I drove Betsey to Publix. It was just outside Chanticleer and on the way to the highway. It was an enormous building–about the size of a 2022 mall. I parked her next to a few more spaceship-like cars and checked to make sure I had everything I needed: debit card, check, grocery list, check, keys, check, bag, check, driver's license... double check. The last thing I wanted was to lose my license right after getting my car. I pulled it from my wallet and dragged myself out of Betsey.

Don't worry, baby. I'll be back.

Still in a good mood, I jogged over to Publix's entrance–two enormous, glass doors. They opened for me, letting me in. The first thing I did was grab a shopping cart. They were robotic-like and sported a black screen where the handlebars were. Approaching one cart, I pressed Rent a cart on the screen.

"Welcome to Publix. I am S-27. Please scan ID," he spoke.

I nodded and held my driver's license up to the screen. Blue, holographic lines scanned it, and then the cart unlocked.

Click.

"Identity: Daniel Matton. Hello, Dan. I shall assist you today. Where can I take you?" A map of Publix popped up on the screen.

I started to pull out the iPhone 5-sized tablet Dad gave me, but I muffled another cough into my arm. What was in the air? Pollen? I felt like I was coughing more than usual, but it didn't bother me. Some people had summer allergies.

I leaned up against S-27's handlebars and turned on the tablet. A holographic screen appeared in front of me, and it showed a list of things Dad wanted me to pick up. I was able to scroll down it with a flick of my finger. "First, we need apples, bananas, and grapes, so take me to the fruit section," I said to S-27.

The Fruit Section on S-27's map glowed up. "Fruit Section. Very well. If you would follow me." With that, the robotic cart rolled forward, and I followed him. He took me through Publix's final door, and it wasn't long until I found myself in the enormous building. Inside, carts escorted people all over the place. If someone was separated from theirs, then that cart made sure to find them again. Like back in Chanticleer, there were moving walkways for anyone who had trouble walking, as well as glass elevators. The store was spread out to prevent people and robots from crashing into one another.

S-27 took me over to the Fruit Section. It was on the far, right wing of the store. I first got some tomatoes and grabbed them one at a time. I tossed them into S-27's basket, but then I noticed the tomatoes had disappeared from my hand. "Huh?" I asked. It turned out that S-27 had stolen them from me by using two, robotic hands. Each cart came with a pair of hands, just in case somebody couldn't reach something.

He chuckled nervously and asked, "Hey, can't a robot enjoy a tomato once in a while?"

After the Fruit Section, S-27 next took me to the Snack Section. Dad wanted some chips and pretzels. I did not feel like walking all the way there, so I hopped onto the back of S-27 and gripped his handlebars. He gave me a ride over to the other wing of the Publix, but something strange happened on the way there. I noticed that people stared at me. Why? They also rode on the backs of their carts.

A few people asked, "Is that Daniel Matton? He's a little young, don't you think?"

What were they saying? How did these people know my name? Just ignore them, Dan, and continue with the grocery shopping.

Things only got weirder when S-27 and I reached the Snack Section. The second I hopped down from him, I heard a little girl yell, "Ahh! It's Daniel Matton!" She was only a few stands away from S-27 and me and was a cute little thing who had blonde hair. She sprinted to me and shoved a tablet into my face. "Please, can I have your autograph?"

"Whoa, what are you talking about?" I inquired.

"It's you! You're the star of the PPMC Project!" said the girl.

Here we went again. The star of the PPMC Project. What was the PPMC Project?

"Can you leave me alone?" I begged.

It wasn't long until the girl's mother stepped in. Their shopping cart followed from behind. "Oh, I apologize about her."

"Heh, kids, right?" I said in a sarcastic voice. Not that I wasn't a kid myself, but still.

Right after the girl and her mother left, next, an old lady came up to me. She used a cane to support her balance and had her hair up in a bun. She wore a pair of red glasses.

I nervously leaned up against S-27 when she lifted her hand and reached for my face. "Oh, you're so young!" she said. "I have a request for when you go on your mission, Dan. Find my Rafael. Tell him that Tyesha sent you."

Huh? Rafael? Mission? "I don't know what you're saying," I told Ms. Tyesha.

She just continued to rant on about this Rafael. "He went to 2022 and was never seen again. Bring him home."

"I don't know what you're saying," I repeated.

However, she said no more. Ms. Tyesha patted my cheek with her palm and went on her merry way, as if nothing weird had happened. And that was my adventure at Publix.

***

To get my mind off everything that was happening, I took a trip to Titanic Park to show off Betsey. "Betsey, lock!" I ordered when I got out. She obeyed me. She now rested peacefully in Titanic Park's G parking lot. It was behind its stage and soccer field.

I wore my bag over my shoulder and held my hoverscooter under my arm. Hm, did I want to hoverscoot or just use my hoverscooter's scooter? I decided on the scooter. I pressed a button at Hoverscooter 22's back and stepped away. A pair of wheels appeared under her and some handlebars rose out from her sides. There was my electric scooter. The excitement of getting my first car returned. I assumed that everybody was a little scatterbrained right now about this whole PPMC Project. They were probably talking about another Daniel Matton. That one probably knew somebody called Rafael.

Titanic Park was lively that day. There were multiple birthday parties and soccer games occurring. A rock band performed on the stage, and young couples sat on blankets in the shade. How much I wanted to do that with Molly.

I steered Hoverscooter 22 onto the park's track and zoomed all over it to show off. "I got my first car today!"

People stared at me, thinking that I was insane. I probably was.

A little bit later, I saw I steered my hoverscooter towards a curve in the track, which was in front of a cluster of trees. I received quite a surprise on the other side of it. Molly. She was out on her morning walk. "Ahh!" I screamed at the sight of her. I swerved to avoid her, but that caused me to steer out of control.

"Dan!" she shouted.

Hoverscooter 22 spun all over the place. She chucked me right over her handlebars. I barely caught a glimpse of Molly hiding behind her hands before I smashed into a bush. For a second, my world went black, but it did not take long for me to wake up. Half of my body was stuck in the bush. Branches and twigs scraped against my skin.

I heard Molly behind me. "Hold on, Dan! I'll get you out of there!" She grabbed hold of my legs and started to pull. We struggled for a good while, but Molly managed to pull me out. She fell backwards, and I landed on top of her. Oh, I could feel it! The blush!

I chuckled nervously, but Molly merely pushed me off.

Hoverscooter 22 soon rolled over to us, now in control of herself, and she turned back into a hoverboard.

Molly helped me to my feet. "Are you okay, Dan?" she asked. I had some twigs, thorns, and leaves in my hair and on my jacket, but that was about it.

"I'm fine. Just a little sore."

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you."

"I could say the same for me. Ouch!" Molly pulled a thorn off my hand. I shook it out. "Forgive Hoverscooter 22, Molly. She just goes ballistic when she's surprised."

Molly next started to remove twigs from my hair. While she worked, she said, "I think I learned that the hard way today, Dan. Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your way to the space center?"

Oh no! Now my best friend was part of the scatterbrained crowd! "Space center?" I asked her.

She quickly realized what she said, and she jumped out of her skin. "Wait, did I say space center? I meant to say, what are you doing out here at this hour? You usually sleep in until noon."

Oh, okay. Cool. Maybe Molly wasn't scatterbrained after all. My mind returned to Betsey, who was probably wondering where I was. Poor Betsey.

I chuckled and let Molly free the last of the twigs. "Hah! Well I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I got a car today."

"Huh? You got a car for your seventeenth birthday?" She was so surprised.

I expected that reaction from her. I had every right to flirt and show off.

Molly smiled and clapped her hands together. "Oh, Danny, that's incredible! Mom won't let me have a car until I graduate! I envy you!"

***

Mom. Molly said "Mom". Just hearing that word, my mood instantly changed. I had another mood swing. I felt my smile dissipating, and I lowered my head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Molly apologized.

I forced a feeble smile. "It's okay," I said, but I still couldn't shake off that sudden sorrow.

A memory played in my head. Mom and I were out hoverscooting at the Valley of Green. Mom was not the best at it, so I was trying to teach her. We took a break and settled down in one of the Valley of Green's meadows. Wildflowers danced in the wind while Mom and I played.

Mom grabbed me and blew a "Pfft!" into my five-year-old tummy.

I laughed, but my smile vanished when Mother coughed.

***

I think I spaced out, because Molly asked, "Dan? Can you hear me? Do you think you can let me see the car? Maybe that will make you feel better?"

"Mom's gone, and it's all my fault," I whispered. Yep, I definitely was suffering from a mood swing. I was in the world of despair, struggling to find my way out.

"Dan," Molly repeated.

"I'm going to go home," I said.

And home I went. I picked up Hoverscooter 22 and returned to Betsey. For once, I did not play my favorite radio station while I drove.

Dad had just returned from walking Claude when I pulled into the driveway. "Oh, Dan," he said with a smile on his face. "How was Betsey? Did you get the groceries?"

I just told him, "Yeah, whatever." I didn't even look at him. I merely grabbed my hoverscooter and went into the house.

From behind, Dada asked, "Are you okay?" but I said nothing.

Geico greeted me home that time. "Ah, there's the young time traveler."

I did not even notice the words "time traveler". That's how lost I felt. I just said, "Hi, Geico," and started up the stairs. I dropped my bag onto the front step and kicked off my shoes.

"Huh?" Geico asked, but he said nothing more.

I went to my room and closed my door. I tossed Hoverscooter 22 on my bed and sat down. When I looked out the window to the driveway, I saw that Molly had followed me. She was on her bike, and she dismounted it. She leaned it up against Betsey, since it didn't have a kickstand, and approached Dada, who unloaded the groceries from the trunk.

I sighed and ordered my blinds to close. They did. I now was stranded alone and sad in my dimmed room. I took the picture of Mother and I that I found the day before off my dresser. Examining it, I again traced Mother's facial features.

There was a knock at my door only a little bit later. It opened to reveal Dada, Molly, Geico, and Claude.

Claude pranced inside, jumping back up on my bed. He rubbed his forehead up against my arm, but even that didn't help me.

"Hey, Dan," said Dad. "Molly was wondering if she could hang out with you for a little while and do something fun."

"Why don't we play games in the game room? Aren't you trying to reach the next level of Portals and Aliens?" said Molly.

"No thank you," was my reply. I never said no to Portals and Aliens, so that told me I was not myself.

Molly tried again. "What about Call of Duty? Come on, Dan. Let's do something fun." She hurried to me and snatched my arm like I was a toy.

"Ow!" I yelped.

She laughed. "Maybe you'll whip up on me like you usually do!" With that, Molly dragged me off my bed and out of my room.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" I yelled.

"You kids have fun! I have some things to do to prepare for tomorrow," Dad called from behind.

***

My mood improved significantly after Molly forced me to the game room. Again, this was normal for me back in the day.

We played Portals and Aliens, my favorite game. It worked like Call of Duty, except you're killing aliens. The only way to kill them was by pushing them into portals. The game came with virtual reality and was holographic 360 degrees around.

Molly and I ran around the game room, with our virtual reality hats over our heads, and our controllers in our hands.

"I'm going to get you this time for sure, Dan!" Molly shouted.

"We'll see about that!" I yelled back. Both of us tried to push a single alien into a portal. We bumped up against each other's shoulders.

I won at the end of the day, of course. I shoved that alien into the oblivion and yelled, "Score!"

"Aw man!" Molly groaned. "One of these days, Dan, I will beat you."

I laughed and pulled my virtual reality helmet off my head. "Oh, feeling confident, are we?"

Molly mimicked me. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess, and that made her even more beautiful. "You'll see, Dan. I see what I did wrong."

"You say that every time," I laughed. "What can I tell ya, Molly? I'm a pro at this game!"

She smirked and pushed my shoulder in a friendly way. "You're such a baby."

"Am I now? You sure you want to go again?"

"Oh, I'm down!"

Therefore, we played another round of Portals and Aliens, and then another, and then another. I won all three. However, after Round 3, Molly had to go home. It was dinnertime.

I walked her out to her bike and saw Dad packing. He had put Betsey in the garage and backed out our three-wheeled, red car into the driveway. Molly's bike was propped up against a tree in the front yard.

A question mark appeared above my head. Why was Dada packing?

Geico was with him. He stuffed bags into the car's trunk, but at the sight of Molly and me, he quickly grabbed Dada's attention by kicking him in the butt.

Dada's eyes widened. "Oh! It's Daniel Matton!"

"Dada, why are you packing? Where are you going this time?" I asked.

Dada slammed the trunk of the car shut, right on top of Geico's fingers.

Yelling, Geico jumped ten feet in the air. I guessed that meant robots could feel pain.

Dada was just as excited as he was that morning. He pointed at me and announced, "Dan the Man, we're going on a trip to Downtown Greenville!"

"Huh?" I asked in a bewildered voice. "What are you talking about? Why are we suddenly going to the city?" Then I noticed that Molly shuffled uncomfortably from where she stood.

Dada struggled with his words. "Well, ya-ya know, it-it's just been a-a while since you-you and I-I went on a little father-son va-vacation."

"Um, okay," I said. "You're not making any sense right now, Dada, but sure! A vacation to the city! I'm down for that! When do we leave?"

With each passing second, Dada grew even more excited. "Tomorrow morning at 7:30," he said.

I choked on my own spit. I coughed so much that my chest started to hurt.

Geico, now settled down, patted my back.

Eventually, I managed to catch my breath. I pressed one hand up against my chest, and my other one rubbed my eyes. I asked Dada, "What? Why are we leaving at 7:30? Don't you know that I'm a late sleeper?"

Dada kept on struggling to talk. "We-Well, you-you can sleep in the car! We need to beat the traffic, kid. Yep, definitely need to beat the traffic."

That was literally the strangest I had ever seen him. "What's going on, Dada? Why are you acting so weird?"

"Oh, sorry, kid," he replied. "I'm just a little overexcited, that's all. It's not every day you get to drive to the city on a Thursday morning."

"What?" My voice cracked.

"Um, I'm just gonna leave." Molly scooted by Dada and me and hurried to her bike. Hopping onto it, she quickly peddled past us and into the street, but she took a moment to wave goodbye. "Bye, Dan! I'll see you again! Thanks for playing with me, and be careful!"

"Careful with what?" I called back, but Molly said no more. She just peddled down the street and disappeared over a hill, leaving Dad and me alone.

Dada pushed me back in the direction of the house. "Why don't you go play some more Portals and Aliens? I've got this all under control."

"What about dinner?"

"Geico will bring it to your room. Now bye, bye. Go enjoy your game."

I narrowed my eyebrows to an angry position. "Why can't we, for once, have dinner together?"

"We just can't!" Dad snapped.

That hurt me. I could not remember the last time Dada and I had dinner together. Either Geico brought it to my room or I made something myself.

It was very difficult for me to sleep that night. I lied in bed and tried to figure out why on Earth Dad choose to go the city for our vacation, and why so many people were constantly calling me the "Star of the PPMC Project". Since I couldn't sleep, I ended up doing more geological research for my story–mainly concerning the aftermath of the meteorite's impact 65 million years ago. I wanted to write in it on the way to the city. I read my findings aloud, because that was what a scientist did.

"'Tidal waves swamped the coasts, and the Earth heated up. This sparked wildfires that took out whole herds of dinosaurs. The ejecta cloud killed almost everything in its path, and an 11-magnitude earthquake shook the ground. Those who survived were the mammals. They took shelter from the heat in the cool underground, while Hell itself unfolded above.'"

Oh, those poor dinosaurs. It must be terrifying knowing you're going to die. Just thinking about it caused me to shiver. I think I had enough for one night. I shut off my laptop and stuck it into my leather bag. I put my hoverscooter on top of it, so I wouldn't forget it in the morning, and plopped down on my pillows.

I had a sudden coughing attack before I dozed off. I coughed for at least five minutes straight. It would not let up, no matter how hard I tried. What was going? I hoped I wasn't getting sick. There was something in my room. There just had to be. Even when the coughing phase finally ended, my nose stuffed up.

Trying to not let that bother me, I thought to myself, Everything's going to be okay in the morning. Dada and I are going to spend some time together at the city, and no one is going to mention this so-called PPMC Project ever again.

Now where's Portals and Aliens?