Here's the next chapter. Yeah.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything,blah blah blah. Although this might be something like the second movie 'The Jungle', don't blame me if it ends up being similar (if we even get to see it).
The Search: chapter 2
Gerald threw a baseball up in the air and caught it inches from his face. He stared up at the ceiling and exhaled sharply. Then he looked over at the papers about his sports scholarship covering his night stand and threw the ball again. It came back down with help from gravity and smacked him on his face. He sat up on the bed, rubbing his sore forehead.
"Gerald, Arnold's here," he heard his mother call.
A picture of the gang caught his eye next to the papers. He saw himself standing next to Phoebe. "What was up with my hair," he said aloud. Gerald looked at Phoebe again and smiled sadly.
"Gerald, boy can't you hear me??" his mother asked as she stuck her head through the doorway.
"Oh, sorry," he said and walked out of his room. Arnold was waiting out on the stairs in front.
"So you don't know who it was?" Gerald asked.
"No, I'm not even sure there was somebody with me. It's just a blur. You don't have a hangover, do you?"
"Nope. I only had two cups. You... you had about eight. And that was before I left."
"Gerald, why didn't you stop me?" Arnold asked.
"It looked like you were having a great time!" he smiled. "Especially with Helga G. Pataki."
"Huh?" he asked, his mouth hanging open.
"Oh yeah, 'you two were like peas and carrots'," he laughed.
"Did you see her go home with Phoebe last night?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I think so."
"Oh... well I guess we were really out of it," he said.
"So, what did you have to tell me?"
"Oh yeah," Arnold said. He pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Gerald. "I wrote this sometime last night and well, I think it is a good idea."
"Arnold..." Gerald shook his head while reading.
"Yeah, I've already discussed it with Helga and she gave me a reality check, but still Gerald. Don't you think it's a great idea??"
"Well sure, but... that's all it can be. It's a great dream to have Arnold, really."
"So... you don't think we could do this either. I see. You know, I expected Helga to disagree, but you're my best friend Gerald. I thought of all people, YOU would stand behind me no matter what," Arnold said as he stood up.
"Arnold..."
"Well I'll go by myself then," he said walking away. "I'm gonna find my parents no matter what, even if nobody believes in me."
"I've told you the story before, Arnold," Grandpa said as he sat down on the couch in the living room. "They went back to that village and were never seen again."
"But where was the village?"
"I have no idea, they didn't tell me."
Arnold pulled down a heavy photo album from the shelf and placed it on the wooden coffee table with a loud thump. "There's gotta be something here," he said, mainly to himself. He lifted the heavy cover and brushed away most of the dust from the first page. "Are you sure you don't have any more pictures?"
"Hmm..." Grandpa said, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin, "Let's see. I'm pretty sure that there aren't any in that album..."
"Is this me?" he heard Arnold ask him. He looked at the old photo that Arnold was holding. There was a baby in a crib with an oddly shaped head.
"Yes I do believe it is. Look at your little airplane how cute!" Grandpa said.
"Grandpa..." he sighed.
"Well I'm afraid you're out of luck, Shortman. We didn't take many pictures of your parents. Although there might be some in the basement where we store our old things..."
The light bulb in the basement flickered on and Arnold made his way down the creaky stairway. Boxes and old, dusty furniture lined the walls on one side and then Grandpa's tools and workbench was on the other side. As he was digging through the dirty boxes, he came upon one with a familiar handwriting on it. 'Kimba's Stuff' it read and he instantly knew it was Grandma's writing. Arnold struggled with the box, which was buried under others, but he finally managed to pull it away and under the light.
Arnold swallowed hard and lifted one of the flaps. He pulled out a mobile and held it up to let the little figures swing and move around. He smiled warmly and set it down next to him. Next, he took out his baby blanket, some of his old baby toys, the toy airplane that was in the picture he had found earlier, and another picture album. Arnold flipped through the album excitedly, expecting to find some good pictures of his parents, but to his dismay he found none. Just pictures of him through his birth to first grade.
"Finding anything?" he heard Grandma ask him from the top of the stairs.
"Not really," he sighed. "But it's nice to see my old stuff again." Arnold held up the plane and smiled, remembering all of his adventures that he had taken in it.
"Well dinner's ready... and if you're not up here in ten minutes, those dirty coyotes are gonna eat your food. Again."
"Okay Grandma."
"Olga! There's some guy waiting for you!" Big Bob Pataki yelled from the living room over the loud TV. Helga stuck her head through the kitchen doorway.
"For me?" she asked. Helga walked to the front door and opened it to reveal a smiling Arnold. "What do you want now."
"Guess what I have."
"A football shaped head?" she grinned.
"No," he breathed. "No. Remember when you said that you'd go with me to look for my parents if I got a good start?"
"Unfortunately..."
"Well, I couldn't find one," Arnold said.
"Oh. And your point is..."
"All I have is this picture," he said holding up the picture with his parents that he had kept in his drawer in the shelf next to his bed.
"It's just a picture though," she said examining it closely. "You need some info about them. You don't know what kind of places they could be. This is all you have?"
"And this," he said, holding up the toy airplane.
"A toy?" Helga asked. "Well gee Arnold, why don't we just hop in this thing now and fly all over the world. Hell, there's even room for the whole gang!" she said dryly.
"Thanks Helga," Arnold sighed.
"Let me see this," she said, grabbing the plane from his hands. "What's this?" Helga opened the door on the small plane and pulled out a folded piece of old paper. "It look's like some kind of map..."
"Helga," he said amazed, getting behind her to look over her shoulder.
"What do you think this is?"
"It's our good start," Arnold smiled.
It was late in the afternoon and the sun was just disappearing over the city's horizon. Outside of Rhonda's house, someone was waiting at the front door. There was a loud knock and Rhonda jumped to answer it.
"Hi Rhonda-" Harold said, but was yanked inside.
"What are you doing??" she demanded. "Do you want everyone in the whole neighborhood to know about us?"
"Well yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. "You know I do."
"Well I don't," she said. "If they found out... oh my god can you imagine?"
"I just don't understand why we can't tell our friends," Harold said. "Hey, are you cooking something because it sure smells good and I'm kind of hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"
"Yes... Harold," she sighed. Her mood lightened up and she smiled. "Just don't touch anything. I don't want my parents to know you were here. And try to walk as little as possible... you're leaving footprint indentions in the carpet..."
"Hey, guess what happens in two days," he said as they walked into the kitchen.
"We graduate?" Rhonda raised an eyebrow.
"No, it's our one year anniversary."
"Oh yes, because that's way more important," she said sarcastically.
"Why don't we go out to dinner somewhere nice. I'll buy."
"You know you don't have any money. You don't even have a job."
"I applied to so many places but they haven't called me back!" Harold whined. "And I can get some money!"
"Oh really," she scoffed. Rhonda opened the fridge and took out some Chinese food cartons and placed them on the counter in front of Harold. He opened one of the cartons up and started eating.
"Yes really. I'm not some kind of stupid baby."
"Of course you're not," Rhonda said as she wiped some food off of his face with a napkin. "You really think I'm stupid don't you?"
"You're the one who said it, not me," she said.
"But you agreed with me!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Fine," Harold said. "First thing tomorrow, I'm going to get a job no matter what. Then I'll be the one who pays for everything."
"Harold, you don't have to do that," she said softly.
"But I want to. Besides, I've made up my mind."
"Wow," she said. "I like this attitude..."
"So maybe... if I get a job and... make something of myself... you won't be ashamed of me? And we can tell everybody?"
"Mmm... I don't know," Rhonda said. "We'll just see."
Keeping their relation hid from the world, except Arnold of course, had been the most difficult thing that Rhonda had ever experienced. She hadn't even told Nadine. For one whole year, they had kept their love a secret. It wasn't exactly a perfect relationship, but Harold truly did love Rhonda. He just didn't know if those feelings were mutual.
They had realized that there were feelings beyond friendship after one of her many parties. Harold had been checking out the food tables in the living room, alone, and Rhonda was upset because she had just been dumped by one of her boyfriends. One thing led to another and she ended up using him to get over her heartache. Little did she know what that little fling would lead to.
"Do you have any more of that imported, fancy icecream??"
Arnold spread the map out on his bed and sat down to look at it. A small tear ran down the middle from the top, but he could easily make out what it said. "The Jungles of South America," he said to himself.
"Arnold," Grandpa said after knocking and entering the room. "Are you all set for graduation? Oh, are you still looking at that map?"
"Yeah. I can't help but think this is a huge piece to the puzzle, Grandpa. I'm finally going to find them I just know it. Look, there's a city that's circled in red ink... maybe that's where they were going."
"I thought you wanted to go to that college a few cities away..."
"I know, but Grandpa this is huge!" Arnold said. "I've waited for so long to see my parents again..."
"Oh," he said softly, not wanting to hurt Arnold's feelings. "Well I guess college can wait. And in the meantime, you can use your college fund to pay for the trip."
"You really mean that Grandpa?" he asked, his eyes full of excitement.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?"
He hesitated for a moment, thoughts and worries crossing his mind. "I'm sure."
"Well then first thing tomorrow, we'll start looking for things we need. Is anybody going with you?"
"I talked to Gerald and he seemed doubtful. I don't know about him... but Helga promised me that she would go."
"Helga Pataki? You mean the girl that's constantly tormenting you and calling you names? You want to go on a trip with her? And she agreed??"
"Well yeah... besides, I need all the people I can get."
"Alright Shortman..." he smiled. "But before you set your heart on this, will you think about it tonight? Just give it a little more thought."
"Okay Grandpa. Thanks again."
That night, Arnold dreamed of running through a jungle, heavy palm fronds all around him. Either something was chasing him or he was running to something... maybe both. Someone called his name, but he kept running. He could barely hear anything over the sound of his heart beating and his heavy breathing. Up ahead, he knew what he was going to find. And so he kept running...
Disclaimer: I don't own anything,blah blah blah. Although this might be something like the second movie 'The Jungle', don't blame me if it ends up being similar (if we even get to see it).
The Search: chapter 2
Gerald threw a baseball up in the air and caught it inches from his face. He stared up at the ceiling and exhaled sharply. Then he looked over at the papers about his sports scholarship covering his night stand and threw the ball again. It came back down with help from gravity and smacked him on his face. He sat up on the bed, rubbing his sore forehead.
"Gerald, Arnold's here," he heard his mother call.
A picture of the gang caught his eye next to the papers. He saw himself standing next to Phoebe. "What was up with my hair," he said aloud. Gerald looked at Phoebe again and smiled sadly.
"Gerald, boy can't you hear me??" his mother asked as she stuck her head through the doorway.
"Oh, sorry," he said and walked out of his room. Arnold was waiting out on the stairs in front.
"So you don't know who it was?" Gerald asked.
"No, I'm not even sure there was somebody with me. It's just a blur. You don't have a hangover, do you?"
"Nope. I only had two cups. You... you had about eight. And that was before I left."
"Gerald, why didn't you stop me?" Arnold asked.
"It looked like you were having a great time!" he smiled. "Especially with Helga G. Pataki."
"Huh?" he asked, his mouth hanging open.
"Oh yeah, 'you two were like peas and carrots'," he laughed.
"Did you see her go home with Phoebe last night?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I think so."
"Oh... well I guess we were really out of it," he said.
"So, what did you have to tell me?"
"Oh yeah," Arnold said. He pulled out the piece of paper and handed it to Gerald. "I wrote this sometime last night and well, I think it is a good idea."
"Arnold..." Gerald shook his head while reading.
"Yeah, I've already discussed it with Helga and she gave me a reality check, but still Gerald. Don't you think it's a great idea??"
"Well sure, but... that's all it can be. It's a great dream to have Arnold, really."
"So... you don't think we could do this either. I see. You know, I expected Helga to disagree, but you're my best friend Gerald. I thought of all people, YOU would stand behind me no matter what," Arnold said as he stood up.
"Arnold..."
"Well I'll go by myself then," he said walking away. "I'm gonna find my parents no matter what, even if nobody believes in me."
"I've told you the story before, Arnold," Grandpa said as he sat down on the couch in the living room. "They went back to that village and were never seen again."
"But where was the village?"
"I have no idea, they didn't tell me."
Arnold pulled down a heavy photo album from the shelf and placed it on the wooden coffee table with a loud thump. "There's gotta be something here," he said, mainly to himself. He lifted the heavy cover and brushed away most of the dust from the first page. "Are you sure you don't have any more pictures?"
"Hmm..." Grandpa said, squinting his eyes and rubbing his chin, "Let's see. I'm pretty sure that there aren't any in that album..."
"Is this me?" he heard Arnold ask him. He looked at the old photo that Arnold was holding. There was a baby in a crib with an oddly shaped head.
"Yes I do believe it is. Look at your little airplane how cute!" Grandpa said.
"Grandpa..." he sighed.
"Well I'm afraid you're out of luck, Shortman. We didn't take many pictures of your parents. Although there might be some in the basement where we store our old things..."
The light bulb in the basement flickered on and Arnold made his way down the creaky stairway. Boxes and old, dusty furniture lined the walls on one side and then Grandpa's tools and workbench was on the other side. As he was digging through the dirty boxes, he came upon one with a familiar handwriting on it. 'Kimba's Stuff' it read and he instantly knew it was Grandma's writing. Arnold struggled with the box, which was buried under others, but he finally managed to pull it away and under the light.
Arnold swallowed hard and lifted one of the flaps. He pulled out a mobile and held it up to let the little figures swing and move around. He smiled warmly and set it down next to him. Next, he took out his baby blanket, some of his old baby toys, the toy airplane that was in the picture he had found earlier, and another picture album. Arnold flipped through the album excitedly, expecting to find some good pictures of his parents, but to his dismay he found none. Just pictures of him through his birth to first grade.
"Finding anything?" he heard Grandma ask him from the top of the stairs.
"Not really," he sighed. "But it's nice to see my old stuff again." Arnold held up the plane and smiled, remembering all of his adventures that he had taken in it.
"Well dinner's ready... and if you're not up here in ten minutes, those dirty coyotes are gonna eat your food. Again."
"Okay Grandma."
"Olga! There's some guy waiting for you!" Big Bob Pataki yelled from the living room over the loud TV. Helga stuck her head through the kitchen doorway.
"For me?" she asked. Helga walked to the front door and opened it to reveal a smiling Arnold. "What do you want now."
"Guess what I have."
"A football shaped head?" she grinned.
"No," he breathed. "No. Remember when you said that you'd go with me to look for my parents if I got a good start?"
"Unfortunately..."
"Well, I couldn't find one," Arnold said.
"Oh. And your point is..."
"All I have is this picture," he said holding up the picture with his parents that he had kept in his drawer in the shelf next to his bed.
"It's just a picture though," she said examining it closely. "You need some info about them. You don't know what kind of places they could be. This is all you have?"
"And this," he said, holding up the toy airplane.
"A toy?" Helga asked. "Well gee Arnold, why don't we just hop in this thing now and fly all over the world. Hell, there's even room for the whole gang!" she said dryly.
"Thanks Helga," Arnold sighed.
"Let me see this," she said, grabbing the plane from his hands. "What's this?" Helga opened the door on the small plane and pulled out a folded piece of old paper. "It look's like some kind of map..."
"Helga," he said amazed, getting behind her to look over her shoulder.
"What do you think this is?"
"It's our good start," Arnold smiled.
It was late in the afternoon and the sun was just disappearing over the city's horizon. Outside of Rhonda's house, someone was waiting at the front door. There was a loud knock and Rhonda jumped to answer it.
"Hi Rhonda-" Harold said, but was yanked inside.
"What are you doing??" she demanded. "Do you want everyone in the whole neighborhood to know about us?"
"Well yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. "You know I do."
"Well I don't," she said. "If they found out... oh my god can you imagine?"
"I just don't understand why we can't tell our friends," Harold said. "Hey, are you cooking something because it sure smells good and I'm kind of hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"
"Yes... Harold," she sighed. Her mood lightened up and she smiled. "Just don't touch anything. I don't want my parents to know you were here. And try to walk as little as possible... you're leaving footprint indentions in the carpet..."
"Hey, guess what happens in two days," he said as they walked into the kitchen.
"We graduate?" Rhonda raised an eyebrow.
"No, it's our one year anniversary."
"Oh yes, because that's way more important," she said sarcastically.
"Why don't we go out to dinner somewhere nice. I'll buy."
"You know you don't have any money. You don't even have a job."
"I applied to so many places but they haven't called me back!" Harold whined. "And I can get some money!"
"Oh really," she scoffed. Rhonda opened the fridge and took out some Chinese food cartons and placed them on the counter in front of Harold. He opened one of the cartons up and started eating.
"Yes really. I'm not some kind of stupid baby."
"Of course you're not," Rhonda said as she wiped some food off of his face with a napkin. "You really think I'm stupid don't you?"
"You're the one who said it, not me," she said.
"But you agreed with me!"
"I did no such thing!"
"Fine," Harold said. "First thing tomorrow, I'm going to get a job no matter what. Then I'll be the one who pays for everything."
"Harold, you don't have to do that," she said softly.
"But I want to. Besides, I've made up my mind."
"Wow," she said. "I like this attitude..."
"So maybe... if I get a job and... make something of myself... you won't be ashamed of me? And we can tell everybody?"
"Mmm... I don't know," Rhonda said. "We'll just see."
Keeping their relation hid from the world, except Arnold of course, had been the most difficult thing that Rhonda had ever experienced. She hadn't even told Nadine. For one whole year, they had kept their love a secret. It wasn't exactly a perfect relationship, but Harold truly did love Rhonda. He just didn't know if those feelings were mutual.
They had realized that there were feelings beyond friendship after one of her many parties. Harold had been checking out the food tables in the living room, alone, and Rhonda was upset because she had just been dumped by one of her boyfriends. One thing led to another and she ended up using him to get over her heartache. Little did she know what that little fling would lead to.
"Do you have any more of that imported, fancy icecream??"
Arnold spread the map out on his bed and sat down to look at it. A small tear ran down the middle from the top, but he could easily make out what it said. "The Jungles of South America," he said to himself.
"Arnold," Grandpa said after knocking and entering the room. "Are you all set for graduation? Oh, are you still looking at that map?"
"Yeah. I can't help but think this is a huge piece to the puzzle, Grandpa. I'm finally going to find them I just know it. Look, there's a city that's circled in red ink... maybe that's where they were going."
"I thought you wanted to go to that college a few cities away..."
"I know, but Grandpa this is huge!" Arnold said. "I've waited for so long to see my parents again..."
"Oh," he said softly, not wanting to hurt Arnold's feelings. "Well I guess college can wait. And in the meantime, you can use your college fund to pay for the trip."
"You really mean that Grandpa?" he asked, his eyes full of excitement.
"Are you sure that you want to do this?"
He hesitated for a moment, thoughts and worries crossing his mind. "I'm sure."
"Well then first thing tomorrow, we'll start looking for things we need. Is anybody going with you?"
"I talked to Gerald and he seemed doubtful. I don't know about him... but Helga promised me that she would go."
"Helga Pataki? You mean the girl that's constantly tormenting you and calling you names? You want to go on a trip with her? And she agreed??"
"Well yeah... besides, I need all the people I can get."
"Alright Shortman..." he smiled. "But before you set your heart on this, will you think about it tonight? Just give it a little more thought."
"Okay Grandpa. Thanks again."
That night, Arnold dreamed of running through a jungle, heavy palm fronds all around him. Either something was chasing him or he was running to something... maybe both. Someone called his name, but he kept running. He could barely hear anything over the sound of his heart beating and his heavy breathing. Up ahead, he knew what he was going to find. And so he kept running...
