Acorns and I Love You

Part 5 Lunch Delivery

For the next week everything continued like usual but Joe was noticing something. There were way more acorns than usual and they were hitting everywhere in the tractor, his gloves in pockets on stairwells and in between books. Almost everywhere he looked he could find acorns. All from Kip. All tokens of affection. No one else around the house seemed to notice them so Hoe assumed they were warded with something. There was always a little surprise when he found another. Another reminder that Kip was thinking of him. Kip had hidden acorns before but definitely not this many. And definitely less frequently. Where they are all signs of affection. If they were all small affections Joe would need to give something back to show reciprocation. He did like Kip. Even if Kip didn't like him romantically he could still give affectionate gestures, right?

That day would be one without Kip so the perfect day to find acorns of his own. And to figure out a way to hide them without Kip's notice is something easier said than done. Kip was perceptive so he would have to be tricky if he wanted to hide acorns for Kip. In the meantime he would just have to gather some to give to Kip. While on his daily rounds Joe picked up the best acorns he could find. He tried to be discerning but he didn't know what to look for in an acorn. What constitutes a good one versus a bad one? It was late morning when he decided to head back to the house for a snack. There he found his mom in a bit of a tizy. "Mom, what's going on?"

"Oh, Joe, perfect timing. Will you take this to your sister?" She held out three bags. Inside there were three meals. "Did sis forget her lunch?" Tami made her own lunch but would sometimes forget on her way out the door. "And why are there three lunches?"

"Oh you know one for Ash he's basically part of the family and the others for Kip you know much that he can eat."

"He can eat a lot." Joe agreed. This gave Joe the perfect opportunity to give Kip an acorn he can sneak it in with the lunch. "I'll take this to them" and with that he was out the door again. He also grabbed a couple extra apples for Kip. The more food the better. 'I bet he'd eat this all in a minutes' joe thought to himself. Joe hides one acorn in Kip's designated bag. Then he was on his way.

Kip was having a normal day at work. Cleaning and scrubbing and the rambunctious kids at play time. Recess was always one of his favorite parts of the work day. They played all sorts of games to get the kids tired out. Tag, soccer, Simon says. Recess had just ended and now Kip was making the rounds as a fixer upper to make sure everything was in order before the next break but something caught his attention. Jiro was coming. He could feel the connection they had and how he was closing in. Jiro was coming to the school. Jiro was coming to the school! What did this mean? Was something wrong? He tried to sense if there was any panic in Jiro, there wasn't that calmed him but still what was he doing here. Usually he'd be on the farm. He wanted to go to him as soon as possible but he was still at work. So instead we went to find Ash. Kip quickly skedaddled to their janitorial office. "Ash! Jiro's on his way." Ash was in there organizing and was a little surprised by the outburst. "Okay? Did he text you?" pause "Is something wrong? Is Bity okay?" Kip realized his mistake saying it like that. "No, everything is fine, he's just on his way I can tell."

"If everythings fine then why did you come in like that? And for that matter how did you know he was coming?" Kip then again realized his mistake. Jiros soul has been on lock down for sometime now and Ash wouldn't even be able to sense as a rever let alone from a distance. "I can just tell" That certainly sounded suspicious but Kip had to get to the point. "I wanted to go greet Jiro but I didn't want to disappear without telling you."

"That's fine with me but you really didn't need to tell me."

"Yeah but, I didn't want you to think I abandoned you to hang out with Jiro."

"He's your friend, why would I mind?"

"Friend... yeah" Kip could feel an awkward Jiro stalling by the entrance of the school.

"He's Here, got to go" and a bounding Kip was out the door. Ash noticed the smile on Kip's face as he left and the strange reaction to the word friend. Something was up and Ash was determined to find out so he followed Kip out the door but at an appropriate pace.

Joe didn't know where to start. He had made it to the door but it had been many years since he's been here and he didn't know where the office was. And he didn't want to be a stranger wandering around the halls. That's when he saw Kip bounding towards him. "Jiro!" and then Kip leaped into his arms. Joe tried to hug him back but his hands were full with lunches. "Hi Kip, how are you?"
"Good. What are you doing here?"

"Tami forgot her lunch so I brought it over for her, and some lunches for you and Ash." Jiro handed him a bag, the biggest bag from the look of it. "I gave you a few extra apples" Kip's heart fluttered. He wanted to embrace him again right there but now Ash was here and they were still at work so instead he did a chittering laugh and expressed his gratitude in many compliments and smiles. Kip led him directly to Tami's office non stop chatting all the way. Once there he dropped off the lunch and made his way back to the car. Kip walked right next to him with his tail brushing against him. When it came time for goodbyes Kip didn't want to see him go but Joe reminded him that they'll see each other soon. Kip decided to save the meal for when he usually ate lunch and get back to work. And Ash definitely had some questions for Kip later.