November 11, 1918 – Armistice
The war that had involved almost the whole of Europe and in which the United States had taken part had come to an end and the American soldiers could finally go back home… those who had managed to survive, that is. Others would come back, but they wouldn't be themselves anymore because the experience of war had left its mark on them.
Even though the United States entered the war in 1917, it had had its share of casualties: many soldiers died in battle or from diseases, but most of them died from injuries.
People were generally happy that the war was over, but some were pessimistic about the future and foresaw another war because of the situation in which various European countries were.
The counterargument against this opinion was that people learn from their mistakes and they tend to make wiser decisions later on; that might be right when applied to people, but can it also be applied to the whole human race?
...
Another change happened during the war; it regarded belief.
During the war, most children were forced to grow up quickly and face the harsh reality, leaving that period of their life when it was still full of imagination, dreams and fun…
That had repercussions on the spirit world: magic became more barren and less spiritual beings wandered the world. Strangely, even Pitch Black was affected by this change; it was true that there was still a lot of fear in the world, but it was another kind of fear: it was vague, shapeless, with no space for belief in the Boogeyman.
Despite being a bit weakened, the four Guardians didn't give up since they had sworn to protect children and keep dispensing Dreams, Wonder, Memories and Hope because they believed in goodness in humanity even through hardships.
However, this story doesn't regard them.
No, no, it regards another spirit.
Maybe he/she wasn't as important as them in those times, but he/she's important because of his/her role in this story.
But let's proceed calmly.
The weather during the first weeks of November 1918 was characterized by strong wind and rain, which were a remainder of autumn, but as days went by winter started to show itself with decreases in temperature and phenomena like sleet and snow.
Something odd was happening with the weather in one city in particular, though – New York City.
In this city there were snowfalls even when the weather forecast said that there would be none!
That wasn't simply due to some meteorologists' miscalculation, but it was due to something, or better said, someone, who was playing with the weather and with the citizens of New York City.
What he did wasn't out of wickedness; for him it was only a way to have some fun…
For him, Jack Frost, all these Snow Days were made for the amusement of children.
The Winter Spirit (and unbeknownst to him, also a Guardian several decades later) had chosen the City of New York as a temporary target for his mischief before resuming his wandering around the world to bring snow to other places.
One day Jack was taking a stroll through the city; he sometimes stopped during his walks when something caught his attention. He also tried to get seen by children, but all his efforts proved to be useless every time, as they simply passed through him and he remained just part of an expression in which he nipped at people's nose. He was flying from rooftop to rooftop while holding his staff in his hand, sometimes stopping in front of some windows to send a gust of wind into the houses or simply to peer through them.
He stopped mid-air in front of a window, as what was happening inside that house was just too cute to be ignored! A little girl (3, maybe 4 years old) was sitting on the ground and was playing with her doll.
Right now she was trying to tell a story to the doll.
"Once upon a time, there was a cute little girl, and her name was Cinder-ella! And, she had a stepfather and two… a great sister!"
"I don't think the story went like this!" Jack commented smiling with his hand under his cheek.
The little girl looked around for a moment, but then she went on with the story.
"And… oh yeah, I don't know the rest, so you'll have to go to bed, and wait until tomorrow."
"This is the shortest version of Cinderella I've ever heard!" Jack said, laughing a bit.
The little girl put the doll into the drawer of a dresser that she used as a bed for her toy and she pulled up a folded shirt on her doll as a blanket. By doing so, she uncovered a small picture portraying a young man in military clothing. Once she saw it, the little girl picked it up and began gazing at it.
"Who is he? Her father? Or her older brother?" Jack wondered.
After a while she stood up and she went into the next room, where a shabby-looking woman was doing the washing. "Aunt Annie! Is this my daddy?" asked the little girl while showing the picture.
"Yes, that's your daddy."
"When is he coming home?"
"How should I know? Now stay in the other room and don't bother me! Get out now!" said the woman, sending her away.
"How lovely." Jack commented sarcastically, losing a bit of his mirth.
The little girl went back into the room where she had stayed before and she came up to a sort of bed on which a slovenly man was lying on one side.
"Uncle Jack!" she said while pulling the man by the sleeve; when he was completely turned around she asked, "Where has my daddy gone?"
That man, who had an irritated look on his face, took the picture out of her hands and he threw it away.
"Get out of here! Go on!" he snarled.
"I've seen monkeys behave far more politely than him!" said Jack Frost while his grip tightened on his staff.
As the little girl went to pick up the picture, that "man" called the woman loudly.
"Annie! Annie!"
When the woman went out of the room, he asked, "Will you get this brat out of here, so I can sleep?"
" 'So you can sleep.' You're so tired that you can't watch her for a couple of minutes!"
"Shut up!"
"No, I won't shut up!"
"Shut up!"
"If it wasn't for the money we get for that kid every month, you'd starve, you big loafer!"
I'll spare you the rest of this argument, but I have to tell you that at a certain point, that brute stood up and walked towards the woman with a menacing look on his face; she tried to hide herself in the room where she was before, but she was reached by him.
The sounds of a beating and the woman's screams could be heard through the closed door.
That scene of everyday horror was already making the Winter Spirit sick, but what really took the cake was when he focused his attention back on the little girl. After picking up the picture, she had hidden herself in a corner. She was sobbing.
"Oh, daddy, daddy, why don't you come and take me away from here?" she wept.
"That's it!" said Jack in a serious tone, "Don't worry, kid! I'll take you away from here! I don't know how, but I'll save you! Trust me!"
After saying this, Jack flew away to elaborate a plan.
" 'I'll save you! Trust me!' Yeah, great words, Jack, really noble… but how do you actually plan to do that?"
Jack was right to berate himself, he shouldn't have made a promise that he knew it was "almost" impossible to fulfill, but the promise had been made at that point and he intended to fulfill it.
He decided not to disturb the Guardians partly because he wanted to make it on his own.
All he could do was get "living" people to help him… but there's the rub!
The only ones that could see him were children who hadn't been taught yet to distinguish reality from imagination, children who hadn't been inculcated yet with the concept of "Reason"; they wouldn't have been useful to him, though. On one occasion, a man had been staring and pointing at him for some minutes… before he was dragged away by some orderlies and put into the nearest mental hospital.
Another time, he was flying and making it snow with his staff in a forest when he realized that a woman had been looking at him for some time; he tried to interact with her, but she got scared and ran away.
She must have had the "Gift" to see those like him, but apparently she hadn't learnt to deal with it.
Almost an hour had passed since he left that house and he hadn't come up with an idea yet.
He didn't know what to do; was the situation really hopeless? Wasn't there anything that…
"Will you come on? There is no time to lose!"
Something caught his attention.
He turned to look at where that voice came from and he saw two of the most peculiar fellows he had ever seen.
Both of them must have fought in the recent war in Europe since there were military insignias on their overcoats and overseas caps. One of them was fat, he had a round face, a toothbrush moustache and a seemingly serious expression, while the other was thin, he had sticking-out ears and a vaguely gullible expression. Considering them as good targets, Jack decided to play a prank on those two in order to take his mind off his problem a bit, something like… making them slip on some frost, for instance!
He was about to wave his staff when…
"You know, Ollie, I was thinking…" said the slim guy.
"What about?" asked Oliver.
"About our quest. We've been looking for her in three neighbourhoods, and still we haven't found her!"
"Could it be…" Jack whispered.
"Don't you think that we should ask the police for…" Stan continued.
"Absolutely not!" Oliver interrupted him, "Eddie died in battle as a hero and it's our duty as his fellow soldiers and friends to find her baby and look after her while we search for her grandparents!"
"Aha! Here they are!" exclaimed Jack, "Now all I have to do is bring them to that house! But how?" he wondered. He looked at their caps for a while and then he started to grin.
"We're going to have some fun!"
Waving his staff, the Winter Spirit sent a gust of wind at Stan's hat, making it fly away and land on the street on his right. He was going to pick it up, only to be stopped by his fat friend.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"My hat has been blown away! I was going to…" Stan began.
"So you're placing your needs before our duty? That's typical of you!" said Oliver disdainfully and he began walking down the street.
"Don't worry, Fatty! I'll let you join in!" Jack said.
Three seconds later, Oliver's cap joined his friend's cap on the street.
"My hat! Where is it? I need it!" he exclaimed.
"But you said…" began his friend.
"Never mind what I said! Let's go take our hats back!" he interrupted him as he went right.
Stan just shrugged and followed him.
Every time they reached their caps, Jack made them fly away again, thus leading them to the appointed house.
When Stan and Oliver finally got hold of their caps, (courtesy of Jack, even though he would have liked to prolong the prank for his own amusement) they had reached their destination.
While they went into the building, Jack said, "It's better if I stay around in case they should need help."
He flew to the window where he had seen the little girl for the first time and he watched how things went.
*knock - knock - knock*
"Come in!" barked Uncle Jack.
When Stan and Oliver entered the house, the latter tried to be polite and said "Good morning!"
"What do you want?" asked Uncle Jack rudely.
Noticing the little girl beside the man, Oliver asked, "Is that Eddie's baby?"
"Yeah! What about it?"
Having finally found Eddie's daughter, Oliver bent down to hug the little girl and picked her up.
"Aawww, come here, my goodness!" he cooed as he placed her in Stan's arms.
"Just like Eddie, eh?" Stan commented smiling.
"Yes!"
"Hey! Hey! What's the big idea?" asked Uncle Jack.
"Oh, we've come to take her away!" Oliver explained.
"Yeah? Well, who are you?"
"Why, I'm Mr. Hardy and this is my friend Mr. Laurel." said Oliver.
"Who gave you the authority to take her?"
"Well, we're friends of her father!" said Oliver.
"Yeah? Well, I don't know you two mugs, and you ain't gonna take the kid out of this house! See?" said that brute arrogantly.
"What are you gonna do about it?" asked Oliver calmly.
"What am I gonna do about it?"
THWACK
"Aaargh!"
"Ouch! That's gonna hurt!" said Jack as he grimaced at the blow.
While Oliver was recovering from the smack he had got in the face, Stan decided to intervene and said provocatively, "Do that again!"
THWACK
"Aaargh!"
"Why did he do that?" Jack wondered as he arched an eyebrow at Stan.
Since things wouldn't go as smoothly as they had thought, the two friends nodded at each other and decided to strike back!
After putting the little girl down, Stan and Oliver took off their overcoats and got ready for the fight.
"Are they going to fight? They don't seem that strong to me." Jack mused, preparing to intervene.
"Go!" said Oliver, and the fight began…
With a kick in the shins, an uppercut, a finger in the eye and a kick in the butt, their opponent landed on the hearth of the chimney, getting covered in soot.
"… Whoa! Nice fight, guys! I have to admit that you really are more resourceful than you look!" Jack commented enthusiastically.
Having defeated that brute, our two heroes walked out the door triumphantly and went downstairs.
However, the fight was far from being over…
Uncle Jack stood up and went to the window, he opened it and shouted to three thugs who were near a grocery store on the other side of the street.
"Hey, Jerry! There's some work to do for you and the guys! Come up here!"
"This can't be good…" said the Spirit of Winter, getting a bit worried as the three thugs proceeded to the house.
Uncle Jack went to the door… which was promptly slammed on his face as Stan with the child in his arms and Oliver re-entered the house. Oliver tried to prevent the three thugs from entering, but to no avail, so he went to the other side of the room, where his friend Stan was.
"What's the matter, Jack?" asked one of them.
"Get that kid and get rid of those two monkeys!" said Uncle Jack.
"Sure!" he replied and the three of them went menacingly after the duo.
Stan and Oliver retreated into the kitchen; Oliver tried to block the door with his body while Stan… well, he was simply standing there, looking at his friend with the little girl in his arms.
"Don't just stand there! Do something to help me!" Oliver exclaimed.
Stan put the child down and went to help his friend; unfortunately, the force with which the three thugs tried to break into the kitchen pushed the thin man back, making him bump against an oven on whose burners a kettle and a coffee maker were boiling.
Despite burning himself a little, Stan looked at them and had an idea: he took the kettle and beckoned his friend to let the thugs in; Oliver looked at the kettle and he quickly figured out his friend's plan, so he complied.
When the three thugs entered the kitchen, they were greeted with splashes of boiling water, which drove them back into the other room. While Stan was fending off the three thugs with hot water, he didn't notice that Uncle Jack had sneaked up behind him after recovering from the slam on his face; he was about to be struck from behind… but luckily he was saved by Oliver, who had taken the coffee maker, and he poured hot coffee on the brute.
"Hey! Get the baby! I'll deal with them!" Oliver told Stan.
After handing him the kettle, Stan went to pick up Eddie's daughter from the kitchen, while Oliver drove Uncle Jack and the thugs into another room with splashes of hot water and coffee.
Once they were there, Oliver threw the two cooking appliances at them and locked the door; he took out the key from the lock and threw it away.
Since the coast was clear, Stan, Oliver and the little girl could finally leave that house.
Once they were outside the building, Stan asked, "Now what are we gonna do?"
"All we gonna do is find Mr. Smith!" replied his friend.
"You don't know where he lives!" Stan pointed out.
"Will you leave that to me? It's the simplest thing in the world! Come on!" said Oliver, then they proceeded to go away from that street.
Jack was satisfied.
That unique duo had succeeded in taking that kid away from that house. The situation had become a bit dangerous when they were confronted by those three thugs; he was ready to intervene and freeze their feet, but he saw that they made out just fine thanks to the thin man's idea of using hot water and coffee.
Eventually, he had managed to keep his promise and save that little girl.
Even though he knew that they were adults and that they couldn't hear him, he landed on the ground, came up to Stan and Oliver and said, "Well done, boys! Well done!"
They suddenly stopped walking and Oliver asked, "Have you just thanked me?"
"No, I haven't. I thought you had!" Stan replied.
"I certainly have not! It must have been a figment of our imagination!"
Stan was about to say something else, but just then he had to sneeze.
"Bless you!" said Ollie, "That's Jack Frost nipping at your nose!"
After wiping his nose, Stan asked, "Jack who?"
"Jack Frost!" repeated his friend.
"Who is he?"
"Oh, no one. It's just an expression."
Scarcely had he said that when a snowball hit him on the head, making his cap fall to the ground.
"Why did you do that?" asked Oliver, sounding offended.
"Did what?" asked Stan.
"You threw a snowball at my head!"
"No, I didn't."
"Do you want to make me believe that a ghost threw that snowball at me? Or that now snow just falls like that?"
"Well, you never know how the weather can be! Once, I saw…"
"Go on and bring my hat back!" Oliver snapped at Stan, pushing him to where his cap was.
" 'You never know how the weather can be…' Hmph!" Oliver grumbled.
While Stan bent down to retrieve Ollie's cap, he didn't notice that the little girl was smiling and waving at someone in the distance…
Author's notes:
I don't own any of the characters appearing in this story.
Rise of the Guardians belongs to Dreamworks.
The films of Laurel and Hardy were distributed by the Hal Roach Studios and then by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox.
I tried to stick as much as possible to the Laurel and Hardy film, but some things have been altered and/or made up (i.e. the length of the events, the lines from the movie…)