It was lunch hour at P.S. 118 and Arnold was on his way toward the cafeteria exit door. "Helga?" he called over his shoulder. "I'm heading out to the school yard! Are you coming?"
"Yeah, hold on, hold on!" Helga hollered back a few steps away. "I just gotta put my lunch tray away," said Helga. She eyed a stacks of bowls and trays stacked precariously high. It seemed the lunch ladies were not keeping up with the dishes. The wobbly tower of food-splattered plates rose so high on surface of a rolling trolley that Helga could practically tip her chin all the way it could go and still see dishes. To her vision, they obscured the ceiling.
"Uh, Helga?" Arnold said stopping to give a wary look toward the slightly lopsided stack of dishes. It was a wonder it had not toppled over already. "Maybe it isn't such a good idea for you to put your dishes on that."
"No, no, no, it's fine!" Helga cut off Arnold curtly. She didn't want to pause to find an alternative solution. Surely the cart would bear the weight of one more dish? But Helga's tray and soup bowl were the last straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak. The cafeteria dishes all came crashing down on the blond-haired girl in one big avalanche. Helga lifted herself up onto her knees from the floor, then shook her head to clear it of her shock. Arnold rushed forward to give her hand up from the ground.
"Helga? Are you alright?" the boy uttered with some concern. Helga brushed herself off.
"Yup! You were right about that, huh, Foot-ball Head?" Helga said striding through the door as she flicked ruined pottery off her skirt. There were some wide eyes out in the courtyard.
"What was that?" Gerald asked in place of a standard greeting. "We all heard a loud crash!"
"Eh, nobody felt like washing dishes today," said Helga. "I guess now they won't have to."
"Well, that was fast!" said Gerald. "I brought my bag lunch! But did you get any lunch today, my brother?" Gerald asked. He gave Arnold a look of concern.
"Well, I was planning on hot lunch today. But there was too much mystery in my meat hash surprise."
"Well, you're in luck, my brother!" said Gerald rummaging through his paper bag. "Say no more, my brother, for I came prepared! Here, have a pudding pack!" Gerald handed off a little container of chocolate pudding to his best friend. Arnold took it with a smile.
"Thanks!"
"Don't mention it. Now, I want to ask. Do you'all have plans for the weekend?" Arnold coughed. Both Helga and Arnold moved five steps away from one another. They had been standing nearly shoulder to shoulder before.
"No, no! I don't have anything planned!" Arnold spoke for himself.
"Great!" Gerald snapped with cheer. "Cause I was thinkin' of goin' down to the circus! They'all have a magic show I think you'd like!" Arnold took a flyer for McGrunty's Circus.
"Oh, yeah!" said the boy staring straight back at Helga as they reflected on the memory of the time both he and Helga had to work with the two McGrunty brothers on a juggling act for a class assignment. They had both visited the circus once before. But it had been closed then.
"Grump McGrunty did say they had a magic show! I like magicians… I think it'd be really exciting to go! Sure!" Arnold said. With a cheerful smile, Arnold pocketed the flyer in his rear pants pocket. Helga crossed her arms together and folded her monobrow into a pouting arrow.
"McGrunty's Circus? I thought we were done with them," she grumbled.
"Helga!" Arnold admonished. "Grump and Snoot are our friends! Plus I really wouldn't mind seeing a real magician perform up close. Maybe I could learn a trick or two." Helga rolled her eyes but kept silent.
"It's decided then!" said Gerald. "I'll invite some of the other boys! We'll meet up at the train station at say 11:45!"
"Hm. Tsk. Alright." Arnold and Gerald did their thumbshake thing. Gerald wandered off, giving Helga a wink. But the girl didn't give Gerald a friendly reaction. She only continued her slouching.
But Helga's slouching and grumbling had disappeared by Saturday morning. A grin was on her face instead of a frown. The sun was warm and bright. Arnold and Gerald had met up at the train station as planned but they weren't the only ones Gerald had invited. Many of their fellow classmates were there, too- Phoebe, Stinky, Sid, Harold, Park, Nadine, Rhonda, and even Brainy. The first four splintered off from the crowd of students to join Arnold, Gerald, and Helga. The other drifted off in smaller subgroups to investigate the tents.
"Well," said Arnold chewing things over. "What should we do first?"
"Well, I'd like to buy one cotton candy before Pink Boy eats them all!" said Helga whipping a five-spot out of her shirt. She handed it off to a lady to receive a big ball of pink spun sugar. Helga smiled a bit at the sight.
"Well, we could go down and look over the area where the magic show will be!" Gerald suggested as he looked at his wrist watch. "It won't start till one! So we've got some time! But if anyone gets lost, we'll all meet up there later!"
"Good idea!" Harold commented as he reappeared to view. As Helga had predicted, he brought with him a whole string of cotton candy. The portly boy began stuffing some of the cotton fluff in his mouth.
"Hey, look-it!" said Sid. The boy in the black leather jacket grinned and pointed a finger at a billboard sign placed in front of a modest stage. "Medrit the Incredible! I can't wait till the magic show begins! I'll bet he has a big wand like this!" said Sid picking up a bit of a stick with a tiny bit of leaf on the end. "And he'll do this and this!" the boy said, elaborating. Everyone paid close attention to Sid.
That was, everyone except Arnold. Stood a little bit apart from the group, Arnold twisted his head towards a familiar sight. He spotted his old acquaintance, Grump McGrunty the midget ringmaster, standing at the entrance to one of the tents. Arnold left his friends behind to walk closer to the midget clown.
"Hi, good to see you!" the boy smiled.
"Great to see ya, kid!" the midget clown responded with cheer. He slapped Arnold on the back. "Have you come to join our troop, yet?"
"Nah!" said Arnold. "Some of my friends and I are just visiting! I'm really interested in the magic show!"
"Starts at one!" Grump McGrunty announced with pride. "Until then, feel free to come in here and take a look around! You're practically one of us!"
"Really?! That's great!" said Arnold. He jogged into the tent after Grump McGrunty. The midget clown dropped the tent flap closed after Arnold had entered, Shielding them both from view. Meanwhile, Sid was still speaking and waving his bit of stick.
"And, AND!" Sid declared shifting his eyes sneakily. "For the my last trick, the grand finale, fooom! With one squish of my wand… I make Arnold disappear!" said Sid waving his bit of stick at the place where Arnold should be. Everyone jumped in place in shock. Arnold wasn't there!
"Ah, heheh, that's funny!" said Sid sounding a lot like Arnold of the past. "Um, Arnold reappear!" said Sid giving the stick another swish. When Arnold didn't reappear suddenly, Helga picked up Sid by his shoulders so that his feet tread air.
"You'd better bring Arnold back or I'll feed you to the lions!" Helga threatened as Sid desperately tried to squirm free of his captor.
"Helga, baby," Gerald said with hopefully contagious calm. "Calm down! This circus doesn't have lions! Besides, there's NO WAY Sid magicked Arnold away! This here is only a tiny little bit of a stick!" Gerald said plucking the twig out Sid's hands and lobbing it over his shoulder. Reluctantly, Helga put Sid down.
"All we gotta do," said Gerald continuing to reason, "is look around for him! He'll probably turn up for the magic show!" Gerald shrugged to suggest ease of mind. But everyone of the kids bolted in different directions, including him, to go look for the missing Arnold.
Meanwhile, in what was one of the longer cut scenes ever, Arnold was looking through all the magician's stuff imagining himself as a great and powerful magician. He could do anything. Tame peacocks to sing Christmas corals. Ride dolphins like surf boards. Ride a magic carpet! Arnold beamed his widest grin. Then he dove down into a magician's trunk to don a hat. He admired himself in an oval mirror.
Outside the tent, Gerald was shaking his head and frowning as he conversed with the Bearded Lady. She hadn't seen Arnold. Neither had the Muscleman when Sid asked. Harold didn't not think to ask anyone. Instead, he spotted a tub of popcorn and lifted the lid to the barrel.
"Hello? Arnold are you in there?" Harold said. "Well, only one way to find out!" the boy said popping a few of the kernels into his meaty fist. He climbed into the barrel and closed the lid over after himself to be alone with the popcorn.
But Arnold was having the time of his life. He looked behind his shoulder to see a real performer with a black and purple cape join Grump McGrunty. "Arnold," his recent friend Grump spoke. "I'd like you to meet Medrit the Incredible!" They shook hands.
"So you like magic, kid?" the man asked.
"Sure do!" Arnold beamed.
"Would you like to try out a few tricks?"
"Would I ever!" Arnold grinned ear to ear. Soon, he was swinging from the ceiling along an invisible wire pretending to float. He was having the time of his life. But outside the tent, his friends were not so pleased.
"Did you find him?" Gerald asked Phoebe. He wrung his hands. The girl shook her head sadly.
"Negative. I have yet to find any trace or clue as to his whereabouts!"
"Well, we'd better hurry!" said Gerald jerking a thumb behind his back. "Helga's about ready to stamp Sid into oblivion!" Presently, the angry girl was stuffing Sid into a trashcan. His Beadle boots kicked high in the air.
Presently, the show lights came on along with a voice on the loudspeaker. It drew them back to the magician's stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen!" the voice of the announcer said. "May I introduce, Medrit the incredible! And his very special guest, Arnold!" said the announcer just as Arnold poofed just like magic into one of the seats for the audience to sit in. His friends approached him warily.
"Arnold! Where've ya been!" Gerald said out loud for all of them. His friends stared.
"Around," Arnold explained quietly. "Magician's secrets!" A wide-eyed Helga plopped herself down in a seat next to Arnold. But as the magic show continued on with no more extraordinary surprises, Helga calmed down enough to place a hand over her heart and give out a giddy, love-sick sigh.
"Huhh!" she breathed out with relief and adoration. Then her eyes popped wide open again.
"Um, where's Harold?" she asked swishing her eyes around, looking for the boy. Arnold tilted his head her way to consider the thought. Where was Harold? It seemed that neither of them knew! The end.