I do not own The Simpson.
Enjoy!
Marge began to wake up from her sleep.
She just had the weirdest dream that Homer had turned into a good husband.
She dreamt that he had fixed the locks, washed the windows, sealed up all the holes in the house that the cat could get into with the help of Bart and had wooed her in bed.
But even she knew that was too farfetched to be true, but it sure would be nice.
She turned to her left and found that Homer wasn't there, in fact, she came face to face with the Alarm clock.
It read 10: 05
All sleepiness vanished from her as she properly read the time.
10:05!?
She suddenly sat up and yelled "THE KIDS!"
That's when Homer came in.
She was stunned to see him dressed in his white shirt, blue work tie and blue jeans and black shoes, in his arms was a tray that had a single plate on it and on that plate was two finely cooked eggs, three slices of golden toast, two hash browns and three sausages.
Beside the plate was a glass cup full of orange juice and next, it was a carton of orange juice.
"HOMER! THE KIDS!" She said, "THEIR LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
But instead of panic, she was confused when her husband went to her bed side and sat down as if he wasn't in a rush.
"Marge, the kids are fine" Homer said, much to her surprise. "This morning, I woke up all of the kid's and fed them breakfast. Then I dropped Lisa and Bart to school and left Maggie at day care. There is no need to worry"
Marge was stunned and could only say. "Wha-"
"I turned the alarm off because I wanted you to sleep in today" Homer said, shocking her even more. "You've been working hard for so long, that I thought I would do something for you. The kids were as quiet a mouse because I told them not to wake you and I made you breakfast"
"B-But, what about work?" Marge said, trying to find some reason to worry.
"Carl is covering for me," Homer said, "Mister Barns doesn't know who is who, or what everybody does so I can just slip in."
"B-B-But," Marge said.
Homer kissed her and said. "Enjoy, your breakfast, Marge. You deserve it" then he got up and walked out of the room.
Marge was stunned.
It had been real.
Homer made his way down the steps and towards the kitchen where his blue steel like lunchbox was waiting for him, he had made his kid's and his lunch, he had filled his lunchbox's with fruit and vegetables, before he went the tall wooden coat rake several paces from the door and took his brown fur coat.
He then turned to see Marge ontop of the steps and gave her a smile, she looked at him stunned before he opening the door and walking out it, making way to the car, this time he had his car keys and put them in the key hole before driving off to the power plant.
As he drove, he found himself getting used to the ugliness of Springfield, not that he was happy that his family lived in such a place but it was much less of a shock to his sense's than it was when he got out of the hospital.
However, it was the first time he had been to the power plant parking lot since he was given a blow to the head and found that it was a lot cleaner than the Kwik-E-Mart car park.
Cars were lined up as far his eyes could see, and everybody could see Mr Burns black Limousine shinning in an 'in your face' way.
The vehicle was parked in the man's parking spot away from the parking of his workers.
Around the vehicle were people hired to make sure his Limousine always looked spotless.
Homer wanted respect like that with a paycheck to match.
He got out and coughed, he felt his lung's fill with soot and smoke, his hands clenching his steel lunchbox, praying that it didn't open so the fruit and veg would be contaminated.
It was so bad that he had to hold his breath and run to the front the door because he knew, he had to provide for his family.
The inside was even worse than he remembered it, rats ran free on the floor, the tiles on the floor were broken, toxic waste oozing out of the walls, people were walking around not wearing protective suits.
He walked down the halls; each step was more shocking than the last one.
By the time he got to his room, he genuinely feared for his life and wanted to call the Power Plant inspector.
The steel door open and he got a full version of a dark-skinned man relaxing in his steel seat with doughnuts.
It was his friend, Carl Carlson.
"Carl, I'm here," He said.
The chair swivelled around, and the full image of the man revealed himself onto him.
"Oh, hi. Homer. Do you want one?" Carl said, taking a bite out of strawberry glazed Donut.
And Homer first instinct was to scream yes and devour it like a hoover, but he managed to stop himself.
"Sorry, Carl. I'm going to lay off the doughnuts for a while" He said, shocking the man.
"Really?" Carl said, blinking owlishly.
"Yes, really," Homer said, his will was like iron.
"...Okay, then" Carl said, before walking past him and the doors opened, letting him through.
Homer went to his chair and sat on it before looking around.
He looked at the massive complex looking workstation in front, there were buttons, and switch's everywhere, and hardily any of them were marked.
For the first time since he begged Mr Burns for his job back when Maggie was born, it bothered him that there was no label on the buttons or switch's and he had no idea what did, what.
You would think after several close calls and how costly a single mistake on the machine could be, he would have leant how to do his job correctly, but he was clueless.
And that now bothered him.
One wrong lean in and the whole powerplant could go boom, Springfield depended on the plant for its power and jobs.
What if something was currently switched on when it shouldn't be?
So many things began filling up his head, compelling him to learn what the hell he was looking instead of putting his feet up and consuming doughnuts.
"But there isn't a laptop, here!" Homer said, there was nothing in front of him that taught him how to do his job.
Then he knocked on his head and said. "Brain. I am begging you to think right now. What if I cause a massive explosion and kill my whole family including all of Springfield?"
And then his mind seemed to listen to him, and he suddenly had a flashback to Lisa in the kitchen.
"Dad. Can you take me to the Library, the place where you can find out about anything? I need to do a book report" She said.
"Sure, sweetie," Homer said after Marge gave him a stern look.
Homer went back to the real world said. "I GOT IT! THE LIBRARY!"
He leapt off the chair and ran to the door, the door opened, and he yelled down the hall. "CAN ANYBODY COVER FOR ME!?"
About a dozen guys came forward, everybody here, covered for everybody.
Homer walked to the exit with his lunchbox, cutting off his nose and running quickly into the parking lot and got into the car, before rolling the windows all the way up and breathing.
He started the car and then drove out of the parking lot.
He had been to Springfield library loads of times because of Lisa; he knew the way by heart and the parking lot he found himself in was much nicer than the power plant parking lot, since not that many people in Springfield went to the Library.
Especially in the age of the internet.
The building was small and brown; he left his lunch inside the car as he approached the automatic doors opened for him.
He could feel the knowledge in the air when he saw the row of books stacked neatly side by side each other, and the brown carpet was practically untouched.
He saw a familiar young woman with long blond hair in a pony tail and in a brown suit and black shoes.
"Your Lisa Simpson, dad, right?" Said, the woman seeing him.
Of course, the workers here know he was, Lisa spent half her time in the library and he was always dragged through the front door looking miserable.
"Yes, that's me," He said.
"Did you come to pick up, Lisa. Books?" Said, the woman.
Homer was surprised; he didn't even know Lisa had books that needed to be picked up.
So, to avoid looking bad, he said.
"U-Ur, yes," He said, and the woman smiled, but then he said. "Oh, and also. I'm looking to check out some books as well."
Now it was time for the women to be surprised.
"What books do you want to take out?" Said, the woman.
"I went books on Nuclear Safety inspection," Homer said, surprising her since it was a very advanced topic.
"Of course, right this way," She said, she had been through these row's many times before, not to know where everything is.
They walked down the third row and looked at the books on the right; then she started throwing large heavy books at him.
Homer almost crumbled over the first one but kept at it.
Finally, she stopped and said. "I think there is more on the other side."
"I-I'm good," Homer said, making her look at him in surprise before he said. "I want to finish these first before going onto the other half."
"Oh, okay," She said, before saying. "Let's get you a library card."
He followed as she walked while feeling his arms and legs burn from the force he had to use to carry the books.
They walked to a corner where was a small digital camera was seeing on a tripod and in front of that camera was a stool, connecting that was camera was a wire that connected it to an old looking computer held up by a desk and beside the computer was a particular printer.
"Please sit down, and I'll take the picture." She said, going behind the desk and imputing something on the computer and he took a seat in front of the camera.
"3,2, 1. Smile" said, the woman and he did.
The flash almost blinded him.
"Great. Now, what is your name, birthday and age?" Said, the woman.
Homer told her the information, and she was surprised by the fact that he was 39 when he looked much older than that.
Then something began to print out when she imputed the data into the machine and Homer was soon given a library card just like Lisa's, but his photo looked a whole lot worse than her's.
Homer did not like how unkept his beard looked or how his sculps were showing on his head; then he was taken to the main desk to put the books under his name.
He watched as an old woman with grey hair and a brown suit, start stamping his book one by one with a stamp that was running out of ink and with an attitude that showed how little she cared about this job.
And then when he was done, Lisa's books appeared, and the old one started to stamped those, the whole process took half an hour, and Homer walked out with a bag of books that for once wasn't all Lisa's.
He walked to the car and felt relief as he dumped them onto the chair next to the driving seat and drove away.
He made his way back to the Powerplant just in time for lunch.
"Hey, Homer. Do you want some doughnuts?" Said, Lenny Leonard in his signature green shirt, brown pants and black shoes.
"No, thanks. Trying to stay off them for a while" He said, walking away from the brightly light room that only existed to tempt him.
Carl appeared beside Lenny and said. "Told you, Homer is acting weird."
Homer made it to his workstation and dropped the books and his lunchbox in front of the chair before he stuck his hand inside the bag and took the first book he saw that did not look like something Lisa would read for fun.
The first book was yellow and had the words in black 'Understanding Nuclear for dummies.
For the first time, he cracked open a book without being forced to, then he opened his lunchbox and began to eat an apple before reading the first the first paragraph out loud, luckily the words were so huge that he didn't need his glasses.
"Chapter 1...What is Nuclear Waste." He began.
For several hours, nobody saw him come out of his workstation, and when they went to check on him, they were shocked to find him reading.
The work day was soon over, and Homer was half paying attention to the road and half reading his book.
He walked home, and Marge was stunned to find him reading with a bag of books dangling on his arm and his lunchbox on his left, as he kissed her.
Homer took off his coat and dumped the lunchbox while he read his way to the dining room, but when he sat down, and Marge went to serve the food, he finally put the book down to focus on the meal.
His mind instantly noticed somebody missing, making him look higher than just his paper plate and utensils.
Lisa wasn't in her spot on his right.
"Where's Lisa?" He said, shouldn't they eat as a family?
"Lisa has that gig with a band that nobody wants to see," Bart said, using a fork to bit into a lamp chop on his plastic plate.
Homer mind went to what he had promised Lisa a day before.
He promised that he would see her band play!
"That was today!?" He said, getting up and ran upstairs, he found the recorder on the cabinet on his side of the bed and the yesterday version of him had the sense to put it on a charge, he ripped it from its plug and ran downstairs, ignoring the friction his thighs caused.
"And where do you think you're going?" Marge said, thinking he was going to Moe's. "It's supper"
And Homer turned around and said. "Marge, I would love to eat right now. I really would. I would love to taste your wonderful cooking and not stand out in the cold listening to an instrument that would bore me to death. But right now, I need to be a father to my little girl. I promised her that I would go. If I don't go, the guilt would eat me up inside and I can't take that!"
And then he rushed out of the door.
Marge was shocked, Bart who heard was shocked, even the animals who were outside running on the law were momentarily silenced.
Was that Homer?
#Springfield Town Square#
Lisa dressed in her orange dress; orange flipflops, pearls and a denim jacket that was on sale stood in front of the statue of Jebediah Springfield with her Saxophone.
On her right was a girl with brown hair in a pony, in a purple dress and black shoes, playing the second most unpopular instrument, the recorder.
To Lisa left was a chubby girl, with black hair, the girl was in a sunflower like dress and playing the uncool version of a guitar.
The acoustic guitar.
All three of them looked neither popular or cool looking.
Their sound was good, but those who heard it just walked straight past them not giving them the time of day, some of them even thought they were playing on the street for money and gave them one or two coins.
Was there anything more embarrassing than this?
But what hurt Lisa the most was the fact that she couldn't see her father anywhere in sight.
He promised her he would be here, but all she could imagine was him drunk out of his mind at a Moe's or stuffing his face at the dinner table.
Either way, he wasn't here.
And she thought he had changed.
We'll... he had refused to come to a lot of her session and the one's he did come to, he was forced to go.
She just had to accept that her father would never hear her play willingly.
But just as she thought that all three of the girls and the passing-buyers were suddenly aware of a speeding purple car stopping onto the street, in front of the statue where Lisa and her band were currently playing.
Lisa was shocked to see her dad come out of the car and in his hand was the family camera, looking as old as she remembered it.
Homer looked around before meeting her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief; he rushed to her.
"LISA! DADDY'S HERE!" He said, waving the camera in front of all three of them and running across the grass, making them feel stunned, then he pressed the record button and placed it over his right eye.
He gave Lisa a thumbs up, and Lisa slowly smiled.
Her dad was here.
Willingly.
The other girls were shocked to see a person who wanted to hear them play.
None of their families wanted to hear them play.
"Lisa, I want you to give it everything you got. Your dad's here, and he's not going anywhere until he hears his little girl play with all her heart!" Homer said.
And Lisa felt like crying with joy as she did just that.
She took a deep breath and belted out her first note; the other girls tried their very best not to be drowned out by her.
The sound that drew nobody's attention suddenly transformed.
It transformed into something amazing.
And scene!
Next chapter, Lisa can't stop talking about the night she had with Homer and Homer continues to hit the books. His new-found knowledge, gets him noticed by Mr Burns who is shocked to hear about his mysterious increase in profits suddenly and wants to see him. Review/fav and follow!