He took the bus back home. His head resting against the window, Arthur looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed a young face staring back at him. A small black boy staring at him with a bored expression on his face. Arthur didn't like seeing any child be so unhappy, let alone bored out of their skull. He sat up straight and decided to amuse the child, seeing no harm in it. He made a grimacing face and concealed it with both his hands, revealing to him a surprised expression. This made the boy laugh. Arthur continued to make the child giggle with his funny face antics, but the boy's mother did not approve. She turned to Arthur.
"Would you please stop bothering my kid?" The mother snapped.
Arthur gave a polite smile and explained, "I wasn't bothering him, I was just-"
"Just stop!" The mother demanded.
The boy sat back down in his seat, disappointed. He was actually enjoying the funny man playing peek-a-boo with him.
Arthur felt a wave of sadness come over him, as well. What followed next was another wave, only this time it was a wave of laughter. An appropriate time for it to happen, as usual.
The mother turned her head and looked at Arthur again. "What, you think that's funny?" She asked offended.
Arthur looked at her with sad eyes and continued to laugh, shaking his head. He put a hand to his mouth, shaking his head again as he reached into his pocket for something. He pulled out a laminated card and handed it to her.
"I'm sorry", said Arthur, trying to catch his breath. "I have-Ha ha ha ha!"
The mother looked at the card and turned it over for more information on his condition. She looked at Arthur with pity and turned back to face forward in her seat with her son.
Arthur sat there in defeat, resting a hand on his chest as the laughing slowly died down. He silently cursed his laughter for bringing him such pain and causing him to look foolish in front of others.
Arthur got off at the bus stop and walked down the sidewalk with a limp. He was sore from the beating he took. He staggered down the street as he made his way home to his apartment. The night grew dark and cold. There was smog in the air. There were sirens in the distance. Nothing new from any other night in Gotham City. He walked down to the pharmacy and went in to pick up a refill on his medication.
More bags of garbage lined the sidewalk, but this did not bother him as much as when he turned the corner and looked up toward his least favorite part of the day. The towering stairs. Once again, Arthur was forced to trudge up those same damn stairs in order to reach the safety and comfort of his home. With his head held as low as his spirit, Arthur slowly walked up the stairway, feeling the struggle of everyday life weighing down on him like a boulder.
Once he entered the apartment building, Arthur took out the keys from his pocket and checked the mailbox. Nothing. Again. He took the elevator and got out and went down to apartment 8J.
He unlocked the door and went inside and placed his keys on the small shelf and then tossed the bag of medicine into the kitchen. He closed the door and removed his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.
"Happy, did you check the mail before you came up?" His mother asked him from her bedroom.
"Yeah, Mom. Nothing", said Arthur.
He went into the kitchen and opened the white paper bag from the pharmacy and took out three prescription bottles, looking at each one and seeing what they were for. He set two of them down on the counter and opened the other one. He poured out two pills and swallowed them down with a drink of water. He placed the bottle next to his other medications and began to prepare his mother her dinner.
Arthur walked into his mother's bedroom with a TV dinner on a serving tray. His mother, Penny, was sitting up in bed and watching the news. She had a faint smile on her face, her faded yellow hair draped over one shoulder. The man on television talked about a rat infestation. Arthur placed the serving tray over his mother's lap and began to cut her meal into small pieces while they talked.
"He must not be getting my letters", said Arthur's mother, talking about Thomas Wayne.
"He's Thomas Wayne, Mom", Arthur reminded her. "He's a busy man."
"Oh, please", said his mother, brushing off his comment. "I worked for that family for years. The least he could do is write back."
"Here, Mom. You need to eat."
"You need to eat. Look how skinny you are."
Arthur sat down in a chair next to the bed and looked briefly at the television and ran a hand through his hair and looked at his mother with a small smile. She was in such a good mood, he didn't want to ruin her day with what happened to him at work.
"He'll make a great mayor. Everybody says so", said his mother.
"Oh, yeah?" Arthur asked playfully. "Everybody who? Who do you talk to, Mom?"
"Everybody on the news", his mother answered. "He's the only one who can save this city. He owes it to us."
A band started to play jazz music on the television screen, announcing the start of the next program.
"Come sit down, it's starting", said Arthur's mother.
"All right."
Arthur turned off the lamp on the nightstand and stood up and walked over to the other side and sat down on the bed. He turned off the second lamp and removed his shoes and socks and sat criss-cross on the bed with his mother. It was time for the Murray Franklin Show. It was the most popular television program in Gotham and almost everybody watched, including Arthur and his mother.
The opening music played in the background and a male announcer introduced the main host of the show. Pretty soon, Murray Franklin came out from behind the curtain and waved to the crowd.
Murray Franklin, a sixty year old man dressed in suit and tie, came dancing out onto the stage to greet his audience. Gray-haired and with a wrinkled face, he looked like a friendly old man, but once the camera stopped rolling, he was nothing more than a smug snake. Somewhere underneath that celebrity charm and fake ass grin, he was nothing more than a sour-faced grouch. No sympathy whatsoever!
To Arthur, however, Murray Franklin was a man of charm and talent. He practically modeled himself after the older comedian and often looked to him for inspiration. Watching the Murray Franklin Show was the highlight of his day and he almost never missed it. He often wondered what it was like being on the show, and sometimes even imagined being a member of the audience, or even being on the show himself as a guest.
At the moment, Arthur fantasized about sitting with the audience, applauding with the crowd before sitting back down in his seat.
"Thank you, thank you", said Murray. "We've got a great looking audience tonight."
Murray addressed the audience with a quick joke about the super rat problem overpowering Gotham City. His punchline? To release a gang of super cats into the streets and let them take care if it.
The audience laughed at Murray's weak joke, including Arthur, who burst out laughing like a hyena.
Just as Murray was about to address the audience with another joke, Arthur raised his voice and shouted out to the talk show host, "I love you, Murray!"
"I love you, too", Murray replied. "Who is that? Was that you?" He pointed toward Arthur and asked, "Hey, can we get the spotlight on him? Stand up, son."
The spotlight shined down on Arthur and the audience applauded. Arthur stood up and waved shyly to those around him. He looked at Murray and placed his hands behind his back, smiling brightly.
"What's your name, kid?"
"Hi, Murray. Um, Arthur...M-My name is Arthur", he said timidly.
"All right", said Murray. "Well, there's something special about you, Arthur. I can tell. Where you from?"
"I live right here in the city with my m-mother", said Arthur.
The audience laughed, but Murray defended him.
"All right, hold on! There's nothing funny about that. I lived with my mother before I made it big. Before, it was just me and her. I'm that kid who's father went out for a pack of cigarettes and he never came back."
"I know what that's like, Murray", said Arthur. "I've been the man of the house for as long as I can remember. I take good care of my mother." He spoke the last part with pride. The audience applauded him.
"All that sacrifice, she must love you a lot", said Murray.
"She does", said Arthur. "She always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She says I was put here to spread joy and laugher."
The audience applauded him again, and Arthur was soaking up every ounce of it. He smiled his biggest smile, feeling happy for once.
"I like that, I like that a lot", said Murray. "You know what? Why don't you come on down here, Arthur? You gotta come down."
The crowd clapped hard and burst into applause, but Arthur, although he was honored, kindly waved off Murray's offer.
"Yeah, come on. Come on down", Murray encouraged.
Arthur finally gave in and obliged. He walked down onto the stage and shook hands with Murray. The talk show host patted him on the shoulder and Arthur turned to the audience to take a bow before the adoring crowd.
"All right, don't go anywhere, folks", said Murray to the camera. "Stay tuned and we'll be right back."
Once they were off the air, Murray turned to Arthur and told him, "Hey, that was great, Arthur. I really appreciate it. You know something? You made my day."
"Thanks, Murray", said Arthur.
"You see, Arthur, with all the spotlights and success and stuff...Well, I'd give it all up any day just to have a son like you."
Murray wrapped his arms around Arthur, embracing him into a tight hug. To Arthur, it was as though he were meeting his father for the first time. For one tiny moment, he was happy. In his own little world, he was accepted and loved.
And that was the way Arthur always saw it. A man who he admired for years, welcoming him as if he were his own blood. He was the father figure he wished he could have had. He hardly remembered his own.