Little Daniel Jordan’s birthday was on March 14th. “Our proud Pi Day boy,” his mathematician parents always called him. Danny was turning nine now, and there was one thing he always (or so he thinks) wanted. It was a Sukoyuji, one of those little furry imported toys (this one from Japan) that is supposed to be cared for diligently until it dies and the kid gets a new one.
So on this special March 14th, Danny opened his presents provided by his doting parents, and he was opening his last present.
“Open it up and see what it is!” His father had a habit of telling people to do things they were already doing.
So Danny tore of the present like most young kids of his age always do, and brought out his most treasured Sukoyuji.
The Sukoyuji was a big ball of fluff, about the size of a soccer ball. It had the floppy ears that encouraged many a child to swing the thing around to his heart’s content. It had the bulbous, shiny eyelids the toys of the sort do, and a fluffy tail and little penguin feet, too. It also had a very deep red color, which Danny found odd, because he’d never seen a red one before.
Strange or not, the sight of the toy made Danny giggle with delight in a way he thought only puny five-year-olds did, but he couldn’t help himself. Even the Jordan’s pet puppy, Ralphie, was yipping with glee. He gave his parents the most sincere thank yous he could give. He was so elated, he didn’t even want to wait for cake. But, alas, his parents made him eat his mother’s homemade cake anyway, which still tasted great.
And while they were eating, the Sukoyuji in the Jordans’ living room opened its eyes, and looked toward the kitchen.
*****
Later, Danny finally got to play with his Sukoyuji. Its eyes were shut. He brought it to his room. It annoyingly clamored “FEED ME! FEED ME! FEED ME!” He loved it already.
One of the reasons he wanted the thing, which he didn’t tell his parents, was that you could feed it actual food, especially food Danny didn’t like.
“Okay, I’ll feed you!” Danny raced to the kitchen. Oddly enough, it seemed that the demands from the irritating fuzzball seemed to get louder. Danny opened the fridge and grabbed a packet of baby carrots. He rushed back to his bedroom and fed them to his Sukoyuji, which also seemed to open its mouth in the presence of food.
“YUM YUM!” The Sukoyuji said with false glittering eyes.
“I’ll name you Suko!” Danny spouted with glee. He couldn’t wait to bring to school, if he could, and show off to Larry, the only friend of his that didn’t have one yet. Danny was still young enough to take pride in showing off.
So he played with Suko the whole rest of the day, and then some. But, an hour past bedtime, his parents sent him to bed. So Danny went to bed, although he could hardly sleep.
*****
It was the middle of the night. Danny was fast asleep. He was dreaming happy dreams of Suko. More specifically, showing off Suko to his friends at school on Monday.
“PET ME! PET ME! PET ME!” Suko screamed at the top of its voice recorded lungs. Danny woke up in a hurry.
“Shush! You’ll wake my parents!” Danny hissed, as if it mattered. His parents didn’t come rushing. Danny didn’t even hear the creak of their bed. Not even Ralphie was making any movement. They somehow couldn’t hear his high pitched pet.
So Danny got out of bed and started petting his Sukoyuji, who stopped screeching at once. Danny thought to himself, I could swear I turned Suko off! but was too tired to think about it once more.
*****
Eventually, Suko closed his eyes. Danny went back to bed. A few hours later, at about 3:00 in the morning, Suko awoke again.
“I’M THIRSTY, DANNY! I’M THIRSTY, DANNY! I’M THIRSTY, DANNY!”
Danny had to wake up once more. He went to his dresser, picked Suko up, and said, “I’m sorry, Suko, but it’s too late.” He pressed the off button on Suko’s bottom.
Nothing happened.
He pressed again, and, something did happen. Suko’s odd eyes opened wider, and a little zap of electricity went through Danny’s hands.
“YOW!” Danny shouted and dropped his toy. He then heard his parents stir in the other room.
“I’M THIRSTY, DANNY”
Danny decided to shut this thing up by getting a cup of water from the kitchen. As he was filling it up, his parents burst into the room.
“Just what do you think you are doing, young man?” His mother asked, angrily. “You woke us both up! Do you know what time it is?”
“I-I was just giving my Suko some water!” Danny nervously babbled.
“At three in the morning? Can’t you turn that thing off?”
“Well-well, he woke me up. You must not have heard it and he told me he was thirsty and I tried to tell him no and then he zapped me so I had to get him some water and-” Danny was a near blubbering mess now.
“I think he had a nightmare, Sarah,” Danny’s father said groggily, “And he also must have forgot to turn the thing off.”
“But it wasn’t a nightmare! It was real!” Danny answered indignantly.
“Just go back to bed, Danny. And turn that thing off” And with that, his parents reentered their bedroom, and Danny went to his.
*****
About an hour before dawn, the star of the evening woke Danny up once more. “FEED ME, DANNY! NOW!” Danny woke with a start. He thought that all that happened really was a bad dream, and, if it wasn’t Danny must have accidentally zapped himself with the water.
And, as Danny walked over to where his toy stood, he realized that Suko had no way of knowing his name. He didn’t even complain, because, nightmare or not, he didn’t want to get (as he called it) electricitied.
So Danny did as he was told, and snuck to the kitchen and grabbed another packet of baby carrots from the fridge, and brought them back to his room, and set them down on his dresser next to Suko.
He was very sleepy now. He was so sleepy that he almost fell asleep, but another series of wailing from good ol’ Suko started him again in a hurry.
So he fed the sweet root vegetables to his electronic pet, who gave a satisfied “YUM YUM!”, and went to bed once more.
*****
“Wake up, Danny. Wake up!”
Danny awoke to his father gently shaking his shoulder.
“What is it, Dad?”
His mother suddenly piped up. “Oh, you know what’s up, mister! Can you explain to us why there are empty packets of carrots in your room?” Danny suddenly winced. He was so tired, that he forgot to throw the carrot packets away before he went back to bed.
“You were up at night again, weren’t you? Feeding your Takatsuji or whatever it’s called?”
Danny had to nothing to do but stare back at his parents, his jaw agape.
“Bedtime is bedtime. Not play-with-toys time, not waste-our-perfectly-good- veggies-time, but bedtime. Got it, Daniel?”
Danny gulped. His short tempered mother only called him Daniel when she was angry, which was a lot, but still very intimidating to him.
“If this happens one more time, you have to take a break from your Jikosoya thing. Got it?” That last syllable was accompanied by a harsh spray of spittle.
Danny nodded, and his parents seemed satisfied.
“Well, who wants breakfast?” His father said, and the whole family headed down to the kitchen, while Suko watched from his perch.
*****
Later, Danny’s father went to work. It was just Danny and his mother, who was doing laundry just like she always did on Saturdays.
So, Mrs. Sarah Jordan was downstairs, and Danny was upstairs, in the living room, reading one of the five minute mysteries he also got for his birthday.
Suddenly, Suko went on another fuzzy tirade, this time screaming for Danny to pet him. Danny decided to read in his bedroom and shut the door.
As soon as Danny closed the door, a large wave of pain went coursing through his body in a hot, fiery wave. Danny doubled over.
“PET ME, DANNY! COME OUT AND PET ME!” The pain was still there, but Danny could muster enough to open the door. As soon as he did, the pain cut off immediately.
Danny’s eyes were watering, and he could hardly see. He blinked a bit, and pet Suko as instructed.
There’s no way Mom couldn’t have heard that, he thought. He then decided that the loud laundry machines must have blocked the noise, and Suko wasn’t that loud. And then he realized that she heard it and didn’t care, because she thought what happened last night was a nightmare. And, he kinda hoped it was.
*****
After that, Danny learned pretty quick not to anger his toy. He started to loathe the thing. But, he couldn’t just up and throw it away. If he did, his parents would start giving him that lecture on not appreciating gifts, which to be fair, he threw away a lot of new toys when he was younger, maybe six or so. He didn’t do it anymore, but his parents, like a lot of parents, always had the idea that their children could be predicted as easily as an eighties video game.
So Danny kept Suko, and followed its every word. A couple times had been dicey, like when Danny had to go to the bathroom, and, while he was finishing up, Suko was screaming his pointless demands.
Also, Danny wasn’t allowed to feed Suko vegetables anymore, courtesy of his mom. And his dad, too, when he got home from work. So Danny had to feed his falsified furry friend stuff like candy, which made Suko’s demands more frequent, and Danny couldn’t tell his parents that.
*****
His dad came home a little after six (9 to 5 was a concept Roger Jordan’s boss had apparently never heard of, and neither was Sundays off), and saw Danny taking better care of his toy better than he had ever taken care of the thing.
“Jeez, Dan. You’re taking care of that thing like you’re a real parent. Sheesh, it makes me think that you could get sick if you didn’t,” His father said jovially and a little exhausted, the way many people do after working for nine hours straight, with a tiny lunch break in the middle.
Danny just gave a small smile in response. Right now, he was petting Suko rhythmically, in a way that seemed almost sad. His dad didn’t notice, though, because he was too busy with whatever patent accountant thoughts he had.
*****
It was midnight, on a school night.
Danny lay in bed, in his pajamas, awake. He was peering at the toy, what he thought of as one of those slavery master guys. Suko was asleep, or seemed to be, right now. Danny was waiting for the inevitable demands that would come spouting from the evil sweatshop creation in front of him.
Danny still couldn’t imagine what had gone wrong. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Ralphie chose to lay by him tonight, and Danny hoped that the Sukoyuji’s next shouting interval would be heard by Ralphie and he, with his little puppy teeth, would chew the thing to bits.
And, as soon as Danny was starting to drift off, Suko began sounding the alarm. Ralphie didn’t wake up, or even move at all. “I’M THIRSTY! I’M THIRSTY!”
At first, Danny ignored it. Then, Danny fell out of bed. But, he didn’t actually fall. It seemed like he was grabbed by unseen hands and tossed out the bed and onto the floor, where Danny hit his head on the nightstand, hard.
Danny could already feel the bruise forming on his head, but he had more important issues to deal with. He opened the door, and snuck into the kitchen. This time, he was expertly quiet.
*****
Later, in the early morning, Danny was woken up again by Suko, and this time, Suko wanted food. But not any food.
“DANNY, I’M HUNGRY! I WANT VEGGIES! VEGGIES!”
Danny was shocked. Now, he knew for sure, absolutely sure, that this thing was out to get him. Danny got out of bed, and accidentally woke Ralphie.
So Danny went to the kitchen, and opened the fridge. He took out the last packet of carrots, the only true veggies in his fridge. He opened the carrots, turned around, and slowly walked to his room in the dark.
Suddenly, Ralphie’s small terrier body stepped in front of him, and Danny tripped. Carrots splayed all over the floor, but neither Danny nor Ralphie were hurt.
“Daniel Marcus Jordan, what on earth are you doing?” Danny felt a huge amount of pain in his stomach, and not caused by Suko. Directly, of course.
Daniel Marcus Jordan’s mother was glaring at him, fuming.
“Mom, I-I-I” Danny couldn’t finish. His lip was quivering. His dad entered then.
“Danny, what do you have to say to yourself?”
Danny was full on quaking. Even Ralphie acted guilty, as if it was his fault.
In Danny’s room, where nobody could see, Suko opened its eyes, which glimmered.
Danny started to cry.
*****
Danny lay in bed, his eyes puffy. The punishment was that he wasn’t allowed near his Kiyosaki (how his mother put it) for the rest of the day. He stared at the toy, and the toy stared back, as its eyes were open. But it wasn’t doing anything, which relieved him. Luckily for him, it didn’t seem intent on bothering him anymore.
He glanced at his clock. 5:00. Just three hours to go. He felt he could never fall asleep.
He fell asleep. Ralphie did not crawl back with him after.
*****
7:45 AM.
Danny got up. He was actually supposed to be awake at 8:00, but Danny felt he wouldn’t get in trouble if he woke up just a little earlier. He had something to do.
He got his clothes, got dressed, and looked at Suko. Its eyes were closed, but Danny had a feeling they weren’t. Either way, he was going to get done what he wanted. He grabbed his toy and went to the kitchen. He could hear his parents were asleep soundly. Both of them snored.
He opened the garage door. He made his way across the garage, and opened the trash bin. He tossed Suko in. Suko still didn’t make a noise. He near silently slinked his way back to the kitchen, and closed the garage door.
Suddenly, as he was making his way to the bedroom, he felt another wave of pain in his body. He fell to the floor, and he saw the cupboard door open on his way down. A glass flew from it and smashed on the floor next to his face. Shards of glass flew all over. Danny started sobbing.
His parents rushed in. “What happened?” His mother asked, suspicious.
Danny, frazzled as he was, answered, in tears. “I-I was getting a glass of w-water and I slipped and fell and the glass broke!” He was surprised at the speed this lie came. He knew if he mentioned Suko at all, he would be severely punished. He also knew that more punishments would come, and not from his parents.
His mother believed the lie. “Well, it was just a mistake. You didn’t take Sojokaya out again, did you?”
Danny expected this. “No,” he stated, and sniffled. His father nodded and went to the garage door to get the broom.
“That’s odd,” his father said. “I could’ve sworn I locked this last night.”
Danny froze.
“Welp, I guess not.”
So Roger Jordan got the broom and swept up the mess, and Danny went back to his room. He saw what he feared: Suko was back on his dresser, seemingly asleep, as if nothing happened. Danny stared for a while, then went back to getting ready for school.
*****
At school, Danny was a good student. His report cards always came in great, and Mrs. Summers was proud, and Danny was proud of himself.
Today, however, Danny did not feel proud. He felt sick. He was worried about what Suko would do home alone.
So far, two hours into class, nothing happened. Other than the ill feeling, nothing had happened. Danny, unlike most other kids his age, actually enjoyed school. He especially liked the fact that Marie, the girl he had a crush on, sat next to him.
Today’s assignment before lunch was to take turns reading from a story with the person you were sitting next to, and Danny got to read with Marie.
As they were reading, Danny felt he could hear something, in the back of his head. A noise. It became louder. Danny could start to hear it better, and his eyes grew wide.
“FEED ME FEED ME FEED ME FEED ME FEED ME FEED FEED ME!” A mad mantra, spoken by the dreaded toy of Danny’s bedroom. Danny hoped he was imagining it.
“What’s wrong?” Marie asked.
Danny felt very awful, but he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of Marie, so he ignored the voice and kept reading. He went on for an entire minute.
Then he puked. It was a bitter taste, worse than anything Danny had ever tasted in his life. It burned, too. It got all over the book and Marie.
Mrs. Summers rushed over with the trashcan. Marie was practically crying.
“It hurts!” She shrieked, and she ran to the sink in the back of the classroom. She puked in their herself, and began spraying water all over herself to get rid of the stench.
The other children, looked over curiously. A couple of them even giggled. Danny managed to see that one of the gigglers was his friend Larry.
Mrs. Summers turned around. “All right, third graders, settle down.” She leaned down to Danny. “Go down to the nurse; you know where it is.” she said.
Danny rushed down. He puked again, with no evidence that it was coming.” This one tasted and burned even worse.
He made it to the nurse’s office and puked again, this time making it in the trash can. This last one was just bile. The nurse didn’t hesitate in asking him his name, and offered a box of tissues. Danny took it.
*****
Danny’s mom came immediately with a bowl for Danny to puke in. He kept it up on the way home. Once they got back, Danny’s mom told him to rush to the bathroom immediately. He didn’t, and instead speedily grabbed a candy bar from the counter and rushed to his bedroom and quickly fed Suko. Then he went to the bathroom, although he didn’t feel like throwing up anymore.
*****
It was 4:00, and Danny, his mom and Ralphie were outside. His mom was on her hands and knees pulling weeds from the garden, and Danny was reading another five minute mystery. He had gotten some more requests from his bossy toy, and constantly had to avoid his mother while fulfilling Suko’s wishes.
His mother had been shocked that he’d stopped throwing up as soon as he got home, and a little suspicious, but didn’t think that a kid could make himself vomit like that.
Now, outside, Danny hadn’t gotten any more demands. Until now.
Another mantra, this time “PET ME!” was occurring. Danny started to get up, but his mother stopped him.
“Danny, I know what you’re doing. Don’t you think I can’t hear that, too.” That was different. She couldn’t hear it before. Even Ralphie’s ears were perking up.
“But, mom, that’s not-”
“Yes, it is. You’re not fooling me. You’re staying out here, mister.” She sounded very irked.
So Danny did. The annoyance got louder. And even though the wrath of Suko was bad, Danny feared that his mother’s ultimate wrath could be worse.
The maddening sound stopped, and Ralphie suddenly got up.
“What’s wrong, boy?” Danny asked.
Ralphie appeared not to hear. He took a step forward, and then another. Then he started walking, then trotting, then running. He ran toward the gate, which was high enough for a small dog to squeeze under, if one wanted to. Ralphie apparently wanted to. He succeeded.
Danny ran toward the gate and opened it. “Mom, Ralphie’s gone!”
His mother sprang up. “But he never even tried…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, because Ralphie was on full sprint. He dashed onto the road, where there was an oncoming semi. He was squashed flat.
Danny screamed, a high pitched scream that would sound loud even for a puny five year old. The Jordan’s next door neighbors, the Bells, looked up from their day out in the sun.
“Ralphie…” Danny faltered, and sank to the ground. He felt faint.
“I SAID PET ME, DANNY!” That was the last thing Danny heard before he blacked out.
*****
Danny woke up to his concerned parents.
“Am I okay?” Danny asked, tentatively.
“Yes, don’t worry about it.” His mother smiled a warm smile.
Danny wasn’t even going to ask about Ralphie, because he was focused on something else. It was Suko, on his dresser, staring at him from across the room.
Danny threw off his sheet and got out of bed.
“Are you sure, you want to do that, Danny?” His father asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you really sure?”
“I’m fine.” Danny insisted. He went over to his Sukoyuji, and started petting it. His parents didn’t stop him. He began to cry.
“Do you want to talk about it?” His mother asked.
Danny shook his head.
His parents nodded and left the room.
As his tears began to stop, Danny had an idea. He started to feel better.
*****
The next morning, Danny was getting ready for school. Suko had still woke him up during the night, but Danny didn’t mind. He did its bidding without a word. His parents didn’t wake up.
As Danny was packing his backpack, he put something unusual amid his lunch and homework. It was Suko.
*****
Later, Danny arrived at school. The others in his class, especially Marie, were avoiding him. Even Mrs. Summers seemed wary. The only person that went up to him was his friend Larry, whom Danny remembered as giggling when Danny puked on Marie.
“Danny dude, do you remember yesterday?” He snorted. “You barfed everywhere! The janitor had to clean it up, and we had to go to Mr. Nelson’s room forever!” He laughed and nudged Danny.
Danny just smiled alongside Larry. “Wow. By the way, Larry, I wanna give you something!” So Danny reached inside his backpack, and rummaged around.
Larry just sat there, excited for whatever present his friend was going to give him.Later, Danny arrived at school. The others in his class, especially Marie, were avoiding him. Even Mrs. Summers seemed wary. The only person that went up to him was his friend Larry, whom Danny remembered as giggling when Danny puked on Marie.
“Danny dude, do you remember yesterday?” He snorted. “You barfed everywhere! The janitor had to clean it up, and we had to go to Mr. Nelson’s room forever!” He laughed and nudged Danny.
Danny just smiled alongside Larry. “Wow. By the way, Larry, I wanna give you something!” He rummaged around in his backpack and pulled out a Sukoyuji.
“That's so cool!” Larry said. “I’ve never seen a red one before!”
