Okay, I think I've dealt with a little reality for a while... let's talk about loss. Or, more specifically, "Eugene's Pet". ...Yeah.
On Friday, Nadine, Phoebe, Gerald, Arnold and I entered the classroom with some items we were planning on showing for Mr. Simmons' little show and tell project as we got comfortable.
"I still can't believe Wolfgang got arrested..." Arnold said. "Though I think we would have bested them."
"Still, destroying a mailbox is a federal offense. Arnold, there is being threatened by a school bully, but look at the bigger picture. Crime does not pay!" Phoebe said.
"Rhonda, what's the gossip on Wolfgang now that he's in jail?" Gerald asked.
"Well, I heard his parents and grandparents do have some money, but I think he's going to be pardoned by making the whole mailbox thing an 'accident'... and he'll probably be back in school in a couple of weeks... but I'm pretty sure he'll forget the football thing by then." I shrugged. "He probably won't let go of whoever snitched on him... hopefully he lacks brains and doesn't figure out it was you, Phoebe..."
"Oh, don't worry. Nobody suspects the quiet ones." Phoebe beamed.
"Still, be careful out there if Wolfgang spots you." Nadine said, concerned for her well-being. "Stick with us at all time..."
"I'm not worried, girls... but if you're really that sure, fine." Phoebe said as I hugged her in my arms.
"Just stick with us... you'll be fine." I said as we all settled in our seats. Pretty soon, Mr. Simmons came in as he smiled.
"Okay, boys and girls, settle down." Mr. Simmons said as the class kept quiet. "Now, as you all know, today, we are doing a bit of a show-and-tell day, where you kids show off an item that is very unique to you, and explain to the class how that item relates to you. Now, would anyone like to volunteer to show off what they brought first?"
A few people raised their hands, but Mr. Simmons smiled as he spotted Eugene raising his hand. "Yes, Eugene, what did you bring for us today?"
"Well..." Eugene smiled as he picked up a fish bowl with a swimming fish inside. He then started to do his little speech, starting with the words, 'All my life'. In that instant, it was sort of a guess that something bad would probably happen to the fish, but I didn't know what yet. And so, Eugene explained everything on how he wanted a pet of his own, but his dog ran away, he was allergic to a cat he had, and his rabbit gave him nightmares, but then, he had Henry, that was the name of his goldfish.
"Had him for six months and nothing bad has happened to him yet!" Eugene smiled as some of us looked in interest... though some of us looked pretty bored. "Henry's been my best friend. I feed him, I talk to him, and I even bought him this plastic castle with my allowance! Show them how you play hide-and-seek, Henry!"
The goldfish started to swim around for a bit as Eugene gushed about it. "See that? He waved to me with his tail!"
"Or he could just be swimming around." I muttered to myself as Eugene sat down.
"Thank you for sharing, Eugene. And may I say, a goldfish is so very... you." Mr. Simmons said, putting Eugene in a good mood. "Okay, Arnold, we're eager for you to share your world. What special part of it did you bring for us today?"
We all paid attention to Arnold in interest as Arnold came up with a yellow yo-yo. "Well, I brought this yo-yo last week, and the guy showed me how to do a cat's cradle with it."
"Gosh..." I heard Mr. Simmons say as everyone, including myself, looked in interest.
"And I can shoot the moon too!" Arnold smiled as he shot the yo-yo up to the roof, which the yellow part of the yo-yo then snapped and landed right in Eugene's fi-
...Uh, say, have I ever told anyone about how my parents took me and my friends on a cruise ship? Oh, we had a lot of fun there! We enjoyed a nice swim by the pool, Nadine and Phoebe were having fun playing shuffleboard... and best of all, my parents treated all of us to a nice dinner while we were watching a Broadway show! It was the best cruise we ever went on. Of course, it would have been even more perfect if Arnold was with us, but hey, quality time with my girls and my family... it's all good. It is all goo-
What was that? Arnold's yo-yo? I'm pretty sure there was no such thing. In fact, I don't think that day ever happened. I think it was all a big dream, that was it, it was all a dream!
...
...
...
...Nobody is buying this, are they? I'm hardly buying it myself...
Okay, I'm taking a deep breath to tell you something... what happened... well, when Arnold tossed the yo-yo up in the air, it wasn't pretty, you see...
I'm sorry, I don't know if I can go on with this one... uh, why don't you send all the kids to bed, so they don't hear these serious situations I'm about to explain. What I'm about to explain... is very serious right now, and I don't know if the kids can tolerate it. So, if you can just send them off to bed... that would be really appreciative of you all. Go ahead. Take your time. Oh, and grab a drink. What I'm about to tell you requires it.
...
...
...
Ready? All the kids off to bed? Your drink ready? All right... here we go...
The yo-yo landed in Eugene's fish bowl and... well, it knocked the knight that was on top of the castle and... it...
What I'm trying to say is...
Arnold killed Eugene's goldfish. There, I said it!
"Henry... he's..." Eugene gasped.
"He's dead, Eugene." Phoebe sighed.
"I'm sorry, Eugene, it was an accident!" Arnold said in concern and worry.
"Uh... it's a trick, just a new trick!" Eugene said, trying to deny what he just saw. "Okay? Yeah, now roll over, Henry! You can do it, roll over boy!"
Poor Eugene... harsh reality just hit him in the face so hard...
"That was so hard for Eugene..." I sighed as I turned to Phoebe, as we were heading to lunch.
"Yeah..." Phoebe sighed in sadness. "But it was bound to happen... we just didn't know WHAT was going to happen."
"Yeah..." I looked down. "I expected... I don't know, Eugene to trip and the fish goes down a drain or something... not get killed!"
"Animals are mortals... like us." Phoebe said. "Nobody lives forever."
I sighed. "I guess I see your point."
I then turned to Nadine, who had remained surprisingly quiet. "Nadine, you've been quiet. You okay?"
Nadine took a deep breath as she looked down. "After seeing Eugene's fish go like that... I'm starting to worry about all my pet bugs that I have. Like Larry and Daryl and Daryl. You know, my pet tarantula and my two daddy long legs."
"Oh... right..." I sighed as Nadine was shaking in worry. She knew what it was like to lose pets. She had about a few spiders she kept as pets, and when a few of them had died after laying their egg sacs, Nadine grew to be quite depressed. "So, you're going through what Eugene is going through... depression."
"After school, guys... think we can go to my house and see my pets?" Nadine sighed.
Phoebe and I nodded as we hugged her, I said, "Sure. We'll do that."
Nadine smiled a bit as she hugged us back. As we entered the lunch room, we saw Arnold joining us as I asked him, "So, how did it go?"
Arnold sighed. "Eugene didn't want to let go of his fish. He was really attached to it. So, me and him decided to hold a funeral for Henry. You girls want to attend?"
"I will." Phoebe said as she turned to us. "Those two aren't. Nadine and Rhonda have to go to Nadine's place to see to her pets."
"Oh, I see..." Arnold said. "I understand, Nadine. After seeing what happened, you're worried for your own pets."
"They're small and fragile... I would never want to see them get squished." Nadine explained. "But send Eugene my regards... Rhonda's too."
I nodded.
"I will." Arnold said as we got our lunch bought.
We said nothing for the rest of the day as we just ate.
After school, as Phoebe went with Arnold and Gerald to set up for Eugene's pet fish's funeral, me and Nadine went over to her house as we were now in her room. Nadine smiled as she saw her three cages, one containing her pet tarantula, and the other two containing her daddy long-legs. "Hey, Larry. Daryl and Daryl."
Nadine then pulled out a bag and started to scoop up some dead flies (which I was a little disgusted about) as she poured some nearby her tarantula, and a few for her daddy long-legs. "Looks like you're getting low on food... eat up."
As Nadine and I watched her pet spiders and tarantula feeding on some flies... okay, mostly Nadine, I was looking up at the ceiling... Nadine said, "I love these guys, but I know they won't live forever..."
"Oh..." I said as I hugged Nadine. "I'm sure you can get another tarantula..."
"Yeah, I could always do that..." Nadine nodded. "But Larry has always been pretty special to me. I hate to think about what would happen if one of them died..."
"Be brave, Nadine. Your spiders still have a lot of health left." I consoled her.
Nadine smiled. "Yeah... I guess they do in a way..."
And so, Nadine and I spent a good hour watching over her pets before I decided to head out for home.
The next day, Phoebe, Nadine and I were reunited at the park as I said, "So, the funeral went well?"
"At first..." Phoebe sighed. "Gerald did make some good speeches... but then a cat was there and... you can connect the dots."
Nadine shivered as I decided to say nothing, knowing what Phoebe meant. "Hopefully, Eugene is coping..."
"I'm sure he is." Phoebe said as we noticed Arnold and Gerald talking to Eugene, holding a pet bowl full of food. Eugene seemed to be petting something... imaginary.
"What the heck is going on over there?" I asked curiously.
"Must be Eugene's way of coping..." Nadine sighed. "Trust me, I've seen this before. Boy loses pet, boy isn't sure whether to get another one, so he makes an imaginary one."
"Oh..." I said. "Guess Eugene is really depressed."
"The best thing we can do is just wait it out." Phoebe sighed. "He really loved that fish, but I know he'll get over it... or get a new fish, whichever one comes first."
"Yeah..." I nodded as we continued on. "So girls, what's up on the schedule today?"
"How about we try that new chicken place at the mall?" Nadine said. "I heard they serve some mean salads!"
"Sounds good!" Phoebe smiled.
"Yeah, I could try something new!" I said as we marched onwards as we decided to spend the day together, deciding not to talk about pets...
Well, what happened afterwards was pretty cute from what Arnold told me two days later.
"So, Eugene was pretty happy to have his own pet fish, hm?" I asked as me, him and Gerald were hanging out in Arnold's room. "Even if he couldn't take it home with him?"
"Yeah. Best part is, there's a whole lot of fish that are in the aquarium, so fortunately, Eugene can't tell which fish is which, if you get what I mean." Arnold said.
"Yeah, but at least we made the kid happy again. Good thing too, that imaginary hippo thing wasn't really all that healthy." Gerald said.
"Well, I'm glad we got it all straightened out." I said. "So, guys, what did you bring me here for?"
"We made a bit of a home movie last week." Arnold said as he pulled out his video camera. "And we need some help figuring out the plugs. Do you have any way to figure it out?"
I paused as I examined the cables. "I suppose I can give it a try..."
And so, I started to work on it right away...
That's the seventy-second episode! How do you like it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!