Gary Gumball

Chapter 6

Jerry

I was still shocked that Shaun knew Gary's secret. Not even being home for ten minutes and he already discovered the fact that not only was Gary alive but also apparently had the ability to talk. Why did he talk for him though? The two of them had never met. I couldn't place it while the two of us sat there quietly looking at Gary in the bowl.

I didn't know what to say to Shaun, or if he was still thinking that this was his alcohol migraine talking. He was the first one to break the silence as I sat there and listened to him as he asked a question that I figured would be brought up eventually.

"So what makes it alive?" His words trailing off as we both watched the subtle beat that Gary had within.

"Gary apparently has a heart, at his core. We don't know what fuels it. It just exists so all we can do is assume it's alive." I replied, my words not sounding any more confident then Shaun even with the reason to back it up.

Simply Gary was alive and all we could do to interact with it was sit here and look at it. Shaun shuffled around for a bit before leaning back on my couch. His body was clearly overloaded with emotions and different ways of thinking. His mental state was crumbling fast as he continued to hold his head with his one arm that was resting on the arm rest of the chair.

"So now what do we do with him? Any idea?"

Shaun's voice was exhausted as he asked the question and I only had one answer for him. One answer that almost seemed so stupid that even Shaun might have got a real kick out of it. Looking at him, it took him a minute to clue in before looking at me.

"Shaun, will you be my partner in helping me raise this kid?"

I couldn't believe that I had just asked him that but it was no different then those nights at the club were we pretended to have something to keep girls away from us. It was a rude thing for us to do, I know that but at the same time it had prepared us for this moment. Also it made me realize how lucky I was to have a friend like this. As if it was some passionate moment, Shaun locked eyes with me.

"I'd love to, we need to get family pictures taken as soon as possible." His serious expression turned to one of laughter before I joined in with him.

Then the next thing I knew we were shopping online for stores to find matching outfits, and stupid little things to put around and on Gary, it was on par with the stupidest thing that the two of us had ever done together. One thing led to another and we were at the mall pushing a baby carriage with the container underneath the bonnet of the buggy.

When people looked at the two of us, they smiled and swooned with their lover if they had one. The occasional isn't that cute would echo out and I'd blush while Shaun stood his ground pretending to be a protective father. I couldn't believe that this was what my life had amounted to, and surprisingly it was a happy thing.

Picking out the outfits for the photos we went and paid but before leaving stopped at the arts and crafts area to pick up some added materials for Gary. A pack of googly eyes and some markers to dress up the container. It was going to be the weirdest art project either of us had ever done but as we did this. I peaked into the buggy, I could see little bubbles being forced up through the substance.

I assumed that, that meant that Gary was happy with what we were doing. Which made me happy. I caught myself a lot thinking does this mean I'm a good father, but at the end of the day it also felt like we were just exploiting Gary for our own entertainment.

Shaun

I looked at the objects in front of me. Jerry beside me. The only thing I could think was How did I get here? At first this all started as a joke but now here I was with some sort of internal alien that came out of my best friend like a child, all while he didn't seem to be bothered by any of it.

I simply shook my head dumbfounded. While out of my peripherals I could see jerry turning to face me with a look of concern on his face as he put the glue stick down beside Gary. I was struggling to keep this act together as I got up and headed to the kitchen of Jerry's house, behind me I could feel the burning stare as I reached into the fridge and pulled out a beer.

Cracking the top open I swung it back and just started drinking. I was going to put myself into a coma one way or another and I was going to go down fighting. Returning to the couch I took a seat next to Jerry and the game of twenty questions started.

"Are you okay Shaun?" Jerry asked, while his attitude almost seemed to be saddened.

Did I offend him or something. Wait why did I care? Snapping back into reality I looked at him. I didn't like the father thing, and this was starting to feel just a little to real for me.

"Yea man I just want to get this done, this is more work then I actually intended to do, and I'm down fifty bucks since we started."

"I know, I'm sorry let's just get these photos done and then you can leave. Since I know your vacation starts tomorrow." Jerry apologized, his words sounding sincere which in turn made me feel like the bad guy in the situation.

In a way I was kind of the bad guy since I no longer wanted to play the little game, that we had created. But It was the least I could do to have him watch my dog while I was gone. I reluctantly sighed before going back to the activities and finished putting the fake eyes on the container, combined with his cheesy paper smile. Gary was now complete.

"Photo time?" I asked Jerry as he put the glue stick down and nodded.

"Photo time."