Helga tossed her hair back and sighed in exasperation as the wind whipped it back around and across her face. Perhaps roof-slumming wasn't such a great idea today. She raked her fingers back through her hair, brushing errant locks from her face.
A small blue cap fluttered up over the edge of the roof on a strong breeze and Helga blinked; the little hat looked kinda familiar. It came to a rest several feet away. She quickly strode over to it and picked it up. Helga turned the cap over, brows furrowed in thought. She was certain she'd seen it somewhere before…
Helga shrugged, stuffed the small cap into her pocket and set off for home. She'd figure it out later.
"Big Sister! The Jolly-Olly Man was giving away free ice-cream earlier! I got you some!" Olga sang cheerfully as she raced up to Helga. "Here!"
Helga beamed and accepted the sweet. "And how was it that he was giving away free ice cream?"
Olga paused from ripping open her last Fudge Swirl bar. "He hit a fire hydrant and just went crazy. Everyone was getting free ice cream." Olga's brows furrowed, "Well, except Arnold. He wouldn't come down because he's lost his hat. He said that he would never come out, not even for free ice cream."
Helga frowned, for a nine-year old that was pretty severe declaration. "Wait, he lost his hat? The little blue one he's always wearing?"
Olga nodded. "Uh-huh."
Helga's face brightened with understanding. "I see, well I know how to cheer the little gremlin up." She glanced at her little sister. "Go on home, Olga, I'm going to go pickup some pizza for dinner, ok?"
"And you'll see Arnold, right?" Olga pressed.
"Yeah, yeah- that too." Helga waved off her sister's question. "Go on, Olga."
"'Kay."
Helga grunted as she turned the corner and a body collided with her lower half. Her reflexive glare softened as she noticed the perpetrator to be none other than the boy she was looking for.
"Sorry, Helga! I didn't mean to bump into you like that." Arnold scrambled to his feet, face flushed.
Helga shrugged, "It's fine, short stuff, I was looking for you anyway. Olga told me you were upset earlier-"
"Oh yeah." Arnold cleared his throat, "I lost my hat earlier today and was kinda upset about it at the time and…" Arnold trailed off at the irritated look Helga was pinning him with.
"Don't interrupt me, half pint." Helga said firmly. "Anyway, what I was getting at is that I was roof-slumming earlier and this kited up there," Helga reached into her pocket and presented Arnold with the missing cap, smirking as he gasped in delight. "Would have gotten it to you earlier if I'd realized it was yours."
Arnold had barely been able to contain himself before she finished her explanation. He gleefully swiped the hat out of Helga's hand and placed it on his head. "You found my hat! I can't believe it! Thanks Helga, thanks a lot!"
Helga stiffened in surprise as the boy threw his arms around her waist and hugged her as much as he could. After a few moments and Arnold showing no sign of releasing her from the unexpected public display of affection, Helga patted his tuffs of blond hair awkwardly, "You can let go now, Arnold. And you're welcome."
Arnold released her with a wide grin infectious enough to prompt Helga to smile back.
Helga winced as Big Bob ran over one of the trees in their campsite. "Nice parking, Bob. Feeling up to killing off the rest of nature while you're at it?" She snarked, unbuckling her seatbelt as Bob put the RV in park.
"Hey, hey, hey, missy. The RV 2000 doesn't kill nature- it bends nature to the will of man with the patented bumper riser." Bob boasted, cutting the ignition and unbuckling his seatbelt.
Helga rolled her eyes and moved to the back to check on Olga. Her little sister was already out of her seat, bouncing in excitement as the stairway lowered. Helga's lips quirked in amusement, "Ready to rough it in the modern way, Olga?"
"Yes! I want to go on a nature hike, Big Sister, and look at the stars, and eat marshmallows roasted over a campfire- just like in the movies!" Olga enthused.
Helga chuckled, "Like the movies, huh? Well, we'll see. For now, how about some breakfast?"
"Ok!"
Helga had just finished setting up three places for breakfast when Olga raced up screeching.
"Big Sister! Big Sister! Set two more places!"
Helga glanced over to ask why and the question died in her throat as she spotted Arnold and Gerald trailing closely behind her little sister. She smiled, it was nice that Olga's friends were here and could play with her. "Two more places, you say? I think we can arrange that."
Helga stared in horrified fascination. Truly, watching Arnold duel-wielding forks as he wolfed down his plate of steak and eggs was akin to watching an Animal Planet documentary about the eating habits of predators. With great effort, Helga forced herself to blink and look away- did the boy have that bad of table manners or had he been starving? She was torn from her musings when Olga piped up.
"Can we go on a nature hike up to Ophelia's Overlook, Daddy?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. Sure, Olga- right after breakfast. We can test out those new trial gadgets on our way up. Good thinking." Bob muttered around his breakfast.
Several hours wandering, total technological failure, and basic survival tricks later found the group within eyesight of their camps again. Big Bob crashed through the bushes, ignoring the nine-year-olds as they tried to warn him against such behavior.
Helga stretched and raised an eyebrow in question.
Arnold, catching her expression, smiled sheepishly. "Well, those plants are poison ivy. It's really just better to go around."
Understanding lit Helga's eyes and she choked down her laughter to mere chuckles.
Olga and Gerald roasted their marshmallows and animatedly regaled Grandpa Phil with the story of their afternoon hike as Grandpa strummed his guitar absently. Across the way, Helga and Arnold held a more private conversation during their campfire roasting.
"It really was pretty amazing, short stuff. Did you really learn all of that this weekend?"
Arnold grinned, "Yeah, Grandpa taught us yesterday. I think I'll try and get him to camp more often so I can learn more about wilderness survival. Sticking with the basics actually made this whole trip a lot more fun than I thought at first."
Helga nodded, "Good luck with that, Arnold. You'll be able to impress the right kind of girlfriends with those kinds of skills."
"Girlfriends?" Arnold asked uncertainly.
Helga's lips curved into a half smirk, "Yeah, but really, you're still too young to worry about that, so don't worry about it, ok Arnold?"
"Whatever you say, Helga." Arnold murmured.
"That's right, bucko, whatever I say." Helga confirmed.
Helga picked up the paper that Arnold and Gerald had dropped before running off. She brushed her hair from her face. It was absolutely bizarre to see a pair of nine-year-old boys loaded down with an assortment of Christmas shopping bags. She smoothed out the wrinkled paper and carefully read it over. Twice. Her eye twitched. What sort of irresponsible idiot had small children running all over town to complete their Christmas shopping? Her expression darkened further, possibly this 'Mai' person named on the list.
Stuffing the list in her pocket, Helga set off to follow the boys at a careful distance. They were going to lead her right to the guilty party so she could give the moron a piece or ten of her mind.
Helga stood at the bottom of the stoop, taking in Arnold and Gerald's disappointed demeanors. "Alright, pipsqueaks, spill."
"Helga?" Arnold started.
"The one and only, bucko." She smirked.
"Well, it's like this…" Gerald started.
Arnold and Gerald waved their goodbyes to her, both still dispirited with their lack of success. She kept a careful eye on them as they stomped up the Sunset Arms stoop and trudged into the boardinghouse.
Helga smiled wistfully; Arnold was such a good kid- trying to reunite a broken family for Christmas. She tipped her head back and gazed at the sky. If ever she were to be separated from Olga, Helga hoped that someone just as kind would make an effort to return her little sister to her.
"And besides that bit of improbability," Helga murmured to herself as she came up to her family's house, "Where can I find a guy around my age like Arnold?"
She puffed her stray locks away from her face. "No where." She decided. Guys like Arnold were rare. "But maybe…" She looked through the living room window thoughtfully as Olga opened one of her Christmas Eve presents. "…I could at least make sure that Olga ends up with a great guy." Helga smiled to herself.
She blinked wistfully at the thought of Olga growing up, getting married in a beautiful white gown, sharing a happy marriage with Arnold and having the requisite 2.5 children and white picket fence… Helga sighed dreamily and then gave herself a firm shake.
Helga turned from the window and made her way into the garage. Popping open her little car's trunk, she began to pull out the gifts she had purchased for Olga over the course of the last few months. Pulling out one specially decorated box, Helga paused. This gift was the newly popular Nancy Spumoni Snow Boots. Snow Boots that Arnold had needed to find Mai in order to reunite her with her father.
Helga bit her lip. It was Olga's gift. She'd camped outside of the shoe store and waited in line to buy these for Olga for a total of 18 hours… but…
Helga sighed and slammed the car's trunk. Olga would forgive her.
She watched from afar as Mai was allowed into Sunset Arms. Sneaky maneuvering that attempted to be casual (and failed miserably) afforded her a decent view of the living room area. She observed Mai's happy family reunion; Arnold's amazed delight, and smiled to herself. She'd never realized that doing good deeds like this could feel so wonderful.
"Merry Christmas, Arnold." Helga whispered.