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His woman had woken him in the middle of the night.
Pogo wasn’t exactly sure why but he would do anything for his woman, for her. She had opened the box he was in, she loved him, she took care of him and she smelled nicer than his man. He loved his man too, of course, his man had made him smart but his man was only nice sometimes and sometimes he made him write for hours until his hands hurt too much and didn’t let him go to play and then Pogo didn’t like his man that much anymore.
His woman, her name was Grace, told him that they needed to leave she said that ‘Daddy’ (Daddy was what she wanted him to call his man but Pogo knew actually the man’s name was Reginald and that the woman called him Reggie which was shorter) wasn’t who she had thought he was and that they needed to leave before something bad could happen to them. She didn’t say what the bad was but Pogo didn’t care because she carried him that was nice. She carried him to her car and Pogo usually wasn’t allowed to drive in the car so that was nice too. He almost wished she had discovered something bad before.
Two of them were the boy that had gone to his room and he had to scratch and a man who was very big and smelled very nice, familiar and a little like his crate smelled.
Pogo liked that man and hated the boy he decided.
Another man brought him some crayons and papers so he could draw.
He drew a picture of his man and his woman and then he drew the nice smelling man and the evil boy.
He thought they might be friends. Pogo wanted to warn the nice smelling man about the evil boy but he didn’t know how he could do that.
The humans were talking now between themselves and Pogo looked up walking over to them. He was bored of drawing now and maybe one of the humans would read the Iliad to him.
“I… don’t understand though…” a woman was saying now. “Why did D… oh…” she stopped and looked at him. Sometimes humans reacted that way to him. Humans, Pogo thought were a little silly. His man had told him something similar. He looked at the nice-smelling man and reached out to him.
“I think Pogo likes you,” his woman told the nice-smelling man.
Pogo gave and affirmative noise.
The nice-smelling man smiled too but there was another emotion in the smile, a sadness that Pogo could smell and Pogo knew that wasn’t a smile emotion.
“Yeah? I like Pogo too,” he said and took Pogo’s hand. The evil boy made a sound like he was annoyed but he was evil and had entered Pogo’s room without asking so Pogo didn’t care. “Hey there little buddy. You wanna play a game with me?”
Pogo nodded. He loved games.
The nice-smelling man nodded and led him away while his woman and the other humans continued speaking.
“Do you know how to play plane?” the nice smelling man asked.
Pogo shook his head. He had no idea how to play plane. Most of the games that he played with the woman and the man were focused on learning languages.
“Okay, so I lay down on the ground,” he explained. “And don’t laugh that might look a little silly, but I promise it’ll be fun. And then I put out my legs like that and lift you up in the air like that and then you’re a plane!”
Pogo looked at him with big eyes. That sounded like fun. Pogo liked planes. Planes and rocket ships. Pogo had been in space.
So the nice-smelling man laid on the ground and lifted him up with his legs holding onto his arms and grinned up at him.
“Like it?” he asked and moved his legs a little. “Nyyyoooh, nyyoooohh… captain! Watch out!”
“Nyyooohh, nyyoooh! Pogo! I’m a plane! I’m flying. Look! Look!”
A blonde boy with blue eyes smiling widely down at him. Pogo had him on his legs.
“Yes, Number One,” he heard himself say and that was odd. Pogo couldn’t talk yet but his man said he might one day. “Now don’t you wiggle too much or you might fall I’m not strong enough.”
“You look stupid,” a sharp voice cut in said and Pogo was back with the nice smelling man.
The nice smelling man put him down.
There was the evil boy again he had called the nice smelling man stupid. Pogo hissed at him.
“At least I’m entertaining him,” the nice-smelling man said.
Yes, nice-smelling man! Show the evil boy! Pogo was very proud of the man. He didn't let the evil boy be mean to him.
He hissed at the boy again for good meassure.
“Pogo, this is just Five,” the nice-smelling man said. “He’s fine. Just a little grumpy.”
Pogo wasn’t so sure but when the nice-smelling man said so he might be inclined to stop hissing at him.
“Why does he like you so much?” the evil boy, who was called Five Pogo knew now, asked eyeing the nice-smelling man confused.
“I’ve always been amongst his favorites,” the nice-smelling man told him and looked away. “That was a joke,” he clarified. “I think it might be my body.”
“It’s gorilla though,” the evil boy said. “Pogo’s a chimp.”
“Same serum, I guess,” the nice-smelling man said.
When he heard the word serum Pogo shrunk together, he had gotten the serum when he was about to die but his man was still giving him it sometimes so he would be more human and smarter, Pogo did want to be smarter. His man was never mean about it but the syringe hurt and he didn’t like it.
“Oh, no,” the nice smelling man said. “No, Pogo it’s okay!”
“Yes, Pogo,” The boy said and nodded. “Don’t worry it’s all good!”
“It’s all good, Pogo! I was just training with Ben and Vanya!” the boy said and looked at him surly.
“Number Five…” Pogo said (talking again, he couldn’t talk!) “You know you aren’t supposed to be out of bed after lights out.”
Big eyes were suddenly on him. “Please don’t tell Dad!”
"I won't... but you and your brother and sister better go to be now."
“Ooooh…” Pogo made and blinked at the two humans. He didn’t really know what was going on but he didn’t like it, his head was all wrong and he didn’t understand.
He ran past the nice smelling man’s legs and to his woman quickly climbing on her lap and hiding his head in her blouse. These humans were confusing him.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” she asked putting her hand through his fur. He couldn’t tell her and she knew that but it was nice that she did so anyway.
Pogo made a sad sound and thought back to what he’d been seeing. Sometimes in his sleep he could talk, he told his woman and his man about his day and when they told him the drawings he made for them were very good he said ‘thank you’ back and he told them that their work was very good and he asked them to never make him go to space ever again because space was scary and had hurt him even though he had only started to be smart and understand things after.
“I’m sorry,” the nice-smelling man said. “I don’t know how we upset him… I just wanted to keep him busy.”
Pogo wanted to tell the nice-smelling man that it really wasn’t his fault. He looked back up his woman and let go of her.
“It’s fine, I’m sure he enjoyed playing with you, didn’t you Pogo?”
He nodded.
“Pogo is still very much led by a lot of animal instincts, so he does get spooked easily but Reggie and I have been working with him, it is incredible the kind of things he’s been learning… he is such a success story,” his woman explained and Pogo felt pride. His humans loved him and were proud of him and he did such a good job at everything. “He does need a very stern routine though which… I’m afraid I interrupted. I’m such a bad Momma aren’t I?”
Pogo shook his head. Of course she wasn’t, he had the best humans.
His woman smiled.
“That’s not so different from human children,” a woman at the table noted. She smelled like she was sad.
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Grace said. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not a mother. Never planned to be, not of human children anyway.”
The room fell quiet and Pogo smelled the sadness coming from the humans surrounding them.