The Ferris Wheel was one of the de facto most popular rides at the fair. You could see a line for it at almost every hour of the day of couples hoping to ride it. The Haze had a normalizing power, but word still gets around, and rumors even faster. A Ferris Wheel that could make your date closer to your imagination? For many it was a dream come true!
For Quincy of course, this Wheel was her one ticket to turn Pete back to normal. She cut through the line, barging past couples like her life depended on it, exclaiming that it was a matter of emergency. The people saw this strange girl in the sweater dress and carrying a stuffed monkey, and each came to their own conclusion. Some thought she was a typical undisciplined teenager, making up excuses just to cut in line. Some more romantically inclined believed she was chasing her true love about to board with another person. No one would suspect that the girl was trying to make her stuffed monkey human again.
Quincy got to the front of the line and begged the carnie to let her on next.
“Sorry, lady,” the carnie shook his head, “We don’t let line cutters on the Wheel. Get back in line and wait like everyone else.”
“Quincy can’t wait!” she insisted, “This is an emergency! Quincy has to make Pete human again!”
“Lady, I don’t know what kind of fairytale nonsense you’re on about,” the carnie sighed, “but rules are rules, so get back in line!”
Just then, she saw a pair of naked, tired teenagers exit one cage. She glanced back at the carnie, and without another word made a dash for the empty seats. The carnie tried to stop her until Kaine said something into his earpiece. “Let her go. I’m curious to see something.”
Quincy sat Pete down beside her as she closed the cage door. With a sigh, she leaned back and caught her breath. Pete could still move around and looked at the girl. She’d just won him, right? He was grateful for that, but why did she take him into a Ferris Wheel? She seemed so convinced that he was supposed to be a human like she was, and part of him wanted to believe it too. He’d always been a plushy monkey, right? Somehow, as the wheel began to lift the cage, he was having doubts.
“Pete,” the girl said, “when Quincy first met you, she felt something funny in her chest. It felt like… like Quincy was missing something in her life until now. Quincy saw you at the Test Your Strength game, and how you got buff after doing good at it. Even before that, Quincy felt something. Maybe it’s your eyes, or maybe it’s your personality… but Quincy hopes it’s like those Disney movies. Quincy hopes it’s true love.”
“True love?” Pete asked, “How could you feel true love for a stuffed animal? I mean, you must have wanted me enough to win me, but true love?”
“Oh Pete, please try to remember!” Quincy pleaded, “You’re not a monkey, you’re a boy! A human boy! Quincy fell in love with a boy so please be the boy Quincy fell in love with again!”
As the wheel turned more and more, the Haze seemed a bit thinner, or perhaps Pete’s mind was starting to tolerate it a bit more. Human? Did he really used to be human? Come to think of it, he didn’t exactly remember much in the ways of being a stuffed animal. Could it be?
As the wheel got halfway up, Pete’s body began to change. Perhaps it could read Quincy’s mind, because it knew exactly what to do. Pete’s fluffy fur receded into his tanned skin. Cotton stuffing transformed into flesh and bone. His eyes were shining bright as his stitches vanished and his old face returned. Pete began to remember things, things that a stuffed animal wouldn’t remember.
He remembered his Uncle Kaine, getting set loose in the fair, having fun. He remembered meeting this strange, beautiful girl who spoke in the third person and loved to kiss him a lot. He remembered playing bottle toss to win her a stuffed monkey… Wait. Why would a stuffed monkey do something like that? He must have really been human this whole time!
“Pete! It’s working!” Quincy cheered, “You’re you again!” She hugged the boy tightly, and the boy couldn’t help but hug the girl back. That’s right. He was human. He was always human and never anything else. Maybe he had a brief sabbatical as a toy, but he was a human through and through. Something in his mind was clicking. He felt something inside himself. A something that wanted to tell Quincy a truth.
“My name isn’t Pete,” he told her.
“Huh?”
“My real name isn’t Pete,” he repeated, “I would very much like to still be called Pete, but I think you should know my real name. My real name is 5932-12.”
“What?” Quincy looked at Pete with amazed confusion.
“The name I was born with,” he reiterated, “is 5932-12. Later they called me T349, and now it’s Pete. I’m still not sure why exactly.”
“Your real name is a bunch a numbers?” Quincy asked, suddenly getting excited, “Quincy too! Quincy thought she was the only one! Quincy’s real name is 6009-456! Quincy used to be a Quim before she met Miss Teacher! It was two years ago when they put Quincy in this biiiig machine that turned me into a human girl. Before then, Quincy didn’t have eyes or a nose or limbs… Quincy didn’t even have teeth! But now Quincy’s a girl who gets to learn all kinds of new stuff! Miss Teacher is super nice and takes Quincy on trips to the real world as a reward for good grades and behavior.”
“That’s… that’s quite the story!” Pete laughed, “Mine’s not as special as yours. My mom… no, can I really call her that? Umm… the human who was pregnant with me… she was a virgin. She worked for some kind of research company that was testing some kind of fertility idol. It got a virgin pregnant and nine months later, I popped out. I was put into a glass vat and had diodes stuck to my body for the next few months. Suddenly I was as smart as a twenty year old and had the body of one too.
“So, you’ve never really seen the outside world before?” Quincy asked.
“Exactly,” Pete nodded, “This is my first time. I know what things are, but this is my first time seeing things in person. It’s… kind of a lot to take in.”
“So… Quincy’s not the only one with a weird story,” the girl smiled, “Quincy likes that! Umm… Pete? If… if you wanted to be Qui… if you wanted to be my boyfriend, would you?” She wasn’t used to referring to herself in the first person. Pete could tell her wording was deliberate. He thought about her question, about whether he wanted to be her boyfriend.
“Only if you want to be my girlfriend,” Pete answered.
Their cage hit the summit of the Wheel. The two human beings inside kissed. The spell was complete.