Two Hearts -- Simon

Simon tugged at the neck of his hoodie.  It was awfully hot.  He was really starting to wish he'd changed into a t-shirt before coming out on deck.   

Then again, he hadn't really had a chance to, either.  

Upon boarding the ship, Dave had left the boys to their own devices while he went inside to check on the rooms and finish setting up a few things with the captain.  Once again, he had left Simon in charge.  Naturally, the first thing Alvin had wanted to do was explore the main deck.  And by 'explore,' he meant 'cause as much of a ruckus as humanly possible.'  He had wasted no time attempting to woo every pretty girl in sight with his so-called 'animal magnetism,' had attempted to zip-line down the flag pole, and at one point, he had even found himself in the captain's lodge trying to steer the ship.  Simon sighed.  This was going to be a long vacation….

Simon hopped up onto a table in the midst of the crowded deck to get a better look around.  Dave had been gone for quite a while, which made him a little nervous.  Maybe Alvin had knocked him overboard and no one had noticed.  He diligently scanned the crowd for any sign of Dave's familiar visage, but kept coming up empty.  Surely he was still inside somewhere?  Who knew—there were so many people on the boat, it was hard for him to even keep track of himself, much less anybody else.    

Simon suddenly realized that he hadn't seen or heard anything from Alvin in almost half an hour.  In a way, this unnerved him more than anything else.  Not because he was worried for his brother's safety, but because he was worried about what he might be doing.  He quickly scanned the crowd again, standing on his tippy toes to try and see over everybody, but it was no use.  Oh well, he thought, I have a feeling we'll all find out what he's up to eventually.  

He sighed again, and plopped down in the middle of the table with a huff.  The overbearing sun was still excruciating, and he couldn't help tugging on the overly warm fabric.  Looking around, he spied a large bowl of tropical fruit sitting next to him on the table.  I am a little hungry, he thought, and stretched out a paw for a grape.  

Just as he was about to grab it, the grape shivered and moved.  Startled, he jerked his paw back, and watched as the entire contents of the bowl slowly raised themselves up, shivered once, then settled back down into the bowl.  

"What the—?"  He stood up and began to dig through the bowl, pushing aside the apples, oranges, bananas, and anything else he could get his paws on.  Finally, after shoving a pear aside, he looked—and was surprised by what he found.    

"Theodore!?"  

Lying at the bottom of the bowl, wearing a tropical green shirt and a smile the size of his belly, was Simon's butterball of a brother.  "Hi Simon!" he exclaimed happily, before squishing a large grape between his teeth.  

"How long have you been in there?" he asked.  

"Uhhh…how long have we been here?"

He couldn't help but grin.  He knew he could always count on Theodore to make his day better.  

"But you can eat fruit anytime," he said, helping his brother out of the fruit bowl.  "Don't you want to see what's on the rest of the ship?"

"I guess so," he replied, shoving one last grape into his mouth for good measure.  "Is that what you're doing now?"

"Well…sort of," he answered.  "I don't suppose you've seen Alvin anywhere lately?"

"No," he said, gloomily.  "And I haven't seen Eleanor, either.  Have you?"

Eleanor.  The girls.  …Jeanette.  He felt a familiar fluttering in his chest at the mere thought of her, and suddenly he felt ashamed for not having thought about finding her sooner.  He caught himself involuntarily glancing around at the crowd again, knowing full well that she was nowhere on deck.  

"No, not since we boarded," he replied.  "But hey, they're around here somewhere," he went on as the expectant look on his little brother's face turned crestfallen.  "Besides, it's a little hard to find anybody at the bottom of a fruit bowl, right?"

Theodore chuckled, his large cheeks jiggling with pleasure.  

"Maybe they're out here somewhere and you just don't know it," he continued.  "Come on, we'll go find them!"

The words had scarcely escaped his mouth when there came a resounding crash from the opposite side of the deck.  The hundred or so people on deck all turned their heads in unison, and it became deathly quiet.  A frightened, but still curious, Theodore quickly tried to scurry up onto someone's shoulder for a better view.  Only Simon stayed below, with one paw on his temple, shaking his head.  

"Oh, brother," he muttered.    

That's when he heard it—that's when they all heard it.  The almost characteristic sound of Alvin's name being bellowed across the entire deck with a fervor so condemning as to even make innocent bystanders feel a twinge of guilt.  If high blood pressure and impending stroke had a sound, this was surely it.  All Simon could do was let out an exasperated sigh.  At least now he knew where Dave was.  

Simon tugged at his hoodie again, his fur wet and matted beneath it.  He glanced up at Theodore, who was hanging on to a woman's shoulder, watching whatever commotion was happening on the opposite side.  He decided that if he was going to change shirts, now was the time to do it.  Besides, he thought as he hopped off the table and headed for the door, it sounds like Dave has got it all under control.