Disclaimer: This licence isn't mine. The opinions express by the characters are not mine. I do not support nor encourage the illegal or dangerous acts or words present here. I can make a distinction between fiction and reality and I trust in my readership's ability in doing the same.

Chapter 44: Redemption and Reconciliation

Huckleberry Pie had changed a lot. Who would have believed that the eternal teenager would turn into an exemplar father? After Blueberry Muffin's departure, he spent a lot of time with Orange Blossom. Don't guess he was courting her! She helped him to take a fresh start in life. "Everybody deserves a second chance", she said, and she had shown him how to go bankrupt. The last thing he needed was to worry about his debts, now that he had to take care of his baby girl. However, he was forced to dispose of his van, his last possession without Tom Tom, for erasing his debts.

-Anyway, a van was not a proper house for a baby, Orange Blossom had said during the sale. "When you'll be working in Green Meadow Village, try to find a real house for both of you-I mean a house stuck to the ground, with a roof and a floor."

But Huckleberry Pie had no regret.

-I would do anything to ensure a good life for my daughter, he asserted.

During his sojourn in Strawberryland, before starting his new life in Green Meadow Village, Huckleberry Pie stayed at Blueberry Muffin's cottage with his daughter. When the girls, rather amused, asked him if he had stopped idealizing his new fatherhood, he extremely seriously answered that he was highly experienced with noise, pressure and lack of sleep due to his life with a pack of wild animals, like angry stray dogs or violent feral cats; but that Blueberry Pie was much cuter than a dog or a cat.

Another joke he did not really appreciate was when Angel Cake mischievously affirmed him that Blueberry Muffin would be back soon, into a deep state of panic, and would announce him she was waiting for Blueberry Pie's little sister or brother and did not know if she should keep it or not*.

However, the Princess Berrykin could not calm down.

-I must admit that this little pest fooled us! She cried. "Throwing the baby out with the bath water… literally. She was all very well for playing the tearful mother, before doing a runner and leaving her baby high and dry. Did she though we did not want to be imposed her baby?"

Even Berrykin Bloom was hauled over the coals.

-You have, too, your part of responsibility, she told him with a reproachful voice. "You did not advise Mister Huckleberry well. You should have force him to stay in Strawberryland. There's a lot of other girls in Green Meadow Village. He will fall in love with one of them, I bet my life on it, and forgot Blueberry Pie to start a life together with his new girlfriend, with who he would certainly have children, wanted, this time. And us, we will have to take care of her until her majority!"

-Your Majesty, I can feel Mister Huckleberry Pie's love for his daughter is true and deep. He would never abandon her on an impulse.

-I sincerely hope that "Mister Huckleberry Pie's love for his daughter" is not as true and as deep as was Miss Blueberry Muffin's one, otherwise we are fooled, the Princess coldly replied.

Hunching, the twin princesses were waiting, anxiously, for the end of their mother's wrath. They were not quite reassured to see her reprimanding their tutor, as if he was a naughty little boy.

-On top of that, the Princess added, "This little scatterbrain's departure made us loose our only preschool teacher. So, in sanction, Berrykin Bloom, you will be in charge in finding another one for our community, in addition to your other tasks. Of course, if you fail, you will be nominated as our preschool teacher, while your apprentice will be given all your current function and responsibilities. I hope you don't forget that the privileges you've got are only due to my generosity and can be withdrawn at any moment."

The Princess quickly regretted these words, which had been pronounced in the grip of anger. Luckily, Berrykin Bloom quickly got out if this tricky situation by getting Berrykin Bonnie, a young and energetic female Berrykin who showed interest for everything (and consequently was always flitting around and had not regular job), understand she was now old enough to make herself useful for her community; and the Princess did not have to follow through with threat, to her great relief.

Huckleberry Pie was also given the occasion of meeting his new but temporary neighbors, with more details. He was eager to know everything that had happened in Strawberryland since the last time he had come, that is to say when he had been unfairly banished; and the girls were equally impatient to hear his news. He carefully avoided to mention the car accident in which he was involved, and only talked about the way he had went out of business, that had led him to full marginalization and homelessness, until his rescue by Sister Pudding.

-That's her spitting portray, Plum Pudding declared. "My cousin had always been like that, ready to forgive everyone's mistake and to help them, even for the bastards of the worst kind."

Then it was Huckleberry's turn to hear the girls' stories. He congratulated Orange Blossom for her devotion in improving Berrykins' sort in life, because he would have never though of it by himself but now realized how important it was. He empathized with Strawberry Shortcake's misfortunes, and swore her it was not her fault. She could have done everything for her sister, no one could have changed her inner nature; and Apple Dumplin' was even lucky to meet someone as patient and indulgent as Strawberry Shortcake. However, he blamed Angel Cake, who had taken benefit of Strawberry Shortcake's desperation to advance her career. But the story that was aimed to shock him the most was Plum Pudding's one.

-I don't really know what have happened, she said, showing the remaining scars on her legs, "And I guess that I will never know. That's so… maddening to think that this road hog will never be bothered about what he's done to me".

Huckleberry felt some guilt growing on his stomach. She had used the term "road hog", something he had been. The bloodiest part of his past, he would never share. Never.

-What happened to you? He asked softly.

Plum Pudding swallowed. Strawberry Shortcake guessed that remembering this incident was certainly too painful for her friend, so she decided to help her.

-Plum Pudding had been knocked over after one of her recitals, in Berry Big City, she said. "She would need a lot of time to recover, but she had already made so much efforts, and the Berrykins made a special ointment to speed her recovery up".

-But I'm sure I will never regain my level, Plum Pudding hurled, with a lot of bitterness. "My life of dancer ended with this stupid accident. I hope this criminal will lose everything that matters for him, just to experienced what I feel daily since this night."

Plum Pudding's intervention had casted a chill in the audience. But Huckleberry Pie was going through hell, now. If the other Strawberrylanders mistaken his guilt for compassion, the questions he asked, in private, to Strawberry Shortcake about Plum Pudding's accident finished to reveal him the truth: he was the road hog who had broken Plum Pudding's dreams. From one side, he had been at first glad to see he was finally not a murderer. From the other one, he though that what he has done was worst than death: Plum Pudding was doomed to live a life of regret, remorse and memories, entirely by his fault. Plum Pudding was right: he was Nothing else than a bastard of the worst kind.

In Green Meadow Village, Huckleberry Pie had been forced to ask, once more, Sister Pudding for advice.

-I met the girl I had knocked down, he said. "She's still alive but she will stay disabled for the rest of her life, and she was a such talented dancer before. She sank into depression, and I'm scared it could get worse. What can I do for her?"

-The only thing that could release your conscious is to confess her, directly, your responsibility in her accident, Sister Pudding softly said.

-No! I'll never could…

-This is the only way I see, Huckleberry, Sister Pudding answered with a saddened face. "Like that, you'll know once and for all if she can forgive you or not. In any case, you'll no longer get lost into suppositions."

-What if she refuses to forgive me? She said she wishes the responsible to lose everything he loves!... Sister, I'm afraid she could hurt my poor daughter, as a revenge.

-Indeed, shifting her own anger on an innocent baby and hurting her would be a terrible proof of her descent into hell. Unfortunately, if our Mother Earth believes this is the proper retribution for your acts, you will only have to bear Her decision.

-Wait! Huckleberry cried, terrified. "What if I… er… forestall Mother Earth's retribution? Plum Pudding is only wounded! Maybe an excellent surgeon could perfectly heal her and let her regain her activity?

Sister Pudding smiled.

-This is an excellent way for repairing your error, but I don't know how a penniless boy like you could hire this "excellent surgeon".

Huckleberry sighed with desperation.

-Orange Blossom just helped me erasing my debt, I won't take out a loan right after! And I guess your convent hasn't have…

-Unfortunately, we can not afford for a such medical bill. But…

Sister Pudding's face had lit up.

-This kind of surgery can only take place in the best hospital of Bubblegum Valley, and our little convent can not pay for a stay there. However, our Mother Earth had placed us in Her heart, with unlimited landscapes to force us to meet each other. You and me, as isolated people, cannot gather all the money we would need. But if a larger amount of people joins our quest, the effort we would have to make individually would decrease and we would all be able to enjoy the result of our union.

-You mean you plan to organize a fund-raising for Plum Pudding's surgery?

-It's a dignified action to help a young person blooming again. This is the assignment our Mother Earth gave us, since the time She houses us. But I'm afraid they won't give much, and that there would still be a big part of the bill to pay.

-Unless we can have a special discount, Huckleberry said. He had just remembered Plum Pudding's twin brother. He had heard that one of his former classmate and friend was herself a surgeon.

-My dear Huckleberry Pie, you can still rely on our convent's generosity, but I think you are a little bit too enthusiastic. The doctors working there are not Good Samaritans, and they search to do profitable investment.

Huckleberry Pie stood up, showing Sister Pudding he was going to leave.

-Sister, what you are ready to do really touches me. Helping me by organizing this collection is more than what I deserve from you. Please, do it for Plum Pudding, not for giving me a clear conscience. By my side, I'll try to see how I can fix things by myself.

Huckleberry Pie's task was hard. Getting Plum Puddin's contact details through his sister Plum Pudding was still rather easy: he simply pretended he missed his childhood friend and wanted to see him once more. But steering Plum Puddin' about his "former classmate" who had contacts with Bubblegum Valley's Hospital, without seeming suspect, was much tougher.

Of course, Plum Puddin' told Huckleberry in one of the emails he had sent him, he had tried to get a special favor for his sister through his classmate**. But is was not as easy as what he had expected. If his friend Puree of Hazelnut had been the Hospital's director, she would have operated Plum Pudding for nothing. But she was just a junior doctor and she could not take this kind of decision. And, according to the Hospital's class, they were not willing to do charitable work. So, Huckleberry Pie tried a change of tactic. He asked Plum Puddin' to give him Puree's personal contact details. No! he promised he won't take advantage of this opportunity to harass her. The reason was… well, he considered embarking upon medical studies for becoming a vet, and he would like to talk about his future academic career with someone. No! he won't try to court Puree, so shortly after Blueberry Muffin. How could Plum Puddin' imagined such things?

When Huckleberry had promised Plum Piddin' he was not going to harass Puree of Hazelnut, he meant to sexually harass her. But, in his opinion, harassing her with mails was harmless, and so acceptable. Hundreds of time, he asked her, under the seal of secrecy, if she could not get them a discount; and hundreds of time, she answered, less and less politely, that it was impossible. The Hospital's director herself contacted Huckleberry to tell him that if he had no money, he only had to be satisfied with average medical care, and should stop pestering her junior doctors right now. But Huckleberry did not surrender. Helping this promising young girl would make them a wonderful publicity. And what was the use of having cutting-edge fittings in their Hospital if no one could benefit from it? Anyway, by dint of seeing hurt, ill or wounded patients all day long, couldn't they understand what it meant to be physically and psychologically diminished after an accident? Couldn't they forget their benefits, just for once, and listen to their heart?

Huckleberry Pie insisted so and so that the director understood she wouldn't get rid of him until giving him what he wanted. After weeks of fight, she sent him the long-awaiting email: she agreed in letting Plum Pudding benefit of this surgery, and the bill would not exceed the collection's total. Her generosity had one condition: she didn't want this event to make the "wonderful publicity" Huckleberry had praised. "We're not a general hospital", she had said, "And there is no way we will reiterate this experience". It was really a big favor, because Sister Pudding, in spite of her willing in stimulating the villagers' generosity, had only managed to gather a tenth of the original bill***.

Then, it was the time for Huckleberry to present their action to Plum Pudding, and, in the same time, to confess his culpability.

-I'm not sure to be courageous enough to do it, he had anxiously muttered to Sister Pudding.

-You have to, my brother. You can no longer back out. This confession will be painful, of course; but it will be quickly over, and your culpability will be annulled by your gift. Anyway, she said, "You had fought against your own friends and a whole Hospital to do what seems fair to you. In comparison with what you have done, your speech will be a piece of cake.

Huckleberry Pie asked Sister Pudding if she could come with him in Strawberryland.

-Seeing you in my audience will help me to stand their reproach, he said.

She agreed. Maybe the Strawberrylanders would not be as understanding as she was hoping, and that Huckleberry would need someone to come for his defense if things went wrong.

When the D-Day arrived, Huckleberry Pie was almost dying out of apprehension. Maybe his old friends would not forgive him? Maybe Plum Pudding would refuse his gift? Maybe they would lynch him? The only person that could appease him was Sister Pudding. She had taken the berry first train for Strawberryland and had stayed close to him for the whole morning.

-You will feel so much better when you will have confessed your secret, she repeated him, while they were waiting for Plum Puddin' and his girlfriend, TN Honey, their special guest.

-I no longer think it's a good idea, Huckleberry said, in panic. "Plum Puddin' will smash my head in".

-I won't let him do a such thing. But if he really does that, your scars will be the eternal recollection of your redemption.

Sometimes, Huckleberry thought that Sister Pudding's faith was more worrying than anything else.

As the morning carried on, Huckleberry's anxiety got worse. He wished, with all his strength, that something awful but beyond his control happened to him, like… a heart failure, for example. But nothing happened, and now all the Strawberrylanders, including the Royal Family all together, and baby Blueberry Pie, sleeping in her stroller, were gathered in the great clearing. The only thing they new was that Huckleberry had a great announcement for them, and that he had to make it public as soon as possible.

-Maybe he is going to set up a new company? Orange Blossom asked.

-I hope it's not that, Angel Cake cried. "I'm sure he would go bankrupt in no time".

-Now, my brother, it is your time, Sister Pudding said, gently pushing him in front of the audience.

-Please… No! I want to go back!

-It's impossible now. Keep going, it will be over soon.

Huckleberry found himself so ridiculous, standing there like a lemon in front of all his old friends, who were staring at him, smiling. He feared the time when, due to his words, these friendly smiles would turn into grimaces of anger.

-I love you so much, he quietly said, as a clumsy introduction.

-We love you, too, Strawberry Shortcake answered, surprised.

-I never wanted to hurt you. I swear it, he added, fingering the hem of his sweater.

-We all know it was a mistake, the Princess Berrykin replied, ill at ease She thought he was still talking about her judicial error.

Huckleberry Pie looked at them all and felt he was blushing. All these nice smiles. As many grimaces of anger, in not time. They were waiting for him to talk. But he did not want to talk. He wanted this moment, when all his friends still believed he was pure and innocent, to last forever.

Sitting in the last row, Sister Pudding nodded at him. She wanted him to carry on. And Huckleberry knew he could not disappoint her. Not after all that she had done to him. And if he chickened out now, he would never do it again. Taking a deep breath, he said, as fast as possible:

-Plum Pudding, I am the responsible of your accident. I'm sorry, but I don't think you would forgive me one day.

The last part of his sentence had been covered by the crowd's murmurs. Huckleberry Pie, their Huckleberry Pie, being a road hog, a reckless idiot, a danger to the public? Letting one of their friends disabled for life? No, it could not be possible! He must be lying! But… What if Blueberry Muffin was right? What of it was really to dangerous to entrust a baby to his care?

For the moment, the Strawberrylanders were to chocked by this revelation for taking care of Huckleberry Pie, but he knew he had not many times left. In a few seconds, they would remember he was still in front of them and hold him accountable.

-I can arrange everything, he said with a voice he wanted to be stronger and more confident, to cover the crowd's noise. "Sister Pudding help me. Plum Pudding, you will get better. We can send you in the best hospital of the whole country. I promise you will dance again".

-Shall we smash his face in? TN Honey asked to Plum Puddin'.

-I was wondering the same thing, Plum Puddin' answered, lowering his voice, "But I must admit that Huckleberry Pie, if he tells the truth, deserve our clemency. However, if he's simply bamboozling us… He'll really regret it."

As for Plum Pudding, she did not really know anymore what she had to think. She made a break to Huckleberry Pie to shower him with blows and hug him, she told him he was an asshole and abundantly thanked him for saving her legs, until being overwhelmed by emotion and shed a flood of tears that made her lose her contact lens, and repeating by turns she hated Huckleberry Pie and that he was a hero.

Fortunately, Huckleberry Pie did not have to regret his speech. The next day, Plum Pudding, escorted by her twin brother, boarded for Bubblegum Valley. If Angel Cake affirmed that is gift was a feeble attempt to rectify what he had done, to which gravity should not be lightened, all the other Strawberrylanders, encouraged by Sister Pudding, rather admired Huckleberry's bravery****. Strawberry Shortcake noticed that the most important thing to remember was that plum Pudding herself had forgiven him, while Orange Blossom was standing there astounded and could not stop repeating she had always thought it was impossible to get any favor from this kind of organization. But Huckleberry's biggest reward was to see approval in Sister Pudding's eyes… well, knowing he had avoided to get a beating from Plum Puddin' and TN Honey was also a good thing.

To be continued…

Author's notes

* and **: More information in the 7th chapter.

*** and ****: If you think it's far-fetched and incredible, remember we are in a magic world.