From the outside, it seemed like a perfectly normal family get together, albeit with one small twist. You see, instead of your average aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents, the room was populated by characters anyone could recognize.
Huddled around the lengthy table sat a cavalcade of legendary characters, well known for their appearances on TV. On one end was the famous Mr. Peanut, and on the other stood the miniature Pillsbury Doughboy. Charlie Tuna conversed with the Vlasic Stork as Count Chocula sat beside them silently (he was always the strong and silent type), all the while the Jolly Green Giant laughed heartily looking at the merriment through the window. However, festivities couldn't truly begin yet, at least not until… he arrived.
Although the scene seemed happy, there was something unusual with Mr. Peanut. Usually a smooth and charming character, always the life of the party, the anthropomorphic peanut man was strangely quiet, staring out the window as if transfixed on something.
After the Vlasic Stork finished one of his classic pickle stories, the whole room erupted into laughter, with one obvious exception. Even as the normally quiet Count Chocula burst into laughter, Mr. Peanut remain completely silent. His many siblings looked at him with concern, clearly something was bothering him.
Chef Boyardee, seated near Mr. Peanut, decided to check on the peanut man to make sure he was alright so he wouldn't bring the mood of the gathering down.
"Hey Peanut, what's gotten you so down?" asked the chef to the talking peanut.
Mr. Peanut continued to stare coldly in thought, he turned to the chef somewhat disturbed.
"Do you ever wonder sometimes what lies beyond 'The Farm'?" Mr. Peanut asked, almost thoughtlessly.
Suddenly the room turned deadly silent. Everyone looked at one another with concern and fear over what Mr. Peanut just said. A thick tension filled the air.
"Erm, I don't think we're supposed to talk about that anymore, Peanut." Charlie Tuna said slightly quivering.
"It just feels like he's hiding some horrible truth from us by keeping us on this Farm." Peanut continued, seeming not to care what the others thought of his rebellion.
"Look, I ain't gonna argue that's it's a bit strange, but you know how angry he gets when you bring this up. Please just try and keep quiet this time so you don't go and ruin another get together." Count Chocula replied coolly.
Mr. Peanut quieted himself. Although this question made him restless, he respected his siblings enough to keep himself quiet and let them enjoy the evening.
Just as tensions were running high throughout the room, this was soon broken as the door swung open and a very beloved man entered the room. Unlike the others, this was a realistic human man, middle aged and slightly balding. Despite seeming somewhat out of place, the others erupted with cheer as he smiled.
"Daddy!" they all cried out in glee.
"Hello, my children, keeping well I assume?" Daddy said with a warm smile, looking upon the fruits of his labour.
"Oh yes, Daddy, we've all been restless just waiting for you!" chimed the Pillsbury Doughboy.
"Do you want some tuna casserole?" Charlie Tuna said, holding up a tray.
"Of course, Charlie! Just let me sit down first." Daddy said, pulling out his designated chair and sitting down.
Then, the dinner continued as if Mr. Peanut's interruption had never happened, but nevertheless Peanut remained as bothered as ever. Although the others happily conversed and looked up to Daddy, something was off about him to Mr. Peanut. To him, something didn't add up. He wanted to ask Daddy so many questions, but Daddy refused to answer any of them, instead punishing him harshly.
As Peanut's stare became more intense, Chef Boyardee took notice and tried to distract the peanut man.
"How about you go help Mr. Clean in the kitchen, Peanut?" Boyardee nudged Mr. Peanut.
Mr. Peanut nodded his head, trying to take his mind off his troubles. Entering the kitchen, he began to help Mr. Clean with the dishes piling up in the sink. However, as he scrubbed the dishes, his mind continued to race.
"I just don't get it, how can he be our father if he's human and we're all cartoons? I feel like he's hiding something from us by not letting us off this farm." Peanut continued to ponder
"Try and take your mind off of it Peanut. I mean, even if it is a bit strange, we have all we could ever need here! Food, family, fun… is giving that up really worth finding the truth?" Mr. Clean said.
"It may be good enough for you, but not for me! I don't care what any of you think, I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. Next time he decides to go down to that basement of his, I'm going to follow him!" Mr. Peanut said defiantly.
"You may find something you might regret down there, Peanut…" Mr. Clean said, becoming a little more nervous.
"So be it then…" Mr. Peanut said, peeking his head back through the door to spy on the dinner scene.
After eavesdropping for a while, Mr. Peanut finally got the opportunity he was looking for, as he could hear Daddy standing up, sliding his chair out from under him.
"Welp, Daddy needs to go check on something in the basement, I'll be right back, and don't any of you dare follow me." Daddy said ominously.
As Peanut followed the patter of Daddy's feet, Peanut emerged from the kitchen to follow him down to the basement. The other characters sitting at the table looked on at Peanut in fear, knowing exactly what he was intending to do.
"Don't do this Peanut, it's not worth it." The Vlasic Stork warned Peanut sternly
Peanut looked back but didn't respond. Even if he met a grim fate, he needed to know the truth. His expression saddened at the thought that this may be last time he saw his siblings. Nevertheless, he continued to follow Daddy downstairs. Charlie Tuna attempted to get up to physically stop Peanut from going, but was stopped by Count Chocula.
"Don't waste your time, Charlie. Just let him go." Count Chocula told Charlie Tuna, whose eyes were beginning to tear up.
Mr. Peanut continued his trek, fully alone. He began to feel more and more isolated as the hallway he continued down grew dimmer and darker the further he went. Before long he could barely see a thing except the faint golden glow of a doorknob. Peanut knew this was the door to the basement, where Daddy's horrible secret inevitably led. He took a deep breath, knowing that this was his last possible chance to refuse his awful temptation and live a life that was happy, yet unfulfilled. Peanut closed his eyes and twisted the knob, creaking open the door to the basement.
Initially the door opened up to a narrow stairway, lit only by an old, dim bulb. Peanut descended down the rickety staircase boldly, the basement door slamming firmly behind him as he heard the lock snap into place. Peanut gulped, too late to back down now.
Soon the stairway ended and before Peanut lay an ominous hallway, dusty and unkempt. Spiders crawled along the walls and ceiling, and dank cracks dripped with strange liquid. Peanut was admittedly terrified, beginning to regret his decision, but seeing as the door above him was shut tight, he had no choice but to continue.
The hallway was dark, but a shimmering light flickered in the distance, intriguing Peanut, who began to more steadily move toward his goal. That was, until Peanut heard a maniacal scream coming from the end of the hall which to Peanut sounded both like a cry of pain and the horrible screech of laughter. Peanut, fearing that someone or something was being brutally hurt, ran toward the light, eventually reaching the source. What Peanut saw next would change his life forever.
Peanut saw what could only be described as a mad scientist's deranged and evil lair. Tubes and mechanical wire covered the whole room, twisting and moving in every direction. Televisions covered up an entire wall, playing nothing but classic TV commercials. On the opposite end, there were several human sized test tubes, incubating what seemed to be still-developing creatures of some sort. Peanut was horrified and confused at what he was witnessing, letting out an involuntary cry of horror at the scene.
This cry got the attention of the man sitting at a small desk on the opposite side of the room. Looking up from his laptop, he turned to see Peanut gazing upon him in horror.
"So… you just had to find out, didn't you? Didn't the others warn you about seeing something you might regret, huh?" Daddy said approaching the Peanut, currently frozen in shock.
"What is all this, Daddy? Why are you doing this?" Peanut tried to choke out, but was suddenly struck and got knocked out cold
Peanut woke up in a cold sweat, still shaken from his chilling encounter with Daddy. However, as he tried to move himself, he found that he couldn't move both his arms and legs very far. Shifting his gaze, he saw that he was currently standing with his back against the wall. Keeping him from falling to the ground were rusty chains attached to his wrists and ankles. Despite their age, they still held firm against Peanut's flailing movements to loosen his restraints.
"They won't budge no matter how hard you try." Said a voice from the darkness. As Peanut looked over to the source, he saw Daddy emerge from the shadows. However, Daddy looked different from his usual, fatherly attire. Instead of wearing a warm sweater and a pair of slacks, Daddy was dressed head to toe in jet black leather and resting in his hand was a magnificent whip.
"Shocking, isn't it? This is what I wear when one of my children's been acting particularly… naughty." Daddy said with a wicked smile on his face.
Peanut was absolutely terrified and confused. What felt like just a few moments ago, he was eating at a festive gathering of his friends and family, but now he was chained against a wall in a deranged laboratory, about to be tortured and kill by a man he once called Father.
Without hesitation, Daddy began whipping the naughty Peanut ruthlessly. Peanut cried out in pain as he saw a scar on his shell where the whip had just landed. Again and again Daddy struck Mr. Peanut, turning the single, clearly defined scar into a bloody mess across the front of Peanut's body.
As Peanut's punishment continued, his tears of pain were nearly exhausted, as he reacted less to each consecutive strike against him. Although he still felt a horrible stinging pain course throughout his body, he was simply too tired to care. Looking down at his bleeding (don't ask how peanuts bleed) body, Mr. Peanut felt this was the end of him.
"Any last words?" Daddy said, feeling Peanut's lifeforce fading as well.
"Kill me if you must, but I need to know one thing. Why are you doing this?" Peanut choked out.
Daddy recoiled at this request. The last thing he wanted to do was reveal the horrible secret he was keeping from the world, one that could change the course of history. But as he looked into Peanut's tortured eyes, he felt something within his heart. Was it just pity, or perhaps he did feel some legitimate love for his own creation, the Peanut he once called his child. He dropped his whip to the ground.
"Fine, if you must know then I'll tell you, but only because you'll be dead before you can tell anyone else." Daddy said, pulling up a chair to tell his sad backstory.
"You see, I was never loved as a child. My father left me before I could walk, and my mother let out her frustration by hitting me. My own siblings turned against me, and by the time I went to school, I was so broken that all of the other kids bullied me relentlessly. My only escape from this horrible existence was to hide in my room, the only place I could be safe." Daddy began his story, and Peanut couldn't help but be brought to tears by the sheer tragedy of his life.
"In my room, I made the only friends I ever had. They were not on the playground or at church, but instead on my humble television set huddled in the corner. Every time the commercials came on my friends followed. Charlie Tuna, Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Peanut… I loved them all so dearly. In fact, I loved them so much that I knew for certain that they were the only one's who'd ever love me. That's why I began my life's work." Daddy continued ominously; Mr. Peanut felt he was closer to the solution he sought with every one of Daddy's words.
"As I grew older, I dedicated my life to finding out how to bring these characters from the TV into the real world. They thought I was a mad man, and perhaps they were right, but I proved all of them wrong. 2 weeks after my 30th birthday, I finally invented this beauty… the birthing chamber!" Daddy proclaimed, demonstrating a large, human-sized test tube.
"With this, I could combine any image with a small amount of human DNA to create anything put to screen as a real, living creature. All my labour created me four beautiful characters who, until that moment, could only exist on television. But now they were beautiful, living creatures, as true as the sky or sea, they were creatures I could proudly call… my children." Daddy said with a warm smile, yet Peanut remained disturbed.
"The only problem was that wretched outside world, the very one that had tormented me for all those years. Of course, those close-minded fools would see the connection I have with all you beautiful commercial characters and think I was some sort of deviant. They saw my work as an act against God, and you as a crime against nature. That's why I moved all of you to the farm here, so you'd be safe and we could be happy. If you happened to escape, they would all kill you. By doing this, I'm only trying to protect you." Daddy said, looking at the bruised and beaten Peanut.
Peanut remained silent for a moment, thinking about what Daddy had just told him. Before long he responded.
"How can you say you're making us happy? You created us for your own selfish desire, we exist as nothing but to serve your pathetic fantasy for friendship and love." Peanut spat out with contempt.
Daddy grew angry and picked his whip back up. He struck Peanut once more, but Peanut didn't react like he had before. Mr. Peanut was defiant, continuing to speak against Daddy.
"The only reason you thought those commercial characters would ever be your friend, or love you in any way was because you projected that image onto them yourself. The chance they'd ever actually love you is nonexistent!" Peanut continued
"Shut up! Just Shut up!" Daddy screamed, whipping Peanut as hard as he could, but Peanut continued to fight through the pain.
"But you couldn't accept that outcome, could you? You created us to be your obedient slaves, not your children. We only exist to love and worship you, that's why you can't let us leave. If you open the gates and let us leave, there's a chance we'll all leave you for someone else, and you can't bear the thought of being abandoned by those who you thought loved you." Peanut fought on against Daddy's onslaught.
Daddy soon began to tear up, he'd never heard someone so defiant as to tell him the truth so harshly, the truth he had been running away from for all these years.
"Please Peanut, I'm just so sad and lonely without you! Can't you let this old man just be happy with the humble life he's built?" Daddy cried, no longer whipping the peanut but instead laying on the floor weeping like a child.
"Not if it comes at the expense of others, Daddy. Its cruel and unfair to restrict the freedom of sentient and intelligent beings for your own personal pleasures. We deserve freedom just like every other person in these glorious United States of America." Peanut said proudly.
"I-I can't do this anymore, Peanut. As much as I try to be happy, nothing ever works. Even though I've created a society of cartoon commercial characters to love and cherish, that short high of love and validation soon fades and I feel the need to create more, just for the chance that I'll know what it means to be loved again." Daddy wept.
"You don't feel loved because you don't let us love you, you force us to love you. Perhaps if you gave us the choice, you might be surprised who would stay with you." Peanut suggested.
"But if I did that, everyone would leave and I'd be alone again." Daddy said.
"If that's the case, then you need to let it happen. You were so used to others shunning and hurting you that you didn't want anyone to leave you ever again, but you hurt us as a result." Peanut told Daddy.
Daddy stopped for a moment, taking a deep and thoughtful sigh.
"Fine, if you must leave, then do so. Just leave this old man to wallow in his own failure." Daddy said, done with fighting his own inner demons.
Daddy unlocked the shackles which held Mr. Peanut against the wall. Peanut wobbled weakly, nearly collapsing from the pain. Daddy handed Mr. Peanut a key.
"This is the key to the farm, let them free." Daddy said, Peanut nodded.
However, as Peanut emerged from the basement, he felt himself getting weaker. His injuries were catching up with him, and while his defiance and bravery kept him strong, it could only go so far. Eventually he stumbled his way into the dining room, where his siblings still gathered. As Peanut entered the room, the others looked on in horror at Peanut's mangled body.
Before he finally collapsed, Peanut held up the key to the farm, displaying it proudly.
"Y-you're… f-free…" Peanut choked out weakly. However, just after he said this, Mr. Peanut toppled to the ground, finally giving out against the pain of his injuries.
As Peanut landed on the ground with a thud, his siblings finally understood how far his bravery and persistence got them. Never had they dreamed of someday leaving the farm, but now they finally had the opportunity thanks to Peanut's sacrifice. They stood around the deceased Peanut, saluting him as a soldier for freedom and peace…
THE END