Arthur Read sighed as he looked at his Report Card. It was the last one he would get as an Elementary School student. He had managed mostly B's with two C's. DW had bragged about her Report Card. "I got all B's and an A. See, Girls are smarter than Boys!" Arthur frowned. "Big deal, it's easier to get good grades in First Grade." Arthur certainly hoped his Parents believed that. That evening Arthur frowned again as DW got two scoops of ice cream for dessert. He got one scoop and Kate just a little less. "DW earned an extra scoop for her improved grades" said their Mother.
Then Arthur had to take his bath before DW. As Arthur got out of the tub he looked down at himself. As if facing life as a Junior High student was not enough, he had to deal with Puberty. Suddenly he felt a bit shy as he stared at his bare body. He felt as if someone were staring at him. Out of the corner of his eyes he could have sworn he saw something move. Arthur quickly put on his pajama bottoms. Then he thought he heard a sound like someone else sighing. "Just my imagination" he thought. However it had sent a shiver down his spine.
After going downstairs Arthur saw his Mother look at something DW had dropped on the floor. He saw her throw it in the trash basket. After she left the room Arthur dug it out. He was curious to see what monstrosity his oldest Sister had drawn this time. DW was notorious for drawing hideous creatures. Except for her imaginary friend, Nadine. Arthur had found several of those in the past. Arthur had at first thought they depicted an Alien. He laughed at DW when she informed her Brother that her Imaginary Friend was a Squirrel. A Squirrel named Nadine Flumberghast. "It still looks like an alien to me" Arthur had taunted DW. Nadine did look like an Alien Creature to Arthur, albeit a cute one. However Arthur would never admit to DW he found her drawing as cute.
DW tried to keep Arthur from seeing her next batch of drawings. However Kate had unintentionally revealed them when she knocked a pile of papers out of DW's hands. DW expected Arthur to taunt her over Nadine's image once again. However these had actually looked interesting to Arthur. "I'm sorry I teased you last time" said Arthur as he picked the best one up. "I kind of like this picture. May I keep this one?" "Nadine shouldn't mind" said DW. After taking the drawing to his room Arthur admired it. "She can't be a squirrel, she's too Cute" Arthur thought to himself. Then Arthur had sighed as he put the picture in a safe place. He had actually liked something dreamed up by DW.
This time as Arthur unwrinkled DW's discarded paper he found it was indeed a drawing of Nadine. However DW had drawn a line through Nadine's image. Then in red letters she had written "I am too old for Imaginary Friends and so is Kate". Arthur discretely took the picture up to his room. "Poor Nadine" he muttered as he set the picture on his desk. Arthur would miss seeing DW's drawings of Nadine. Perhaps Kate would draw some. He would have to keep an eye out for drawings by Kate. That night Arthur had a vivid dream of meeting a cute Creature in the back yard. The Boy who avoided kisses with Girls dreamt he was kissing Nadine.
Arthur awoke with a start. Had he really just been dreaming? It had seemed so real, he could even recount how she had smelled. Like Lilacs with a hint of honey. Unlike the Girls in his Class this Girl had fur like his pet Dog. Fur so soft which smelled so nice. "I wish I knew a real Girl like that" he said to himself with a sigh. A furry Girl seemed much less intimidating than Francine or Muffy. The day before Francine had threatened to wrestle him to the ground. "I like embarrassing Boys" she had bragged to Muffy as Arthur fled from them. "Growing up sucks" Arthur said later as he recounted what had happened. Buster nodded his head yes. "It sure does, by the way I will be away for most of the Summer. My Mother is taking us to the Caribbean for an awesome vacation!" "There go my summer plans" muttered Arthur.
That night the Read house was quiet. Pal was in his Dog House for the night. DW was staying overnight at Emily's home. Kate was with Grandma Thora. Arthur's Father, David, was away at a Caterers Convention. Their Mother had a meeting at The Elwood City Lady Legionaires Auxiliary Club. Reluctantly Jane had let Arthur stay home by himself. "Gees Mom" he had told her. "Most of the kids in my grade have already Baby Sat away from home. I will be fine here by myself." His Mother had sighed. Her oldest child would soon be spending time as a Teenage Boy looking for dates. At least for tonight her son would not be with a Girl. "Keep the alarm system armed" she had told Arthur as she had left.
Arthur went to his room and noticed the rippled picture of Nadine still on his desk. He picked it up and stared at it. Then he dug out the other picture DW had let him keep. He found Nadine's images fascinating. This Girl looked too friendly to threaten a Boy like him. Even if she were of another Species, she looked like she would be fun to talk to. Then Arthur undressed to put on his pajamas. Just as he got his pajama bottoms up to his Butt he heard a sound like a giggle. He thought it was from the TV downstairs. "I thought I turned the TV off" he muttered as he threw on his pajamas top. Then he went back down the stairs. When he got to the Living Room the television was off. He turned suddenly as something caught the corner of his eyes. Arthur could have sworn he saw two dark colored eyes floating about four feet off the floor. Then nothing. "My imagination must be as wild as DW's" Arthur said aloud to himself.
Arthur went back upstairs to his room. He felt as if he were being watched once again. Then in the spur of the moment Arthur yelled. As sort of a joke to himself he hollered out loud "I am sorry if you find me a yucky looking Boy, Nadine! Most of the Girls in my Class do." Arthur thought he heard a sigh. Then he saw the air ripple about four feet in front of him. Arthur trembled as a form took shape. "I hope this is a good dream, not a nightmare" he gasped out loud. Arthur saw what looked like feet forming in the air. These feet looked like none he had ever seen. He could see what looked like paw pads on the bottom of them. Then they turned down toward the floor. Then as they settled downward a form took shape. Then with a giggle a Creature in what looked like a blue nightgown was standing before him. Arthur stared in fear and awe. The Creature just stood staring at Arthur with its dark eyes. "What unique hair she has on her head" thought Arthur.
Whatever this Being was her hair was braided out like a Jester's hat. It was a very light blonde, nearly white. Her nose was short. She was buck toothed. Her cheeks covered in thin fur. Then Arthur moved his eyes down her body. Her hands were five fingered just as were his. Her arms were covered in what looked like fine tan fur. Where her nightgown ended he could see fine fur on her legs. Now Arthur stopped trembling as fear turned into fascination. Then he stared at her feet. They did not look like those of a Squirrel. They were bare, fuzzy, and three toed. Arthur had never been interested in Girls feet. Yet he found himself staring at these ones. He should have found three toed feet as odd looking. However they fascinated him. "She has cute feet" Arthur thought to himself.
Then those feet shuffled as if the Being standing on them was shy. Arthur then snapped his head upward as once again he heard a giggle. A very cute giggle to him. "I don't find you yucky looking" said the Creature. "I was afraid you would find a Creature such as myself scary or ugly." Whatever this Being was it spoke in a soft feminine voice. "Am I ugly" said the Being as she slowly turned around. Arthur saw that she had a furry tail sticking out of the back of her nightgown. "Wow, what a tail" he blurted out loud. Then he felt scared. Had he just insulted her?
The Creature spun around to face to him. "Was that a compliment?" "Yes, of course" spluttered Arthur. "Look me in the eyes" said the Creature. "Tell me the truth, how do I really look to you?" "I think you are cute" said Arthur who then winced. "Am I in trouble for saying that?" He could picture Francine punching him for saying something like that to her. "Of course not" said the Creature. Arthur suddenly realized he really didn't know who or what he was talking to. "Are you Nadine, ah, Flumberghast? What are you and where are you from? DW said you are a Squirrel, but you don't look like one of those to me."
Arthur loved the bucked toothed grin that spread over this thing's cheeks. "You may call me Nadine. I am not sure where DW got that name from. My real name is unpronounceable in your language. The rest of my real name does sound a bit like Flumberghast." Arthur just stood motionless as Nadine unbuttoned his pajama top and removed it. She gazed at Arthur's bared chest and belly. Arthur had just started growing some chest hairs. That made Nadine grin. "As you can see I am not a figment of DW's, Kate's, or anyone else's imagination. I am from a Star System from far away. Assigned to study creatures like you for doing poorly in what you call School. You could call me an Ursan. I am from the a Planet of a Star System you have gazed upon many a night. An Orange Giant star in what Humans call the constellation Ursa Minor, The Small Bear. However I don't believe I look like a Bear! I am an Inter Dimensional Being. Able to cross vast distances by jumping from one Dimension to another. The clothing I am wearing also helps me to travel in ways unfathomable to you. That is the simplest way to explain what I am."
Arthur was just dumbstruck. "Are you really a Girl" he finally said in a near whisper. Arthur just stood unmoving as Nadine reached down and pulled his pajama bottoms hem out toward her. She looked down and giggled in the way Arthur found so cute. "Yes, my species have Males and Females just as does yours. I can see from that thing sticking out of you that you are indeed a Male. Even if DW claimed otherwise." She let his hem snap back. Arthur felt himself blush. Then he felt something else. "Oh gee, I think I am in Love" he thought to himself.
Little could he know Nadine felt something too. In her Alien Culture one should only fall in Love once in a Lifetime. One should try be Mated to one of the opposite sex as soon as full Maturity is reached. Ursan Females reach that age a few Earth Years younger than Human Females. Then live extremely long lives. Aging much slower than Humans. Once an Ursan becomes what Humans call a Teenager their appearance changes very little. Now this Ursan who would little change for many Earth or Ursan Years felt a pang in her multi-chambered heart. She thought of how her First Love should be for a lifetime. "Vanna hah gax" thought Nadine. Which roughly translates to "now I've done it!"
Nadine sighed. "I know about the picture DW drew of me. I could scarce believe how you reacted to it. You seem to have little attraction to Females of your species. Nor are you attracted to them. I don't blame you one iota. Yet you seem attracted to a depiction of a Creature totally alien to you." Arthur grinned. "I have always been treated like a Nerd by Girls all because I wear eye glasses. I am not athletic or handsome. I always dreamed of meeting a Girl who would see me for what I really am. An average Boy who tries to do the best he can. I used to dream of meeting a Girl from another Land. A Girl who would not see me as a Nerd or a boring guy. A Girl who could like me for being me."
Now Nadine grinned. "Well, I am a Female from a place far from here. So I guess I qualify as a Girl from a foreign Land. I know nothing of what a Nerd is. I do know I find you interesting. Your body is quite unique looking to me!" Arthur blushed. So Nadine had liked what she saw of his body. The Boy who felt shy around Girls had just been complimented by one. Oh how he wished she could be a Girl Friend. Suddenly Arthur remembered the Play he had to read in class for Finals in English. "Like Romeo and Juliet" muttered Arthur.
Nadine gasped. "I am familiar with that great Earthly work of Art. We are of two different Cultures. Two Intelligent Beings of different Species. How tragic to find the one Love whom you will not be allowed to be a Mate to." Arthur reached out to Nadine and took her hand in his. He didn't even realize he was holding hands with a different Life Form. Her hands were warm and soft. "Well, I am too young to be thinking about Mates of any kind. I sure do wish there was some way for us to spend some time together. You know, like going out on a Date. But I guess that is just not possible. If only I were old enough to have a Driver's License." Nadine smiled deviously. She went over to a radio and turned it on. It was tuned to a Talk Show often listened to by Arthur's parents.
"I can transport us to a quiet spot" said Nadine. She reached into a small pocket in her nightgown. She then held out a very small device. Sort of like a very small TV remote. Suddenly Arthur felt as if he was out of his body. He felt confused and like he was tumbling. Then he was in his room with Nadine standing next to him. As Arthur regained his bearings he noticed something odd. Everything was too quiet. Even the radio Nadine had just turned on was silent. "Am I deaf" Arthur stuttered out. Nadine laughed. "I can hear you, can you hear me?" "Yeah" said Arthur. Nadine reached out and ran her fingers through Arthur's hair. Arthur saw her eyes literally glow. A broad grin was on Nadine's face as she softly spoke.
"I shifted us within The Fourth Dimension to the brink of The Fifth Dimension. Time has literally stopped relative to the point in Space we now occupy. Even though we are technically still in your room we can use it as a sanctuary. Time is moving different relative to others in your World. We can stay for the period of time you call an hour. Yet when I shift us back only five minutes will have passed outside of this room. By the way you will have aged slower than you would have. You will in essence be only five minutes older instead of sixty minutes older."
"Cool" said Arthur. "Let's get to know each other" said Nadine as she loosened up her Night Gown. "Is it hot on this Planet or is it me?" Arthur gulped as Nadine leaned over and put her nose to his. "Oops" she said with a giggle. "I forgot your species kisses lips to lips." Arthur was smitten with the Love Bug as he put his arms around this fascinating Female. Each teaching the other how their Cultures kissed and showed affection. The hour of privacy Nadine had promised passed oh so quickly to Arthur. With a final hug and kiss goodbye he found himself tumbling through Time and Space for a brief moment. Then he was in his room with the radio blaring some boring news. Arthur picked his pajama top off the floor. According to the clock he had been gone from this time frame for only five minutes.
"Nadine was right on time about the time shift" mused Arthur. He went over to the drawings of Nadine. Then he reached into the small back pocket of his pajama bottoms. He took out the small device Nadine had handed him just as their time together expired. It opened like a small locket. A beam of light shown out. At the end of the beam an image of Nadine shimmered. "I am always just a Dimension or less away from you" said Nadine's voice. "Let me know when you are ready for another Date!" "I will" said Arthur. After closing the locket he carefully stowed it in his desk. "What a Girl" he muttered happily to himself. He had found a love that was truly out of this World!
During Junior and Senior High School Arthur would sometimes be hard to find for minutes at a time. His Parents and Sisters thought he was just outside or sitting in a corner. Wanting some time away from the chaos of the Read household. Little could they know Arthur was so near and yet so far away at those times. Meeting up with Nadine and then jumping through Time and Space with her. Spending precious moments with each other on the boundries of The Space Time Continuum.
Arthur's World would slowly change as years passed. Friends would come and go. Arthur seldom dated Girls and never married. He always seemed to age much slower than his Friends and Relatives. He was always a kid at heart though. He knew just as much about the most popular cartoons as did his Nieces and Nephews. DW sometimes felt envious that her older Brother was able to stay younger looking than she. It was the same for Kate.
Creatures age at different rates. Some are short lived, others long lived. However Death is inevitable for all living things. There came the day Arthur put on a special Suit. He took a cab to the place he had sadly been to just a few days earlier. There he gazed at the Family Plot in Elwood City Cemetery. He was the last one standing of his Immediate Family. The spry elderly man had made arrangements for the Gravestones of his Earthly Family to be tended to when he was gone. There was a warm breeze as he put flowers around the Grave Stones. Then the air shimmered as Nadine appeared at his side. Nadine looked sad as she rubbed her fingers over DW's and Kate's names. Then her face brightened as Arthur put his hand in hers. Each seemed to grow younger. "It is time, my Love" said Arthur. Nadine giggled just as she had so many years before when she had revealed herself to Arthur. "Time to be a young Man and a young Ursan Female again" said Nadine. "Now you can grow old once again, this time on my World. The Council has decreed our Love to be Legal and Binding under The Ursan Mating Code." Suddenly the air shimmered around them.
The cemetery grounds keeper scratched his head. He could have sworn he saw a Couple looking at some Graves. Then they weren't there. "Must be ghosts" he muttered to himself. The Couple he had spotted would soon be standing in a land unlike any he had ever seen. Their new home was before them. Made of a strange shiny material. The sky was lit by a Star a bit oranger than the Sun whose rays had once shone down on Arthur. Now this Star's light shone down on Arthur as he and Nadine kissed in both the Human and Ursan ways. Nadine grinned, "you look like you are eighteen in Earth years all over again."
Arthur laughed. "You look like you did the day I found out you were real! Just a bit taller." Smiling they went inside their new home. Arthur quickly adjusted to his new home, his new way of life, and his new World. Aging much slower than he had on Earth, Arthur had plenty of time to get used to this World. He was already familiar with its language. This was a huge Planet whose year over 500 Earth Days long. Being huge this Planet had plenty of room for newcomers. Arthur would get a Job as a Linguist. Helping to decode Earthly Radio and Television signals which had mystified Ursan Scientists. Eventually he and Nadine would discover that Ursan science could give them something they never thought possible. One day Human/Ursan hybrid children would fill their home with unique little giggles. One would be an active female that looked like a furry baby DW. Always getting into trouble.
The youngster had gotten quite filthy during her fourth Birthday celebration. It is called something that sounds roughly like hawak zeda to Human Ears. Just as Nadine got the youngster's clothing off she ran out of the body cleaning and bodily waste disposal room. Arthur ran and caught his most mischievous youngster. Nadine sighed as she and Arthur got the struggling youngster back under the body cleaning spray apparatus.
"I know which side of the Family this one takes after" said Nadine. Arthur just shook his head. Then Arthur grinned. "Well, when we were kids DW used to tell me I was never going to be able to be rid of her!" The youngster they were trying to clean up let out strange sounds. Sort of like giggles a Human child might make.
Epilogue: When I first saw Nadine on "Arthur" I really didn't know what she was supposed to be. I recorded an episode and freeze framed her as she was floating in the air. It distinctly showed her feet with three toes. Therefore I was surprised to find out she was supposed to be a Squirrel. To me she seemed so much more than something made up by DW. So I set out and wrote this, my first "Arthur" fanfic. I hope you enjoyed it. KRB/aka TaggertShare.