Chapter 11
Double D knocked on the door, slightly insecure. He wondered if the boy was ok.
"Y-yes?" a voice answered from inside.
"Jimmy? Hello, it's me, Double D. May I-"
"Go away, thief!"
"Please, Jimmy! I wish to-"
"What are you doing here, Double D?!" Double D gulped, hard. As soon as he got out of the school bus he walked towards Jimmy's house. He had gone to him to see if he was ok. Jimmy wouldn't let him in and Sarah, who was delayed a little, caught up with him, ready to defend her best friend.
"S-sarah! I-I came to see how Jimmy is doing."
"What do you care?!" She said, adopting a fighting stance.
"I do, truly! I never meant for any of this to happen, I wouldn't have built the robots if it meant Jimmy would have been hurt because of them!"
Sarah considered Double D's words. After some thinking, she lowered her hands.
"Why should I believe you?"
"Sarah, I have never bore any ill feelings towards Jimmy. All I meant by coming here was to apologize to him and see what I can do to help him..."
Sarah realized something she had always let pass by. Not only did Double D not bear any hate or malice to Jimmy, he never resented, or hated anyone. She was ashamed of herself for doubting him so. How could she possibly put the boy she loved on the same level of a slime ball like Eddy?
It was at this moment that Jimmy's door opened, letting Sockhead and Ed's sister see the frail boy before them.
To Double D, Jimmy seemed almost completely normal, except that he looked very sad, his face devoid of any positive expression which was usually characteristic of him.
"Jimmy didn't get hurt," mentioned Sarah, "but he's been depressed since Sunday."
Double D stepped closer to the boy. He could see his eyes were red, and there were huge bags under them. He's been crying for hours... Double D held Jimmy by the shoulders as he spoke to him.
"Oh, Jimmy, I am so sorry! I never meant to upset you!"
Jimmy, though upset with Double D, wrapped his arms around the bigger boy, who in rare occasions saw as a big brother. "Why? How could you trick us like this? I was really looking forward to have someone with whom I could share my same interests... someone just like me! But when I saw that the robot you sold me has to be controlled to move, to talk, to exist! I couldn't show my face to anyone... you guys had fooled me again..." He sobbed.
Doubled hugged him back. "I am truly sorry, and I never meant for this to hurt you so..."
Sarah concluded. "Maybe not you, but Eddy did..."
"Please, forgive him. He's already been punished. Eddy's been blinded by the prospect of money, but he's a good person, deep down..."
"Maybe waay deep down" Sarah said, muttering.
"... Honestly, Eddy didn't know what he was doing..."
"My brother's the one who never knows what he's doing." Sarah muttered again.
"... Please, Jimmy. Can you find it in your heart to make peace with us?"
Jimmy wasn't the type to hold grudges and, seeing Double D's eyes, he knew the Sockhead was sincerely sorry.
"I can. I can forgive you all..."
"You can? Oh, thank you Jimmy-"
"But," he said, pushing Double D aside gently. "I... I want to be alone. Please leave me."
Double D stepped back, sad. Jimmy said bye to him and Sarah and stepped back inside his home. Both kids outside stared at the closed door with melancholy.
"You gotta do something..."
"Pardon?" Double D asked Sarah, who had spoken on a barely audible volume.
"You gotta do something, Double D!" She raised her voice, turning around to face the boy. "You got him into this estate, you have to get him out!" She said, and turned to take her leave.
"I don't... I don't want to see my friend so hurt anymore..." She said, her voice breaking. Double D couldn't realize it as she was offering him her back now, but Sarah was on the verge of tears, her eyes watery. She ran home.
Double D stood a few seconds in place. Even Ed could have realized Sarah hurt so much at seeing Jimmy in pain. She obviously cared a lot for his well-being and didn't want to see him in pain.
Then, he remembered how May worried for him, and in a similar way she didn't want to see him in pain. She had told him to thrive on the misery others wanted him to feel.
He also had taken a special liking to the small boy, who at times showed as much talent as he had at his age. His innocent soul and desire for acknowledgement reminded him of a mini version of himself.
Sarah had asked him to do something to bring him back to the way he was. To bring their friend back again.
So many people depended on him...
Double had an obligation to those whose faith was once laid on his shoulders, as flimsy as they may be. He stood up straight, arched his back forward, and resolutely nodded.
"I shall. You may count on that."
Eddy was cycling through the channels on the TV, lying down on the sofa of his living room. Ed sat on the floor, a blank expression on his face as he watched the TV with one eye and tried to feed Eddy a gravy soup with the other. It came as no surprise that, like a baby, Eddy had stains on most of the upper part of his shirt.
"Not again! Just, drop that, Ed! You make it too salty anyways!"
"But Eddy, you gotta eat to gain back strength!" Ed pouted.
"Salutations, gentlemen." Double D entered Eddy's house. He stopped walking towards his friends as soon as he noticed the mess. "Might I inquire as to what you two are doing?"
"Ed said I should eat and couldn't take the hint I can still move, and that includes using my arms!" He glared at his tall friend.
Double D saw the content of the bowl. "Please tell me, Ed. How is gravy supposed to nurse Eddy back to good health?"
"I eat it all the time and I am strong." Ed replied.
Yes, but you're a special, very special case, Double D thought. He pointed a finger to his friend and opened his mouth to say something, but he realized it was pointless to continue, so he lowered it. "Never mind. Anyways, Eddy, I am here to bring you the test results the professor gave back today." He said as he handed Eddy a paper folded in half.
"What?! This is bull, this one's right!"
"Yes, Eddy, but please notice the question instructions clearly state you must show work, not just copy someone else's answer." Double D remarked, sarcastically. "Oh, and here's the exam you dropped on the floor, Ed."
Ed saw his exam, and jumped for joy.
"I passed, yayy!" Ed's exam revealed a score of 60.
"Ed, you already knew this. The professor delivered the exam to your hands, remember?"
"What?! How could lumpy pass and not me?" Eddy's yell could have easily shattered Sockhead's eardrums had he not covered his ears. Apparently, Ed's parents had found a loophole in Ed's ever present short attention span. As soon as Ed's mom had threatened him to send him to live with his aunt (phone call and all), Ed's grades had shown a slight increase.
"You must give Ed some credit, Eddy. He has finally found his, er, desire to learn." Double D tried to sound as gentle as he could. "Which brings me to the following: The professor is going to assign a make-up exam on next Monday, and I would like to help you study. Ed, you're welcome to tag along, that way you might score higher next time."
"I'll bring the toast, you bring the butter, Double D!" said Ed, dopily.
"... I'm sure we can arrange for a few refreshments while we study. What do you say, Eddy?"
Eddy groaned, but ultimately agreed. "I guess that works. If I get one more fail my mom could send me to military school."
"Well then, could we start tomorrow afternoon?"
"Tomorrow? Why not today, Sockhead?" Eddy asked.
"There is actually something I must take care of this afternoon."
Sockhead had a light lunch. He put on his oldest, ugliest red shirt and purple shorts. He put on plastic gloves and a face mask, grabbed a shovel from his Dad's tool shed and a big bag and headed out.
The junkyard was as filthy as he remembered it. It was a tough work to remove debris, garbage, broken furniture and otherwise useless stuff with only the help of a shovel he would use as a handle. He wondered how Ed could lift such stuff with ease.
It took him a couple of hours, but at last he found a circuit board big enough to suit his needs, bigger than any of the toaster boards from the cul-de-robs. The inscriptions on its model number stated it had come from a company named Acer. He marveled at the size and complexity of the circuitry as well as all the different parts it contained. He stashed the valuable object as he set forth to search more.
Having found a circuit board from a blender, a few pieces of wood, and several meters of copper cable, he headed back home, dragging his now full bag with difficulty. The sun was starting to set.
As he reached the cul de sac and passed by Rolf's parents' farm, he wondered. How come Rolf never complained to me about his robot?
Watching from outside the fence, he noted how Rolf was standing at the pig pen. Wilfred was eating with mirth, while Victor remained on the other side of the field.
Squinting, he realized what was happening. The one who was taking his blue friend's place was none other than robo Rolf, who was standing guard around the pig pen. A mad expression on its face (painted with a pencil) had fooled the goat into thinking Rolf was watching his movements, and so Victor had effectively stopped eating from Wilfred's slop.
Double's world lightened up a bit at such an application of his invention. At least someone, besides May, appreciated his creation, even if that someone had very little use for more sophisticated technology.
For a second, Double D thought about the Kanker girl who was the keeper of his heart. Smiling, he wondered what she would be doing at the moment.
However, He had to let his daydreaming fade. It was getting dark, and he had made a commitment to himself to finish his new creation as soon as possible. There was a little boy whose smile needed to shine back on his face.
Notes: So, basically, what Double D has found is a computer motherboard. I'm slowly trying to introduce technology in the Ed Edd n Eddy world, which will become handy for a future project... I chose the name Acer because that's the brand of my first laptop. But if you guys want me to change the brand to some other (like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte GA, etc.), let me know!