New Beginnings

New Place, New Me

Word count: 2279

Bets groaned as he felt his head hit the ceiling when he tried to sit up. He laid back down, slowly rubbing his forehead as he tried to get it to stop aching. He slowly moved to sit up with his head hanging out of the bunk. Bets stood up and stretched. He stopped once his back gave a satisfying 'Pop!'. He made his bed, pulling out his suitcase from underneath. He plopped it onto his bed and unzipped it. He grabbed a coat, socks, and his nicest flannel. He changed into those clothes and zipped back up his suitcase. He pulled on his work boots before tying the laces.

"Alright.. Hopefully, this is good enough." The cowboy mumbled to himself. He grabbed his red sash, wrapping it around his neck like a scarf. He looked up at the top bunk, seeing his little girl curled up in a ball with her blanket. He smiled softly. He shook her, trying to wake her up. "Petal. C'mon, hon. We're gonna arrive in England soon!"

She slowly peeked down at him, her sleepy eyes filling his vision. He gently scooped her up in his arms. She giggled happily, her arms wrapping around his neck. She had short brown hair and big green eyes. He gently kissed her forehead, making her even happier. He helped her get dressed into a t-shirt and overalls. He held her on his hip and picked up his suitcase.

He walked out of the small room to go into the hall. There were a few others in the hall with their families. They all had bags, suitcases, and most were carrying small children. Bets dodged them all as he went up the stairs to the front deck. He looked confused as he saw a sign on the shore that read 'Welcome to the Inkwell Isles'. His eyes went wide as he realized that he'd gotten on the wrong boat. "Mother fucker."

. . .

Bets walked around the quaint town, trying to find some sort of public phone. He needed to call his Aunt and warn her that they wouldn't be coming. Not for a while at least. The next boat back to America was wayy out of his price range, and he didn't even have the sort of cash they took around here. What was it the lady had said? Inkwellian coins? Petal looked around the town, eyes sparkling as she saw different types of people. A woman with flower petals for hair walked by, her green vines shining in the sun. There was also a man with a white dice for a head and purple dots. She gently tugged on Bets' collar.

"Papa- Papa! These people are weird like us!" Bets' eyes went wide. He carefully shushed her as he was unaware of the difference in language here. The woman he'd spoken to about a ticket had been American like him. Petal looked confused.

"Hon, you can't just call strangers weird. It's rude." He tried to explain to her it was impolite. He continued to look around for a phone booth. He huffed as it was starting to get dark and they were still lost. "I know there's people with object heads. It's very.. interesting, actually. But- just because we ain't around humans doesn't mean that we can point. Most folks think it's rude."

"Sorry, Papa. I jus' got excited. I've never seen so many people like us before." He smiled softly at her and ruffled her hair. He spotted a phone booth. He walked over to it. "I know. I'm not mad, Petal. I just didn't want you t' point at anybody. Y'know, I haven't seen this many object heads livin' in a single place either. Maybe we got ancestors from here or somethin'. Didn't see any folks with poker chips though."

She seemed excited at that thought. He entered the booth and shut the door. He set down their suitcase on the ground after deeming it clean enough. His eyes squinted as he struggled to read the messy English translation sign in the booth. It didn't help he barely knew how to read. It hadn't really been necessary how he was raised. "Put..three (3) coins in. Wait for the operator to finish talking. Speak the country and town of call place slow. Wait for the operator. Say phone number. Three coins? The hell d' they mean three coins?"