Have you ever had a friend that you're not really sure why you stay friends with?

And then one day you find out,

But by then it's too late?

I was awoken by a loud pounding on my door. Forcing my eyes to open, I fumbled about for my glasses. I'm basically blind without them. Papa smurf calls it "high congenial myopia", or "very nearsighted from birth." I call it a pain in the smurf. I found them and put them on, not even stabbing myself in the eye. I lighted a match and touched the flame to a candle wick, lighting it. With the light from the candle, I checked the time. 5:33. Smurf me. There's only one smurf I know that gets up at this unsmurfy hour. Grumbling a little from the lack of sleep, I walk to the front door of my one- bedroom mushroom house. Bracing myself for a dumb question of some sort, I open the door. Sure enough, there he was: Clumsy Smurf. Complete with baggy trousers, floppy hat, large, awkward feet and longish awkward limbs to match. He had a big grin on his face that stretched almost ear to ear. "Hiya, Brainy!" he said happily.

I yawned a little, stretching my neck. "Clumsy, what're you doing up so early?" I asked, trying to tone down my just-woken-up crankiness down a bit. "It's 5:30 in the morning!"

Clumsy looks undeterred. "I know! You said we had to go collect Moddleroots for Papa smurf early in th' mornin' so, here I am!" he said with his loud (slightly uneducated sounding) southern drawl.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes, feeling a bit annoyed. "Clumsy…" I said calmly, "'Early' means 7:30, 8:30. Not 5:33 in the morning!"

Clumsy looked sheepish for a moment, his big feet turned in awkwardly. "Oh, gawsh, Brainy. I'm sorry." He said looking down.

I sigh a little and wave my hand. "That's okay, Clumsy." I said. "Just go back to bed."

"Gawsh, Brainy. I'm sorry I woke you up…" Clumsy said, walking back to his little mushroom bungalow.

He tripped a couple of times, but laughed at himself a little and dusted himself off, moseying along at his own clumsy pace. I blinked my eyes a little, then shuffled back to bed. I blew out my candle and put my thick glasses back on the nightstand. Then I got in bed and pulled the quilts up to my nose. I love Clumsy. I really do. He's my best friend- well. Probably my ONLY real friend- and I love him like a brother. But I must confess, he drives me absolutely SMURFY sometimes! Between his dumb questions, his loud voice, and the fact he can't walk thirty feet without hurting himself, he's the very definition of 'an accident waiting to smurf'. There are days I truly wish he was some other smurf.

But he's also loyal, honest, and very forgiving. I doubt we ever could've stayed friends if he wasn't so forgiving. I often smurf my patience with him, yet he always forgives me. He's always got a happy, easy-going, bordering on dense disposition. He's always got some kind of bruise somewhere, from some accident. And he apologizes at the drop of a hat. It's hard to stay mad with him, even for someone as smurf-headed and stubborn as me.

As it happens, after Clumsy woke me up at 5:30 that morning, I couldn't fall back asleep. Two hours later, what should I hear but a knock on my door. Already knowing who it is, I couldn't help but crack a smile. Clumsy may be dense sometimes, but he sure stuck to his promises. "Gimmie a few minutes, Clumsy." I called through the door.

"Uh, Okay, Brainy! I'll just wait here…" Clumsy replied.

I find my glasses and smurf on a clean pair of pants and hat. Another stretch of my neck, and I was ready to face the day. Hmm. Collecting Moddleroots with Clumsy smurf. What accident will smurf today, I wondered. I bet he falls into another bramble patch, or he trips in the thistle again. Or, with his luck just about smurf himself falling down the hill… again! I swear, Clumsy smurf is an accident waiting to smurf.

I opened the door, and was immediately greeted by Clumsy smurf falling backward into my doorway. "Oops! Sorry, Brainy." He apologized.

I put a hand to my head in an exasperated manner and sighed. "It's okay, Clumsy." I said, offering him a hand to help him up.

I swear, this smurf would be lost without me. I pulled him up, and waited for him to dust himself off before we walked to the outskirts of the village, the uncoordinated smurf stumbling over his feet every few yards. It doesn't take long for us to get to the herbs and roots we need. "Okay, Clumsy, I'll start over here, and you go over there. We'll head back to the village in a little while." I said, pointing to a bush with the roots we need.

Clumsy smiled again and nodded his head comically, making his too-big-for-his-head hat bob. "Uh, Okay, Brainy!" He said, stumbling over to the bush I pointed at.

We pick roots and plants for about a half hour before my stomach reminded me of a plain fact: we skipped breakfast. I looked up from my root- picking and scanned the bushes for a wild smurfberry bush. They're scattered all over the place, there must be one around- aha! A dark green bush with bright red berries caught my eye. Seeing as Clumsy and I shared mostly the same schedule, I think it was safe to assume Clumsy was hungry too. "Hey, Clumsy. How about we smurf a break and have some break-" I turned around. Clumsy was nowhere to be smurfed.

Now where could he have gone, I wondered. "Clumsy?" I called into the wilderness. "Clumsyyyy?"

I looked around some for the smurf, feeling a little more anxious. I couldn't see him next to any of the bushes where the roots we needed were. And he wasn't next to the smurfberry bush I spotted. Where could he have gone. My anxiety calmed a little when I found him in a mushroom patch not far away, but then they flared up again when I saw what he was about to do. "Clumsy! No! Don't eat that!" I yelled, running up to him and batting the toadstool out of his grip and inadvertently tripping him.

Clumsy turned over and looked up at me from the mushroom patch, a slightly flabbergasted look on his face. "Don't you remember what Papa smurf said? These toadstools are VERY, VERY poisonous! One bite could've killed you!" I chewed him out. "You're lucky I found you… Don't you remember what Papa smurf told us?"

Clumsy stood up, but then proceeded to look down and shuffle his feet a little, embarrassed. "No…" He mumbled. "I remember he took us all here and said something. Wasn't sure what it was."

I put a hand to my head and rested the other one on my hip. "Oh, Clumsy…" I sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

Clumsy shuffled his feet some more and held his hands behind his back, obviously feeling ashamed. I heard a quiet grumble come from the lanky smurf, and remembered why I was looking for him. "Come on… I found something a lot smurfier to eat then these nasty things." I said, taking him by the elbow and leading him out of the mushroom patch.

I moaned internally at what just happened. I swear, without me he would've died a long time ago! And what did he mean, he wasn't sure what it was that Papa smurf said? I remember that day and he explicitly told us to never eat a toadstool. Smurf, he even had us repeat it back to him! I never understood that smurf…

We arrived at the wild smurfberry bush and the embarrassment that Clumsy had been feeling from me chewing him out evaporated. "Gawsh! Those've gotta be the smurfiest smurfburries in the whole forest!" Clumsy marveled, his eyes widening.

He gingerly picked one of the bright red berries from the plant, careful not to trip and fall into it. While it may not look like it, Smurfberry bushes have lots of thorns behind the berries. It's easy to smurf yourself on one if you're not careful. Eager to see if the berries tasted as smurfy as they looked, Clumsy popped one in his mouth and chewed it slowly. A wide smile across his face determined that verdict. We picked the berries until we had eaten our fill. The two of us sat back to back, letting the berries settle in our tummies before smurfing back to work. The two of us talked about idle things, Clumsy's newest rock in his collection, my newest books, just about everything. Then out of almost nowhere, Clumsy laughed his little southern drawl hyu-hyu-hyu. I craned my neck around to look at his face. It was flushed with a light red. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Gawsh… I was jus' thinkin' about what happened yesterday with me an' Smurfette." Clumsy said, ducking his head some and scratching behind his ear.

I was intrigued. "Well, don't leave me smurfin' here!" I said out loud. "What happened?"

Clumsy laughed his little bumpkin laugh again, ducking his head a little more and blushing redder. "Well, I was walkin' an' Smurfette an' Baby were havin' a picnic… Well, I was walkin' past and tripped an' fell, an she came right over an' asked if I was orriat. I said 'yeah', and then she asked me ta join her, an' later she gave me a big, smurfy kiss for sittin' with her!" He reminisced, practically swooning.

There wasn't a smurf alive that loved Smurfette more than Clumsy. He was always smurfing her flowers, or offering to help with her chores (which she wisely declined often). He blushed whenever she smiled at him or touched his hand. He smiled whenever he heard her name. He was very much infatuated with her.

Of course, so was just about every other smurf in the village. Sometimes even PAPA seemed smitten with her! It was something I just could never wrap my mind around for the longest time. Sure, Smurfette is nice enough, and she's certainly pretty enough, but she keeps every male that tries to get close to her at arm's length. The only smurfs in the village she was really, genuinely close to were Baby, Sassette, and Vanity, and Papa, since she never took his advances seriously. The point being she's never really let anysmurf get too close to her, and marriage is flat-out out of the question. I'm just not sure why Clumsy's let himself be so enamored with her when he knows as well as I do that she has no intention of settling down anytime soon, and from what it seems little to no intention of letting herself fall in love. She's been more like that since Baby came and her and Hefty were an item for awhile. After they broke it off and split custody of Baby, she just seems like she's been guarding her heart. A sad truth for Clumsy as well as her, but a truth nonetheless. "Good for you, Clumsy." I said, elbowing him a little.

He giggled his little hick laugh again and hid his red face. "Hehehe. Thanks, Brainy." He said. "We shou' prob'ly get back to pickin' those roots now, huh?"

Then he stood up and dusted himself off, offering me a hand to pull me up. Already knowing what would've happened, I shake my head and pull myself up. Any other smurf might've taken offense to that, but Clumsy simply shrugged a shoulder and stumbled along on his merry way. I dusted myself off and followed him back to the bushes we were getting the Moddleroots from.

The two of us collected Moddleroots for another hour. I heard a little groan. Confused, I looked behind me. Clumsy was rubbing his stomach a little, a queasy look playing on his features. He groaned a little again. "Gawwsh, Brainy…" He said, "I dun' feel so good…"

I rolled my eyes a little. What trouble could he have gotten himself into in the hour I had my back turned to him? Well. Actually, a lot. That was what worried me, a little. But we had to finish smurfing these Moddleroots for Papa smurf, so I put my concerns aside. "Don't worry about it, Clumsy, I'm sure it's just a bad smurfberry." I dismissed him.

He nodded his head a little, and stopped rubbing his stomach. But it wasn't very long before he was moaning again, this time a little louder. I turned around again. Clumsy was looking even queasier than before, and pale too. Feeling some concern for my friend, I walked over to him. "B-Brainy… I- I REALLY don' feel good…" he said, shaking slightly.

I put a hand on his forehead. He felt feverish and slightly clammy. Something was wrong and we had to go back to the village. "Come on, Clumsy. We'll finish smurfing these Moddleroots another day." I said, bending over to pick up his basket.

He nodded a little bit, still clutching his tummy. The two of us walked for a little bit, until Clumsy stopped, still holding his abdomen, and fell to his knees. He rolled over on his side, his face twisted in pain. "Owwwww….." He moaned in a voice I couldn't even recognize as carefree Clumsy's "B-B-Brainyyy…."

I bent over to help the smurf, feeling terrible. "It'll be okay, Clumsy. Come on." I tried to encourage him.

He shook his head vigorously. "I- I- I can't… I can't walk anymore…" He moaned in pain.

I couldn't decide what to do. My first instinct was to run and get Papa smurf. But what if Gargamel came when I was gone? Clumsy couldn't get away! And he's too heavy for me to carry alone. I looked and saw some wild smurfberry bushes, and immediately had a plan. Trying not to drag him, I pulled Clumsy under the nearest bush. "There. That way you'll have some cover if Gargamel comes." I said, breathing heavily from the effort. "I'm gonna go smurf Papa smurf!"

Clumsy nods his head a little, still clutching his queasy stomach. I started running down the road, then stopped to look back at the long-limbed smurf. He was still huddled under the bush, shivering a little. I felt a giant knot in my gut for leaving him, but I had no other choice. I ran to the village as fast as my wimpy legs could carry me. I came to the mushroom house with a dark red roof and white spots. I started pounding on it like a smurf possessed. "Papa smurf! Papa Smurrrrf!" I called into the house.

The door opened, and the bearded elder smurf appeared in the doorway. "Brainy! What's wrong? Where's Clumsy?" he asked.

"S-something's wrong with him! H-h-he-! His stomach, He-!" I can't even complete a sentence.

"Please, slow down, Brainy! You're going to smurf yourself a heart attack!" Papa smurf said putting his hands on my shoulders. "Slow down and tell me what's wrong."

I managed to take a deep breath and tell him what happened to Clumsy. "Oh my smurfness!" Papa smurf exclaimed, running back into his lab and finding his medical bag "And you LEFT him there!"

How did this all get switched on me? "I- I had no choice! He couldn't walk!" I explained myself.

Papa looked around unnerved for a minute, then shook his head and threw his hands up a bit, frustrated. "fine! Fine! If that's the case, go find Hefty, or somesmurf!" He said, taking random potions and ingredients and gently putting them in his bag.

I nodded my head and ran for the dam. If Hefty was anywhere, that's where he'd be! I ran as fast as my legs could carry me- just about headlong into the larger smurf. "Ow!" He shouted. "Watch where you're going, Clum- Brainy?"

"C'mon, Hefty! Papa smurf needs you right now!" I said, standing and pulling him up.

We sprinted for the lab where Papa smurf was waiting for us. Then the three of us ran down the road, searching for a certain sick smurf. It took a few minutes, but I finally found Clumsy. He was looking even paler and clammier then when I'd left him. " I found him, Papa smurf!" I called.

I put my hand on his sweaty forehead. My heart sunk into my chest a bit. The poor fellow was absosmurfly smurfing up! Papa smurf and Hefty came to the bush and gently took the sick smurf from underneath it. Clumsy was shivering like he was lying in snow instead of summer grass. "P-papa?" he said weakly.

"I'm right here, Clumsy." Papa smurf said, taking his little smurf's hand reassuringly. "Now, tell me, did you eat anything unsmurfy, or touch something you shouldn'tve?"

"He was about to eat a toadstool before I came and stopped him." I said, trying to be helpful. "He tripped and fell in the same patch of mushrooms before we left."

Papa smurf looked at me with wide eyes. "Brainy. I need you to show me exactly the toadstools you're talking about. NOW." He said, releasing Clumsy's hand and looking at me dead in the face.

I nodded and stood from my spot. I led Papa smurf to the mushroom patch I had found Clumsy in earlier. "Oh, No!" Papa smurf said, stooping over and picking one of the smaller mushrooms. "This is an Opelian Daycab- and its spores are one of the most deadly in the entire world!"

My heart dropped into my stomach. D-DEADLY? I thought to myself. "B-but- There IS a cure, right?" I asked.

Papa smurf nodded. "Yes, but we must hurry and smurf him back to my lab. We don't have much time."

We return to where we left Clumsy and Hefty. Clumsy is stooped over a bush, Hefty holding him up. It took me a moment before I realized what was going on. "Ohhh, Heftyyy…. My tummy still-" he cut himself off, hurling his guts out behind the bush.

Hefty rubbed his back and said some words into his ear I couldn't hear. "Feel a little better now?" I asked, helping him up.

Clumsy shook his head. He looked to the side, his cheeks turning reddish. "It's nothing to feel embarrassed about, my little smurf." Papa said, trying to comfort the sick smurf. "But we must hurry back to my lab!"

Clumsy nodded weakly. He tried taking a few steps on his own, but ended up doubled-over in pain on the ground again. Hefty gently lifted the sick smurf from the ground, almost cradling him. He looked so small in comparison to Hefty's muscled physique. So- helpless. So weak. So vulnerable… As fast as the extra weight could allow us, we ran back to the village. Papa smurf opened the door for us, and immediately started flipping through his old books. "Gosh, Papa smurf. He sure doesn't look smurfy…." Hefty said worriedly, looking at the smurf in his arms.

"Yes, I know… tuck him into my bed, and go fetch some water." Papa said, still searching through his books.

Hefty laid Clumsy down on the bed and I tucked him under the sheets. Papa smurf has a thick quilt on his bed, but Clumsy was still shivering and shaking, his eyes half closed. It tore at my heart a bit to see him so ill... "Brainy, take his temperature for me." Papa ordered, mixing a few ingredients in a beaker.

I nodded my head and fished the thermometer out of Papa smurf's medical bag. Clumsy opened his mouth and held the thermometer under his tongue for a couple of minutes. I removed it and checked the mercury. "Smurfs alive! 104.6!" I read out to Papa smurf.

Papa smurf stirred more ingredients into his antidote. "Ohhh, smurf is me! Where is Hefty with that water!" he asked impatiently adding more ingredients.

As if he'd heard Papa smurf ask for him, Hefty burst through the door carrying a pail of water. "Here I am, Papa smurf!" he said.

"Good. Get some washcloths from the cupboard, and try and cool his fever." Papa smurf said, heating and filtering magic liquids and elixirs.

"Right!" Hefty said with a nod.

He went to a green cupboard and got some clean washcloths. He handed one to me. We dipped the cloths into the cold water and started to dab his forehead, trying to quell his fever. Oh, Clumsy… why'd you have to go and trip in that stupid toadstool patch?

"NO! Smurfity- smurf SMURFIT!" Papa smurf yelled, slamming a fist on the counter.

Both Hefty and I snapped our heads up. Papa smurf NEVER swore like that! "What? What is it Papa Smurf?" I asked.

Papa smurf buried his head in his hands. "The potion needs to distill for another twenty-four hours." He said, "And even then I'm missing the final ingredient- a ground up opal."

My heart felt like it had just been knifed with a heated dagger. "What're you saying, Papa smurf?" Hefty asked.

Papa smurf walked to us, and covered up Clumsy's ears. "I'm saying," He spoke in hushed tones, "That if I don't smurf ground up opal by the time that potion is distilled, Clumsy smurf will die."