Chapter 15: The Recovery

TWO AND A HALF HOURS LATER

Many of the smurfettes had gone back to their chores, while a few remained to hear the results of Toughette's condition. Tattlerette, of course, was one of the smurfettes that decided to hang around. Nothing was going to stop her from writing this into her morning articles.

Hefty, on the other hand, decided not to sit and wait for Mama Smurf and Nursette to come out before fixing the door. He had to admit being the strongest smurf, doesn't mean he was renowned as the most patient. The last half hour he mostly just fidgeted in his seat, until the squeaky noise from the broken hinges from the door moving in the wind annoyed him too much.

For the past ten minutes Hefty failed to even start fixing the door. He simply just stared at the broken hinges. This seemed to bother him greatly. He may not be Handy Smurf, but he should know how to repair a broken door. It was like his mind suddenly went blank. All he could do was sit there with the hammer in his hand. His concentration broke when a shadow blanketed over him. Hefty turned to look up. Standing behind him is Brainette.

She cleared her throat before speaking, "Do you need some help?"

"It's ok, I can do it." Hefty simply responded before turning away from the smartest smurfette in the village.

"Are you sure? You've been sitting there for quit some time now, and done nothing but stare at the broken hinges." Brainette pointed out.

"I said, 'I can do it!'" Hefty snapped back angrily.

Brainette took a step back and gasped in shock. She knew that he was worried about Toughette, but she didn't expect him to react so violently to her offer of assistance.

Hefty realized that he might have over-reacted to Brainette just then. With a deep sigh, he turned up to face her again. "Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind right now."

"Yes, I've noticed that too." Brainette stated. "Look, you shouldn't worry about Toughette so much. Trust me, she really lives up to her name." She tried to reassure him.

"Maybe so, but still, I feel that I could have smurfed something in order to prevent Toughette from getting hurt." Hefty whined, slouching his shoulders forward.

"Perhaps, yet then again, we all have thought if we smurfed another path that our lives might have smurfed differently." Brainette wisely stated. "Anyway, I may not be this Handy Smurf you talked about, but I do know a great deal of repairing broken hinges on doors. In fact, I helped designed many of the houses in this village, including yours."

"I bet you did." Hefty muttered to himself in a cranky tone.

"Pardon?"

"Nothin'. I just don't feel like being told how to fix something right now." Hefty flatly stated. He began remembering more about his home, and how Brainy Smurf would butt in to start bragging how he knew so much more then anyone else.

"I wasn't going to tell you how to fix the door, Hefty, I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind an extra set of hands to help you fix it. For example, perhaps one of us could hold the door, while the other screws new hinges back into place. That would make the job go by a lot faster and more efficiently. But if you rather do this yourself I could easily go back to reading my books." Brainette huffed, pinning her fists onto her hips.

Hefty thought about it for a moment then shook his head. "Fine. You can help. I'll hold the door, while you fix the hinges." He said getting up off the floor.

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TEN MINUTES LATER…

Mama Smurf had just finished tying the bandage around Toughette's head after she had rubbed some of her special medicine on her wound. She began to tenderly stroke Toughette's golden hair until the young smurfette finally opens her eyes. Toughette let out a small groan, and looked up at the village elder.

"Mama Smurf?" She managed breath out.

"Shhh," Mama Smurf soothed Toughette. "You've hit your head pretty hard. Rest now, you will be alright soon."

"How did I get back here?" Toughette groaned while trying to sit up.

"Hefty. He carried you back here." Nursette filled in as she carefully pushed Toughette back down onto the pillow. "He nearly kicked my door right off its hinges." She adds with a chuckle.

"He did?" Toughette asked in disbelief.

"Yes." Mama Smurf answered. "He is very worried about you."

"He is? Is he near by? Can I see him?" Pleaded Toughette.

"Well, I believe he's fixing the door right now. And you should really get some rest now anyway." Mama Smurf counseled, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Please Mama Smurf. Just for a moment?" Toughette insisted.

Both Mama Smurf and Nursette looked up at each other. Finally Nursette got up from her seat. "I'll go get him," she said heading out to fetch Hefty.

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"There, done." Brainette proudly said as she finished the final screw on the new hinges for the door.

"You were right. That didn't take too long." Hefty complemented as he released the door and tested it by swinging it back and forth.

"You expected anything less?" Brainette said pushing her glasses back up onto her face.

"Well, I'm more use to Brainy Smurf from back home. He would rather waist time telling other smurfs what to do, then actually stepping in to help them with their chores." Hefty drifted back into his memories.

"That really doesn't sound very noble for someone who claims to be smart?" Brainette cocked her head to one side and raised an eyebrow.

"Tell me about. All he does is carry on, especially with his 'and further more,' speech." Hefty said imitating Brainy's actions.

Brainette began to chuckle, finding what Hefty was saying to be quite funny.

"Hefty?" Nursette interrupted.

Hefty and Brainette turned to see Nursette standing at the door to the recovery room. Nursette began to signal with her index finger for Hefty to come in. Hefty paused for a bit to look at Brainette.

Brainette smiled warmly at him. "Go on. I'll clean up the tools." She said reassuringly.

He smiled back at her before heading past Nursette to check on Toughette. As he entered the room he saw Mama Smurf sitting in a chair beside the bed. The elderly smurfette turned and smiled. She got up from her seat and offered it to him. Hefty nodded before accepting the seat. As he sat down, he couldn't take his eyes off of Toughette. Her eyes were closed. She appeared to be sleeping soundly. That is until she began to open her eyes to look up at him.

"Hey." She breathed.

"Uh, hey." Hefty responded, not knowing what else to say.

"I just want to thank you for saving me back there." Toughette admitted.

"Well, you did save my life too. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here." Hefty said with a smile.

"I suppose this now makes us even now, huh?" Toughette smiles weakly.

"Yeah, I suppose it does." Hefty slowly brought his hand over hers tenderly began stroking it.

Nursette caught a glimpse of this censer moment between Hefty and Toughette. She turned to Mama Smurf, whom noticed the young couple as well, and both smiled knowingly at each other. Together they decided to leave the room quietly to give Hefty and Toughette some time alone.

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MEANWHILE, DOWN THE RIVER…

Gloria crawls out of the flowing river, and climbs up the shore. She panted for a breath of air to reach her lungs. At the same time she whipped her wet muddy face so she could see.

"That was the most horrific experience of my life. Those rapids. The boulders…" the witch gripped. "But at least I was able to find… The Scepter of Faith!" She cackled holding up the snake-like stick.