Chapter 61

Follow Your Heart

Arnold thanked the lady who had given him a ride back home and then stepped inside the boarding house.

"I'm home!" he called to no one in particular.

Everything was silent. Then suddenly his grandmother, who was dressed in a cowgirl skirt and princess hat, came riding in on top of Arnold's pet pig, Abner.

"Heel, Prince Almanzo, heel!" she cried.

Abner ran up to Arnold and almost knocked him over.

"Hey, boy!" Arnold said, reaching down to pet him.

"Kimba! You're home!" his grandmother exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm back, Grandma!"

"Oh, that's wonderful! We must inform Prince Phillip!"

"Um…yeah," Arnold said, deciding it was best to just go along with it. "Where is Grandpa anyway?"

"Why Prince Phillip is in the food court! He must replenish his strength for the war."

"The…war?" Arnold asked uncertainly.

"The war against Aquaman and the British, of course!"

"Oh…sure, Grandma," he said, as he turned to go find 'Prince Phillip'.

"Now just a minute, Kimba," his grandmother called to him, "you never told me of your travels!"

"Oh, right." He decided to give her a shortened version of the story, since he had some questions he really needed to ask his grandfather. "Well, I was stranded on an island with Helga-"

"You were with Lady Eleanor?" his grandmother said, with a slight gleam in her eyes.

"Lady Eleanor?"

"Why, yes! Eleanor Roosevelt! She stopped by to have breakfast once."

"Um…right. Breakfast."

"So what did you and Eleanor do on this island?" she inquired.

"It's kind of a long story," Arnold said impatiently.

"Oh, I see. Did you have a good time?"

"You could say that…I think."

She smiled at him knowingly.

Arnold turned to go once again but then turned back. "Hey, Grandma? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Kimba."

"When you were nine, did you really lock Grandpa in a warehouse and tell him that you loved him?"

"Well…I…why do you ask?" his grandmother said, suddenly becoming very nervous.

"Because the same thing sort of happened to me, and I was wondering if you could give me some advice."

"Why certainly! When tracking down prey, make sure to always carry a spare tire."

"I meant about Helga."

"Is Lady Eleanor going hunting?"

"No," Arnold said, beginning to think it was too much work to get any advice out of her, "she's the one who loves me."

"Oh?...Oh! She does?"

Arnold nodded.

"And how do you feel about her?"

Arnold sighed. "I don't know. I thought I loved her, but then I realized that I loved this other girl, so I guess I dumped Helga."

"Oh. I see," his grandmother said, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"But I feel really bad about it," Arnold continued. "I mean, Helga's loved me in secret since she was three, and when she finally tells me, I reject her. I want to make her happy, but I don't know how I can unless I love her too, which I don't. What do you think I should do?"

"Arnold, listen to me," she said slowly. "I can't tell you what to do, but if you follow your heart, you'll make the right decision."

"But what if-"

"Now be gone!" she suddenly exclaimed. "I must go warn the villagers of the upcoming battle! We must all stock up on cheese so as not to fail!"

"Sure, Grandma. Goodnight."

Arnold walked down the hall towards the kitchen, pondering over the strange piece of advice.

"Follow your heart?" he questioned. "What's that supposed to mean? Leave it to Grandma to think up advice that doesn't make any sense… Oh, well. Maybe Grandpa can give me some advice."

He walked into the kitchen and found his grandfather sitting at the kitchen table eating a sandwich.

"Hey, Grandpa."

Oh, hello, short man," his grandfather said, without even looking up. "I see I'm having another one of those hallucination things."

"Huh?"

"I think you're standing right there in front of me, but I know that you're really flying in a helicopter thousands of miles away from here."

"Actually, the helicopter crashed," Arnold explained. "We had to jump out."

"We?"

"Helga and I."

"You mean your little girlfriend with the pink bow?" he asked in astonishment.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"Oh, what does it matter anyway? You're just a hallucination," his grandfather persisted.

"Grandpa, I'm not a hallucination."

"Oh, really? Prove it."

Arnold sighed. "I've had enough of 'proving things' for one day. Could you just believe me?"

"Fine, fine, have it your way."

"Right. So, I wanted to ask you-"

"Oh, my word, Arnold, you're back!" his grandfather suddenly exclaimed, throwing his arms around Arnold. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"Grandpa!"

"Alright, alright, what's on your mind? Wait, where were you in the first place?"

"I was on a deserted island."

"A deserted island, aye?"

"Yeah."

"How the heck did you get there?!"

"On a raft."

"So…you were alone with that girl, on an island, for a whole week?" he said slowly.

"Basically."

"Holy squirrel-cages!" his grandfather exclaimed. "Well, you can't say I didn't warn ya."

"What do you mean?" Arnold asked.

"You can't expect me to believe that nothing happened between you two."

"I never said nothing happened."

"You mean…oh, my gosh! Arnold, you poor boy! Well, at least it's over."

"Huh?" Arnold asked, confused.

"She confessed her love for you, didn't she?"

"Yeah…"

"Ha! I told you! You owe me ten bucks!"

"Grandpa," Arnold said, annoyed.

"Just kidding. So, are you two an item now?"

"NO!" Arnold exclaimed.

"No?"

"She loves me. I don't love her back."

"What?! Why not?!"

"Because I love someone else," Arnold said.

"So?"

"So, if I loved both of them, wouldn't that be cheating?"

"Sure, but who cares about that?"

"Helga would," Arnold said.

"True…"

Arnold sighed. "I don't know what to do."

"Uh oh. I sense one of your highly complex boyhood problems that don't normally happen to people until they're in seventh grade. Well, let me hear it."

"Okay, you see-"

"That girl told you that she loved you," his grandfather interrupted, "and you didn't know what to think. Then you two were in danger, and she started screaming, so you kissed her to shut her up."

"How'd you know that?" Arnold asked in astonishment.

"Lucky guess?" He shrugged. "Anyway, then, when you guys were safe, all you could think about was her and that kiss."

"Obviously."

"And then you were afraid that you were falling in love with her, but you still weren't really sure, but she led you to believe that you did love her."

"Right-"

"But then," his grandfather interrupted once again, "you realized that you still loved this other girl, so you dumped Haley."

"Helga."

"But now you realize the error of your ways, and you want to make it up to her, but you don't know how you could possibly make things better, unless you loved her back!"

"Exactly! What should I do?" Arnold questioned.

"I'll tell you, Arnold…" his grandfather thought for a moment. "I have no idea."

Arnold sighed. "Grandma says I should 'follow my heart'."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"I don't know."

"Gertie was always a hopeless romantic; always spouting off some sort of pathetic poetry. I never could understand half the junk she said."

"Well, do you think you could give me some advice that makes

sense?" Arnold asked.

"I'll give you the same advice my father gave me…" He paused

dramatically. "Never eat raspberries!"

Arnold rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, Arnold, gotta go!" his grandfather exclaimed, running from the room.

"That sure helped," Arnold said sarcastically. "I guess I'll just leave this as it is. I'll love Lila, Helga will love me, Lila will love…well, hopefully me." He sighed. "Nothing will change," he said slowly, with just a hint of disappointment in his voice but from what he couldn't tell.