CHAPTER 4: "…AND IT FEELS SO GOOOOOOD!"
Los Angeles, California 1:00PM; Location: LAX
A few days later, Charlie was at LAX on layover on his way back home to Sparkyville. The funeral for Lucy was in four days. He left his top manager in charge of the restaurant while he was gone. While he was primarily going to get closure from the drama associated with Lucy, he was also looking forward to seeing Sally and Schroeder, and his old friends again. He was also hoping Linus and Rerun would be there but wasn't holding his breath at the same time. Linus harbored a lot of animosity toward his parents for how they neglected him and his brother dealing with Lucy and not putting a stop to the abuse at her hands. Rerun had even less to do with them than Linus. Everyone agreed that as bad as Linus had it, Rerun suffered worse. And Charlie, while hoping that his best friend and baby brother would come to at least catch up with old friends, didn't expect them to show up either.
Around that time, a gorgeous woman with long, black hair, a lime green mini-dress, and matching heels came walking up towards him. She had a curvaceous figure and beautiful brown eyes. She was dragging her suitcase, which was also green, and carrying her purse. Charlie was smitten by the lovely creature heading toward him. He wasn't trying to score a date at that moment, but he couldn't help but be attracted to her. That's why he was surprised when she stopped to talk to him.
"Excuse me, sir," she began. "Is this the gate to the 2:30 flight to Sparkyville?"
"Yes, it is," said Charlie.
"Good," the woman said, sighing with relief. "I was hoping I didn't miss my flight."
"You're from Sparkyville?" asked Charlie. He wondered if he knew this lovely lady.
"I am from there originally," she replied. "I moved away from there before I was a teen. I've been in Los Angeles ever since. I'm going back because an old acquaintance had died tragically. Killed herself." Charlie gasped. He wondered if she was talking about Lucy.
"I found out about her death from my best friend who still lives there," said the woman.
"This acquaintance," Charlie started, "was her name Lucy Van Pelt?"
"You know her?" the woman gasped.
"More than you know," said Charlie, starting to put things together. "And your best friend, she isn't Patty Swanson, isn't she?"
"Oh my god, yes!" said the woman. "How do you know…" She then recognized the man she was talking to. "Oh! My! God! Charlie Brown?!"
"Yes, it's me, Violet."
"EEEEEEEEE!" Violet screamed. She immediately hugged him. "I don't believe it! After all these years, I finally run into you! How have you been?!"
"Pretty good, Violet. I actually live in California, myself. Owner of a restaurant up in Vallejo."
"Wow! Forgive me for saying this, but I never dreamed you'd own your own business."
"No problem. To tell you the truth, neither did I." They shared a laugh. "What have you been doing with yourself, Violet?"
"Well, I'm an actress and a model out here in LA. I also do commercials and voice-overs. I even landed some bit parts in movies and TV shows. I mainly do stage work and even some musicals. The pay is decent, but I do still hope to get that big role for myself; even at 38."
"You still got the looks for it, Vi."
"Charlie Brown, are you checking me out?!"
"Sorry, Violet, but I always thought you were a pretty girl growing up. You just grew into a gorgeous woman!" The two friends shared a laugh again. Violet playfully swatted Charlie.
"You blockhead!" she giggled.
"Man, would you believe I missed being called that?" said Charlie. "Not by Lucy, but others."
"Speaking of Lucy, how did you find out?"
"Linus texted me. But he didn't say how she died. I found out from my father that she shot herself."
"I had no idea she was that desponded about her life."
"Well, she brought it on herself, Violet. While the rest of us grew up and changed, she stayed that same crabby little girl, albeit in a super-sized package, that she always was from day one. Hell, even I stopped being wishy-washy many years ago."
"I can tell. You're not the same Charlie Brown from when we were kids. Which reminds me, I always wanted to apologize about how I treated you when we were younger."
"Forget about it, Violet. We were kids then; we all grow up. Except for Lucy, that is."
"I heard about you finally chewing her out about her treatment of you. Patty told me about that. We kept in touch through the years."
"I have to admit, Violet, I don't consider that my proudest moment. Rather, it was something that needed to be done, once and for all. It all started after Snoopy had passed away…"
Twenty Years Earlier
A 16-Year-Old Charlie Brown was at lunch. He was in 11th Grade and was saddened by the recent death of Snoopy. Woodstock had died years earlier and Snoopy was depressed about it. While everyone, even Frieda, who had a contentious relationship with the beagle herself, was compassionate and was comforting Charlie Brown, Lucy was less so.
"I'm so sorry about Snoopy, Charlie Brown," said Schroeder.
"Me too, Chuck," said Peppermint Patty. "We all will miss ol' Snoop."
"He was a good dog, Charles," said a sad Marcie. "I have to admit, I will miss serving him those root beers."
"If there's anything you need, Charlie Brown, let me know," said Frieda, who had been crying even more than Charlie Brown, himself. "I'll be here for you."
"Same here, Charlie Brown," added Linus. "At least Snoopy led a good life."
"Thanks, everyone," said a grateful Charlie Brown. "I'm lucky to have friends like you."
"Oh, come on!" Lucy shouted all of the sudden. "All dogs die! Every animal dies! It's part of life! Do you cry when your goldfish dies and floats upside down at the top of the fish tank? No! You flush it down the toilet!"
"This is not a goldfish we're talking about, Lucy," Charlie Brown responded. "This is my dog, my companion, my friend we're talking about. And I know that all animals die eventually. It doesn't hurt any less than if your grandparent dies or a loved one dies."
"Well I, for one, am not mourning that stupid beagle!" spat Lucy, taking a bite out of a really large cheeseburger. "However, I will share what I WON'T miss about that dog. I WON'T miss him kissing me at every opportunity. I WON'T miss him getting under my skin. I WON'T miss him dancing like an idiot. I WON'T miss him typing those stupid stories of his. How do they start? Oh yes! 'It was a dark and stormy night.' Bullshit!"
"That's enough, Lucy!" warned Linus.
Ignoring her brother's warning, Lucy continued her rant. "I WON'T miss him being the World War I Flying Ace or any of those other stupid alter-egos he was, I WON'T miss him showboating during a ball game, though I will admit he was shades better than his blockhead of an owner here."
"Goddammit, Lucy!" said Charlie Brown, trying but mostly failing to hold back his growing anger.
"And most of all," Lucy said, finishing her "tribute" to Snoopy, "I especially won't miss his eating everything in sight!"
"She's more than picked up where he left off by the looks of things," joked Peppermint Patty to Marcie, noting Lucy's weight gain.
"So, Charlie Brown," she finished, "I'd advise you to get a grip and move on. Snoopy's gone and is not coming back. I swear you are so goddamn sensitive. Are you sure you're not gay or anything?"
"LUCY!" shrieked Frieda.
"YOU FAT FUCKING BITCH!" Everyone was expecting that to come from Linus, seeing how he would shout that at Lucy at any moments notice. But they were shocked to see it was, in fact, Charlie Brown that shouted it.
"WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!" he screamed. "IS THIS WHAT YOU LIVE TO DO?! MAKE PEOPLE FEEL WORSE THAN WHAT THEY DO ALREADY?! I'M ALREADY WONDERING WHY I EVEN LISTENED TO YOU THIS LONG?! YOU TELLING ME HOW I WOULDN'T AMOUNT TO ANYTHING, HOW NO ONE WOULD EVER LOVE ME, YET I DATED PEGGY JEAN, EVEN FINALLY GOT TO DATE THE LITTLE RED-HAIRED GIRL BEFORE SHE MOVED, BUT NOPE! 'NO ONE WILL EVER LOVE YOU, CHARLIE BROWN.' WELL, LUCY VAN PELT, I AM HERE TO TELL YOU THAT I AM LOVED!"
"Amen!" said Patty and Marcie, in unison.
"PEOPLE DO CARE ABOUT ME!"
"We always have," said Linus. Schroeder and Sally nodded in agreement.
"BUT YOU RATHER SEE ME DEPRESSED, UNHAPPY, MOPING AROUND, BECAUSE IT PROVIDES YOU FODDER FOR YOUR ENDLESS TEASING AND BELITTLING OF ME! WELL THAT ENDS TODAY! YOU SAY I'M PATHETIC? NO! IT'S YOU, LUCY! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO'S PATHETIC! LOOK AT YOU! YOU EAT FAST FOOD WITH ABANDON! YOU PROBABLY WEIGH MORE THAN A MILITARY CARRIER! YOU ARE NEVER SUPPORTIVE OF ANYONE! YOUR BROTHERS CAN'T STAND TO BE AROUND YOU! LINUS, THESE DAYS BARELY TOLERATES YOU AND RERUN IS DEATHLY AFRAID OF YOU! BY THE WAY, I HEARD ABOUT THE OREO INCIDENT WITH RERUN. I'M SHOCKED THE COPS DIDN'T ARREST YOU FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER!
"BUT AS I SAID, I AM GOING TO SUCCEED, LUCY! AND THERE IS NOTHING, FUCKING NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT! FOR YOU ARE A MISERABLE, FAT, PSYCHOTIC SOCIOPATH WITH NO OTHER AMBITION BESIDES TEARING DOWN PEOPLE JUST TO BUILD UP YOUR PATHETIC EXISTENCE. YOU MAY HAVE BEAT ME DOWN AND MADE ME DEPRESSED AND THINK EVERYONE HATED ME BEFORE, BUT THAT ENDS TODAY! BECAUSE YOU, AND EVERYONE ELSE, IS GOING TO SEE A NEW AND IMPROVED CHARLES MONROE BROWN!"
And probably, for the first time ever, Lucy was speechless. It took her insulting Charlie Brown's deceased dog to drive Charlie Brown over the edge and finally tell her off. Everyone was silent.
"One more thing, you witch," said Charlie Brown, finally calming down. "As of today, right now, you are dead to me. You don't exist in my world anymore. No one will ever love me? I think no one will ever love you. You are dead to me, Lucille Van Pelt! I wash my hands of you once and for all!"
And, after a while, someone cheered, "ALL RIGHT, CHARLIE BROWN!" And, to the surprise of Charlie Brown, everyone in the lunch room cheered him and chanted his name. For him, a long-standing weight had finally been lifted off his shoulders. The depressed feelings, aside from the mourning of Snoopy's death, was finally going away. The wishy-washiness was not too far behind from going away. Charlie Brown sighed and walked out the lunch room with his friends following, leaving Lucy by herself to ponder what had just happened.
Back to the present
"After that, Lucy became the pathetic one," said Charlie to Violet, finishing his flashback. "She was the one who couldn't do anything right. She was the pathetic one. She was the unloved one. The final nail in the coffin came not from me, but from Sally. She started dating Schroeder not too long after my confrontation with Lucy."
"Uh oh," said Violet. "I think I know where this is going."
"From what Sally and Schroeder told me, the day Lucy found out about them dating, she went insane, even for her. She tried to go after Sally, but was stopped by Molly Volley, who was working as a student enforcer. Schroeder gave her his own speech about how he and Lucy would never be together and that he loved Sally. Between that, and my severing ties with her, and everyone else following suit, the fall of Lucy was complete."
"Now I wished we stayed to witness that," said Violet. "Charlie, you've really changed. I can see it. You are sure of who you are, and you're not feeling sorry for yourself like you did when we were younger. You actually grew to be level-headed."
"I did, Violet. I may have been a depressed kid, but as an adult, I'm sure about what I am."
"So, Charlie, is there a Mrs. Brown?"
"Unfortunately, no. Don't get me wrong, I have dated and even got serious with one lady I dated a few years back, but no one I could click with."
"Maybe you were looking in the wrong places. Any woman would be lucky to be with a guy like you, Charlie."
"How about you, Vi? Any lucky guy that you're dating?"
"Alas, I'm in the same boat as you. I actually just got out of what I thought was a good relationship."
"What happened?"
"Well it turns out my bastard of a boyfriend was cheating on me with my former stylist. Well, just became my former stylist."
"Fired her, huh?"
"Oh, my stylist wasn't a 'her', Charlie!"
"You mean…"
"Yep. It turns out my ex was, in fact, gay. He came out when he started dating my stylist."
"FORMER stylist, that is."
"Correct."
"Well, maybe you'll find the right guy for you."
"And you'll find the right girl. She may be closer than you think." At that time, the stewardess announced it was time to board. When Charlie and Violet came up to the podium, the stewardess stopped them.
"What seats are you two?" she asked.
"I'm row 18, seat C," said Charlie.
"Row 24, seat A," said Violet.
"Well, it turns out we double booked this flight," said the stewardess.
"Oh, good grief," sighed Charlie.
"We do have extra room in First Class, if you like," the stewardess told them. "I hope you two don't mind sitting together."
"We're old friends, ma'am," said Violet, wrapping her arm around Charlie's. "We don't mind." And Charlie and Violet boarded the plane and was on their way back home to Sparkyville. Charlie was glad that he reunited with Violet. He noticed how beautiful she turned out and her snobby attitude she had as a little girl was gone. Plus, he couldn't wait to see his other old friends again, either.
NEXT CHAPTER: LINUS AND RERUN'S DECISION