A/N: So, it may be a few days late, but blame the phone company.
Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Munch, or he would be in the episodes.
I remember, around the holidays, around Hannukah, always being asked, "Whaddaya want, Johnny? What'll make you happy?" And I always had a list of toys and various things that I had my heart set on, but rarely got. Money always seemed to be a bit short, but once I got over the initial disappointment, I was happy. And the toy would go up on the shelf and I would play with it once in a while until it got old, and I got older, and it gathered dust. Sometimes, my brother would play with them, hand-me-downs, so to speak.
Even when I got older, nearly twenty, it was always, "Whaddaya want, Johnny? What'll make you happy?" And it seemed, the more the years went by, the more gray appeared in my hair, the more my body parts sometimes refused to work right, the less made me happy. Truly happy and a happy that I could hold on to. But it was worse than when I was a kid.
The cards are in a pile on the coffee table. The Secret Santa thing we did at work... that present is on my desk. Some silly little thing, a book maybe. I can't remember. The gift my brother sent me, well that's on the kitchen table, still sitting in the box it came in. I opened it, but that's as far as I got.
And all these things, they're all just gathering dust. Getting old. Before they're young. Before I've even used them, played with them.
But... it seems that I'm not the only one. And the things sitting around my apartment... they're not the only things getting old before they've been enjoyed.
So, next year, when they say, "Whaddaya want, Johnnny? What'll make you happy?" I know what I'm going to say.
I want things to stay young. I want them to be enjoyed. I want everyone to have a chance for better days. I don't want everything to gather dust on shelves and tables. Better days, that's what I want. That's what'll make me happy.
Better days.