Green Meats of the future looked just about the same as ever, besides a few extra shop fittings and a good fresh coat of paint, it was exactly how Arnold remembered it from the present day. Harold Berman was humming loudly along to the store radio, dipping chicken wings into a thick marinade sauce and appearing about as content with life as possible.
Upon their entry, the door chime gave a distinctive 'ding', another new addition, and the strong looking man with the shaved head peered up from his work.
"Hey guys!" Harold bellowed out merrily as they entered, his eyes then flicking down to the three small children following behind his two friends, "Well if it isn't a blast from the past!"
Helga of the future smiled at him, and Harold pulled her into a warm hug before breaking away and shaking Gerald's hand with a smile.
Arnold noticed that Harold hadn't grown to be quite as tall as either Gerald or Helga, and it was strange to see Harold being shorter than either of them, though he certainly made up for it in muscular bulk. Apparently he had also managed to start wearing shirts that fit him properly, it was certainly an improvement.
Younger Helga, however, was less than impressed by what was apparently another adult friendship with a childhood 'enemy' and had screwed her face up at the tight hug between her older self and the Harold of the future. "Eek!" she protested to her older self, "Quit getting chummy with Pink Boy."
"Oh I sure have missed Helga the bully!" Harold grinned down at her in response, earning himself another head shake, and further scowling from the younger girl.
Helga of the future was now apparently not impressed with him either, and shot him a little glare, "I can still be a bully." she huffed, crossing her arms.
Apparently, Harold found that quite humorous, "Sure." he chuckled, "When your husband's not around to cool that temper of yours."
A knowing nod, and slight snigger, of agreement was now coming from the older Gerald, who almost seemed to be biting his lip a little and willing himself not to say anything further. Arnold figured that was possibly because Helga's husband wasn't around right now, so whatever he was planning to say may have earned him a slap... or three.
"Helga G. Pataki cannot be 'cooled' by anyone!" the younger Helga now growled, increasingly unimpressed by their little visit to Green Meats.
Future Gerald, who looked like he was about to explode with laughter, winked a little at the ten year old Helga and said with a smirk, "Now, you know that's not true."
Arnold watched as Helga, the younger one, went wide eyed and seemed to freeze, panic clearly written across her face, and the future Helga clearly noticed it too because she immediately cleared her throat and redirected the attention back to herself.
"I think we can stop tormenting the Helga's now." she informed both older men with a stern expression, that quickly brought their sly smiles to an end, "We're here on more important business."
"Right!" future Gerald blinked, now looking a little guilty for some strange reason, "Harold, do you know where we can find ducks in Hillwood?"
Harold raised an eyebrow at him, clearly not having expected that to be the all important question, "Ducks?" he repeated with confusion, giving himself a moment to think it through, "No, I don't know actually... but Patty does most of my meat pickups these days anyway, and she's around town with the kids all the time, so maybe she will know."
With that he wiped his hand quickly against his apron, clearing off the last of the remaining marinade, and headed toward the stairs at the back of the shop leading to the living area on the upper level.
Younger Gerald was surprised, to say the least, because after blinking in shock once or twice, he asked rather curiously, "Harold and Patty?" like he had been totally thrown by the revelation, and then added a traditional, "Mmmm mmm mmmm..."
"Oh come on Geraldo!" protested the younger Helga, who apparently hadn't been so blind, "Criminy, it was always so obvious they liked each other."
Scoffing, the younger Gerald argued back, "Oh come on, like you know anything about that Pataki!"
Helga narrowed her eyes at that comment, "Uh, news flash Hair Boy, I'm a romance author." she very bluntly pointed out, motioning toward her future self, who simply shrugged at poor younger Gerald in an 'well, she's right' kind of way.
"Oh, yes, Helga sure does know all about Harold!" future Gerald now spoke up, letting out a little laugh and shooting a pointed look at the older Helga.
Without delay, future Helga delivered a swift punch to future Gerald's arm for the comment, along with yet another warning glare, and those two activities earned her a quizzical, and somewhat concerned, look from her younger self.
Future Helga sighed, and apparently realized she was going to have to explain, "I dated Harold during high school." she reluctantly revealed.
"WHAT!" came the shrill, ear-piercing, scream from the younger Helga, who was wearing a look of disgust and disbelief whilst the younger Gerald beside her almost doubled over in laughter.
Arnold, on the other hand, was feeling a little odd right now, something he could possibly describe as intense unease. Okay, so he realized that fifteen years into the future he had a family, and Helga had a family, and that they each had their own separate lives, but seemed to still communicate as friends. However, this hadn't stopped the optimistic, and a little unexpected, thought pop into Arnold's head that it might be nice if he and Helga had dated at least once in their lives, like maybe during high school. Now that was seemingly unlikely, and he was, also unexpectedly, not feeling very comfortable with that.
"It all started in Junior year of high school, Rhonda and I had a big fight over something I can't even remember now, and I decided to plot the ultimate revenge." future Helga began to explain, with a little sigh and shake of the head at the nostalgia, "I happened to know that she had been seeing Harold, so I figured what better way to get payback than to steal her man."
"And it was the most magical and wonderful relationship she's ever had." future Gerald added on, in a sarcastic dreamy voice, his hand clutched to his hand in mock tenderness.
Future Helga scoffed at him, and turned back to face her younger self, "Don't worry, I never even liked him."
Unfortunately, that little comment didn't seem to make anything better, and the younger Helga groaned in horror, "I hate my future." she dramatically proclaimed.
"It was worth it though, Ronda got so mad she slapped me in the hallway, so then I pulled her extensions out, she tried to claw me and I tried to punch her nose in, it all lasted a good twenty minutes before we both realised that neither of us had honestly liked Harold." at that point in the story the older Helga practically burst into laughter, "And that was a good thing too, because Harold looked totally relieved, and told us that he'd never really been into us either."
Laughing along with her, the older Gerald nodded his head with a smile, "One of my favourite misunderstandings of all time." he pondered for a moment before adding, "And possibly my favourite girl on girl brawl of all time."
"Gerald!" future Helga objected, possibly looking a little embarrassed by that comment, but she never got the chance to reprimand him any further because at that moment footsteps could he heard from the stairwell.
Patty Smith, or rather Patty Berman, appeared in the doorway to Green Meats, followed closely by Harold and their three children and when she saw the collection of her friends, and their younger selves, standing in the shop she smiled brightly.
"Hello." she said politely, turning her attention immediately in the older Helga's direction, "Harold told me about your question, but to be honest, I've never taken too much notice of the ducks."
"Oh criminy!" was now heard, in unison, from both the older and younger Helga's who looked equally as disappointed by the news.
Patty smirked at the two of them, as everybody else let out a little chuckle, "Well, look at that, Helga you sure haven't changed."
"Hmmm..." future Helga said thoughtfully, "I suppose I really haven't."
Getting back on subject, Patty now looked to be musing over something, "I think if you needed information on animals around town, you might be best off asking Curly, he knows a lot about those kinds of things." and after a brief pause she added, "Maybe too much."
"What's the twisted freak up to in the future anyways?" younger Helga now enquired with a smirk, her classic attitude back and her hands placed firmly on her hips.
Whatever it was, it must have been funny because future Gerald sniggered a little and responded, "Just you wait and see."
Arnold gazed over to his best friend, the ten year old Gerald, and they exchanged looks of concern, given fifteen years of free time who knew what kind of crazy antics Curly Gammelthorpe was up to these days. Arnold certainly was eager to find out, although, it would have been better if he could meet his own future self sometime soon.