Helganna ran to her room, fighting back the tears that streamed down her face. "Why? WHY did I have to pour out my heart like that?!" she asked herself angrily. He could have at least said 'Sorry.' 'Gee, Helganna, that's nice.....too bad I don't love you too. Sorry.'.....Would that have been so hard? She clenched her fists in frustration. "Idiot!! How are you ever going to face him again?!" At that moment, there was a knock at the door. "Get LOST..." she began, but stopped short as Arnold entered the room. "Oh, it's you, Football-Head," she said, quickly drying her eyes. "Sorry about that--that little outburst of mine...it was sort of a stupid joke, and I guess I just got carried away....."
"I've come to say good-bye," he said slowly.
She felt her heart would burst into a million pieces. "Good-bye? What for?"
"I'm leaving...It's time I went to seek a fortune of my own." (Going off to seek one's fortune was very popular then; on a good day, one in five could be expected to go off and seek his fortune--one in four if it also happened to be a Wednesday.)
"It.....it's because of me, isn't it?"
"Well--yes..."
Helganna hung her head in despair.
"...but not in the way you think. After all you've said, I can't stay here anymore. Things are different now." He smiled and gently took her by the hand. "I have to find work someplace where I can earn enough money, so that we can be married, and I can buy a farm and build a house for us....."
Her heart skipped a beat. "Foot...I mean, Arnold.....do you mean to say that...you actually love me?!"
"Love you?" His eyes opened wide. "Do I LOVE you?! Why do you think I've worked here, feeding animals and running errands all my life, hoping one day you'd notice me? Why do you think I studied and read and learned every night from books, to improve myself...for you? If your love were a drop of water, mine would be a universe of oceans. If your love were a grain of sand, mine would be an infinite beach!...Yes, I love you!"
She smiled joyously. Then her eyebrow lowered. "If you love me so much, pal, why didn't you ever tell me?"
Arnold gave an exasperated sigh. "I have...as long as I can remember! Weren't you listening? 'As you wish'... 'I love you'. Want me to spell it out? Eye-ell-oh-vee-ee-wye-oh-yooouu. How about backwards, in Pig Latin? Oo-yay uv-lay eye-vay! There! I...LOVE...YOU!!"
"...Okay, okay--you don't have to get so snippy...sheesh!.....I understand."
"Good. It's about time."
They smiled at each other, expressions of utter happiness on their faces. "I have to go now," Arnold said sadly. "My ship leaves early tomorrow. I promise, though.....I will return as fast as I can. I'll think of you every day, waiting here for me.....Good-bye, Helganna."
"Good-bye, Arnold."
She stood quietly as he turned to leave--then the words spilled out of her in a desperate rush:
"Without one kiss, you moron?!"
They fell into each other's arms.
"Grandpa, that doesn't make much sense."
Arnold's grandpa leaned back in his chair and sighed. "It's always something with you, isn't it? Well, you see, Short Man--when two people love each other, sometimes they....."
"No...no...not the kiss. I meant, how can they just happen to fall in love as easy as that? Especially if she tormented him all their lives, and he simply ignored her the whole time--now suddenly....." Arnold trailed off as the words began to sound uncomfortably familiar. "Um...never mind."
"They're meant for each other, Arnold--that's how. All fairy tales are like that. Now, stop interruptin' me every two minutes! Where was I?....."
From that day forth, Helganna was quite different. She smiled more often instead of scowling all the time, and made (some) effort to be kinder to people, and constantly glowed with happiness. Everybody noticed the change...it was obvious that her love for Arnold was gradually making her more beautiful--inside and out. Occasionally he would send letters telling her about his adventures and that he loved her. (They usually went something like this: "There was a horrible storm and the ship nearly sank, and I love you." "My cold is better, and I love you." "Say hello to Abner the pig for me, and I love you.") If anyone made the mistake of asking how he was, they could expect to hear about him for an hour at the least. He was fabulous. He was absolutely unquestionably spectacular. She could ramble on forever...but they did their best to listen, because she loved him so completely.
Which is why the news of Arnold's death struck her as severely as it did.
His ship had been attacked off the coast by the Dread Pirate Wolfgang.
Who never left captives alive.
No, never.
When Helganna heard, she locked herself in her room for several days. There was never any noise, no weeping, no sounds of anguish. And her eyes were dry when at last she came out...a great deal wiser, a thousand times sadder. She understood the nature of pain; her face showed true character and the knowledge of suffering. She was more beautiful now than ever...
She didn't care about any of that.
"I will never love again," she told herself.
She never did.