Inter Mundos (Between Worlds)

Nine: New Faces

I woke up the next morning smelling the faint scent of breakfast. It was a cluster of eggs and bacon and pancakes; I smelt sausage and biscuits with gravy and many other combinations of food. And then I remembered I wasn't on the ship anymore. I sat up without the worry of having to get a ship ready for the day. I stretched, feeling good and walked over to a small mirror on the wall and checked my face. I had dirt spots all over my face and suddenly felt embarrassed for having met Jim's mother like this. I had to find a bathroom and make sure I was presentable enough for the world.
The bathroom was just right across the hall from the room I was staying in. In front of me, though, was a small stack of clean clothes. I picked them up and headed straight to the bathroom. I managed to find a towel and decided just to take a bath and wash all the grub off of me. With the clean clothes that Sarah most definitely left for me I wasn't going to pass up this offer of becoming squeaky clean again. The sound of the water coming out of the bath faucet was so refreshing to hear. For the longest time I had just rinsed off with a wet rag and some soap. Jim had offered me his bathroom on the ship, but I could never bring myself to use it. And of course there were showers on the ship for the crew to use but it was hard enough finding time to yourself, let alone showering by yourself. I had only used the shower on the ship twice...but that was twice too little for my taste.
Once I finished showering I headed down stairs to find a swarm of people in the main area. All tables were used up and Sarah was running around like crazy feeding everyone. This was an inn so I shouldn't be surprised, but the fact that she was doing this all by herself was astonishing. Suddenly, a robot came bursting out from the kitchen door with plates and lines stacked in a line, balancing on his robotic arms. He placed the plates of food on the tables in front of everyone while Sarah refilled their drinks. Everyone seemed to know one another and the inn proved to be a friendly environment. Once tending to her customers Sarah spotted me from across the room and waved me over.
"Good morning, Briar. I hope you slept well."
"I slept great, thank you!" She handed me a plate of breakfast.
"I don't know what you like, so I just put a little bit of everything on there for you." My plate was filled with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage gravy and fluffy biscuits. "If you are still hungry after that, there is pudding and fruit and some vegetables in the fridge in the kitchen." she told me.
"This will be plenty." I assured her. My only concern was finding a place to sit and it seemed my thoughts were answered when I felt a tug on my arm. I looked down to see a little boy, but it wasn't just any little boy, he appeared to be some kind of dog-boy. "Oh! Hi..." I said.
"Come sit with us." he told me.
"Us?" I asked and I saw him point to a near-by table. It seemed as though the rest of his family was there with an exception of an extra seat. I slowly walked up to the table while the little boy ran to sit next to his father.
The little boys father was also a dog, but when I looked around the table I noticed that the mother was a cat (a very sophisticated looking cat lady) and three young cat girls. They all seemed to be around the ages of eleven or twelve.
"Well now," started the dog father. "It's nice to meet you. Sarah has already told us about your arrival."
"Stop it, Dilbert. Don't scare the poor child." The cat lady said, taking a sip of her cream tea while she nibbled on a jelly scone. "Excuse us. My name is Amelia and this here is my husband, Dilbert."
I hid a grin. "Nice to meet you, Amelia, Dilbert." I looked at both of them.
"My name Dilbert Jr." said the boy.
"And my name is Elizabeth." said one of the three cat girls. "These are my younger sisters, Rose and Camellia. I'm the oldest." she told me proud.
"By two minutes!" scoffed Rose.
"Five minutes for me." Continued Camellia."
"And six minutes older than me." finished Dilbert Jr.
"Finish your breakfast, children." Amelia said.
I enjoyed sitting with the family, listening to them talk. It was enjoyable and laughable. I learned how much of a goof Dilbert was and how fascinating Amelia was. No doubt their children would grow up never having to experience a dull moment. Talking with these people had taught me many things already. I had grown up looking at dogs and cats at house pets and seeing lizards as something I see at a zoo, but here I was having full conversations with them. They were no longer house pets or zoo animals; they all talked and walked among us. What kind of world was I living in?
After breakfast and everyone had left the inn I helped Sarah clean the place up. It went from all this chit-chat to constant running water to clean the dishes. I managed to fit in a word or two (and by that I mean he wouldn't stop talking) Ben the talking robot...who seemed to have a mind of his own. I was having fun talking with everyone, there was just one problem: where was Jim? I hadn't seen him all morning and finally, after finishing the dishes I turned to Sarah and asked her.
"Jim," she said. "I haven't seen him either. I doubt he's still sleeping." she sighed then and smiled. "I have no doubt that he is off somewhere flying his solar surfer."
"Solar surfer?" I asked, curious now.
Sarah chuckled a bit. "Oh, Jim can tell you all about it. No point in trying to find him. I'm sure he's off somewhere in the sky." she was about to talk more about it but stopped herself short and gasped. "I need more flower to make bread. If I don't get it now we may run out tomorrow...and that's no good. Come with me to the market. It will be good for you, I think." she then looked to Ben. "Ben, will you watch the inn while Briar and I are out? We won't be long."
"NO PROBLEM, SARAH." he said loudly.