Three - Where There's a Will, There's a Funeral
Instead of preparing a TV time snack, at ten minutes to seven the Utonium family stood around a small, freshly-dug hole in the back yard, under a large shade tree. In Bubbles' hands she held a covered shoebox containing the remains of her friend. Buttercup had just shaken her head when Bubbles told them what she wanted to do, but the professor had explained that what she wanted was perfectly natural and an important part of the grieving process.
Now, Bubbles gently laid the box in the hole, her eyes filling with tears. She understood, but it still hurt. Blossom, in a sudden burst of inspiration, flew to the flower garden and picked off four rose blossoms. She brought them back to the tree and handed everybody one. Bubbles gave her a grateful smile.
They stood silently for a minute until Blossom whispered, "Professor, maybe you should say something?"
Bubbles overheard and looked up at him. "Yes, Professor, please? You got him for me and it would mean a lot to both of us."
He had no clue what to say. He started out with, "We are gathered here to say goodbye to our good and loyal friend, Octi." He hoped that would be enough but they were looking at him for more. He thought for a moment, and when it hit him, it took all his will to not burst out laughing. He managed to keep a straight face as he intoned, "I'd like to be, under a tree, in an octopus's garden in the shade. Amen." He tossed his rose onto the lid of the shoebox. The girls followed suit.
Bubbles floated up to him, her eyes full of tears but with a beatific smile on her face. "That was beautiful, Professor. Thank you." She gave him a kiss and dashed inside the house.
"You can go, too, girls." he told his other two. "I'll finish up here." That was fine with them, neither wanted the job of covering Octi up. When they were gone, he sputtered into laughter and leaned against the tree for support. Someday they might want to listen to their old man's collection of Beatles CDs, and when they did and played Abbey Road, they'd hear something that would return them to the past and, hopefully, they'd remember it fondly. He wiped his eyes and got to filling in the hole, the smile never leaving his face.
They would still be able, when he went back inside, to spend a little time together before the girls' bedtime. He hoped this little ceremony had helped Bubbles to deal with her loss and the rest of the night would be peaceful.
Blossom and Buttercup were on the floor in front of the TV, watching the saved Puppet Pals episode when he walked into the living room after washing up in the kitchen. It was ten past seven. "Where's your sister?"
Blossom turned her attention away from the screen. "She's upstairs. She locked the door and won't let us in."
"Oh, boy. Now what?"
The two girls followed him up the stairs. They heard the sound of vacuuming coming from inside, from a little hand-held variety. He turned to them and said, "Sounds like she's cleaning up the stuffing we couldn't pick up ourselves. Bubbles is going to be fine, girls."
"But why'd she have to lock the door, Professor?" Blossom asked.
"Because it's very personal to her. I bet she's talking to Octi right now."
"Oh." She gave Buttercup another of those 'This is all your fault' looks. Buttercup wasn't in her usual, 'Oh yeah?' mode now, though. She knew it.
The vacuuming stopped and they immediately heard Bubbles' 'whoosh' as she did something else in there at a very high speed. Things were being moved around. Blossom called out, "Bubbles, what are you doing?"
Wondering himself if she was having a sudden breakdown and trashing the room, the professor said, "Bubbles, sweetie, let me in, please."
"Just a second, Professor!" sang out the bubbly voice. She sounded cheerful enough, and the three outside traded confused looks and shrugged as they stared at the locked door.
"Okay, you can come in now!" Bubbles said happily. They found her sitting on a stool behind their toy box, which she was using as a desk. Just like the day the three of them had 'played' Powerpuff Girls when the rain kept them inside. And just like that day, on her head was Octi's little black top hat. That was something Bubbles had wanted to keep. On her face she wore a pair of black plastic toy glasses, the kind with a big nose and moustache. She had pulled the nose off. In front of her on the 'desk' were a few pieces of her drawing paper. The top sheet had scribbles on it.
Her sisters looked at each other and back at her. "Bubbles, what are you doing?" Blossom repeated.
Bubbles slid the glasses forward and looked out over the top, like she had seen older people do lots of times. "Please, have a seat." she said pleasantly, extending her right hand toward the bed. She pushed the glasses back into place and adjusted herself in her seat, arranging her papers neatly in front of her.
Stifling a grin, the professor steered the other two toward the bed. He knew what was happening and thought it was adorable...so far. One thing he'd learned from his girls was to expect the unexpected. "Let's sit down, girls...this looks pretty important." He sat right in the middle on the end of the bed. Blossom sat to his left and Buttercup on the other side. "When you're ready, Bubbles."
She smiled. "Thanks, Professor." She cleared her throat and tried to sound official. "Thank you all for coming for the reading of Octi's will."
"What?!" her sisters gasped. Buttercup blurted out, "Dolls don't have wills!"
"Octi does."
Blossom frowned. "Bubbles, that's rid-" She got an elbow in her ribs. "Uh, really interesting. What's it say?" The questioning pink eyes looked up into her father's face.
"Just play along, Blossom." he whispered.
Bubbles picked up her stack, cleared her throat again, and began to 'read' from her scribbling. "My last will and tentacle, by Octi."
Blossom leaned inward and whispered, "Professor, isn't it 'testament'?" Buttercup seemed to be asking the same thing with a confused glance toward him. The professor bit his lip. "Yes, but never mind, girls." They saw he found the whole thing humorous so their mood lightened. Bubbles hadn't seemed to notice them.
"I'm gonna skip all the legal stuff 'cause there isn't any 'cause I'm not a lawyer, so I'm just going to get right to the good parts." She gazed directly at her father. " 'To the Professor, who gave me a home and a family, I give a great big hug!' "
She floated up to him and hugged him twice. "The second one's from me, for being such a good dad." She returned to the desk and picked up the papers. " 'To Blossom, who looked out for me...kinda...' " Her look toward Blossom seemed to say that her sister hadn't done quite a good enough job. " '...you get a hug, anyway.' " Blossom only got one, but she wasn't offended, thinking the whole thing was crazy to begin with.
Back at the desk..." 'To my dearest friend Bubbles I leave many happy memories of all the fun we had together.' " She looked out at them. "I'm not gonna hug myself. That would be silly."
Buttercup slumped next to her father. "I'm not gettin' nothin', and why should I?"
" 'And finally, to Buttercup...'"
"Huh?" The dark head came up in a hurry. Bubbles was floating toward her, holding something behind her back.
" '...who was mean to me sometimes, I leave this...'"
Bubbles brought out a plastic bag holding what looked like some kind of yellow powder. Buttercup started to reach for it but her hand froze midway. "What's that?"
Professor Utonium knew. He expected trouble, now.
"It's what I vacuumed up."
"Ahhhhh!" Buttercup recoiled in horror from Octi's last remains. Blossom gasped, too. "What do I want that for?" Buttercup asked, staring at the bag and its contents.
"Octi wants you to have it. It's too late to put it with him and it's gotta go somewhere, and he hopes that if you keep it you'll be nicer to the next Octi."
The professor saw the effect it was having on his little tomboy. Her mouth trembled and large tears welled up in her eyes. But he let out a small sigh of relief. He had half-expected Bubbles to say, "Go get stuffed!" in a final fit of anger, which would have only made Buttercup forget how she felt and get angry herself. Then he'd never get them calmed down. This had hurt Buttercup more than anything else could have, but it had been a pure, sweet, innocent thing that Bubbles had done, not one of vindictiveness.
Buttercup took the bag. Her shoulders slumped in sorrow, her head down. "I'm sorry, Bubbles."
Bubbles wrapped her arms around her sister in a big hug. "It's OK, Buttercup, Octi forgives you and so do I."
"I feel two feet tall right now."
Blossom blinked. "Buttercup, you ARE two feet tall!" But she believed her sister was sincere in her regret and decided that now might be one of those times she should keep her mouth shut.
Her father placed a hand on each of her sisters' shoulders. "Bubbles, that was very sweet. I think Buttercup's learned her lesson, too. Haven't you?"
Bubbles withdrew and Buttercup looked up at him. "Yes, Professor." she said without much enthusiasm. She turned to glance toward the clock on the bedside table behind her. It read, '7:21'. She perked right up. "Hey, Professor, can we go to the toy store? Maybe I can get Bubbles a new Octi tonight!"
"Not tonight, Buttercup. It's late."
"But the store doesn't close 'til nine! And we don't have school tomorrow! Please?"
"Can we, Professor?" Bubbles pleaded. She wanted to have a replacement right away. Blossom just wanted the whole thing over with so she could get some peace again finally. And, maybe she could get herself a new toy in the bargain. She put on her best pitiful expression.
Seeing those faces, how could he resist? He sighed. "All right. But don't even think about using those looks on me to get something more."
"Rats!" Blossom said to herself.