Chapter Eleven

The Only Way This Story Could End

Calvin felt himself getting taller; he was reverting back to his adult form. The room around him changed to his children's room, the land around him was now his home in New York. Calvin smiled as he heard the footsteps of his children come running up the stairs, as he walked over to greet them Calvin caught the eye of a stuffed tiger, two snow leopards, a worm and a purple Big Bird resting comfortably on the bed. Calvin gave a deep sigh, as he turned out the light to the room and closed the door he heard the faint voices of his friends calling him back.

Will and Grace met Calvin at the top of the stairs, who promptly greeted them with a hug and a kiss for each of them. When this was done Calvin got down on his hands and knees and immediately began playing the part of a horse. In an instant, a horse appeared, it was wearing a monocle and a top hat, Calvin gave it a name as soon as it set its hooves on the floor-Xavier Chamberlain, his nickname-Mr. X.

A knock at the door caused Calvin to go downstairs, Mr. X, the horse, looked towards the children and smiled.

"Come on then" he said in a British cockney accent, "Let's go!"

Will and Grace got on X's back who immediately began galloping through the hallway.

Calvin opened the door to find Avery Johnson, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, standing on his front porch.

"Mr. Johnson" Calvin began, "Mind if I call you Charlie?"

"You can if you like" Avery replied, "I'd rather you not if it's all the same to you Calvin."

Calvin stepped aside and let Avery pass. Avery immediately headed to the kitchen, where he proceeded to make himself a sandwich, it was tuna. Calvin rolled his eyes playfully, for it seemed that Avery was just as crazy and nutty as ever. He laughed to himself as he thought about what Johnson used to be, how he had taken to calling him "Charlie", a name that he personally hated on account of his brother being named Charlie, who Avery couldn't stand and how Avery came to be a close friend and financial advisor to Calvin and his family.

"Do you remember when you dressed in that ridiculous clown suit at the zoo?" Calvin asked, hoping that Avery's memory wasn't as bad as he appeared, for Avery was nearing his 70s and the years had not been kind.

"I do" Avery answered, "To tell you the truth I'm surprised I managed to keep the money that I kept. I must have spent a million dollars on those outfits and here I am 69 years old and still a well-to-do person living in a nice house with everything that I could ever need. I tell you it doesn't make a lick of sense."

Pam walked into the room; she was talking on her cell phone to one of her girlfriends, Tamilia.

"Hey Tammy" Pam began, "So how are the kids, Great...and yourself? Wonderful, simply wonderful! You ready for bongo tonight?"

Calvin shook his head in annoyance, if it wasn't bongo it was bridge and if it wasn't bridge it was a movie and if it wasn't that then Calvin believed that Pam was having an affair, which she never did.

"Will you girls knock it off?" Calvin begged, "You talk to each other like fifty times a day."

Pam rolled her eyes playfully, "It's not like you don't do that with your friends" she pointed out.

Calvin nodded, "Well at least my friends have the decency to shut up every once in a while and leave me alone. If you and Tammy had your way, you'd be connected at the hip!"

Pam laughed, casually flipping Calvin off as she made her way into the other room to continue her conversation. Five seconds later, just as Calvin was about to walk into the living room, another knock came at the door.

Calvin opened the door to find a man in his late thirties dressed in a tweed jacket and wearing glasses slightly too big for his head. Almost immediately as a result of seeing this man, Calvin thought of Walter the Worm, who promptly appeared on the man's shoulder- hat, glasses and all.

"Well if it isn't Walter Tweed" Calvin said in greeting as he stepped aside, "Please come in, the door's open."

"Pleasure as always Calvin" Mr. Tweed answered, oblivious to the worm that sat giddily on his shoulder, who couldn't help but laugh to the point of tears at seeing the world once again. Calvin only gave a subtle nod in response as they passed through and made their way to the living room to sit on the couch and watch the upcoming football game.

Walter the Worm looked about his surroundings in complete disbelief, to not only be imagined again but to based off of something real, in this case the man in the tweed jacket who shared his name, was fascinating. It gave a sense of validation for his existence, a feeling that Walter had not felt in years. Capitalizing on this, Walter pulled out a notebook and a pen and began writing, already starting on a new book.

Avery turned on the radio in the kitchen, before sitting at the table to begin eating his sandwich. Across from him sat Charlie the snow leopard, who wearing a derby on his head and a red scarf around his neck while smoking a stogie.

"That's the good stuff" Charlie declared as he took a drag, offering it to Avery, who only continued eating his sandwich, completely obvious to Charlie's presence.

Calvin smiled as he continued looking around the room, one by one his friends from his childhood slowly returning. Pam's friend Tammy arrived shortly after to drive to bongo, with her came Hobbes' girlfriend Tamilia, behind her was Yutz, who was accompanied by the Mayor of the town, who was stopping by to watch the football game. When it was all said and done, the guys, real and imaginary, as well as Tamilia, were yelling and screaming at the TV, drinking beer and swapping various stories. Calvin, to prevent the Mayor, Avery and Mr. Tweed from thinking him insane, only nodded occasionally and avoided active participation in the imaginary's conversations, which ranged from football to questions about life and where they would go from here.

"So what happens now?" Walter asked curiously as he looked among his friends.

"We do what we always do" a voice answered from behind, causing them all to turn around to find Hobbes leaning against the staircase, "Be there for those in need."

Calvin hung his head at the notion; the prospect of losing his friends after so recently regaining them was something that he didn't want to accept. Hobbes, seeing this, shook his head in denial.

"You think you don't need help Calvin?" the tiger exclaimed, "You need all the help you can get. Besides, you think that we're just going to leave our Creator? Not by a long shot, you're stuck with us hombre. Get used to it."

Calvin only smiled and turned back to the game, maintaining the illusion that there was nothing unusual going on. At this moment, Mr. X, Will and Grace came trotting down the stairs. If Mr. Tweed, the Mayor and Avery were to look at this sight, they would simply see two children running down the stairs towards an otherwise empty room.

"Hello" X said warmly to Hobbes and company as he allowed Will and Grace to step down, "The name's Xavier Chamberlain, people call me X."

Hobbes glared towards Calvin and then back at X, ultimately decided that such a decision was not his to make, no matter how much he disagreed with it.

"Welcome to the family" Hobbes greeted, "Allow me to introduce myself-"

Hobbes pulled out a large zipper, his mailbag and his official mail cap, standard of mailmen.

"My name is Hobbes-"

Hobbes opened the zipper to reveal a fully restored Jessop, Calvin having created it the moment things returned to normal. Hobbes breathed a sigh of relief at the knowledge that Calvin had done his job, as was required by Creators. Charlie, Tamilia, Yutz and Walter only laughed as freely as they would allow themselves. Will and Grace meanwhile, jumped excitedly, for they knew what this meant. Calvin casually turned around and looked on, he could only smile in agreement as Hobbes continued.

"Welcome to Wackadoo Land, shall we then?"

All of them, including Calvin, nodded in response. One by one, Charlie, Walter, Yutz, Tamilia, Will, Grace and X stepped through the portal. Hobbes shrugged casually and stepped through, turning back to Calvin once more, he stopped himself before closing it for the time being.

"See you around" Hobbes declared, "We've got a lot of work to do. Best get started."

Calvin said nothing and simply turned back to the football game. He didn't need to give a response for Hobbes to understand, for they would have plenty of time to spend together in the coming years. Standing on the dock of Jessop, Hobbes stepped onto the boat and steered it to the city center, with a song in his heart and his eyes wet with tears of joy.