"Johnny, slow down, love!" Mary laughed as she tried to keep up with her excited six-year-old. The little gorilla did eventually slow down when he reached the bridge over the canal, and he stood in the very centre of the curve, at the very edge of the railing, allowing his mother to finally catch up. "Ugh, there you are... bloody hell, you get any quicker, you'll be sending me to an early grave!"

Johnny giggled, then clambered up on the railing to look over the bridge. He gasped in awe when he saw the resident whale making his daily rounds in the water below, though Mary still held onto her son's waist so that he didn't lean too close to the edge.

"Hmm... nice view, innit...?" She said, lifting Johnny up a bit so he could get a look at the massive, beautiful Calatonia landscape ahead of him. "Yeah, there's loads of memories on this bridge. Bit busy now, but it's right romantic when it's after sunset."

"Romantic...?" Johnny turned back to face her.

"Oh yeah, very much so!" Mary chuckled. "Cause y'know, I were standing right on this spot when your Dad asked me to marry him. Me and him had our first kiss here too. I bet one of these days, you'll be doing the same with your own little boyfriend or girlfriend, eh...?"

"Ergh!" Johnny stuck out his tongue as he winced in disgust, prompting his mother to pull him into a hug as she planted a big, sloppy kiss on the top of his head. "Mum, don't mess up my hair!"

"Mess up...? Ha! I don't think you need me for that, darling!" Mary playfully rustled the fur on top of her son's head, though she made an effort to neaten it afterwards. "There we go... very handsome!"

Johnny rolled his eyes, then turned back around to overlook the river again. While he was fairly amazed by the various well-lit buildings and signs lining either end of the canal, the little gorilla's attention was suddenly grabbed by the only building on the left side that wasn't lit at all. If it were a house or a small newsagent he probably wouldn't have noticed it, but given that this tall, slender building practically towered over its neighbours, it was rather hard to miss.

"Hey, Mum..."

"Yeah...?" Mary took her focus off the landscape and looked down at her little one. "What's wrong, darling...?"

"What's that place over there...?" Johnny asked as he pointed to it. "The big one what's all boarded up...?"

"Oh, that one...?" A small, nostalgic smile crossed Mary's face, before she lowered Johnny off the railing and took his hand. "That's my favourite place in the whole city!"

It was about a five minute walk from the bridge - and was a quite a detour from the marketplace that they'd originally intended to go to - but Mary knew it was worth it to be able to stand in front of her favourite venue once again. Despite it's boarded up front door, shattered windows and slightly deteriorated structure, the old building hadn't lost that much of its beauty of majesty, and she could tell that her little one was just as amazed to see it as she was all those years ago.

"Pr... pray... pray-rye... the... the tree?" Johnny pursed his lips as Mary knelt down beside him, and he pointed to the old, weathered sign that he was trying to read. "What's that mean, Mum...?"

"Pray-rye the Tree? Oh, good grief..." Mary chortled playfully, holding Johnny closer while she pointed to it herself. "Hmm... it's Prairie Theatre, darling. They've told you at school what a theatre is, haven't they...?"

"Um... y-yeah, I think so..." Johnny itched the back of his head while he thought. "Is it like that place with the big picture that you watch films on...?"

"Oh, you mean a cinema...?" Mary tilted her head. "Well yeah, that's a type of theatre. This one doesn't have a screen, though, it has a stage."

"What's a stage...?"

Mary pinched the bridge of her nose, then straightened her glasses. "Alright, not sure how I can describe it without it sounding stupid, but... I suppose, it um... it's a platform, really."

"Platform...?"

"Yeah, a platform. It's where all kinds of talented folks - singers, actors, the whole lot - and they... they get up there in front of the whole town, and... and they show the world what they're really made of..." Mary sniffled a bit, holding a hand to her heart as she looked back up at the towering theatre in front of them. "I know that probably sounds a bit silly to you, love, but it -"

"It sounds brilliant!" Johnny suddenly burst out, letting out an excited laugh as he ran right up to the boarded up door, only to sink in disappointment when it didn't open. "Why's it all closed up...?"

"Ugh... I'm afraid you've got your Granddad to thank for that, darling..." Mary groaned, though she forced a smile when a confused Johnny looked back at her. "Yeah, if there's two things your Granddad hates, Johnny, it's music and dreams."

"Oh..." Johnny let out a small sigh, then made his way back over to his mother as she stood up. "Why doesn't Granddad like it, Mum...?"

"Because he's just a nasty, silly old man, Johnny." Mary was blunter than usual as she said this, clearly holding back more passionate anger, though she remained calm enough as she took Johnny's hand and led him away. "Y'know, before you came along, Johnny, I was thinking of being a performer there myself. Yeah... that dream got dashed pretty quick, though..."

"Really...?" Johnny lowered his head, sniffling a bit as the older gorilla looked back down at him. "I'm sorry, Mum."

"Sorry...? Oh no, darling, I don't mean it like that...!" Mary took on a comforting tone as she picked up the smaller gorilla and let him latch onto her back. "Sure, it would have been nice to be a singer, but I'm not complaining. Marrying your Dad, having you, that... that beats anything singing ever could have got me, Johnny."

"Couldn't you do both...?"

"Nah... well, maybe some folks can, but that'd be far too much for someone like me to handle, love..." Mary tried to sound lighthearted, though she couldn't help wincing a bit as some nastier memories resurfaced. "Besides, I um... I did give it a go once, few years back. Made a right mess of it too. It's fine, though, I just... I just don't think I were really cut out to be a singer."

"Oh..." Johnny though to himself for another moment or two, before gripping his mother's shoulder tighter and leaning his head closer to hers. "But... do you think I could be...? A singer, I mean."

"You...?" Mary's eyes widened a little, then she let out a proud, hearty laugh. "Oh God, you'd be wonderful, darling!"

Johnny gasped, pulling a big smile. "Do you really think so...?"

"Of course!" Mary laughed, while an idea already began to formulate in her head. "Yeah, you... you keep practicing and singing, you'll get a good set of pipes, and... and I could teach you a bit of piano, maybe get Joanne to give you a couple lessons, that... we'd make you into a right little superstar, we would!"

Johnny giggled, then threw his arms around his mother's neck, giving her a small kiss on the cheeks. "I'd love to do that, Mum!"

"Hmm..." Mary sniffled a bit, wiping her slightly misty eyes before looking back to her son with a smile. "Yeah, you'll... You're really gonna go places, Johnny..."

They remained silent for the better part of a minute as Mary kept on walking, though Johnny slightly shuffled back down to his original position on his mother's shoulder. "Hey, Mum...?"

"Yeah...?"

Johnny pondered to himself for another moment or two before he finally spoke up again. "Who's Joanne...?"

"Ms. Crawly!" Buster's voice echoed throughout the vast set, though he finally managed to spot the old lizard shouting orders through her megaphone. "Ah, there you are! How's everything going over here...?"

"Oh, very good, Mr. Moon." She said, taking on her usual sweet tone while the terrified workers behind her quickly shuffled away to other jobs. "We're moving well ahead of schedule, sir."

"Glad to hear it." Buster nodded, while most of the cast - including Marilyn and Kaya - convened around them. "Well, I'd say that's a day well spent, so uh... wait... where's Johnny and Nooshy...?"

"Oh yeah, didn't Double K say he wanted to talk to them...?" Marilyn took her eyes off her phone. "He's not got, like, an office or something here, does he...?"

"Um... no, I don't think so..." Suki looked down to her boyfriend. "They wouldn't have left already, would they...?"

"Hmm... I wouldn't think so..." Rosita cupped her chin, then looked back to Buster. "I think we'd better look for them."

"Whoa-ho! Nice pictures!" Nooshy's voice echoed around the massive, spacious walls in the Hall of Fame, and she quickly grabbed Johnny by the wrist and dragged him over to the latest photograph that had been added to the collection. "Hey look, mate, that's us!"

Johnny wasn't really paying much attention, instead focusing more on the massive portrait of Madame Jument, and the old monkey that was still standing right in front of it. He wasn't even sure if Klaus had noticed them coming in yet, though the instructor finally turned back to see them and made a small beckoning gesture. Nooshy was still rather hesitant, but she remained by Johnny's side as they approached their rendezvous point.

"Well, I um..." Klaus itched the back of his neck. "I suppose, Johnny, I do owe you an apology for my, um..."

"Meltdown? Outburst? Tantrum? I've got more..." Nooshy raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"Yes, whatever, but... I do apologise, and that's not something I do often..." Klaus sighed. "But I understand what you were trying to do. I knew from the start you were a sensitive type, and... and I'll concede that you weren't entirely wrong. Things between Madame and myself are... not so good..."

Johnny nodded, wringing his hands for a moment as Klaus turned back towards the portrait on the wall. "She's um... she's the reason you're always mean to everyone, isn't it...?"

Klaus scoffed, then looked back up at the piercing gaze of his mentor's painting. "I suppose I... I did adopt a few of her methods. All of them, actually."

He then turned back to the gorilla and lynx, noticing what seemed to be sympathetic expressions on their faces, so he quickly tried to regain his usual bravado to avoid getting too much pity. "But you must remember, this... this is Redshore City, you... you have to have high standards."

"Well yeah, but... but you've not gotta be nasty about it, Klaus..." Johnny said. "I mean... I dunno what everyone else in your class feels, but... but I were terrified of you."

"And look at you now! Your suffering made you great, just as Madame always says!" Klaus chuckled. "You may not like our methods, Johnny, but they do work. You now, it... it toughens you up, pushes you, and -"

"Pushed him right over to me!" Nooshy cut in, stifling a laugh as Klaus' confident grin suddenly disappeared. "Yeah, forget about that, eh? Johnny were a better dancer after two days with me than he'd have been after two hundred years with you!"

"W-well, I... I um... we can't be certain of that..." Klaus cleared his throat. "I'm sure you'd have improved eventually, Johnny. Perhaps even better than -"

"Even better...? Mate, last I checked, I won that dance battle!" Johnny's remark made both himself and Nooshy laugh as he let the lynx give him a high-five, though they both stopped when they saw the unamused glare in the old monkey's face. "Yeah, but... but y'know what I mean. Your whole... only suffering makes greatness thing, it... it's obviously not true, Klaus. You ever think, maybe... maybe Madame was just wrong...?"

"No!" Klaus suddenly snapped, that last suggestion having clearly touched a nerve, but he took on a calmer, rather sadder tone as he turned back to the portrait. "No, it... she can't be wrong. Otherwise, all these years, my... my training, my career, my legacy, my... my suffering. It's all just been a sham. A waste!"

"It doesn't have to be, though..." Johnny said. "I mean... maybe your suffering did make you great, Klaus, but... but that doesn't mean you have to make everyone else suffer too."

Klaus had a rather sunken expression on his face as he turned back to the gorilla. As overly proud and stubborn as the monkey was to admit it outright, it was clear that these words were finally getting through to him, so Johnny decided to draw on other memories that had been affecting him lately.

"I've seen this sort of thing happen before with my... my, um... well, it was someone I cared a lot about..." Johnny sniffled a bit, though he pulled a small smile. "She suffered, a lot. And... and it really was the worst kind of cruelty either of you can imagine, but... but it never made her cruel. She wouldn't let it..."

"Johnny...?" Mary used her elbow to pry the door open, still using both hands to fasten her Santa Claus themed earrings, and sighed in relief as she spotted her son. "Oh, there you are, darling... everyone's just settling downstairs, and your uncles won't be too long. Joanne couldn't make it, but she got the present I sent her, so I um... oh..."

The eight-year-old was still sat on his bed, looking silently out the window. He was fully-dressed in a red tuxedo jacket with a green suit shirt, matching both colours on his mother's fluffy striped sweater. Mary had also given Johnny a pair of red-framed, star-shaped glasses with green lenses, but they were still folded up on the windowsill.

After a moment or two of studying, Mary quietly shuffled over to the bed and sat beside her little one. "Alright, you, what's with the face...?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "What face...?"

"That face..." Mary gently flicked under his chin. "Come on, Johnny, what's wrong...?"

"I... I um..." Johnny hesitated, wringing his hands together. "I don't think I should be singing."

"Oh..." Mary pursed her lips. "But you've been looking forward to it all month! What, you... you just don't feel like it...?"

"Well, I do, really, but I just..." Johnny sighed. "But I'm not supposed to sing."

"Says who...?"

"My mates at school..." Johnny looked down to the floor, sniffling a bit. "Y'know, they... we were laughing at this dog who was singing in assembly. They were all calling him a sissy boy, and... and other things, too."

Mary clicked her tongue. "God, sometimes I forget how cruel children can be."

"But if they find out I'm doing stuff like this, they'll say the same about me!" Johnny wiped his slightly-misty eyes, his voice becoming slightly strained. "I don't want them to think I'm a sissy, Mum!"

"Oh, darling..." Mary pulled Johnny into a hug, planting a gentle little kiss on the top of his head. "Don't worry about what those boys think. If you ask me, I think it's time you started making new friends. Get some mates who'll appreciate your talent, eh...?"

"Yeah, but... but look at me, Mum!" Johnny whined, tugging at the slightly tight bow tie around his collar. "Everyone looks at me, they see this... this big, stupid, clumsy gorilla! I've supposed to be big and strong, like Dad, or... or like Granddad, I can't be a -!"

"Don't you dare say that!" Mary suddenly snapped, making her little one tense a bit, though she put her gentler tone back on as she held a hand to Johnny's back. "Sorry, love, but... but your Granddad, he... he is not someone you want to be like. Ever!"

Johnny remained silent as he bit his bottom lip, but he still nodded to acknowledge his mother's words.

"Hmm... you want to be like anyone, darling, be like Florence Fletcher." Mary chortled. "Now that's an inspirational gorilla!"

Johnny gave a small smile, though he couldn't resist making a rather dark-humoured remark. "What, do you want me to fall off the stage break my leg...?"

"Watch it, you!" Mary scolded playfully, though she gently tightened her grip on her son, stroking the back of his head with two of her fingers. "But y'know, not everyone believed in Florence either when she started out. They used to tell her the same thing your mates at school told you, Johnny. That didn't stop her, and it shouldn't stop you either."

Johnny clambered up Mary's chest so that he could finally return her embrace, burying his head in his mother's shoulder. "Does everyone downstairs know I'm gonna be singing...?"

"Of course they do! Yeah, we've never had this many guests at Christmastime, Johnny, you know that!" Mary laughed. "I mean... your Dad weren't too sure what your Uncle Stan and Barry were gonna think when he told them, but they're right looking forward to hearing you!"

"They are...?!" Johnny brightened up even more when Mary nodded, and he quickly shuffled down the bed and ran over to the mirror. He tried his best to straighten his suit and neaten the fur on his head, which prompted his mother to kneel behind him and give him a helping hand. "So you really think I could make it as a singer, Mum...?"

"Hmm... I really do, darling..." Mary now felt herself getting misty-eyed as she made Johnny stand straighter in front of his reflection. "If you think you can go out there, make something of yourself, who's anyone else to tell you otherwise, eh...?"

And before either of them knew it, mother and son were sat side-by-side at Mary's old piano, while Marcus, Stan, Barry and all their other guests - Mary's father being the most notable exception - all clapped and cheered them on. Mary had let Johnny hold the microphone so that he could take the lead, but she couldn't resist singing alongside him as he belted out the chorus to her all-time favourite Christmas song.

Step into Christmas, let's join together
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever

Eat, drink and be merry
Come along with me

Step into Christmas, the admission's free!

"Oh hey, there you guys are!" Buster's voice suddenly cut into the conversation, and Johnny, Nooshy and Klaus turned to see the koala and the rest of the cast waiting in the doorway. "We were just about to head back to the hotel, so uh... is everything okay in here...?"

"Uh... yeah... yeah, it's fine, Mr. Moon..." Nooshy cleared her throat. "We were just chatting with Klaus here about -"

"Bloody hell, that's a big picture!" Marilyn pointed to the portrait of Madame that was behind Klaus, and she quietly shuffled over while the others continued speaking. "Better get a selfie in front of this... Hashtag Larger Than Life, ha ha!"

Klaus then cleared his throat and , once again covering up his vulnerabilities in front of the others. "Well, that was quite a lecture, Johnny, but... but I think it's time you all left."

"Yeah, but what about you, Klaus...?" Johnny sighed. "We were getting somewhere there, weren't we...?"

"It's fine..." Klaus rolled his eyes. "I'll just go there, make peace with her, whatever she wants me to do. This really hasn't changed anything."

"Make peace?! Oh come on, mate, you know it's not gonna work like that! Jimmy Crystal, Madame Jument, Graham Griswold. The names might change, but they're all the same!" Johnny was finding it hard to hold back a full-blown rant. "What, you think folks like that just wake up one morning, decide they've changed their ways, then make an effort to be better? They don't! All they know is how to make everybody else miserable, and you can't -!"

"I'm sorry, but what's Graham Griswold got to do with this...?" Marilyn cut in. "I mean... I feel like I'm missing the connection there..."

"Yeah, I know what you're trying to say, J, but maybe dial it back a bit, mate..." Nooshy let out a small chuckle, trying to keep the mood light. "Bit of a stretch comparing some snotty dance coach to a bloody crime boss, innit...?"

"Well, I... I dunno, I just... I'm just making a point..." Johnny groaned, shaking his head before he looked back to Klaus. "And the point is, you can't keep letting them make you miserable, because otherwise they're just gonna hang over you forever!"

"And what does it matter to you if that happens to me...?" Klaus scoffed, crossing his arms with a grimace. "You and I aren't exactly best buddies, Johnny..."

"Doesn't mean you deserve it to happen to you... nobody does, that's what I'm trying to say!" Johnny said. "Look, I don't wanna see anyone end up like this, whether I like them or not! I've seen what it did to my Mum, and I wouldn't wish that on my -!"

"Wait wait wait... your Mom...?!" Ash cut in, though everyone else was just as shocked. "What's your Mom got to do with this, Johnny...?"

"Eh...?" Johnny turned to face her, his eyes widening slightly when he finally realised what he'd just said a moment before. "Oh, uh... it's nothing, she just..."

"Wait..." Marilyn gasped dramatically, as did everyone else - sans Buster and Johnny - when they put the pieces together. "OMG, did your Mum know Graham Griswold...?!"

"Aw, J, is that who you were on about?!" Nooshy grabbed Johnny's shoulder. "With the cruelty and stuff like that...?"

"No, I just..." Johnny tightened up a bit. "Everyone, it's not important, just -"

"She wasn't in debt to him or something, was she...?!" Nooshy was surprised when Johnny pulled and tried to head for the door. "Johnny! Look, mate, loads of people owed Griswold stuff, it's nothing to be -!"

"She didn't owe him anything!" Johnny suddenly snapped in a harsh but high-pitched tone, making everyone - especially Nooshy and Marilyn - tense back. "And he was wrong to make her think she did!"

This outburst had taken most of the air out of the room, and everyone was frozen in shock for just over a minute. Nooshy had briefly considered saying something to break the silence, but Rosita beat her to the punch.

"Johnny..." The mother pig had a calm, compassionate look on her face. "How did you Mom know Graham Griswold...?"

"Well... she was his... he was... I'm..."

Johnny hesitated for another moment or two, then let out a small sigh. He felt a smaller hand clasping onto his own, and glanced down to see Buster looking up at him, a knowing but reassuring smile on the koala's face. The young gorilla then looked back to the rest of the group, all of whom were still unsure what was going on, so rather than drag this out any further, he finally decided to come out with it.

"Graham was my Granddad."