As Time Goes By
Chapter 24
Helga steps out of the hole, taking the box with her. She sits under the shade of one of the backyard trees, and stares at the top of Arnold's time capsule. The two boys share an excited look and follow closely behind her. They sit down in front of her, eager to see what's inside the box.
Phillip starts to reach for the box. "What are you waiting for, Mommee? Let's open it."
Helga pulls the box out of his reach and shakes her head. "I don't know if we should, Phillip. After all, this time capsule technically does belong to your father. I don't know if we have the right to open it."
"What's a time capsule?" Otto asks.
Helga thinks about how to best answer Otto's question. "Well, a time capsule is where you take things that are important reminders of a certain time in life, and put them in a protective container. Then you bury the items so that year's later people will come across it like you and Otto did, and then whoever finds it will have an idea of what life was like all those years ago."
Phillip is quick to rationalize opening the box. "Well, then Daddee must of wanted us to finds the box so we could opens it and see the stuffs he putted in it. Right?"
Helga thinks about this for a moment. She still thinks that they should wait, but her curiosity is too strong, so she nods her head in agreement. "You know what, Phillip, I think you're right. Your father did bury this just so it could be discovered years later, and this technically IS later."
"So can we opens it?" Phillip eagerly asks.
"I don't see why not." Helga replies as she looks at the excitement that sits on both boy's faces.
Looking at the front of the metal box, she notices that the only thing keeping it closed is a simple latch. Her own excitement grows as she wonders just what kinds of things her childhood sweetheart felt important enough to store away for posterity. The boys lean in as she lifts the latch, and all three peer inside eager to see the treasure that lies within.
A rush of memories flood Helga when she scans the items that have been so carefully preserved. Phillip is quick to reach in, grabbing a small action figure that sits next to an empty bottle of Yahoo soda. "Oh, look at this!"
"Who's that supposed to be?" Otto asks.
Helga takes the small figurine from Phillip and looks at it. "Why, it's an Abdicator action figure."
Otto shakes his head. "Naw, that's not the Abdicator. The Abdicator's outfit is different."
Helga is quick to correct the boy. "You're thinking of the newer, more modern Abdicator. Back when we were kids this is what he looked like. See, it's got the big 'A' on his chest just like the Abdicator you know does."
The boys giggle at the old-fashioned figure. "He sure did look silly back then." Phillip says through a chuckle.
"Well, maybe so." Helga replies, "But back in the day he was considered very cool."
It's Otto's turn now to grab an item out of the box. He picks up an old baseball card that has been securely closed up in a small zip-locked baggie. "Who's this old guy?"
Helga takes the baggie from Otto and looks at the picture on the card. "Heh, it figures Arnold would have saved this. The guy on the card is named Mickey Kaline, he was your dad's all-time favorite baseball player. If I'm not mistaken, his home-run record is still unbeaten, even to this day."
Phillip picks up another picture that, just like the baseball card, has been preserved in its own baggie. "Hey, it's a picture of great-grandma and great-grandpa with Daddee and Agnes."
Helga takes a look at the picture. "That's not Agnes, Phillip, that's your dad's pet pig Abner."
"Oh yeah, I forgotted that Daddee hadded a pet pig too when he was a kid."
Helga's face light's up in a huge smile when she turns the baggie around to reveal a picture of her and the gang all sitting on the front stoop of the boarding house. By the street, the Jolly Olly truck is seen pulling away from the curb as the kids sit on the stoop eating Mr. Fudgie Bars. On the top step sits Arnold, with his grandfather next to him, undoubtedly telling the kids one of his way out urban legends. She notices herself as she watches the old man, completely unaware that the one Arnold is looking at is her. She looks at the melted ice cream that covers Stinky's mouth and she remembers how he always said he liked to eat his ice cream that way so that when he was done eating he'd still have a little something leftover. She speaks more to herself than the boys. "Hey, look at this. It's a picture of all of your mom and dad's friends from fourth grade. Ha, look at how tall your Uncle Gerald's hair was back then."
They share a hearty giggle before Otto picks up an old baseball. "What's this old ball from?"
Helga takes the ball and examines it. "Oh, look here, it's been signed by none other than Mickey Kaline himself. Wow, I bet this is worth a fortune now."
There is awe in Phillip's voice when he speaks. "So we did find tweasure."
"Well," Helga starts, "In a way yes. I'm sure these things are very important to your dad, so in their own way, they are like a treasure."
The boys rummage through the rest of the box noting that all that is left is various pieces of paper. Becoming quickly bored at the rest of the contents, they get up to retrieve the metal detector.
"The rest of the stuff looks boring." Otto says. "Come on, Phillip, let's go look for more stuff."
Helga replaces the items back into the box and gets up. "Okay, you guys, but fill in the hole you just dug before you go looking for any more stuff. I'll be inside if you need me."
"Okay, Mommee." Phillip says as he picks up the old shovel.
Once in the house, Helga sits at the kitchen table and goes through the rest of the box's contents. The first thing that catches her eye is the old, crumpled marriage predictor device that Rhonda had made around the middle of the school year. Helga remembers how, no matter how many times Arnold made Rhonda do it, the thing always landed on Helga being the one he was destined to marry. She chuckles and wonders why he'd keep something like that.
Underneath the marriage predictor is a neatly folded paper. She carefully unfolds it and reads the heading at the top. "The List For The Ultimate Saturday." She laughs as she remembers how adamant Arnold was the day he announced that he was going to be the first person to ever complete the list, and how disappointed he was on Monday when he had to confess that things just didn't work out as planned. A few other kids had tried their hand at completing it during their time at PS118, but to her knowledge she doesn't think anyone ever had any better success than Arnold did.
She smiles and resumes rifling through the items from Arnold's past, but it's when she notices the last three keepsakes that her eyes widen in shock. The first thing she sees is a picture of her as a nine-year-old. She is gracing the cover of an old issue of Vague magazine as that year's "It Girl", and she is surprised to see it among the other collected pieces from Arnold's childhood.
The next thing she sees is an old program from the time she played Juliet to Arnold's Romeo. At first she wonders why he would have kept it, but she then notices a second program from the the time all the kids starred in the community production of Eugene, Eugene. Figuring that the only reason he kept both programs was because they were from a couple of plays he had been in, she didn't read too much into it.
Although both the magazine and programs surprised her, the real shocker came when, at the very bottom of the box, she spied her old, original pink ribbon that she wore in her hair from the time she was in preschool, until she lost it during their 4th grade spring break. She remembers using the ribbon as a flag that adorned her and Arnold's winning sandcastle. It was the year they beat out that local girl, Summer, and her loser boyfriend, and won the chance to make a cameo appearance on her favorite show, Babe Watch.
She had always wondered what happened to the original ribbon, and was heartbroken when she had to leave the beach without it. She remembers going back to where the competition had taken place, and after being unable to find it, she figured that it must have gotten washed out to sea once the tide came in.
She replaces each item carefully back into the metal box, and closes the lid. Curious about her discovery, she takes the box up to her bedroom and places it on the floor of their closet. She makes a note to tell Phillip to let her be the one to tell Arnold about their little find.
xxxxx
Jeremy hands his boarding pass to the airline employee, and walks down the small corridor that leads to the awaiting plane. Nodding a quick hello to the flight attendant that greets him, he checks his boarding pass for his seat number. Finding his window seat, he places a small laptop under the seat in front of him and fastens his seat belt around his waist. He stares out the window, passing time as the plane fills, and ignores the attendants spiel about proper safety procedures should they need to make an emergency landing.
Once the plane has reached cruising altitude, he orders a glass of wine and runs through his mind just what he's going to say once he's finally reunited with Eugene. He has already spoken with Sheena about his arrival, and they have come to an agreement that a surprise visit may be what is needed just in case Eugene decided to hit the road to avoid confrontation. He once again thinks about the weeks prior to Eugene leaving, trying to pinpoint any signs that he may have missed that could have predicted the man's sudden departure.
He had gotten the feeling that something was bothering Eugene sometime around October. Up until that point he had been pretty good about hiding his feelings, but eventually whatever it was that was weighing on his mind became too much, and he soon began to exhibit symptoms that something was definitely going on. The signs were subtle, something only someone who had a tight connection with him would be able to pick up on.
He had tried on several occasions to find out what was bothering Eugene, but he would always get the same answer, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm fine, really." But it was not fine. The longer Eugene kept things bottled up, the more it began to affect not just Eugene himself, but their relationship too.
Jeremy's intuition began to suggest that it was perhaps Eugene's past coming back to haunt him once again, but every time he broached the subject Eugene would wave him off, telling him that he couldn't be more wrong. Eventually his attitude began to affect their love life, with Eugene one day up and moving from the bedroom to the guest room without any explanation.
About a month after Eugene's sudden move from the bedroom, Jeremy suggest they seek some professional help which Eugene was quick to decline. "I don't need a shrink!" Was all the man would say, before either locking himself in his room, or storming out the door to God only knows where.
By Christmas Jeremy had had enough, and was about to tell Eugene that if he didn't tell him what was going on he was leaving, but he never got the chance. It was early in the morning on the eve of the new year, when Jeremy woke up to a quiet apartment.
As had become his custom, the first thing he did was to go check on Eugene to make sure he was okay. He had expected to see his lover's red hair sticking out from a pile of blankets, which was Eugene's normal way of sleeping, cocooned in his blankets with only the top of his head showing. So it came as a total surprise for Jeremy when he discovered the empty bed.
Immediately closing the door, he turned and scoured the apartment, looking for any sign from Eugene. It wasn't until he entered the kitchen when he found the note. It was folded neatly and placed by the coffee maker. Eugene knew that Jeremy was never able to start his day without a fresh pot of coffee, and figured that that would be the best place to make sure his note was found.
Jeremy picked up the note and read the cryptic message. "I'm sorry, but I had to get away. Trust me when I say it has nothing to do with you or us. I just need to get back to my roots. I will call you when I'm settled. Love, Eugene."
He knew exactly what Eugene meant by his "ROOTS", and wasn't at all surprised when the man ended up in Hillwood. He had thought about calling Sheena right away, but didn't want to worry her, so he decided to wait a bit, hoping to hear from Eugene. As it turned out, his suspicions were right and he was relieved to hear that Eugene had procured himself a spot on Sheena's couch instead of some empty hotel room.
He had immediately offered to come to Hillwood himself, but Eugene insisted that he just needed a bit of time, and that he would be returning home by the end of the week. That was around five weeks ago, and, tired of waiting, Jeremy made the decision to finally take matters into his own hands and secured himself a seat on the next flight out of New York.
It was a long five hour flight from one coast to the other, and by the time his plane landed the sun had already made its way below the horizon. As he waits for his turn to disembark from the plane, he makes arrangements through the Uber app on his phone and by the time he's made it out of the building his ride is ready to take him straight to his hotel.
He makes it to the hotel and once he's settled in he shoots Sheena a quick text, and they finalize their plans of having Jeremy show up on her doorstep just as suddenly as Eugene did. When he's done, he sits alone in his room, wondering if he's done the right thing. His intention is to retrieve his partner and bring him back to the hotel where they can hopefully get to the bottom of Eugene's problems once and for all. Having cleared his schedule of any and all appointments, he is prepared to stay in Hillwood for however long it takes. Hungry and in no mood to randomly wander the unfamiliar streets in search of food, he orders from room service. After a good meal and a hot shower, he slips into bed and mindlessly flips through the TV channels until finally drifting off into a deep sleep.
xxxxx
Two rambunctious boys and one needy baby made for a very busy afternoon for Helga. When it came time for Otto to go home, she once again loaded the kids up in the car and headed over to the Schmidt's to drop Otto off. With all the fun the boys had playing with Wolfgang's old metal detector, they were reluctant to part ways so soon, and before too long they were pleading with both mom's to let Phillip spend the night with Otto.
At first Helga was hesitant, claiming that she was unprepared to have him stay the night, and had no change of clothes for the boy, but with Renata's insistence that Phillip could use some old clothes of Wolfgang's that he has long grown out of, Helga eventually agreed. So saying her good-byes to her son, she watched as the two boys quickly ran to the backyard to continue in their hunt for buried treasures. With a promise of picking Phillip up bright and early the next morning, Helga and Joy make their way back to the boarding house.
Halfway home, Joy started up with her fussing again, and was in the middle of a full blown tantrum by the time they pulled into the garage. Carrying Joy inside, Helga wonders what all the fussing is about. "Criminy, Joy, what's got your diapers all up in a knot?"
Joy responds with a blood curdling scream and a kick of her legs that seem a bit too familiar to Helga. She worries when she realizes that these are the same symptoms Phillip exhibited when he had his bout of colic, and she is quick to do her best to try to calm the child down.
She fixes Joy a nice soothing bath, adding a few drops of lavender oil to the water. Now normally Helga was not one to put much credence into what she calls the "hokum" of the essential oils craze, but when Phillip was going through his colicky stage, she had to admit that lavender was pretty helpful in calming the boy down. So stripping Joy down to only what she came into life wearing, she gently lowers the girl into the scented water. At first Joy wanted no part of it, but as the mixture of warm water and soothing lavender started to do its job, she finally began to calm down.
Once done with the bath, Helga takes Joy up to the nursery to get her dried off and dressed into a warm pair of footie pajamas. She slowly rocks Joy while letting her nurse, and this is where Arnold finds the two when he's arrived home from work.
xxxxx
With two healthy children living at home, it feels strange whenever Arnold enters a quiet house. Seeing Helga's car in the garage, he knows she's home, and he wonders why everyone's being so quiet. Entering through the back door, he walks through the empty kitchen and gives a quick scan of the living and family rooms. Finding them empty too, he turns his gaze to the staircase. Once on the second floor he looks down the hallway and sees that the door to the nursery is open, so he heads that way, stopping to stand in the doorway and peer inside.
Lifting her gaze from her daughter, Helga sees Arnold and brings a finger to her lips, motioning for him to stay silent. She speaks to him in a whisper. "Shhh, she just fell asleep. Let me get her in her crib and I'll meet you in the hall."
Not wanting to wake his daughter up, he quietly obeys and steps back into the hallway. Helga joins him a minute later, bringing the receiver to the baby monitor with her. She gives him a welcome home kiss and takes his hand as they walk downstairs. "You're home late today. Is everything okay?"
Arnold leans down and kisses her temple. "Yeah, everything's fine, I just had a couple of back to back parent conferences and didn't have time in-between to call. The house sure is quiet, where's Phillip?"
"Oh, well, Otto spent the afternoon here and when we took him home the boys talked Renata and I into letting Phillip spend the night. I figured it would be okay, since tomorrow is not a school day for them."
They round the doorway into the kitchen. Arnold makes his way to the refrigerator and grabs a beer. "I see. It really seems like Otto is fitting in pretty well with the other kids after his rough start."
Helga nods her head in agreement. "Yeah, and I can't help but think that Phillip had a little to do with that. Ever since Thanksgiving he, Gerry and Otto have been pretty good friends."
"I think you're right. So, anything exciting happen today while I was at work?"
The first thought to come to Helga's mind is her conversation with Carlos, which pushes the discovery of Arnold's time capsule temporarily out of her mind. "Actually I did get some exciting news from Carlos. It seems that it's been confirmed that the idea of an Arlo cartoon has been picked up by one of the big kid's networks."
Arnold gives Helga a surprised smile and pulls her in for a hug. "Really? That's great! I told you it was gonna happen. I'm so proud of you, Helga."
Even as an adult any kind of praise embarrasses Helga, and her cheeks turn bright red. "Yeah, I guess you did."
Arnold snaps his fingers as a bright idea comes to him. "Hey, with Phillip at Otto's, we should celebrate. If you want to we can see if your mom or Olga can watch Joy, and I'll treat you to dinner out. How does that sound?"
Helga thinks about it for a moment and shakes her head. "No, as much as I'd like that, I'm not too sure if we should right now."
The fact that she said no concerns Arnold, and he gives her a worried look. "Why, what's wrong, is she sick?"
Helga shakes her head again. "No, not really sick, but something happened right before you got home that concerned me. She seemed to exhibit the same symptoms Phillip did when he went through that bout of colic. Do you remember going through that with him?"
It doesn't take much for Arnold to remember all the late nights spent walking the floor with Phillip. "Oh yes, I very much do remember those nights. Are you sure it's colic?"
"Well, I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure. That, or she's coming down with something. You know, Gerry stayed home sick from school today, and Otto was sneezing when he was here."
Arnold narrows his eyes at Helga. "And you let Phillip spend the night?"
"I know, I didn't think about that until I got back home and Joy started in with her crying. But if something's going around he's probably already infected because he was playing with Gerry over the weekend. Oh, and I did find out one more piece of information, guess who's been volunteered to supply Phillip's whole class with cupcakes for their Valentine's Day party on Friday."
Arnold gives her a smirk. "Let me guess. You?"
"Yep, thanks to your son."
"Well, that will give you something to do, I guess."
"Yes it will, and because of this I'm taking you up on your offer of dinner. You go change your clothes while I call the Thai place, I could go for some Pad Thai right now, YOUR treat."
Arnold gives her another quick kiss and heads for the kitchen door. "Deal, order what you want and I'll go pick it up."
Suddenly very hungry, she grabs her phone and looks up the number to the restaurant, her stomach letting out an impatient grumble when she's put on hold.
xxxxx
It was a long evening for the Shortman's as they dealt with their crying daughter. The more Joy screamed, the more they were convinced that she was going through the same bout of colic that Phillip did when he was an infant. Arnold followed right behind Helga as she walked the floor, relieved when the screams subsided into low whimpers. Once fully asleep, they gently lay her down into her crib, and quietly exit the nursery. They take a moment and look into each other's tired eyes. "Well," Arnold starts while bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck, "at least that didn't last as long as Phillip's crying did."
Helga shakes her head and heads to their bedroom. "Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, we're not out of the woods yet. Let's hope she sleeps through the night, then see what tomorrow brings."
"I guess you're right." Arnold says while heading towards the bathroom. He stops at the door and gives her a couple of raises of his eyebrows. "I'm going to take a quick shower, care to join me?
She smiles at her husband and waves him off. "Sorry, dear, but not tonight, I'm too tired."
Sticking out his bottom lip in a pout, he looks just like Phillip. "Aww, okay. I won't be long then."
Slipping into her nightgown, she gets into bed, letting the sound of the running water lull her into a trance. It's not too much longer when Arnold comes walking into the bedroom wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Rummaging through his dresser drawers, he pulls out his comfy old sweats, and a worn t-shirt to match. Getting into bed, he drapes an arm over her and she rolls onto her side so she can rest her head on his chest. He kisses the top of her head and closes his eyes.
Just as he has started to relax Helga bolts to a sitting position, startling him. "Oh, my gosh!" She yells while getting out of bed. "I almost forgot!"
Arnold sits up and turns on his bedside lamp. "Forgot what?"
Standing at the closet, she turns and he notices a strange box in her hands. "What's that?"
She hides the box behind her back and reclaims her spot next to him. "Well, earlier today Phillip and Otto were playing with that old metal detector of Wolfgang's. They went on a hunt for buried treasure out in the backyard when they uncovered this."
She shows him the box and his eyes light up with instant recognition. "Hey, my old time capsule that I buried. I had totally forgotten about that. You didn't open it did you?"
Helga gives him a guilty look. "Well – yeah, we kind of did. But it was the boy's fault, they talked me into it when I explained to them what a time capsule was and what it was meant for. You're not mad that we opened it, are you?"
Arnold chuckles as he takes the box from her. "Naw, I probably would have opened it too."
Lifting the lid, he immediately strolls down memory lane as he goes through the items. "Hey, my old Mickey Kaline card. Wow, it's still in really good shape. Oh, and look at this picture of all of us out on the front stoop. Boy, does this bring back memories."
He starts pulling the rest of the items out of the box, commenting on each one as he does so. When he gets down to the last few Helga takes the box from him. "Yeah, it was fun going through all your old stuff, but there are a couple of items that I have some questions about."
The first thing she pulls out is the old copy of Vague Magazine. "First of all, why on earth would you save something like this?"
Arnold takes the magazine from her and smiles at the picture that adorns its cover. "What do you mean? Come on, it isn't every day that someone you know and grew up with gets their picture on the cover of a magazine as popular as Vague."
Helga points to her picture. "But the 'It Girl' copy of all things? Criminy, that's something that I could go the rest of my life without remembering."
"I don't know, Helga, I think you look awfully cute in this picture."
Helga raises one of her eyebrows. "Oh? Is that why you kept it? You thought I was 'CUTE' back then?"
Arnold starts to blush. "Oh, well, I – uh, well no."
"No?"
He's starting to become flustered. "I mean, yes, uh. That's not why I kept it, though. I, uh, just thought it would be something we would want to remember when we were older. That's all."
Helga can see that she's embarrassing him so she keeps it up. "Oh, so is that why you kept Rhonda's marriage predictor, because you thought we'd be together when we were older? Huh, and I thought you didn't like me like me back then."
"I didn't!" He begins but then sees her expression and tries to back paddle. "I mean, I liked you well enough."
"Well enough?" He begins to stammer and she feels that she's poked at him long enough and picks up the next item in the box. "Relax, Hair Boy, I know what you mean. Now, next, what about this?"
She picks up the program from their fourth grade play. He takes it from her and reads the cover. "What's so odd about a person wanting a memory of a play they were in?"
"Is that why you kept it, just because it was from one of the few plays you were in? Or did you keep it because we kissed at the end of it?"
Arnold smiles at the memory of their onstage kiss. "No, that's not why I kept it at all I swear."
Helga gives him a smirk. "Sure, Arnold, if you say so."
She dips into the box for the final item, one that, all kidding aside, she really does want to hear the story behind. "Okay, I was just having some fun with you with those other items, but this one, I really am curious about."
She holds up the worn ribbon and Arnold looks at it. A faraway look clouds his eyes as he takes it from her. He pulls it through his fingers as the memories of that one summer come flooding back. He softly talks through a smile. "Your old bow."
"Um-hm. After the contest I went looking for that you know, and when I couldn't find it I just figured that it had gotten washed out with the tide. Why would you keep that?"
Arnold thinks about the question for a moment before surprising Helga with his answer. "Well, my earliest memory of you goes back to that first day of preschool. I didn't remember you from those early play groups at the park, so in my mind that was my first time meeting you. I remember seeing this cute girl, dressed all in pink with a huge bow in her hair. Honestly I thought you were the cutest thing I ever saw. I remember commenting on your bow and you looking at me as if that was the first time anyone had ever said anything nice to you."
"Heh, it probably was." Helga huffs.
Arnold runs the back of his fingers down her cheek before continuing on. "Anyway, you were so sweet and nice that all I wanted to do was to be your friend, and we were. For a little while that is."
He looks at her, causing her to lower her eyes to her lap. He picks up from where he left off. "But then something happened that changed everything. I could never put my finger on it, but you became different. You suddenly became very angry and that's when you began with the spit wads and name calling. It really puzzled me, but I wouldn't give up being your friend. And anytime anyone would ask me how I could still be so nice to you after all the stuff you would do to me, well, I would look at your bow and remember what a nice person you really were deep inside. So when you left your bow with the sandcastle, I figured that you must not have cared about it, so I took it, and have kept it ever since."
The air between the two is silent as Helga digests what Arnold had just said. Never, in all the years they've been together has he ever made a confession to her like that. She looks into his eyes now and her voice is almost a whisper when she speaks. "But why put it in the time capsule?"
He reaches out, using a finger to drape her hair behind one of her ears. "It's simple, because, the things I put in that box were things that meant the most to me at the time."
"So are you saying?"
He nods his head. "Yeah, I guess I am. I guess you've always held a special spot in my heart, even during those times when we couldn't stand each other. Or at least when we would tell ourselves that we couldn't stand each other."
She feels as if the air has been knocked out of her and is unable to speak as she continues to stare into his eyes which lock onto hers, while he brings a hand to the back of her head. Pulling her towards him their eyes now close when his lips gently press against hers. Clasping her hands behind his neck, she slides down onto her back, pulling him on top of her. No words are needed as they take a moment to silently gaze into each other's eyes before he leans down for another kiss. The old metal box and its contents sitting forgotten by their side.
A/N A few days ago my friend Metal had made the comment, "Wouldn't it be funny if Helga found out that Arnold had saved an old copy of that magazine from when Helga was the It Girl." I thought about what he said and agreed, so that is how the whole time capsule bit came about. Thanks, Metal, for planting the bug in my ear. As for the items in the time capsule, how many did you all get right?