Winged Migration of the Flightless Bird

Two.

"Have you seen the ship?" he finally repeats.

"Ship? Er...in the ocean? Did it float away?" I answer, attempting to be helpful.

"Ocean? Oh I certainly hope not," he exclaims running back to the edge and looking into the deep. "I think it would be okay, but I wouldn't know how to get to it without getting my shoes wet."

I am perplexed by this whole situation.

"I swear I left it right here. I just popped out for a moment while Aye ran into the mall."

At this we simply stand there and stare at each other. I have no idea what to say, and he seems to have forgotten he can talk. By the look on his hapless mug, I'd say he's struggling to remember how.

After what only feels like an hour, I break the silence. "So. You sailed your ship out here and can't find it. Do you have a phone on you? Would you like to borrow mine?"

"Sail?"

"You didn't sail?"

"Like a boat?"

"Er...yeah. Like your ship."

"Aaaaaaah! Now I get it. Not that kind of ship. You want the model? Will that help you help me find it? I better find it before Aye gets back."

"Before you get back from where?"

"No, not me, chum. I'm right here, remember? Look in front of you. Do you need to touch my face or something? Would you like to? I think that would be nice."

"What? No. You said you went into a mall."

"No, I said Aye went into a mall."

At this we simply stand there and stare at each other. I have no idea what to say, and he seems to have forgotten he can talk. Again. Dewdrop winces. The strange man coos at this.

"Ok. Fine. I'll bite. What model of ship do you have."

"Oh! It's lovely. I mean, it's a bit older and has been banged up quite a bit. But it's a Shiv. Not sure what year. Actually a Shiv 360 Turbo Airship. Rust coloured. Y'know, so if it rusts you can't tell. Pretty smart, right? We didn't even need to paint it that colour, it just sort of happened when it got wet."

I step back. How could I have not recognized him? Goosebumps cover me.

"When you said 'Aye went into the mall' you meant Aye spelled A-Y-E, didn't you. As in an Aye Aye." My eyes begin to well up.

"Right!"

"And you...you...you're Potto?"

Oh! My babies!

Over a decade ago I created a TV pilot. It was meant to be a vehicle for my comedy partner Matthew Reid and myself and our comedy duo "Reid Along With Browning". It was a comedic space opera. Yes, an hour long show like Star Trek, but weirder and funnier like The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. It was about two idiots on the run from an intergalactic tyrant called The Node. I was to play Potto, Matt to play Aye. The show would start with The Node hiring every bounty hunter in the known universe to find them, and chronicle how these two losers end up saving the universe. In fact the tagline was "The universe is a strange place. It will take even stranger heroes to save it." I spent maybe 15 years working on "The Adventures of Infamous Potto & Aye" on-and-off, pitching it to networks (networks that didn't know what to do with it: "Is it an hour long sci-fi drama or a sitcom set in space?" Ahem! It was an hour-long sci-fi comedy drama, heavy on the absurdest comedy) then tweaking it, adding more to their universe, falling more and more in love with something that was becoming more and more (and heart breakingly) clear would never see the light of day.