Author's note: After months of running dry without content and continuous silence, we are suddenly swamped with 11 new episodes of "VeggieTales In The House". Joy! As of right now, there is no news on if another DVD will be released sometime this year. I've been scouring the Internet, checking all sorts of source materials related to VeggieTales, yet I still have not found any piece of information. Maybe they'll do a Christmas special perhaps? Alas, I once again belt out another chapter for yall to enjoy.
Moments In Between
A day in the workforce mostly flows at a routine pace. Unordinary events and special occurrences aside, the days usually progresses nonstop. Or at least it would have been nonstop had not worker unions and strikes managed to add the concept of a "break" into the daily routine of work. Even the most dedicated and punctilious of workers need a break.
Which was what brought the famous talking cucumber of Big Idea strolling down the hallway on his way to the company's break room.
Larry rounded a corner and made the last stride to his destination. Even with his natural intuition for imagination, hyperactivity, and silliness, the daily routine of his career pressed a subtle worn out feeling on him; a feeling he had grown accustomed to after 22 years of working.
"Nothing like a good ol' break to take a load off." Larry sighed to himself as he turned the knob on the door and entered the break room. His eyes fell upon two of his fellow co-actors mulling around in the break room. They immediately glanced over as he came in.
"Bonjour Larry." Jean Claude greeted from his seat at the center table, raising his coffee mug in the air. Jerry, leaning on the refrigerator, swallowed the bite of donut he had just taken and offered the cucumber a friendly smile.
"Hey guys," Larry answered with a smile and headed to refrigerator, "making it through the day alright?"
"No, zhat iz why we are here!" laughed Jean Claude, earning a snicker from Jerry. The agreeing cucumber opened the refrigerator and started to browse around the packages of marshmallows for a decent snack. Why did they seem to have so many marshmallows all of a sudden?
Come to think about it, there had been a ton of marshmallows used on set recently…
"Hey guys? Why do we have so many marshmallows everywhere?" Larry pondered aloud.
Jerry leaned his head over and stared into the refrigerator stuffed to the brim with bags of marshmallows.
"Uh, shipment errors." Jerry concluded and withdrew his head.
"I have a question," Jean Claude declared after taking a sip of his coffee, "what iz a Navy PEEL?"
"Peaceful Emissary Elective Leader." Jerry curtly answered.
"I thought that was just Pa making that up to put in a pun for the show." Larry commented, still rummaging around in the refrigerator.
"Nope, it's a military position only for veggies." the yellow gourd explained before taking another bite of his donut. After digging around all the marshmallows bags, Larry grabbed a candy bar and closed the refrigerator behind him. Jean Claude finished up his coffee before adding his input.
"I never knew Pa Grape did zhat."
"I believe it," Larry said as he plopped down in a seat at the small table, "considering that he does his own stunts."
"Ho ho! No wonder!" Jean Claude laughed and finished the rest of his coffee. "All of zhese stunts must compare to nozhing like what he did in ze Navy!" Larry started to tear the candy bar's wrapper open just as the French Pea got up and cleaned his empty mug in the sink.
"Well, break time iz over for moi," Jean Claude stated as he put away his mug and headed out of the break room's door, "au revoir messieurs!"
"See ya!" Larry and Jerry said at the same time; neither one of them bothering to jinx the other. Once Jean Claude left the break room, Larry turned over to Jerry's direction.
"Has anyone told you we kinda sound alike?" Larry asked. Jerry tilted head up to ponder the question before returning back to the cucumber.
"I don't hear it." Jerry said with a shrug.
"Yeah me either." Larry agreed.
The break room door opened once again. Larry spotted a glimpse of red hair out of the corner of his eye and knew straight away whom the person was before he even turned to greet her.
"Hi Petunia!" Larry welcomed cheerfully, looking directly at her. She still wore her hair down with a simple yellow headband in her hair, her now-usual pink and yellow flower dress, and very little makeup. Her teal eyes fell on the sight of Larry's brown ones.
"Hey Larry," Petunia greeted sweetly, before noticing that Jerry was leaning on the refrigerator, "and hey Jerry."
Jerry gave a short nod before tossing up the remainder of his donut into his mouth and straightening himself.
"Excuse me." Jerry said, giving sympathetic looks to Larry and Petunia before leaving the break room.
Petunia watched him go until the door closed before she turned back to Larry.
"Is it just me or does Jerry sometimes sound like you?" Petunia wondered as she went over to the coffee machine and prepared some coffee.
"I don't hear it." Larry admitted, silently noting the lingering topic. "Anyways, how's your day going?"
"Oh you know, same old stuff," Petunia replied with a hint of exhaustion. She turned around to face Larry and leaned back on the counter, "working hard to pay the bills."
"Yeah." Larry sighed as he munched down on his candy bar and leaned back in his seat.
"Although all of the lobster on set is something new around here…" Petunia remarked. Larry almost responded instantly but remembered that his mouth was still full and swallowed.
"Believe it or not, all of those lobsters are Mr. Lunt's cousins and relatives." Larry added casually. Petunia's eyes went big when he mentioned that information.
"What?"
"Yeah, I know it's weird but his Aunt Lucy is a huge lobster." Larry filled in.
"You mean to tell me that enormous lobster swimming around in the massive outdoor pond and in the gigantic sink was Mr. Lunt's aunt?"
"Uh-huh." Larry answered casually before taking another bite of his candy bar.
"Umm…any guess to what exactly convinced Big Idea to hire all of Mr. Lunt's…family?"
"Fnny ur shu meton it," Larry spoke, suddenly remembering his mouth was full when he heard his voice. He quickly swallowed and ignored the embarrassment.
"Funny you should mention it…" Larry said before he started going into details.
Larry stood off to the side of the long table while Mr. Lunt stood in the front, unfazed by the sight of the director and producers across from him. Near the conference room's exit stood Cp leaning back against the wall. Larry had originally came in here to talk about something minor and offer ideas for the upcoming episodes. Then Mr. Lunt came in and Larry soon found himself watching the events play out before him. So far, it had been going on for 10 minutes.
"Come on," Mr. Lunt groaned and adjusted his hat, "you guys already hired my Aunt Lucy."
"Yes," replied one of the producers, "but we cannot just simply hire all of these lobsters just because you asked nicely, even if they are your family."
Larry knew that Mr. Lunt had an aunt who was a lobster, thus making sense why he would have cousins and relatives that were lobsters
"What if I convinced you guys to hire them all?" Mr. Lunt bargained.
"Alright then, tell us why we should hire your lobster family members." The director nonchalantly said. Mr. Lunt smiled before he began.
ONE HIGHLY CONVINCING AND PATHOS-FILLED SPEECH LATER…
"…and that is why we should hire my lobster cousins and relatives." concluded the cantankerous decorative gourd with a fedora.
For some reason, the director and producers were wiping their faces sobbing faces with tissues.
"Yes, hire them all!" the director proclaimed as he blew his nose.
"We're going to have to jump through a few legal hurdles…" sobbed one of the producers.
"…but we'll do it for them!" the other producer finished for them. "Tell your family that they're hired!"
Larry blinked before he shifted his glance between Mr. Lunt and the producers and director trying to get a hold of themselves.
"Wait…what'd he say?" Larry asked in confusion. Mr. Lunt quickly ran over to the door beside Cp and poked his head outside.
"Hey guys, all of you are hired!" Mr. Lunt exclaimed happily and went over stand next to Larry, "Come on in and meet your new bosses!"
The entire room rumbled from the movement outside. Cp glanced up from his spot and quizzically stared at the door. Suddenly, a huge outpour of lobsters stormed through the door, spreading out and sweeping through the passageway and causing Cp to get swamped by lobsters. After a solid few seconds, the nearly half the room was teeming with lobsters.
"I'm okay." groaned Cp somewhere beneath the mass of lobsters. Larry immediately winced when he heard a loud CRUNCH and braced his ears.
"I still don't know what he even said to convince producers and directors to hire them." Larry mention.
"Huh…weird." Petunia muttered. She turned off the coffee maker and grabbed her drink before she went over and sat down across from Larry.
"So who's Tina Celery?" Larry asked.
"Tina Celerina," Petunia corrected and took a sip of her drink, "she's an old friend of mine back when we were in college. You remember the last Audition Day we had for the new series?"
"Yeah-huh."
"It turned out she wanted to get into acting and tried out on Audition Day," Petunia explained before giving a knowing smirk, "and unlike me, somebody didn't help her secure a place here in Big Idea."
Larry struggled between letting his jaw drop and forming a smile on his face.
"Oh come on, you know I didn't do anything to sway Big Idea to cast you!" Larry disputed, doing his best to hide a laugh in the sentence.
"You practically told me I was hired a few minutes after my audition." Petunia shot back with a clever grin.
"Well y-yeah…but…I…you…I never…" Larry struggled to find the right words before huffing in defeat, "you know what I mean."
"Yes, I know." Petunia chuckled and sipped her coffee, her eyes peering fondly over the rim of her drink at Larry. Larry shook his head with a smile as he returned her look with one of the same kind. She set her drink down on the table and the two of them absentmindedly gazed at each other with heartfelt smiles.
"So," Larry finally spoke, deciding to get them conversing instead of having both of them stare at each other all day, "you're a mad scientist now…"
"You know that was just for the episode." Petunia scoffed with a roll of her eyes and a smile.
"Come on, you got the evil laugh down and everything!" Larry teased. Petunia sunk her head and gave a bashful smile.
"And here I was thinking I couldn't pull it off…"
"Are you kidding? You were fantastic!" Larry assured shamelessly. Then he paused to think about something for a moment.
"Though I guess that movie we saw last weekend did help out a bit…"
Larry sat on his couch staring at his TV. Light from the television screen illuminated and danced across his living room. An old black and white horror movie played on screen, one that Larry had seen many times when he was a little gherkin. He idly glanced down at his popcorn bag and realized that it was empty. Had they really eaten it all so soon?
Larry shifted his eyes in front of him to the sprawled out rhubarb lying down on his coffee table.
They were five minutes into the movie before she moved herself from the couch and plopped herself down on the coffee table to 'get a better understanding of the story'. Petunia watched the old-timey movie intently. Her mouth hung slightly opened and her full attention directed at the screen.
"Hey Petunia?" Larry asked.
"Shh, this is a good part, I just know it." Petunia whispered giddily. Larry's face scrunched up into a confused expression; this was her first time watching this movie.
"Uhh, I'm gonna get some more popcorn," Larry continued, "do you want any?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Thank you." Petunia inattentively replied over her shoulder, her eyes not leaving the screen. She was too busy taking in all that the old timey horror movie had to offer. Larry smiled before he got up and made his way to the kitchen to pop some more popcorn. As he readied the popcorn in his microwave, Larry could hear the evil laughter of the mad scientist from the movie coming from his living room.
"…I still can't believe you've never saw the movie before," Larry remarked, finished telling his recollection, "it's a classic."
"I suppose that movie did help me out," Petunia admitted, "and I did enjoy, too." Larry smiled, that was an understatement if he ever heard one.
With a light smile on her face, Petunia rose from her seat and leaned across the small table in between them and planted a gentle kiss on Larry's nose.
"Thanks Larry." Petunia said sweetly as she slipped back into her seat. Larry blushingly sunk his head to the side.
"Aww you're welcome Petunia." Larry muttered sheepishly. Petunia giggled at the cucumber's shyness, he seemed to never cease winning her heart over. Larry's eyes found themselves to the empty candy bar wrapper he was holding and the little clock that hung in the break room's wall. As much as he wanted to continue to spend time with Petunia, he still had work to do.
"I guess I should get going then." Larry reasoned as he got up. Petunia glanced back at the clock and realized he was right.
"Okay," Petunia said as Larry was throwing away his candy bar wrapper and heading out, "bye Larry!"
"See ya Petunia." Larry replied back, making sure he gave her a genuine smile before he left the break room. Petunia watched him go, not holding back her sweet loving smile.
Outside of the break room, Larry closed the door and turned to his left.
"Oh good, it's about time!" Jimmy Gourd's voice declared from the side. Larry spun to his left and jumped at the number of employees crowding up the hallway and looking at him.
"Uh guys? Why are all of you out here?" Larry wondered aloud.
"Well…we were waiting for one of you to come out." Jimmy stated. Everyone behind him agreed with the orange gourd with a nod of their heads or mumbled responses. It took a moment for Larry to comprehend that Jimmy was referring to him and Petunia. Embarrassed, Larry tried to think of the right words to say.
"Guys…the break room is open for everyone, you can come in anytime you want to." Larry pointed out.
"Oh we know," Bacon Bill exclaimed, popping out from behind Jimmy, "we just didn't want to interrupt you two so we decided to wait it out!"
Larry bit his lower lip and widened his eyes. He felt a mixture of mortifying embarrassment, subtle thankfulness, and was at a loss of words.
Unfortunately, he attempted to talk and incoherent ramblings spilled forth.
"I-I….y-you all…I mean…thanks b-but…wh…" Larry stammered.
"Larry, Larry, La-rry, we're your friends!" Bacon Bill exclaimed, "I may be a strange, eccentric, and totally crazy, but even I wouldn't interrupt your time with Petunia! Unless of course cases of emergencies...or contractual obligations from the producers...and also-"
"Yeah…what he said." Jimmy cut in, giving Bacon Bill a skeptical look before turning to Larry with a sincere smile. Everyone else waiting in the hall more or less agreed with Bacon Bill's words. The cucumber was taken aback at their kindness and earnestness.
"Wow…thanks guys." Larry managed to force himself say, still a little embarrassed at the situation. It was still better than the time Mr. Lunt flat-out declared him and Petunia "official" but it was still flustering nonetheless. The break room's door suddenly opened and out came Petunia.
"Is everything alright Larry? I thought I heard…oh!" Petunia began before she noticed the huge crowd of employees in the hallway. As always, it was Bacon Bill who enthusiastically communicated first.
"Hi Petunia! Sorry don't mind us, we didn't want to interrupt your personal break time with Larry here!"
Larry could only wince at the predicament while Petunia was left speechless, mouth hanging, and furiously red blush blazing on her cheeks.
Author's note: Oh boy…finally got this chapter done. I will admit, the time I spent working on this chapter might have been better spent studying for college work, but I'm just glad I managed to get my creativity out instead of keeping it pent up and driving me crazy. Though the reason why I forced myself to get this chapter out so soon was because I wanted to get to work on the next chapter for "Timely Love Stories". B
ut seeing that I'm in college and mid-terms are getting closer everyday…and I don't get paid for writing Fanfiction…sooo yeah.
To my more mature minded and open-minded readers, if you have about an hour to spare or so I highly recommend that you look up "The Phil Vischer Podcast". It features Phil Vischer – the creator of VeggieTales – and his friends talking about current issues, movies, thoughts, and sometimes on occasion about VeggieTales (there are actually a few number of episodes of Phil talking extensively about VeggieTales).
You can listen to the podcast on his website or you can watch the "Phil Vischer Podcast" YouTube channel. Whichever form of media you choose, I highly recommend giving it a try.
But to give a fair warning though: while the hosts do their best to keep the podcast family friendly, some of the topics and discussions themselves require the viewer/listener to have a serious demeanor and approach (on a rating scale, I consider it G to PG). Hence why I recommend the Podcast to the mature and open-minded.
Think that about wraps it up for now. All reviews of any kind are welcomed. And as always: thank you for reading and for your support.