1999
DISCOVERY
Part Four: Ah, Servitude!
(This fic is written entirely from Arnold's point of view. I really tried to get into his head, even as HE tries to understand Helga.)
[Back for more, are you? Oh, well, gimmie a cookie and I'll tell you some more of the story ... No, not that one. Ah, yes, chocolate chip! I really want to thank everyone for the nice comments on my story so far. And to answer the most-asked question-yes, there is more. Discovery is completely finished (after more than a year) with twelve chapters in all. I'll be putting them up three at a time whenever I get the chance, over the next couple of weeks. And now...read on!]
Being Helga's servant was not a job for one with little patience, for sure! Nothing he did pleased her. She criticized everything he did and never missed an opportunity to make fun of him. She treated him worse than she ever had.
"Poor Arnold," he heard Nadine say to Rhonda, Lila and Gerald in the hall. "Did you see what Helga made him do today at lunch?"
"No, what?" asked Rhonda
"She made him wait in the lunch line, and then sent him back and forth for ketchup and napkins and stuff. Then she made him put the ketchup on her hamburger, and she even criticized the way he did that!"
Lila looked unhappy. "That seems kind of mean."
"That's nothing." added Gerald. "Yesterday she made him sharpen her pencil EIGHT TIMES until she was satisfied with the point. I counted. "
"Oh, well," Rhonda sighed. "At least it's only for two weeks."
To avoid awkward questions, Helga had made up a story to explain to her mother why Arnold was doing her chores. Arnold went along with it, although he believed there was nothing wrong with the truth. Why should Helga want to hide something that she should be proud of? It wasn't as if there was some big secret she had to hide...
Boy, Helga sure has a lot of chores. Arnold thought as he walked home one night. He suspected some of the things she told him to do were not her regular chores, but he didn't complain. I wonder why Helga keeps hanging around every afternoon? I know she likes insulting me, but you'd think by now she'd be getting bored with watching me wash dishes and vacuum.
Even more puzzling was some of Helga's other behavior. Every now and then, out of the comer of his eye, Arnold thought he saw Helga looking at him with an odd expression on her face, but every time he tried to catch her doing it, she was always either looking off in a different direction, or else scowling at him as usual. And once, he heard her in the hall mumbling something in a strange, pain-filled voice quite unlike her normal scornful tones.
But when he tried to ask her if there was anything wrong, she practically bit his head off! Then she ordered him to scrub all the soapscum off the bathtub.
Arnold sighed. "And I thought we were going to be friends..."
Mrs. Pataki spent most of each afternoon napping in her bedroom, so Helga was free to be as nasty as she wanted to Arnold. At first, he was hurt and disappointed at the way she was treating him, but his gratefulness to her for saving his life, plus his lifetime's worth of experience in ignoring her helped him tolerate it.
But after a week of such treatment, even Arnold's considerable patience ware thin. He confronted her one day as she walked through the dustpile he'd just swept, tracking it back across the clean kitchen floor.
"Looks like you missed a spot, Football Head." Helga laughed meanly.
"Why are you doing this?" Arnold demanded suddenly.
"What?" she asked, looking surprised but amused.
"Why are you always doing things to me to make my life miserable? Why do you always single ME out? I've never done ANYTHING to you." He spoke in a low, serious tone of voice.
"But you've been treating me like ... like dirt for as long as I can remember. All I want to know is why."
Arnold expected Helga to just scoff and walk away, as she had always done. But to his surprise, her mocking grin disappeared. She took a couple of steps backward. "I don't single you out," she said.
"Yes, Helga, you do. Other people have noticed it, too."
"Oh yeah? Who?"
"It doesn't matter. The point is, I've had to put up with a lot from you over the years, and I really think you owe me an explanation." Arnold said firmly.
Helga looked uncertain as to how to respond. Obviously, she had never expected him to ask her such a thing directly. The hesitant look in her eyes reminded him of the brief glimpse of the real, inner Helga he had seen not too long ago...
Arnold said quietly, "I always thought you hated me. But after what happened in that tree ... I just want to know why you feel you have to act the way you do. I mean, I always thought you were just acting tough to protect your reputation, but even here, when there's nobody around, you torment me.
For a moment she seemed on the verge of answering. She opened her mouth, closed it, and suddenly the old, hostile Helga was back.
"Well, maybe I do have a reason, but I'm sure not gonna tell YOU what it is. If you're so smart, why don't you use those keen powers of observation of yours to figure it out?"
With that, she left the room, leaving Arnold with a strange mixture of frustration, puzzlement, and an odd sense that he had just received a genuine challenge.
DISCOVERY
Part Four: Ah, Servitude!
(This fic is written entirely from Arnold's point of view. I really tried to get into his head, even as HE tries to understand Helga.)
[Back for more, are you? Oh, well, gimmie a cookie and I'll tell you some more of the story ... No, not that one. Ah, yes, chocolate chip! I really want to thank everyone for the nice comments on my story so far. And to answer the most-asked question-yes, there is more. Discovery is completely finished (after more than a year) with twelve chapters in all. I'll be putting them up three at a time whenever I get the chance, over the next couple of weeks. And now...read on!]
Being Helga's servant was not a job for one with little patience, for sure! Nothing he did pleased her. She criticized everything he did and never missed an opportunity to make fun of him. She treated him worse than she ever had.
"Poor Arnold," he heard Nadine say to Rhonda, Lila and Gerald in the hall. "Did you see what Helga made him do today at lunch?"
"No, what?" asked Rhonda
"She made him wait in the lunch line, and then sent him back and forth for ketchup and napkins and stuff. Then she made him put the ketchup on her hamburger, and she even criticized the way he did that!"
Lila looked unhappy. "That seems kind of mean."
"That's nothing." added Gerald. "Yesterday she made him sharpen her pencil EIGHT TIMES until she was satisfied with the point. I counted. "
"Oh, well," Rhonda sighed. "At least it's only for two weeks."
To avoid awkward questions, Helga had made up a story to explain to her mother why Arnold was doing her chores. Arnold went along with it, although he believed there was nothing wrong with the truth. Why should Helga want to hide something that she should be proud of? It wasn't as if there was some big secret she had to hide...
Boy, Helga sure has a lot of chores. Arnold thought as he walked home one night. He suspected some of the things she told him to do were not her regular chores, but he didn't complain. I wonder why Helga keeps hanging around every afternoon? I know she likes insulting me, but you'd think by now she'd be getting bored with watching me wash dishes and vacuum.
Even more puzzling was some of Helga's other behavior. Every now and then, out of the comer of his eye, Arnold thought he saw Helga looking at him with an odd expression on her face, but every time he tried to catch her doing it, she was always either looking off in a different direction, or else scowling at him as usual. And once, he heard her in the hall mumbling something in a strange, pain-filled voice quite unlike her normal scornful tones.
But when he tried to ask her if there was anything wrong, she practically bit his head off! Then she ordered him to scrub all the soapscum off the bathtub.
Arnold sighed. "And I thought we were going to be friends..."
Mrs. Pataki spent most of each afternoon napping in her bedroom, so Helga was free to be as nasty as she wanted to Arnold. At first, he was hurt and disappointed at the way she was treating him, but his gratefulness to her for saving his life, plus his lifetime's worth of experience in ignoring her helped him tolerate it.
But after a week of such treatment, even Arnold's considerable patience ware thin. He confronted her one day as she walked through the dustpile he'd just swept, tracking it back across the clean kitchen floor.
"Looks like you missed a spot, Football Head." Helga laughed meanly.
"Why are you doing this?" Arnold demanded suddenly.
"What?" she asked, looking surprised but amused.
"Why are you always doing things to me to make my life miserable? Why do you always single ME out? I've never done ANYTHING to you." He spoke in a low, serious tone of voice.
"But you've been treating me like ... like dirt for as long as I can remember. All I want to know is why."
Arnold expected Helga to just scoff and walk away, as she had always done. But to his surprise, her mocking grin disappeared. She took a couple of steps backward. "I don't single you out," she said.
"Yes, Helga, you do. Other people have noticed it, too."
"Oh yeah? Who?"
"It doesn't matter. The point is, I've had to put up with a lot from you over the years, and I really think you owe me an explanation." Arnold said firmly.
Helga looked uncertain as to how to respond. Obviously, she had never expected him to ask her such a thing directly. The hesitant look in her eyes reminded him of the brief glimpse of the real, inner Helga he had seen not too long ago...
Arnold said quietly, "I always thought you hated me. But after what happened in that tree ... I just want to know why you feel you have to act the way you do. I mean, I always thought you were just acting tough to protect your reputation, but even here, when there's nobody around, you torment me.
For a moment she seemed on the verge of answering. She opened her mouth, closed it, and suddenly the old, hostile Helga was back.
"Well, maybe I do have a reason, but I'm sure not gonna tell YOU what it is. If you're so smart, why don't you use those keen powers of observation of yours to figure it out?"
With that, she left the room, leaving Arnold with a strange mixture of frustration, puzzlement, and an odd sense that he had just received a genuine challenge.