The dorm chair’s back propped up the parka so it looked more like the character.

  Gloria gradually began to talk to it, to her, and with no one watching, she indulged in this new friendship with all she had left.

  Chapter

  Twenty

  Gloria did her best to stay engaged with her studies, but she felt depleted. Sometimes the idea of doing something for the common good just wasn’t enough motivation. It didn’t mask the emptiness.

  “StarKat, I just miss him so much.”

  She stared at the parka and thought about the moment her father had given it to her. Admittedly, she was disappointed. It felt like he didn’t realize she was no longer the child who used to watch StarKat. Had he failed to see her grow into a preteen?

  Now, she felt apologetic and ungrateful. She’d spoiled their last moments together.

  Chapter

  Twenty-One

  Sometimes a good hug is all a person needs to course-correct, to feel a part of something meaningful, something that matters. Gloria’d once seen a man who’d managed to travel all the way from New Detroit to Denver, where he then stood blindfolded in the plaza with a sign next to him that read, “I am not dangerous. I also matter. Free hugs.” She’d watched people in their designer suits walk past him, ignoring him like he was the topiary outside the lobby of a skyscraper. Finally, a little girl walked up to him and hugged him.

  It was Gloria.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Two

  “They really went all out with you,” she said to StarKat. “You have detachable paws and everything.” She lifted the sleeve of the parka to her face and smiled. StarKat was so soft.

  For a moment, Gloria rested her face against the sleeve, remembering the touch of her father’s hand. He’d been gone for seven years. Seven birthdays. Seven Christmases. Seven long years.

  She wondered what it would feel like to put on the parka. She’d waited so long that it now felt unnecessary, but she hoped, deep down, it might mirror her father’s hug.

  So she tried it on.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Three

  Gloria was surprised by how cozy the parka felt as it slid over her shoulders. It was far roomier than she’d expected, but it wasn’t burdensome. It almost felt like…an extension of herself.

  She lifted her arms and noticed the parka’s paws lifted with her, even though they extended beyond her actual hands by nearly a foot. The design looked ridiculous on someone her age, but was consistent with the toy and cartoon series.

  Gloria Martiene Holbrook slowly wrapped her arms across her body and hugged herself gently.

  In that moment she felt the parka expand and overtake her.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Four

  Gloria stared, startled at the labyrinth ahead of her, trying to reconcile that she was still inside of the parka. Her first thought was to run, but where would she go? There was no exit in sight, only polyester lining.

  “We’re almost there!” she heard from somewhere around her. The voice was familiar. She had heard it most of the Saturdays of her childhood. It was StarKat.

  Astonished the parka could talk, Gloria used the voice to guide her through the labyrinth.

  Finally, she reached the end of the maze and felt the hood of the parka over her face.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Five

  “We’re here!” StarKat said.

  “Wait. How are you able to talk?” Gloria asked.

  “The Designer programmed me to interact with you!”

  She stood dumbfounded. “So you’re like some type of artificial intelligence?”

  “I am your friend!” StarKat responded.

  Lifting the hood of the parka above her eyes, Gloria gazed out in amazement at the colorful land that lay before her, lush grass in every direction. “Where are we?”

  StarKat laughed, her high-pitch cartoon-like voice clearly delighted with the question.

  “We are here, Glo! This is a paradise called Avonova!”

  “How do you know?”

  “I am programmed to know!” StarKat responded.

  Chapter

  Twenty-Six

  “What are you programmed to know?” Gloria asked, her feet struggling to keep up with the parka’s momentum.

  “I have been programmed to know about Avonova!”

  “By whom?”

  “The Designer!”

  “My daddy?”

  “The Designer!” StarKat replied.

  “Could he be The Designer?” Gloria asked, her heart racing.

  “I do not know! I was not programmed to know that!”

  “But we’re here,” she said, “and you were programmed to bring me here.”

  “Yes!”

  Seven years, Gloria thought. Surely, her father was behind this. He had to be. She needed him to be.

  Why had she waited so long to wear the parka?

  Chapter

  Twenty-Seven

  “Is Avonova in America?” Gloria asked.

  “Avonova is in Avonova!” StarKat shouted.

  Gloria took a deep breath, wondering why she’d even bothered to ask.

  There were too many things to wrap her mind around.

  Suddenly a small robot rolled past her being chased by a much larger rock-like man whose head appeared to be on fire, flames like the mane of a lion.

  “Monsters!” Gloria screamed, starting to run.

  “Not monsters! Machina and Fabled!”

  StarKat stopped Gloria abruptly in her tracks and gently guided her back to these new, strange beings.

  “I’m scared,” Gloria said.

  “Don’t be! They are friendly!”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Eight

  The larger one of the two, its head completely aflame, bounded towards them.

  “Me Hotpaws.” He extended his hand to shake, but Gloria immediately noticed how his hand glowed bright red, contrasting with the rest of the rocks in his body.

  “Hot!” StarKat said. “Very hot!”

  StarKat and Gloria danced around Hotpaws’s smoldering hands, while still attempting to be gracious.

  “Nice to meet you,” Gloria said. “I’m Glo.”

  “And I’m StarKat!” the parka interjected.

  Confused, Hotpaws said, “You GloKat?”

  Not knowing how to respond, Gloria simply replied, “Yes. We’re GloKat.”

  “GloKat want to play a game with Hotpaws and Snooker?”

  Chapter

  Twenty-Nine

  The one called a Machina, Snooker, looked like a flip-lid garbage can on a motorbike wheel. In his thin arms, he held what looked like a pool cue.

  Hotpaws clapped his hands together, delighted. “Watch him call shot and hit ball. Think he can do it?”

  Gloria watched as Snooker took a tennis ball from his side compartment and placed it on the ground. Then Snooker began beeping.

  “Snooker say he hit it off tree there, then there, then rock, then hit in hole down there.”

  “He can do it!” StarKat yelled.

  “Wait one minute!” said a dog running upright.

  Chapter

  Thirty

  The dog yelled, “There’s my tennis ball! Snooker, you’ve got to stop taking my things.”

  Gloria stared in amazement at the dog, who stood on two hind legs, wearing a vest and cargo pants—not to mention he was talking.

  Sensing Gloria’s anxiety, StarKat offered, “This is Avonova! Embrace the magic! He’s new here, too!”

  Snooker handed the tennis ball back to the dog.

  “Max always mess up game,” Hotpaws said.

  “Well, maybe Max wouldn’t, if Snooker asked for permission first,” the dog smarted, then turned to Gloria. “And who might you be?”

  StarKat and Gloria responded in unison, “GloKat!”

  Chapter

  Thirty-One

  Sensing Max was the easiest of the three to talk to, Gloria asked, “Have you seen a man named Charles Lloyd Holbrook since you’ve been here?”

  Max repeated the name slowly and finally responded, “Can’t say that I have. Who’s he to you?”

  “He’s my father.”

  “Your father is here—in Avonova?”

  “I don’t know. I kinda think he might be.”

  Max wagged his tail and gazed into the distance behind GloKat. “If he’s here, he might be in Sparkadia.”

  Gloria turned around, astonished to see a beautiful, colorful city looming in the distance. “Please,” she said, “take us there!”

  Chapter

  Thirty-Two

  “Do any of you know how you got here?” Gloria asked.

  “I chased the wrong ball down the wrong hole apparently,” Max responded.

  “Error 404,” Snooker’s robotic voice said.

  “Hotpaws wish for place like Avonova,” Hotpaws responded. “One-way ticket.”

  “We’re all curious about how to get home,” Max added, “since no two beings arrived the same way.”

  “Oh,” Gloria said, panic creeping up on her.

  “But be opti! It helps. Enjoy all that you see,” Max said.

  “Opti?”

  “Optimistic! It’s the Sparkadian way!”

  “Max,” Hotpaws said, “no one going to say that. Opti?”

  Gloria smiled. “I like the word, Max.”

  Chapter

  Thirty-Three

  Similar to what Gloria’s father had once described walking in the desert to be, the distance between where the motley crew marched across the plain to the city was difficult to ascertain. At times Gloria thought they were closer than they actually were. Finally, she asked StarKat the distance, mainly to see if the AI of the parka also handled mathematical computations.

  “We are approximately 1.27 miles from the entrance!” StarKat responded, her loud voice yelling into the air.

  Gloria glanced at the others, who, like her, seemed to be content in their silence, as Sparkadia’s beauty towered over them.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Four

  As they entered the city, Gloria stared in amazement at what she saw: more robots (Machina), animals and creatures that looked as if they’d fallen out of fairytales (Fabled), and, yes, more humans. Off to the side was what appeared to be a food truck.

  A food truck!

  The side read “Sashimichanga,” and in the open window stood a woman with a low blue haircut and what appeared to be a large talking blade.

  Until that moment, Gloria hadn’t realized she was hungry. This would need to be her first stop. Then she’d figure out how to find her father.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Five

  Behind her, Gloria could hear Snooker and Hotpaws chasing Max to get his tennis ball. She’d have to catch up with them later.

  She looked at the handwritten menu on the board outside the food truck. She couldn’t recognize a single ingredient of any dish.

  “First time in Sparkadia?” the Chef asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Kana, and this is Kensu,” she said, lifting the butt of her blade. It smiled at Gloria with its friendly face.

  “What do you have here?” Gloria asked.

  “Vegetables and fruit from the city. I’m still learning the tastes, but Kensu here seems to understand them.”

  Chapter

  Thirty-Six

  Kana gave Gloria the food free of charge once she learned that StarKat knew just as much about the fruit and vegetation in Sparkadia as Kensu. The parka and the blade went back and forth with ideas and recipes (though neither were actually capable of eating any of it), and Kana wrote down every single one of them.

  Gloria, thankful for the meal, inquired about her father.

  “I’m sorry. Never heard of him. But if you and StarKat ever need a job, come see me,” Kana responded.

  Gloria nodded, then gazed out into the city, trying not to be overwhelmed.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Seven

  Maybe she was wrong about her father after all.

  StarKat had only said The Designer programmed the parka to bring Gloria there.

  Gloria had been the one to make the assumption The Designer was in Avonova and that her father was The Designer.

  Either way, with no other plans or options, she knew seeking out The Designer was her best and only chance for getting home.

  A small part of her held out hope that The Designer and her father were one and the same, simply because, just like on Earth, Gloria could somehow still feel his presence, still feel him.

  Chapter

  Thirty-Eight

  “Beautiful!” StarKat practically screamed for all to hear.

  “What’s beautiful?” Gloria responded.

  “Sparkadia!”

  Gloria became keenly aware of the majesty of Sparkadia—and StarKat was right. It was amazing!

  Above her head were rings floating in the sky. It were as if a sea of floating islands rested above the city, all against an orangish hue of horizon. Bone-colored arches spaced themselves across a long pathway. There was absolutely nothing on Earth that resembled this.

  But how did StarKat know how to perceive this environment? Could it be possible she had more abilities than Gloria had given her credit for?

  Chapter

  Thirty-Nine

  “What things can you do, StarKat?”

  “I don’t know! But I feel like I can be whatever you need me to be!”

  Gloria didn’t know what that meant, but she decided to roll with it.

  As they walked through the city, she overheard a loud dance beat and noticed a crowd standing around. As she approached, she saw a Fabled mushroom-looking creature dancing. Off to one side she saw a handsome guy with neon blue hair and crazy sneakers.

  Her heart raced.

  “Wooga wooga!” StarKat yelled, firing heart-shaped pillows from her sleeves. “Handsome!”

  Embarrassed, Gloria began to run away.

  Chapter

  Forty

  “Why did you do that?” Gloria said, struggling to fight back tears. She’d never been the kind of person to share her feelings about someone, so she viewed StarKat’s impulsive reaction as an emotional betrayal.

  The parka pulsed, as if responding to the question.

  “I just wanted to help!” StarKat screamed. “I am your friend!”

  “Can you please stop yelling? You can’t keep doing that. Okay?”

  “Okay!”

  Gloria shook her head. “How could The Designer program you and not build a volume control into your system?”

  The question was rhetorical, but StarKat answered, “I don’t know!”

  “Of course you don’t.”

  Chapter

  Forty-One

  Gloria sat down on a bench that rested beneath pink flora. StarKat didn’t know much of anything, to hear her tell it. She didn’t know where Dad was or if he was even alive.

  When Gloria gave it some serious reflection, she realized the only thing StarKat had done that was useful was tell her what she was looking at and how far they had to walk. These were things she could've worked out on her own, and when she weighed them against the potential for StarKat to embarrass her again...

  Maybe she didn’t need the parka anymore, she figured.

  Chapter

  Forty-Two

  “Not a good idea!” StarKat said, as Gloria hoisted the parka over her locs.

  “No one asked you,” she responded, perhaps a bit too harshly.

  Once she removed StarKat, the parka went limp.

  “StarKat?”

  No answer.

  Maybe she only came alive when Gloria was wearing her. If so, that was perfectly fine. She just needed some peace and quiet for a moment while she collected her thoughts.

  She placed the parka on the bench and began walking across the broad expanse of the plaza, staring at the surreal city that lay before her. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t home.

  Chapter

  Forty-Three

  As she walked around, she could hear a cheering crowd.

  “Snooker wins again!”

  It was Hotpaws.

  Gloria smiled as she walked over to see what was going on.

  Snooker waved his pool cue. It was clear he’d just completed one of his trick shots. People tossed some kind of coin currency at his wheel, but Snooker ignored it.

  “Snooker the best!” Hotpaws said proudly.

  The Machina and Fabled turned and casually walked away, leaving the money pile untouched.

  “Funny, huh, StarKat?” Gloria said, before realizing her mistake.

  She quickly returned to the bench, but the parka was no longer there.

  Chapter

  Forty-Four

  Gloria tried unsuccessfully to suppress her panic. What had she done? She should’ve never taken off the parka.

  StarKat, good or bad, was still a gift from her father. In a moment of weakness she’d forgotten that. Now she had to find her.

 

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