Hobbes

(The Illustrious Crackpot)

The room was small and compact, a messily-made bed and a dresser taking up almost all of the space. Half-hidden beneath the bed was a fleet of broken model airplanes and a few days' worth of dirty laundry, all black shorts and striped red T-shirts. Piled up along the floor were toys of every sort, scattered amongst which were various books about dinosaurs and beaten-up cardboard boxes with labels like "Transmogrifier" and "Duplicator" crossed out and messily rewritten. And off in the corner, sitting there patiently amidst all the wreckage, was a small stuffed tiger.

Hobbes was Calvin's oldest toy, and yet he was in the best condition out of all of the six-year-old's playthings. Of course, sometimes Calvin played a little rough and Hobbes would get torn in the middle of an expedition to an alien planet, but Calvin's mother was always there to sew him up again. Even when he was claimed by a possessive dog and abandoned blocks away, there was always Mom to restore him. All in all, it wasn't such a bad life, being a tiger.

Of course, Calvin was the only one who saw him as a real tiger. To adults and other kids, Hobbes was just a stuffed animal. Well, Calvin's mother talked to him occasionally, and both Susie Derkins and Uncle Max had shown convincing interest, but they were probably just playing along. Calvin, however, held long and semi-intelligent conversations with him, and even got angry when it appeared that Hobbes had insulted him. Then they'd tussle, Calvin's mother would get angry, and they'd make up only to have a dispute over a subsequent game of checkers.

These sorts of exchanges, Calvin's continued interaction with Hobbes, were also problematic. Because of Hobbes, Calvin didn't have any other friends. He was also consistently bullied for thinking so much of "a simple stuffed tiger". He had even experienced violence on this point, coming home banged up and tired. With any other child, Hobbes would have been scorned and thrown away. Hobbes would be blamed for all of the hardships and difficulties, and he would never encounter the light of day again. If he wasn't incinerated, he'd be recycled into a commercially-produced doll with less soul than a politician.

But not with Calvin.

Calvin stood up for him, defending Hobbes's viability against any opposition. The outside world had pushed themselves away, but Calvin didn't care. Calvin's father had asked him on numerous occasions to get rid of Hobbes, to give up his "pretend world" and to get some "real" friends. But Calvin had stuck by Hobbes. Every day, everywhere he went, Hobbes came with him. They were inseparable, sometimes literally. When Calvin got a new comic book, Hobbes was right there reading over his shoulder. When Calvin was forced to try riding his bicycle, Hobbes was there to help him defeat the mechanical beast. When Calvin cooked up a new scheme to make money or annoy Susie, Hobbes was always there to assist.

There had been times, of course, when the partnership had been strained. Sometimes, Calvin got too pigheaded to bring Hobbes with him in his enterprises. Other times, Hobbes would appear to protest a certain idea on moral grounds. There was even one time when Calvin had fully abandoned him, leaving him out in the woods until he realized that evening that Hobbes hadn't come home yet. But these little quibbles, once resolved, would just strengthen their bond. Sure, Calvin would take advantage of Hobbes more times than was polite. As well, Calvin generally resented Hobbes's apparent teasing of him. But no boy or stuffed tiger was without faults. To Calvin, they both had distinct personalities that occasionally did clash, but all life needed a bit of variety from time to time. And that, almost, had made Hobbes seem more alive, just like the Velveteen Rabbit.

The Velveteen Tiger. It was a cute name.

"HOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBES!!!!!!" a child's voice yelled, breaking the silence in the small room. The sound of pounding feet hurried down the hall outside the door. "HOBBES, WHERE ARE YOU? YOU'RE LATE FOR THE WEEKLY G.R.O.S.S. MEETING! HURRY UP!!!!"

Had there been someone hidden in the room then, they would have seen the stuffed tiger's tail twitch as if in eager anticipation. But was it because of the floorboards vibrating under Calvin's running footsteps?

Or was it something more?

Fin