolls up to show a new image.
It was a photo of a boy sitting in a plastic chair. He was pale, with shockingly white hair, contrasted by dark eyes. Jack thought in passing that this oddly colored boy must be a full petite, with soft features, unlike Jay's presumed half sports blood that gave him a heavier frame and boundless energy.
"Who dat?"
Jack starts, looking over to Jay who is also starring at the phone. The photo boy was dressed in a linen shirt and dark pants, but Kurt doesn't reply with any kind of name.
"I, uh, I don't know," The bus begins to slow, "Look bud. We're here."
Jack stands up with Jay, pocketing his phone and pushing these nervous thoughts down for the time being.
"Fair, fair, fair!" Jay cheers as Jack snags the leash as they and a handful of others unload onto the fairgrounds for their county fair. "Pet cow. Wan' pet cow," Jay points to the distant animal barns.
"Okay, okay, let's go see some farm animals," Jack leads the way to the cattle barns with a firm hold on Jay's leash.
---
Jack latches the kennel as Jay sulks inside. "I'll come to get you when timeout is done."
Jay flops down on his side with a whine. The boy reaches out across his pen, snagging a large plush dinosaur and burying his face in it.
Jack had made a mistake in allowing Jay too many treats and the sugar crash had put Jay into a terribly crabby mood. Jack keeps his cool, knowing it was in a large part his own fault for giving Jay too much junk food.
Jack goes to his sofa and sits down, rubbing his legs. "Too much standing in lines. "He is fairly sure his knees started hating him around the 5th carnival ride line. Then he roots around in his backpack on the ground. He digs out some left-over game tickets, an empty bag of skittles, which means that there is most of a bag of skittles in his bag now, and finally finds his phone. Only three skittles stuck to it.
He opens it up checking his messages to Kurt. Very few had been shared between the two of them even though the man was heavily weighing on his mind. There were the two photos from this morning, but after that they had both become very busy.
'We will be in tomorrow morning.' -K
'Need pick up?' - J
'No, we should be okay.' - K
It was a while before another message, a photo Jay had asked Jack to send. Someone had let Jay hold a chicken.
'He looks very happy.' -K
'He was.' -J
'Percy says he wouldn't hold a chicken. He's scared.' -K
'His name is Percy?'-J
'Percival'-K
It had been a couple hours since then but as he's scrolling another message comes. A photo. It's the boy, Percival, sitting with a small bowl full of almonds.
'We depart soon. Hope the Fair was good.' - K
Jack shakes himself before he manages a reply.
'Fair was great. Let Jay have too much junk and he's crabby now. Have a good flight, be safe,' -J
Jack sets his phone aside with a heavy sigh, sinking further into his sofa.
"Daddy?"
Jack sits up, "yes Jay."
"Time?"
Jack glances at his watch before getting up and going behind the sofa to where the kennel was. Jay was sat up cross-legged now, with now a crocodile in his lap. "You want to get cleaned up and get some sandwiches?"
Jay tilts his head. "Out more?"
"Yeah," Jack leans down and unlatches the kennel. He lifts Jay up as the boy crawls out. "Daddy is too busy in his head to make dinner."
Jay lays his hands on Jack's head and kisses the man's forehead. "Busy busy," The boy whispers.
"Thank you baby boy," Jack gives Jay a tight hug before taking them both upstairs.
---
Jack and Jay have dinner in bed that night. Jack puts down a spare sheet and they eat their paper-wrapped sandwiches and watch competitive cooking shows. Jay doesn't know what's wrong with his daddy. Sometimes Jack gets sad inside. Sometimes his head gets too loud and busy. Jay knows how that feels too.
Daddy seemed to like his cuddles and his kisses, and the special dinner was very nice and comfy. But Jay wishes Jack could be happy again. Was it the school again? Was it daddy's job?
"Daddy?"
Jack turns down the tv, "yeah?"
"Wrong?"
"What's that?"
"You wrong?"
Jack frowns. "Am I wrong?"
"No daddy. You feel wrong," Jay turns and presses a hand to Jack's chest.
"Oh. I feel fine Jay. Don't worry about me." Jack takes Jay's hand and kisses it.
"When Kurt coming home?" Jay tilts his head.
"Ah-," Jack didn't want to say tonight. Because he wasn't so sure they'd see him today or even tomorrow. "Not sure."
"Where he?"
"It's called New York." Jack shows him a map on his phone then pictures of New York City. But Kurt had actually gone to Buffalo to some government building.
Jay was not impressed by the Statue of Liberty but wanted to go there to see the bronze bull.
"Maybe someday. When I'm done with school."
----
It's dark and quiet. Late. Pressing towards early morning really. Jack gets up for water and spots his phone flashing. Taking it off the charger he shuffles to the kitchen.
Kurt had landed safely about 20 minutes ago and was Ubering home. With Percy. Jack texts him.
'I've got a lot of spare stuff. If you need any.'-J
He drinks water and looks at the photo of Percy from earlier. He sees more this time. The white hair had dark roots and Jack wonders if it was dyed. But his eyebrow had the same thing.
The boy was actually dressed oddly nice. He reminded Jack of the rich pets at Kurt's new job with designer outfits. White linen collared shirt. Dark brown pants that match the boots he's wearing.
The second photo, with almonds, Jack hadn't noticed the backpack. It was a dark leather and said 'Coach' on a metal tag.
It unsettles Jack. Had Kurt adopted a pet that came with designer gear? Or had he actually bought this boy?
He shakes his head and sighs.
Buzz.
'Yeah. Might grab a few things. I want to go buy him his own things, but I want him to have time to adjust to home.'-K
Jack chews his tongue a moment then replies.
'Can I help?'-J
'Of course! Come over tomorrow. Bring some sippy cups and a few pulls up I think that'll be all se need for the moment.' -K
'Sure. After lunch. Going back to bed, love you.' -J
'Love you'-K
Jack leaves the phone on the kitchen counter before getting a few more precious hours of sleep.
YOU ARE READING
A Pet To Keep
General FictionJackson Pipper is a successful and happy Radio Personality. But when his friends continue to grow up, and being to make families, he's left behind. As he begins to question the fullness of his own life, he accepts the challenge of owning a Hu-pet. ...
