Chapter 4: It's Not So Bad
Copy Stop
"That's the last of them daddy!" Olga screamed, grabbing the stack of business papers that had printed from the copier.
"Good. How much time do we have to get these things past out before that meeting at Alfred's starts?" Bob asked anxiously.
"It's not a meeting daddy…" Olga laughed "It's a family dinner with her boyfriend Arnold!"
"Right, right Arnold. That's what I said."
"It's four o'clock now…."
"Four, huh? Where the heck are we supposed to get a few extra people to help us spread these things around?"
Arnold's Kitchen
Standing in the kitchen, helping Arnold's mother prepare the last of the meal, Helga continued counting down the minutes until the unwanted event with hers and her boyfriend's parents would be taking place. She had very low expectations as far as the evening going smoothly went.
As Stella looked over to see Helga leaning against the counter with her arms crossed, staring sadly at the floor, she said "Thank you for your help preparing dinner sweetie."
"Eh, it was nothing." Helga insisted, shrugging her shoulders.
"Do you need to go home for awhile before dinner?" Stella asked, wondering if she may have any homework to complete.
Helga's mind flashed back to the threat Bob had made about helping with the fliers. It dismissed the idea even quicker, when she said to the caring woman "Nope, I'm good."
Helga's House
"Huh? What? Oh..I'm...I'm awake." Miriam said, tilting her glasses, feeling someone shaking her intensely.
"Wake up mommy! We're having dinner at Arnold's! Olga exclaimed, as she raced upstairs to change her clothes.
Having sat there a moment, letting what her daughter said sink in, Miriam got up from her seat at the counter just as her husband walked through the door.
"Well that's taken care of, no thanks to the girl. Let's get the rest of this day over with." Bob insisted, marching past his exhausted wife.
Arnold's Room
"One hour to go!" Arnold said excitedly, as he watched his girlfriend sitting beside him, rubbing his hurt ankle.
"Pttss...yeah. Should be a blast." Helga frowned, not caring how obvious she made her negative opinion of the occasion.
Noticing her hand beginning to slowing cease rubbing his ankle, he reached for it and said "Everything's going to be fine."
30 Minutes Later
Helga's House
"This better be worth missing the wheel." Bob sighed, waiting for his wife by the door.
"Relax daddy! I've already set the tv to record it!" Olga said proudly.
"Put some hustle in it Miriam. I didn't get dressed up just to spend the last of my weekend waiting for you to do it!" The angry businessman scowled, not knowing what was taking his wife so long.
"I'm doing the best I can B!" The tired lady whined, making her way down the stairs with her purse.
Arnold's Dining Room
"Lady Eleanor should be arriving any moment!" Pookey exclaimed, as she and Stella placed the food on the table.
"Not if ya keep talking like that she won't." Phil muttered, knowing his wife wasn't one to impress people. Then again, Bob Pataki was just about the last person he would care to impress.
"OUCH!"
The group then turned their heads to see Helga helping Arnold make his way down the stairs. Stella quickly headed over to help her son, who was leaning against his girlfriend.
"Be careful sweetie!" she insisted, grabbing his other arm.
"He's hopping down the steps using the only stable leg he's got, leaning against someone taking their time helping him down. I'd say he's being as careful as he can." Phil said wittily.
The girls helped Arnold over to a chair in the dining room, as he anxiously awaited for the Pataki's to arrive.
"What time is it?" Arnold couldn't help but ask.
"We've got about another…." Before Miles could finish his response, the group heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Stella smiled, heading for the door.
Helga sighed as she leaned back in her seat, preparing for a disaster to strike.
Arnold's smile turned to a frown as he listened to the upsetting sigh release from his girlfriend. Taking her hand in his under the table, he began to rub it with his thumb.
Helga turned to face her beloved with a feeble smile forming on her face until she heard…
"Oh this is so exciting!" Olga squealed, wrapping her arms tightly around her sister.
"Okay! Okay! Sheesh!" Helga scowled, pushing her annoying sibling away.
"Kid's got more spirit than Pookey!" Phil couldn't help but point out, watching the excitable girl take a seat beside her sister.
Stella began passing around the plates, as Helga's parents took their seats. "It's so nice to see you all again!"
"Uh huh. So what's this all about? The girl causing problems?" Bob assumed, not watching his youngest daughter smack her face at the accusation.
"Of course not! The kids just thought it would be nice for us all to get together for dinner." Stella explained.
"Is that why you bailed on passing out the fliers?" Bob asked, leaning forward around Olga to glare at Helga.
Rolling her eyes at the remark, Helga replied "What did you even need my help for when you have The Golden Child?"
"Don't worry Helga! My friends from college agreed to take some and passed them out for us!" Olga said excitedly, missing the point of her annoyance.
Arnold sat there as he watched the frustration already forming between Helga and her family…
I've got to think of a way to change the subject?
"This pasta you helped make sure is good Helga!" he said, hoping to encourage her family to give her a break.
"I'll say! No raspberries whatsoever! Phil smiled, nearly finished with his first serving.
"What kind of food do you like Olga?" Miles asked as Helga leaned back in her chair, knowing what was about to happen.
"Oh, I like to cook all kinds of yummy casseroles and soufflets. I'm always coming up with new recipes!" the zealous girl bragged.
"What kind of recipes?" Stella wondered, as her eyes lit with curiosity
Arnold sat there full of guilt, seeing his plan had backfired.
"Oh all sorts of things. After making my lemon soufflet for daddy so many times, I decided to add an extra ingredient, and made a lemon-lime soufflet."
"That sounds interesting." Miles agreed, while Helga was just anxious to have the meal over and done with.
"Something interesting Helga did recently was write a poem that won first prize in our school's writing competition." Arnold interrupted, thinking back to the list of topics he had chosen to discuss at dinner.
Helga's eyes began to widen with fear, not knowing what made him think she would be okay with discussing something so personal in front of them.
"First prize huh? So where's the trophy?" Bob asked, not having heard about this.
"There isn't one." she scoffed, knowing that was all he cared about.
"Do you like to write?" Stella asked Bob, curious to know where Helga's literature abilities came from.
"Not unless it involves making money." he said bluntly, staring at the remaining food on his plate.
"What kind of things do you enjoy doing?" Miles insisted on knowing.
"Work, work, and work." Helga sighed, knowing he'd have nothing better to say.
"Hey! Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey! I do a lot more than work!" Bob scowled, pointing his fork at his daughter.
"Mhmm….daddy likes to go windsurfing and jet ski!" Olga nodded.
"Not since that terrible beach trip Miriam, the girl and I went on, where I got sunburned. We're never going back to that dump!"
"Oooohhhh...I remember that trip! I was stranded on an island for days! Maybe even weeks! I was saved by a bunch of ducks that quacked for these two weird fellas with hippy looking hats!" Phil informed them, as Arnold rolled his eyes.
The purpose of the meal was to bring Helga closer to her family by having them take an interest in what was happening in her life. Like everything else of Helga's however, her family seemed to see this as one more assignment to cross off their list of daily tasks when it came to her.
"Helga sweetie, could you help me in the kitchen a moment?" Stella asked, rising from the crowded table.
Kitchen
"The pie should be ready to serve now." Stella said, pulling the blueberry filled pastry out of the oven.
"Pttss...we could have just let Olga make it. Bob will find a way to give her credit for it somehow. Oh brother." Helga scoffed, leaning against the counter.
Dining Room
"And that's how I won the award for best pianist." Olga finished, as the girls were entering the room with dessert.
"Sounds like you got some competition Pookey." Phil said wittily, knowing what a fan of music his wife was.
As Helga took her seat, Stella placed the pie in the center of the table for everyone to grab themselves a piece.
Having taken the biggest slice he could get, Bob dug in and said "This pie's amazing! Did you make this Olga?"
Helga smacked her face at the assumption. Even the fact that Olga had been with him all day wasn't enough to absorb him from his dedication to giving her credit for everything.
"Actually, Helga helped me make it." Stella smiled, as Bob turned to face her.
"Really? You can cook at Thanksgiving with your sister this year." Bob insisted as Arnold's eyes lit up.
"Yeah, I remember how happy you guys were after she and I came back from our walk."
"You're darn right we were! Don't ever scare us like that again! Got it missy?!" Bob scowled, already finished with his pie.
"Got it BOB!"
30 Minutes Later
When the last of the pie was eaten, Bob pushed his plate away and said "Well, time for us to leave Miriam. I need to find out what I missed on The Wheel."
"Thank you so much for inviting us!" Olga said excitedly.
"Thank you all for coming. It was lovely to see you again." Stella said, clearing the plates from the table.
After watching her family leave, Helga sighed, not surprised by the way dinner had turned out. She began grabbing dishes from the table to follow Stella into the kitchen with.
"Well that went just as expected." she smirked, setting the plates into the sink.
"You know sweetie, not all families are the same."
"Pttss...that's obvious." Helga scorned, feeling she had already made that clear to everyone.
"My brother has a son named Arnie…" Stella began as Helga's eyes widened at the sound of the name. "I don't know if Arnold's told you about him?"
"Uhhh...he may have mentioned him once or twice hehe." Helga yanked at her collar.
She didn't want to mention the awkwardness that occurred between them. The idea of telling Stella she planned to steal her son, while he was planning to use her to win the affections of another girl who was already obsessed with her nephew seemed a bit immoral.
"Well, although Miles and I were away for most of his childhood, Arnold's told me Arnie hasn't been too close with his family either."
No shocker there…
"Yet, it's obvious they still love him."
Helga began to cock her brow as she turned to face Stella and asked "And what is it that makes this so obvious?"
"They feed him, clothe him, keep a roof over his head. Although they don't have the same interests, they continue to make sure he's taken care of."
Helga lowered her head a moment, taking this into consideration. As Bob had mentioned not long ago, the idea of her suddenly disappearing had petrified them all.
Dining Room
"Your girlfriend can make dessert any time she wants to shortman!" Phil winked, as he began to leave the room.
"I enjoyed dinner with her family." Miles said, despite a few awkward moments.
Noticing his son leaning against the table with a sour facial expression, he couldn't help but ask "Is everything okay son?"
"I just expected things to go better for Helga. It's not easy getting her family to take an interest in her life."
"Well, from what it sounds like, her dad's a workaholic. Those people don't have an easy time setting aside time for things other than work (let alone realize they're having that problem)." Miles patted his son on the back.
The boys then turned their heads to see Helga entering the dining room after finishing the dishes with Stella. Miles took that as his que to leave the kids alone and find his wife.
As Arnold watched his lifeless girlfriend take a seat beside him, he took her hand in his and said "I'm sorry about dinner. I know it didn't go the way you wanted, but I'm still glad we did it."
"Yeah, it wasn't so bad I guess. Your mom made me realize there are people who have been dealt worse hands in life than I have."
Lifting an eyebrow, Arnold asked curiously "Like who?"
"Oh I don't know? Perhaps a certain football headed someone with a taco headed cousin."
"Whatever you say Helga."
THE END
THANKS FOR READING
PLEASE REVIEW
