Author's Note: Firstly,many thanks to acosta pérez josé ramiro for helping me with the Spanish translations. Secondly, about this chapter. This chapter explains almost everything there is to know about the reason why Arnold's parents couldn't come back to him after they returned to San Lorenzo to help the Green-Eyes people. More of the Green-Eyes' background is revealed and San Lorenzo's history is explained in full detail. Arnold and Helga is getting more and more close. All conviniently wrapped in this somewhat long chapter!

Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.

Chapter 15: Family

"Saludos, gente de San Lorenzo. Este es Eduardo, oficial a cargo de las Comunicaciones para el Ejército de Resistencia. Elévense de las cenizas, mis amigos, pues hoy es un dìa glorioso para nuestra amada nación. Bajo la protección y dirección de nuestro amado Papá Manzano, las fuerzas revolucionarias han derrotado exitosamente al régimen autocrático y opresivo dirigido por el muy odiado Sombra; el cobarde está huyendo como perro apaleado en vez de defender su territorio mientras hablamos. Sus fuerzas están siendo guiadas fuera de Bolívar, y actualmente estamos persiguiendo al demente que trajo tanto sufrimiento a nuestra nación. Con la intervención de las Naciones Unidas, y bajo el auspicio de las Fuerzas de Coalición de los Diez Países, estamos llenando el vacío de poder en la capital dejado por el enemigo. ¡Regocíjense, mis compatriotas¡Nuestro tiempo ha llegado¡La oscuridad que había cubierto a nuestra nación por tantos años se ha levantado¡Una nueva luz brilla en cada rincón de San Lorenzo, trayendo paz, libertad y justicia para todos¡Nunca más estaremos bajo los pulgares de la opresión¡Ya no seremos víctimas de la tiranía¡Vengan, y disfruten de esta nueva hallada libertad celebrando en las calles¡Un nuevo San Lorenzo será libre, progresista, y unido¡Viva la Resistencia¡Viva la Revolución!"

"Greetings people of San Lorenzo. This is Eduardo, your Chief Communications Officer for the Resistance Army. Rise from the ashes my friends, for today is a glorious day for our beloved nation. Under the helm and directive of our beloved Papa Monzano, the Revolutionary Forces has successfully toppled the oppressive autocratic regime led by the much loathed La Sombra – the coward is running like whipped dog instead of defending his ground as we speak. His forces are being driven out of Bolivar and we are currently pursuing the madman that brought much despair to our nation. With the intervention of the United Nations and under the help of Ten Countries Coalition Forces banner, we are filling the power vacuum in the capital left by the enemy. Rejoice, my countrymen! Our time has come! The dark shroud that has been blanketing our nation for many years have been lifted! A new light is shining into every corner of San Lorenzo, bringing peace, freedom and justice to everyone! No longer are you being held under the thumbs of oppression! No longer will you be the victims of tyranny! Come, let us enjoy this new found freedom by celebrating it on the streets! A new San Lorenzo will be free, progressive and united! Viva la Resistance! Viva la Revolución!"

-- Eduardo on the San Lorenzo Radio, after the coalition forces took over San Lorenzo's capital, Bolivar. (Audio Archives - San Lorenzo Library)

---

Next morning…

"Hey Helga… what are you doing after work?" Arnold asked her as he put some pancakes down onto her plate. Thankfully, Arnold was the one who cooked today instead of his mother.

"You think I have a choice in this place?" she replied jokingly. She was right, though. There weren't any places to go or things to do in San Lorenzo, unless of course if you were a nature junkie, then you could spelunk, skydive, hand gliding or do other various adventurous activities in this country. "Absolutely nothing." She added more with a mouthful of pancakes.

"All right, nice." Arnold replied. "Because I was thinking of bringing you to the Green-Eyed village again today."

Helga stopped munching after she heard that, "What for?"

"I wanna have a talk with the village headman and try to persuade him to not comply with Marcelo's grandma's wishes, and… I want to check on Marcelo again. You know, to make sure he's okay and all…"

Helga was in disbelief. She never saw Arnold so stubborn before. Why couldn't he go along with the plan? To her, she thought it'd bring more good than bad to the boy. Still, she wouldn't express her opinions regarding it since she felt that her voice had no place in this affair. "Arnold." She said, "Of course he's not okay. His grandmother just died yesterday."

Arnold sighed and shook his head, "Yeah. I know, I know." He said as he rubbed his forehead, "But I'm really concerned about him… you know what I mean?"

A soft smile was seen on Helga's face, "That's very brotherly of you."

Arnold chuckled softly, flattered at the comment.

"I think you should go alone Arnold. I think my presence is not needed there."

"Nah," Arnold shook his head, "I insist. Besides, you want to know more about them, don't you? I think it's a good opportunity for you to learn about them before you leave San Lorenzo."

Helga became worried all of the sudden. Time was running short for her to confess to Arnold, and yet she still wasn't brave enough to tell him. "Yeah…" she said weakly, trying to hide her worrisome, "I think I'll follow you there."

Stella then suddenly stepped into the kitchen, and was surprised to see that Arnold had done all the breakfast for her, "Wow…" she said in disbelief, stunned, "Unbelievable. This is… amazing. Why couldn't you be more helpful around the house when Helga wasn't here? Perplexing. Shocking." she teased. "You should've come here a long time ago Helga. He was hopelessly lazy around the house before you showed up."

Arnold could only lower his head down and laughed weakly in embarrassment. Helga smiled softly at Stella's remark.

---

"Mona… you shouldn't walk around too much." Helga advised concernedly to the old lady, "I know you're recovering but you shouldn't push it too far. You might fall ill again."

Mona snickered softly and replied, "Oh, don't worry about me child." She said as she rubbed some antiseptic on a patient's arm she was holding. "I've been into the nursing business for some time now, and I can take care of myself pretty well."

Helga raised an eyebrow, looking at her in disbelief, "I thought you used to be in the rebel army."

She turned around, smiling at Helga, "I was, but that doesn't mean I'm not the medic too."

Helga was still unconvinced, "But you said you were just about as old as me when you joined them."

Again, with a smile and calm voice, she responded to Helga, "My father wanted me to become doctor, and I didn't want to disappoint him. I actually like the field, and romance surrounding the job. Even when I was in high school I showed a great interest in medicine and spent a lot of my time reading those boring medical books." She laughed softly as she reminisce the memories when she was young, "Then when I heard about the civil war in San Lorenzo, I kind of gave it all up and joined the rebellion. Father was very disappointed with me." She shook her head.

A dry smile slowly appeared on Helga's face as she shook her head in disbelief. "Man, you were crazy."

"Well… when we are young, we do a lot of crazy things." She smiled back, "Speaking of craziness, have you tell him your problems yet?"

Helga was a little bit stunned by her remark, though she was glad that Mona didn't suspect that she was harboring deep feelings for Arnold. She tried to remember how she slipped away in telling her about this person that she liked so much. Ah, it was about two days ago, when Mona tried to calm her down after she saw someone died of the Sleeping Disease. Helga wasn't upset that she told her about her problems though, since she felt like Mona was very encouraging and not trying to force or persuade her to tell her about Arnold.

"I have." She replied back.

Mona nodded, "Good." And she resumed her work once again. Helga was perplexed since she was expecting a more critical response from her.

"So… that's it? That's all you're going to say to me?" Helga asked in disbelief, "Good?"

"Yes." She replied, "Is there something wrong?"

"No…" she answered back. Although she was glad that Mona didn't have the tendency to dig more about her problems, she was also in disbelief that she was somehow not caring about it, judging from the tone, "I don't know… somehow I was expecting a long drivel from you advising me about it."

Mona could only laughed back, "Well, I did tell you that it's up to you whether you want to tell me or not, didn't I? I'm not going to force you to tell me about it."

Helga smiled back. She thought that this might be a fine time to tell her about it, "Uhh…" thinking again, she was reluctant about it. Perhaps not. Then she heard footsteps coming toward to them.

"Hey Helga, you're done?" Arnold asked her. Mona turned around again, and saw Arnold. She had a smile across her face and could understand that this was the boy that Helga kind of told her about. What a nice, outstanding young man, she thought to herself.

Helga nodded and turned to Mona, "Mona, I have to go now. We'll talk later, okay?"

She nodded back, "Okay deary." Helga then left her and walked along with Arnold to his jeep.

After seeing Arnold and Helga out from her view, Stella walked up to the old lady with her crossed arms. Mona looked at her, smiled and said, "They're so cute together, aren't they?"

---

The ride to the village from the sick camp was very rocky, and it was hard for Arnold to drive the jeep and the ride was uncomfortable for the both of them. But it was a standard fare for Arnold, since he had drove on even worse surface than this. Helga was getting more and more annoyed by the tumbling and shaking and felt like she was going to puke. It didn't help them both that the windows were up and the air conditioner was broken, making the condition even worse for Helga. She really needed fresh air right now, and opened the window.

"God, why did you pick this road to begin with?" Helga asked irately.

"It's the quickest route. 'Sides, it'll be all over in a couple of miles." He replied back. "And close the windows. Jaguars are a plenty in this area. Wouldn't want one of them to pounce into the car now, would we?"

Helga widened her eyes in fear, and quickly closed the window back again, leaving a slight gap to let some wind in. She tried to bear the stuffy condition inside the jeep. She then plopped back into the seat, letting a sigh out of her system. She hoped that what Arnold said earlier was true. "Why are we in such a hurry anyway? It's not like he's going anywhere."

"Hey, I want get out of this stuffy car as much as you do too." He replied, "Besides, I want out of this road just before sun sets 'cause this route is very dangerous during the night." And by looks of it, the sun was already at the horizon.

Helga realized that Arnold really was determined of wanting Marcelo to remain in San Lorenzo. But she never really knew the real motivation behind it, apart from leaving his people and being all alone in America, from what she heard from the argument between him and his parents yesterday. "You're really getting work up about this aren't you? To be honest Arnold, I kind of agree with everyone else. I think he'll have good future if he stays in The States. His grandma was just looking for his best interest."

Arnold was in disbelief. He found it hard to believe that Helga actually agreed with them of bringing Marcelo to America.

"Open your eyes Arnold. San Lorenzo has nothing to offer to him. There is a reason why your friend went to Argentina to study, you know."

"What do you know?" he snapped back angrily. "I'm protesting it because I don't think it's wise to have him separated from his people. His people and his culture are dying from the result of the war, Helga! And I don't want him to forget his people, which something he might do if we send him to The States!"

Helga gazed at him back in stunned disbelief. He had a big point regarding it. Many of the world's exotic culture had succumbed to rapid modernization, and Helga understood what Arnold was trying to tell her.

"Look Helga… I'm sorry I snapped at you." Arnold said back apologetically, "It's just… I'm upset, you know. His whole family died, and I just think it's an insane idea to bring him to our country where he has no friends or family around."

Helga nodded weakly. She commended Arnold for having a logical reason of wanting Marcelo to stay here, instead of having a blind belief without any rational explanation at all. But despite of it all, Helga stood affirm with her beliefs. Arnold explanation wasn't enough to sway her from her own opinions, and she didn't want to force her opinion down to others, as much as she wanted to right now. "How did his family die?" she asked, wanting to know more about Marcelo's family.

After taking a long, deep breath, Arnold replied with a solemn tone, "His parents were massacre victims, the UN found the bodies in a mass grave. His brother was about twelve when he was taken away by the rebels and was conscripted as a soldier. Died in his first battle from gunshot wounds." He shook his head. "His sister…" he paused for a while, "Helga, do you remember when we were in fourth grade, Ms. Slovak showed us a video of those starving kids in Eritrea?"

Helga nodded again.

"Well, when my mom was working at some other Red Cross camp in the country, she found the both of them in the same condition like those kids. Mom managed to save Marcelo, but it was… too late to save his sister…" he sighed sullenly. Helga shook her head, thinking just how this beautiful country could have such a violent, grimy past. After that, they just stopped talking to each other, and thought about the conversation they just had. A few minutes had passed, and they were back on the soft dirt road again, finally. "Man…" Arnold sighed in relief. "I'm glad that's over."

---

After passing through the gate, Arnold then parked his jeep next to the stream. He and Helga both jumped out of the vehicle and began walking to the village headman's house, not far from they were now. Even though it was already night and it was dark, Helga could see several people walking into a van in the distance near the gate. Arnold then informed her that those people were working at the Tourist Center as dancers. "You know, tourists get a kick out of those stuff." He shrugged. "Silly tourists."

Arnold then knocked the door of the headman's house, and a few moments later, a large, yet well built middle aged man opened the door and smiled upon seeing his visitors. "Ah, Arnold, and his friend! Welcome!" he greeted cheerfully, "Come in, make yourselves at home!" his wife then came into front door and greeted both Arnold and Helga. The home was pretty empty, Helga felt, since she had expected some children wandering about, playing with Marcelo or something.

"Hello sir. I come here to check on Marcelo. Is he all right?" he asked, in his not-so-fluent Spanish.

The headman expression became sad a bit, turning around looking at a room behind him, and replied to Arnold. "I think you better cheer him up."

Since Helga had been in the country for more than a week, and could understand a little Spanish from the lessons she received from the people she worked with, she understood a bit what the headman just said. She then interjected, "Arnold, I think I should be around with the kid for a while." Helga didn't know why she wanted to volunteer herself, she just blurted it out all of the sudden. Maybe she just wanted to get acquainted with Marcelo, or wanted to feel how was it like to be a big sister, or felt like he needed a sisterly camaraderie, since he already lost his due to starvation and malnutrition. San Lorenzo really had changed her a lot ever since her arrival over a week ago.

Both the chief and Arnold raised an eyebrow in stunned surprise. "Are you… serious?" Arnold asked.

Helga nodded back. "Yeah. I'll go cheer him up while you go and try to convince him with your inane excuses." Helga had changed, but her feelings about Arnold still had not. She loved him, and yet, hated him. A couple of snide and sarcastic remarks wouldn't hurt… much. Arnold smiled back. Though he knew that Helga wouldn't agree with him, he was also glad that she respected his opinions. He then turned to the headman, and told him that Helga wanted to take care of him for a while. He looked at Helga, smiled and nodded in approval.

Helga walked into the said room, and saw Marcelo playing with some marbles on the floor. Any electronic videogames or expensive toys had yet to come to San Lorenzo. He had this forlorn and wistful look on his face, even though he seemed to have a blast playing. His thoughts still lingered around his grandmother. He missed her so much. Helga then sat next to him, and said, "Hey pal. Having fun?"

He didn't turn to look at her, and replied in a weak voice, "Not really. You're Arnold's friend Helga, aren't you?" he asked.

"For now… but soon, hopefully, I'll be… you know…" she replied in her mind, "Yes." She replied to him. "Mind if I join in?"

"Girls in America play marbles too?" he asked.

"Not really." She replied back, "but I'm willing to learn if you let me play with ya."

---

"But sir…" Arnold pleaded, after saying thanks to the kindly wife that poured him a cup of tea, "I really don't think it would be the best for him, or for your people."

"I know my people's population is dwindling Arnold," the village headman replied from the other side of the table, "but I do believe he will come back and make changes for the country and for my people." The headman replied back, "We Green-Eyes are a very persistent bunch, we survived countless wars and calamities, and we will certainly survive this."

Arnold still had a very skeptical look on his face. "But—"

"Son, trust me on this. He will not forget his people, or his culture." The headman said assuredly as he put his hand on Arnold shoulder, "Have respect for his grandmother's wish. She knows what she's doing."

Even after an assurance and a confident smile, Arnold still had doubts about the decision of bringing Marcelo to America. He was disappointed because he felt like nobody was taking his opinion seriously. And so with a reluctant nod, he replied, "I guess… I can't persuade you even further, sir. Please excuse me."

"Don't worry, Arnold. He'll be fine, just like my daughter." He pointed to a picture of his daughter wearing a graduation robe with her people's traditional armband holding a Bachelor's Degree scroll in her hands, smiling proudly with her parents at both sides. She graduated from one of the most prestigious university in Mexico. Arnold then nodded weakly, got up from his seat and walked slowly to Marcelo's room. He stood at the door's threshold with his arm on it and looked at Marcelo as he played marbles with Helga. He was this worried look on his face as he thought concernedly about his future. After the last throw, Helga looked at the door and saw him. Arnold gave him a weak smile and walked out.

Helga was suddenly worried about Arnold, and felt like he was blowing this agenda out of proportions. She thought that he could use a voice of reason. She then excused herself from Marcelo and followed Arnold outside and saw him sitting on a bench, deep in thought. She then sat next to him, and said, "Don't you think you're blowing this a little bit out of proportion?"

"No." he replied, shaking his head, "I still say it's a bad idea."

"Man…" Helga scoffed, "You're so stubborn."

"Well, considering the fact that the civil war killed many of the Green-Eyes, of course I'm being a bit defensive about it!" he snapped back.

"They want to rebuild their lives back, Arnold! Don't you get it?" Helga retorted back. "They need someone in high expertise to help them rebuild their lives back and they have to go overseas to learn since San Lorenzo has nothing for them! You're a big obstacle, Arnold. You're immature! You're not looking for Marcelo's best interest! Some 'brother' you turned out to be!"

"Don't you lecture me, Helga!" Arnold replied back angrily, "What do you know? You're only a week in this country and you act like you know everything there is to know about this place!"

"I may be in this place for a week, Arnold, but in that one week, I've learned more than you do. You want him to stay on this place, exposing him to countless numbers of deadly diseases, unsafe living conditions and uncertain future, fine; but don't you come running when he falls victim to them!"

Arnold gazed at her back furiously, but couldn't think of any word to continue the furious repartee. The table seemed to turn on this one, as this was the first for Helga to be the voice of reason for Arnold, instead of vice versa. Arnold hung his head down, sighed, and could only answer back with, "You know, our place ain't no picnic either."

Helga looked at him, and furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to read his expression. "Yeah… but at least it's better than here."

Arnold scoffed weakly, "That's what my parents said."

Parents… Helga never really knew how Arnold's parents survived this place when they were in grade school. Hopefully he'd shed some light to her about it. "How did your parents managed to return back home safely, Arnold? After all those long years trapped in this country."

After a thought, he replied, "Let me tell you a little story about this country, Helga. You do know this country was run by communists, right?"

Helga raised an eyebrow, "A history lesson, wheee. What ever shall I do?" Helga joked snidely.

"Well, I'd suggest for you to hear it because it'll eventually lead to the reason why my parents were trapped in this country. You see that hill over there?" he pointed to the hill where Helga saw the warning sign yesterday.

Helga nodded, "Yeah?" she was curious about it also, but never really thought about it much. "What about it?"

"Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? The Soviets originally planned this country as an auxiliary place to store the nukes if Cuba got invaded again. So they asked the San Lorenzo government to build a missile silo, they agreed, and chose this place to build it. Problem was, this land was inhabited by the Green-Eyes first, but the government forced them out." he shook his head in disbelief. "Got kicked out from their own land… it was totally uncalled for. Not that it mattered though. La Sombra's government was very oppressive to his people that some people in his administration got very angry because of his tyrannical rule. And with the help from the victims like the Green-Eyed people, they managed to overthrow his government in 1984, after a long battle. La Sombra got away unfortunately, and lived his life as a smuggler for a while."

"Oh, you mean like a coup d'état?" Helga asked.

Arnold looked at her with a baffled gaze, "A coo-they-wha?"

She raised an eyebrow in surprise, "You don't know what it means?" she asked, "I'm disappointed Arnold. I'm very disappointed in you." She teased good-naturedly, "You lived in an unstable undeveloped country for four years and you don't know what it means?"

Arnold laughed softly in disbelief, "Actually, this is the first time I heard that word. I'm not a language nut like you Helga. Well, enlighten me."

"It means, a sudden overthrow of a government by a small group of people."

"Oh…" Arnold said, enlightened by her, "Wow, I have to remember that one. So… after the coup d'état," he tried the word for the first time, "Papa Monzano took over and this country became a junta state for a while. At this stage, he opened the country's borders and all the exiles and defectors, including my dad's friend Eduardo, came back home. This was where my parents met for the first time."

"Eduardo…" Helga tried to recall, "The tall guy with the 'stache, right?"

"Yep. His family exiled to Mexico. He then went to The States to study and met with my dad. He was the one who persuaded him to come over to San Lorenzo to research the ancient buildings here."

"The ones built by the Green-Eyes right? Wait, you said the Green-Eyes were a 'lost people' and was rediscovered by your parents, weren't they? But the commie government already knew their existence when they forced them out, didn't they? I'm sensing 'plot holes' here." She joked.

Arnold chuckled softly, and calmly replied, "Well, 'lost people' can be defined into many things Helga. It may refer that they have lost their way of life, or have not yet discovered by the modern world. In the Green-Eyes' case, my parents were the first Westerner to make contact with these people, but they didn't want the credit though since Eduardo have already made contact with them before."

"I see." Helga nodded. "That's very modest of your dad."

Arnold smiled proudly, and resumed his story, "El Sombra wasn't through with it, though. He needed weapons and manpower to retake the country back. He harbored hatred for the Green-Eyes for helping the traitors in his old government and planned to steal and sell the jade that the Green-Eyes considered holy, the La Corazon. But his plans were thwarted by my parents." He said with a smile.

Helga was amused. She felt like Arnold was ripping the story off from a cartoon or something. But she kept listening since it was very interesting.

"My parents decided to get married, I was born, and then they moved to the United States. Just slightly over two years later, Eduardo came back to them, asking for help. The sleeping sickness mutated into a new strain and only my mom can help them out. They reluctantly agreed to go back to San Lorenzo," at this point Arnold was telling the story with a heartrending tone, "and left me with my grandparents…"

Helga hung her head in sadness. She symphatized at him for being separated from his parents for too long.

"Seven years… I was raised seven years without them Helga. They couldn't get back because the day after they sent the medicines, La Sombra took over the capital, the borders was shut tight and the phone line was cut. Nothing and nobody could get in or out of the country, except for food, ammunition and medicine supplies. La Sombra pledged that the so called traitors will be executed on sight. They confiscated my parent's plane to patrol around the country and kill anyone who tried to flee. They repainted and modified it so they could justify to our government that my parents were… 'missing'. La Sombra also ordered a massacre on the Green-Eyes since they were one of the reasons he was overthrown in the first place. Over 7000 people were murdered in the span of seven years… and the world turned a blind eye, because they were too preoccupied with the war in Bosnia." he closed his eyes tightly as he took a deep breath.

"Still, my parents were optimistic that they someday could make it out alive from this island, but until then, they worked as aid workers in the Red Cross along with some other foreigners who were trapped in this country. But they could do only little since food and medicine supplies came a few times in a month, and it always weren't enough. And they had to protect the Green-Eyes who seek refuge in their camp from La Sombra's army. My parents were accused of being a CIA agent by them," he laughed weakly, "and were held at gunpoint many times. Thankfully Father Campbell was there to persuade them from killing my parents. He really has my gratitude for saving them, the aid workers and the refugees many times in that seven years period."

Both Arnold and Helga smiled weakly.

Arnold resumed his story again, "Eduardo and Monzano on the other hand, were hiding deep in the mountains along with the resistance, trying to find a way to overthrow La Sombra. They know they couldn't stand a chance against him because his men were better equipped then them, so the only thing they could do was to get reinforcements. They reused the same plan: sending someone in the middle of the night out in the sea hoping for some boat from a neighboring country will pick him up. All others who did that mission earlier either died trying or got shot. It was a suicide mission. But eventually one person managed to get picked up by the Puerto Rican Coast Guard and told them about the situation in San Lorenzo. Outraged, the UN condemned La Sombra and sent peacekeepers there to help. This was the help that Eduardo and Monzano had hoped for. Our country spearheaded the offensive and helped the resistance. Bolivar fell within hours. La Sombra, once again, was driven out."

"A few weeks after Bolivar fell, The new San Lorenzo government organized a essay competition in the United States to have one lucky kid: me, because I won that competition, and his class to go on a trip to San Lorenzo to show to the world that it was safe once again to travel here." He then suddenly laughed, "You want to know to funniest thing?"

Helga nodded, smiling a bit to lighten the mood since she saw Arnold's face brightened up once again.

"The essay was just a ploy to get me into the country because my parents knew that I will enter it. Since my parents couldn't get out due to the UN's internal quarantine because they don't want the Sleeping Disease to spread or let the public know about it, they pleaded to Eduardo to device a plan to bring me here. So Ed came up with this essay competition and the entries were sent to schools in our country. I entered obviously and sent my crappy essay."

"Oh, so that's why you won. That was blatant biasness." Helga joked.

"Who cares? I united back with my parents didn't I?" Arnold replied with a smile. "It was… the happiest day of my live when I saw them. I cried for days. My parents would just hug me tightly, not letting me go."

Helga smiled at him, "It's a happy ending, and I'm glad that it ended that way, Arnold." She said to him. Deep in her heart, she was hoping for her story to have a happy ending of its own when she arrives home this Sunday. Then, the village headman's wife popped out from the front door and looked at them, "Arnold, would you and your friend like to have dinner with us?"

Arnold turned to Helga and asked, "Wanna join them for dinner?" she nodded. Arnold then nodded at the lady and said, "Sí." The old lady smiled, and walked back in. Arnold and Helga got up from their seats and headed for the dining room. Helga saw Marcelo still in his room, curling in his bed. She was concerned, and it her concern was shared by Arnold.

"Arnold…" Helga said, "Could you tell them that I want to stay here for the night?" the request shocked him.

"Really?" he asked. "How come?"

She looked at Marcelo. Arnold was surprised because she was never this compassionate before. By now, he really liked her a lot for all the good things she had done, "Okay, I'll tell them." He replied with a soft smile. "But I won't stay with you guys though. I promised my dad to help him with some of the manuscripts he just found in the ruins. I'll pick you up tomorrow early in the morning."

Well, that's about my view why Arnold's parents couldn't return back home. Again, some of storyline are reference to The Journal, Parents Day and the never released The Jungle Movie. Thank you for reading, and please leave a review.