Chapter 17: Lessons of the New World
The soft calmness of a gentle breeze blew past his face brought peace to his whole being. Feeling content, Hefty looked around at his home village. He frowned. It wasn't his home anymore. All the houses had burned to the ground. The wind shifted and blew in another direction. Hefty turned towards where the wind blew and found himself in a different place.
The land was strange to him. The glass-like trees were much taller than the ones back in the forest he once knew. Strange metal birds flew high in the sky. A lost feeling washed over the strong smurf. How did he end up in this strange new world?
Suddenly a loud screechy noise caused him to cover his ears. The words 'Thunder!' rang loudly and repeatedly with a deafening beat. It felt as if the whole world was going to crumble beneath him.
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Hefty awoke with a yelp. He blinked, peered about him and realized he was still in his bed in the room he now shared with Sorcerer Smurf.
He could still hear loud, rhythmic sounds reverberating around their bedroom. Filled with dread, he looked frantically around trying to pinpoint where the noise comes from. That was when he noticed Sorcerer sitting up in his bed staring wide-eyed at him.
"Whoa, you ok dude?" The younger smurf asked with concern.
"What is going on? Where's that horrible noise coming from?" Hefty cried, covering his ears for fear he would become deaf from all the wailing noises that seem to come out of nowhere.
Sorcerer turned to the box sitting on a little table beside his bed and pointed toward it. "You mean the music from my alarm radio right here?" Hefty took his hands off his round ears and gawked at it. Sure enough, the loud sound was blaring from the alarm.
"What is that? You keep a group of Harpies in that little box?" Hefty shouted in disbelief.
"Um, I wouldn't really call AC/DC a group of Harpies, but at least they are quick to wake you up right on time." The magical smurf grined. "It's ok...I'll turn it off since we are both up anyway."
"This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Hefty muttered grumpily, shaking his head as he crawled out of his bed.
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Sorcerer led Hefty down the hallway and into the cafeteria kitchen. There, the smurfs found the smurfettes preparing a huge breakfast for all the smurflings. Sorcerette laid out the cutlery and plates at each of the tables, while Sassette showed Toughette how to work the blender.
"Ok, so I add the fruit; strawberries, blueberries, a banana…" Toughette confirmed with a frown as she threw the ingredients into the blender. She glanced at the other smurfette. "Is that right?" The Sassette nodded briskly in the affirmative.
"Whatcha guys doing?" Hefty asked, looking at them in confusion.
Sassette looked over her shoulder and grins. "Showing Toughette how to make a fruit smoothie," She said.
She turned and brought her attention back to the tough smurfette. "Now add the yogurt, Toughette, and then you can hit the 'blend' button!"
"How much do I add?" Toughette asked a bit anxiously.
"Well, if you want one glass, just keep pouring till you reach the first line on the blender." The smurfette elder suggested.
Toughette nodded and did as told. "Alright," she reached the level requested for her drink. "Now I push the 'blend' button..." with that, she jabbed her finger onto the small white button.
Unexpectedly, fruit and yogurt mixture burst out of the whirring blender, the liquid sprayed all over the kitchen counter, over the nearby smurfettes and even over to Hefty and Sorcerer Smurf as well.
"EEK!" The startled smurfettes squealed, throwing their hands up to shield their faces from getting splattered.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Sorcerette cried out as she rushed in from the dining hall.
Sassette hastily reached over to shut the blender off. When the blender stopped, she wiped the goo off her face. "Uh, Toughette…you forgot to put the lid on before pushing the button." She groaned, shaking her head ruefully.
Toughette's head whipped around stare incredulously at the older smurfette. "You wait until NOW to tell me this?" She snapped looking very much put out.
Hefty could not help it. "Wow, what a mess..." He snickered.
Toughette turned around to glare at him. Hefty grined at her, grabbed a cloth from the counter and started wiping his black shirt and most of his blue face, pausing only to taste what was left of the mixture on his hand.
"Mmm…not too bad, Toughette. At least that's a start." He said cheerfully.
"Oh, you think you can do better…?" The golden haired smurfette growled warningly at her strong mate.
Before Hefty could retort, a buzzer sound goes off. Sassette looked up, suddenly alert.
"No time, the muffins are done…and I believe the smurflings will show up soon too, so hurry up and finish cleaning up that mess." Sassette announced firmly. She turns to the young smurfs. "Okay, Hefty, Sorcerer Smurf, you two can serve the muffins." She ordered.
Within minutes, the cafeteria was swamped with hungry smurflings rushing eagerly in to find their seats.
Sorcerer Smurf handed Hefty a tray of warm muffins. As instructed, Hefty set out to distribute the muffins among the smurflings. Hefty smiled faintly while he made it around to each of the tables, passing the muffins out to the smurflings and hearing them saying a polite 'thank you' in return.
Finally, he came across a certain smurfling waiting patiently for his breakfast. It was Tech. Hefty paused, wondering if the youngster could still be upset over the toy he broke the other day. Hesitantly Hefty placed the muffin on Tech's plate and smiled down at the youngster.
"There you go, buddy." Hefty said cheerfully.
Tech turned his head and sneered up at the strong smurf. "I'm not your buddy," he growled coldly and turned away, acting as though Hefty wasn't even there at all.
Ok then, Hefty sighs internally. "Of course, what was I thinking…?"
He rolled his eyes up sarcastically at the smurfling and continued, heavy-hearted, his rounds of handing out the muffins to the rest of the clamoring smurflings.
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"Alright then, follow me please," Nat announced as he guided a small group of six smurflings. The young smurfs were properly dressed in outdoor outfits with either pants or shorts for this hiking trip.
Following them along were Hefty, Toughette, Sorcerette, and Sorcerer Smurf. For the past half hour, the older nature-loving smurf had led them up a path, teaching them to observe and identify different roots and plants along the way. As they continue down the path, they come across a large heavy branch lying right across the trail.
To the smurfs this branch looked massive…it may have been considered equivalent to a fallen tree in human sense. This meant the smurfs would have to jump over the branch, seeing there was no other way around it.
Nat climbed over it first. Next Hefty and Toughette jump over it with greater ease, which impressed quite a few of the smurflings. One by one, the smurflings climbs over the branch.
First Tech Smurfling, next little Nursette, third a raven-haired smurfling jumped it. Little Floraette in her mauve jumpsuit stood proudly before catching up to the others. The fourth member of the group was little Melody, who attempted to leap over, but didn't quite make it.
Hefty caught her just in time. Melody recovered quickly; pushed back a few strains of her amber color hair and gave him a bashful grin. It became obvious that she was forming a crush on the strong smurf. Toughette had to giggle at the sight; it reminds her so much of the early days of the Old Smurfette Village.
Sorcerette was next. In a graceful leap she jumped right over the branch and struck a pose on the other side as though to say, 'ta-da!'. As the last two smurflings climbed over the fallen branch one of them slipped and ended up with his pants snagging onto the part of the jutting stem.
"Ow!" The smurfling cried out.
The other smurfling in baggy clothing snickered. "Hey Clumsy, there's a letter in your mailbox!" He shouted, and fell down in a gale of hysterical guffaws.
"Thanks Skater, I'm aware of that…ooh." Clumsy Smurfling said without a hint of rancour as he buckles over, moaning in pain.
"Hang on Clumsy, I'll get you down." Sorcerer offered kindly, reaching quickly over the branch to the stranded smurfling, grabbed hold of him, and pulled him up. Hefty stepped forward and helped the whimpering youngster down to the ground.
"Letter in your mailbox?" Hefty asked Sorcerer with a puzzled expression.
"He means that Clumsy got a bad wedgie." Sorcerer explained, trying not to laugh at poor Clumsy's misfortune.
Hefty scratched his head, looking even more confused. "What's a wedgie?" He asked.
It didn't take long for Sorcerer, Hefty and the two last smurflings to catch up to the group in an open meadow. There they observed Nat showing the smurflings how to set up a temporary camp as a part of their survival training.
"Does anyone know what we must do first when we set up a campsite?" Nat asked the smurflings. All of them look at him with blank expressions. A few of them exchanged glances to see anyone in the group knew the answer.
"No one…?" Nat looked puzzled, even slightly disappointed. "Perhaps Hefty and Toughette could help answer this question then." He peered hopefully at his un-aged older siblings from the Old Village.
Both strong smurfs exchanges bewildered looks for a moment until it dawns on them what Nat wanted them to do. They smile with sudden understanding and started surveying the area around them.
With a nod Hefty and Toughette walked up to the smurflings sitting in a half circle. Nat and the young magical smurfs also sat down on the side in order to allow the strong smurfs the chance to prove not only to the smurflings, but to themselves what they are capable of.
After taking a good look at his young, adoring audience (save for Tech, who still is showing no appreciation for the tattooed adult smurf), Hefty was the first to speak. He grinned at the eagerly awaiting smurflings and said, "Well, first thing we do when arriving at a potential campsite is to look for a relatively high and level ground.
"Next it is important to take note of a water source nearby the camp. As we all know; water is an essential part of camping." Toughette added.
"Thirdly," Hefty stepped up, "Find a good spot for your campfire. Something you will most certainly need to cook your food and keep you warm at night."
Toughette nodded approvingly before speaking again. "To start up your fire pit the first thing to located a spot, clear a circle of 2 to 5 feet from around the fire pit of excess pine needles and leaves and if possible, splash water on the ground around, but not in or on, the fire pit. Note that you should not use wet or damp rocks to line your fire pit as they can heat up and explode. Make sure the rocks are completely dry."
"Next you find yourself decent firewood," Hefty instructed as he and Toughette were now demonstrating how to start a campfire.
He started by guiding the smurflings along the edge of the forest to pick up twigs. "The best types of wood are old dried wood from conifers, or otherwise known as, evergreens. Dry cones are great too. Wood from pine, cedar, and spruce will start a fire quickly but will also burn swiftly. Woods such as oak, ash and maple will burn longer but are more difficult to ignite, as they are hardwood. Aspen, birch and poplar are quite common and they make good fires as they burn hot but fairly fast."
The smurflings appeared to have fun with Hefty and Toughette as they collect wood. Tech, on the other hand, was still keeping his distance from Hefty.
Nat and the magical smurfs continued to watch attentively as their timeless mentors teach the smurflings about the safety on how to build up and start a campfire. First, they laid down a proper foundation of tinder, such as shavings from dried twigs and pine needles. Above the fine tinder bed, they crisscrossed a few larger dry twigs about the size of smurf-size pencils.
"Ok, now we will show you how to start up a proper fire." Hefty triumphantly declared.
"Duh, we already know how to start up a fire. It's called a lighter." Tech Smurfling scoffed.
With that said, he took out a pocket lighter and with a twitch of his thumb, he lit it up. A tiny flame appeared as if by magic at the end of the small hand-held object, dancing in the breeze.
Toughette's and Hefty's jaws dropped in amazement.
Nat frowned at Tech's rude behavior. "Uh, Tech, we are here to learn how to start a campfire without the use of our modern technology," the older smurf chided, taking the young smurfling's lighter away. "And besides, you are not supposed to be playing with these things."
"Yeah, kid, leave your magical toys at home." Hefty said gruffly.
Tech glared angrily up at Hefty, turned away from him and sat down in a pouting posture with his arms crossed in front of him.
"Anyway…" Toughette leaned in. She held up a couple of pieces of wood, one flat and the other semi long and pointy. "To make a decent campfire you need a flat board made from a soft wood like Pine or Bass Wood. This longer piece with the point is called your Drill. It's best to use a harder wood like Maple or Oak. Then you got your springy wood of either Ash, or Hickory to name a few, a leather or Rawhide lace and a smooth dimpled rock or piece of hard wood is used for your Bow."
Hefty took over in the lecture. "To start a fire, place your tinder partially under the V-notch in your Fireboard, like Toughette is now demonstrating for us." He said while Toughette began starting up the fire. "Wrap the lace around the drill one turn. Place the sharp end of the drill in the hand block and the dull end into the fire block. See how Toughette does it? Begin to work the bow back and forth, like a sawing motion."
Toughette was "drilling", her hand moving forth and back quickly. Hefty continued: "Slowly increase your speed while keeping a steady rhythm. Watch for smoke coming from the fire block and continue until the smoke is constant and not just an occasional puff. Quickly set the bow and drill aside and dump the hot "sawdust" from the block onto the tinder. Gently blow, just like Toughette is doing."
Hefty looked over his young audience to see if they were still following him. Satisfied to know they still were paying attention, Hefty continued his lecture; "It may take several tries to get the "sawdust" hot enough to "light up" the tinder. But as you can see, Toughette is somewhat a pro at this and already a fire has started."
The smurflings oohed and aahed at how these new strong smurfs successfully got their campfire burning without even needing any modern technology.
"Now that we got a decent fire going, what do you say we eat lunch now?" Sorcerer Smurf exclaimed happily, rubbing his hands in anticipation. The smurflings all cheer loudly at the idea.
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Not long after everyone had finished their lunch, the adult smurfs showed the smurflings how to put a campfire properly. They made sure the fire was completely out, leaving no hissing sounds that would indicate smoldering embers hidden beneath the ashes.
Hefty looked over Tech's shoulder and saw that the young smurfling neglected to double check for smoldering embers in the fire pit and shook his head exasperatedly at the youngster's carelessness.
"Ah, Tech, when it comes to campfires there are no such thing as 'short-cuts'," Hefty lectured, "You need to make sure it's out completely."
"What's the diff? We are living in a country that rains every other day," Tech replied snobbishly with an indifferent shrug.
Hefty put his fists on his hips and looked down at him with annoyance. "That's not a good enough reason. What if it doesn't rain? You could be responsible in starting a forest fire."
"Man, what makes you think you know everything?" The fuming little smurfling shoots back rather impudently.
"Well, uh…" Hefty tried to explain. However, for once he was unable to find the right words, so he closed his mouth and could not continue any further.
"Oh forget it…just leave me alone!" With that said, Tech turned to run off into the woods.
"Tech, wait!" Hefty called out frantically after him. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to the other smurfs, many of them looked very concerned, even alarmed.
"I'm going after him," the strong smurf announced, trying to assure them. He then took off, running after Tech.
Nat and Sorcerer Smurf were about to start running after them as well, but Toughette grabbed both of them and pulled them back.
"Wait," She said, "I may not know much of this new world, but I know Hefty. Let's give them a chance to work this out by themselves."
Reluctantly, the two smurfs nod in agreement before herding the other smurflings and completing the cleanup.
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"Tech, wait up!" The strong smurf shouted again, trying to overtake the fleeing smurfling.
The youngster glanced back but kept on running. He had no idea where he wanted to go, but as long as it took him far away from the smurf chasing him and out of his reach, it all that mattered.
However, thanks to his speed and endurance, Hefty quickly gained on Tech until he was able to catch up with the youngster. Unfortunately, as Hefty was about to grab hold of the little smurfling's shirt, Tech tripped on a rock. With a loud cry, the smurfling tumbled head over heels down in a nearby steep ravine.
"No!" Hefty cried in horror. Without hesitation, he leapt into the ravine, following Tech down the rough side taking care to watch each step so he wouldn't start tumbling, too.
Helplessly, Tech slid off a sloping overhang and after a short fall, he landed hard on top of his right ankle and collapsed on the ground.
"Ow!" He cried out in pain, clutching at his throbbing ankle.
"Tech!" Hefty screamed, having reached the bottom of the cliff. With a mighty leap, he sailed across the air and landed right in front of Tech.
Startled, Tech looked up at him wide-eyed. He had never seen anyone jump from that height and landed so perfectly like Hefty just did.
"Tech," Hefty called to him once more, kneeling before him and with an anxious look, "Are you ok? Say something."
"Ouch." The little smurfling squeaked in a tiny voice.
"I'll take that as a 'yeah, I'm fine' then." The strong smurf mumbled.
He saw how the little guy held his leg tenderly with a look of agony on his youthful face.
Hefty said in a more clear voice, "You don't suppose you'd let me have a look at your ankle, would you?"
Tech slowly loosened his grip on his leg to allow Hefty the chance to inspect it. First, the tough but surprisingly gentle smurf carefully took the little smurfling's shoe off, pausing briefly at every slight whimper Tech made. Eventually, the shoe came off and Hefty noticed right away a swelling around the ankle.
"Well, the good news is, it doesn't look broken. It appears you have a bad sprain, though." Hefty declared, slightly relieved.
"How would you know anything about sprain or broken ankles?" Tech snapped, just remembering he was still upset with the brawny smurf.
"Oh, trust me; I know a bit about broken limbs," Hefty winked at the smurfling. "I myself had a broken my leg once, and believe me it hurt, a lot."
"Really…?" Tech couldn't help but smile a little.
"Yeah," Hefty nodded and smiled back at him.
He paused to think for a moment then looked down at him. "Look, I'm really sorry for stepping on your toy the other night," He said sincerely, "If I had known what it was, I swear I wouldn't have smurfed it like I did."
Tech looked at him, and for a moment, he seemed unable to make up his mind how he felt about Hefty. Finally, however, he relented.
"That's ok," the smurfling sighed. He shrugged and added, "I've been planning on building a bigger and faster version anyway."
Hefty brightened up at Tech's remark. "If I promise not to step on it, would you let me see it when it is done?" He asked hopefully.
Tech gave him a suspicious look. "I don't know…you probably won't understand the technology that goes into it."
"Probably not, but if you'd teach me maybe I might understand…someday." The strong smurf grinned sheepishly.
Tech smiled back, but then frowned and looked away.
Worried, Hefty leaned toward the smurfling to his mighty hand gently on his tiny shoulder. "What's wrong?" He inquired.
Tech shrugged off Hefty's hand. "Nothing," The youngster mumbled in a small whimper.
Hefty hesitated, then picked the little smurfling up and settled down on the ground before putting him gently on his lap.
"Look, I know we got off at the wrong foot," Hefty said quietly and kindly, "But you've got to talk."
"I know, but…" Tech appeared to be struggling inwardly for a moment. Finally, he blurted out, "How do I know you will stick around and not leave us?"
Taken aback, Hefty glanced down at him with a puzzled expression. "Where did that come from?" He asked, confused.
"I don't know, ok." The little smurfling pouted. "It's weird. I just have this feeling you might leave, or at least, I think I dreamt you did once. But again, I only met you the other day, so how would I know that?"
Baffled, Hefty just looked at the little smurfling. Then it hit him, and Hefty realized that Tech probably felt something from his past life.
"Tech, listen, I promise I will not leave you and the other smurflings." He assured him, wrapping his arms around the smurfling in a reassuring hug. "I'm staying here for as long as you all need me, ok?"
"You promise?" Tech whimpered.
"I promise," Hefty replied with a firm nod.
Hearing this, Tech is satisfied. He threw his small arms around Hefty and hugged him back. Hefty was a little surprised but vastly relieved.
After a few moments, Hefty pulled back and looked at the smurfling.
"Ok, why don't we get you out of this ravine and back to the Smurf Community to have your ankle taken care of?" He suggested.
"Alright," Tech nodded.
Smiling, Hefty got up with Tech in his arms and carried him on his back. They made it back to the campsite where the other smurfs waited patiently for them.