"Geppetto.", Pinocchio smiled, and Lampwick blinked in surprise, "No way! I know Geppetto! Oh, that's really swell for him...He is a great toymaker sometimes, he got me a rocking horse when I was little! You sure he's cool with you going?".
Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, he wants me to be happy, so if I go to Pleasure Island, and it makes me happy, it makes him happy...You know?", and Lampwick was a bit confused for a moment before shrugging, "Well, if he's cool with it, I'll watch over ya for him, eh? After all, Geppetto deserves it...especially after what happened to his wife...Not that I blame him for the wish.".
"What do you mean, happened to his wife? Is that like someone like the Blue Fairy for him?", Pinocchio asked in confusion, and Lampwick blinked at him, "How long have you been alive so far?".
Pinocchio tried to think before replying, "Two times the stars are out up to now.", and Lampwick replied, "Oh, so you've been around for a day and two nights so far, then. Didn't your pop tell you what a mother is, or a wife?".
"Well, no...He was just so excited and happy to have me in his arms and whatever, and then things happened while I was trying to go to school...", Pinocchio frowned in concern...
"Ah, blast... it's like teaching a toddler...", Lampwick pinched the bridge of his nose as the coach went through a tunnel for a few moments before coming out to a secluded cove where a small dock and a large steamship was awaiting.
"Huh... guess that's our ferry to Pleasure Island.", Lampwick elbowed Pinocchio as the coach opened up to unleash the chaos of eager young ruffians onto the steamship.
Pinocchio nodded, and followed Lampwick into the steamship, snagging a room in one of the deck spaces down below before others would do the same, hearing the Coachman yell out, "Don't worry, boys, just a few hours for this lug of a boat, and finally Pleasure Island, on the peak of sunrise! Settle down if you want to spend the whole day on the island to do whatever you want, eh?!".
Lampwick yawned, "He's right...It's weird to be way past curfew, right now as we got a whole day to look forward to, eh, Pinoky?", and Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is. Could you tell me what a wife or mother is?".
"I'll make you a deal, pal, I will answer this question, and just one more question, and then we go to sleep, alright?", Lampwick replied, and Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, okay.", realizing that Lampwick is like his father when he wants to go to sleep without him asking questions a lot.
"Alright, so a wife is the type of women that marry guys. You seen any grown men with women near them, talking to each other? A lot of times, they're probably married so they're husband and wife.", Lampwick told him.
Pinocchio saw a lot of people in the crowd at Stromboli and saw some of those wives next to grown men, and he nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I did.", and Lampwick nodded, "Good. And for a mother, she is the one who raises a boy or girl in any family, like a father, and they share in helping to raise the kids. After marrying and becoming wives, they get real big, and not big-big, but like fat-big around the belly, and probably with magic or something, a baby is then in the family, becoming boys or girls, and then those boys and girls grow up to be men and women, and so, it repeats.".
"Oh, okay, that actually makes sense.", Pinocchio replied, and Lampwick nodded, "Yeah. Okay, second question?", and Pinocchio asked, "What happened to Father's wife? Would she have been my mother?".
Lampwick raised an eyebrow, and Pinocchio paused, realizing that he asked two questions, "Sorry!", and Lampwick waved a hand, "That's fair as it's kinda connected, but yeah...If she was still alive, she would have been your mother, alright. And for what happened, sometimes the magic with having babies doesn't work out...I didn't get all the details, but Geppetto's wife, her name was Cornelia. The baby was a boy, but he didn't live long, and Cornelia died the day afterwards. Mama said that it was heartbreak. Anyhow, it was years and years ago.".
"Ohhh...", Pinocchio glanced away as Lampwick sighed. "Now I just done and made myself depressed...", he muttered to himself. "Listen, Slats, don't worry about it alright, you're here and I'm sure that's good for ol' Geppetto. Besides, we'll be at Pleasure Island, and you'll certainly have a wonderful time.".
Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, you're right, Lampwick...Is it okay if I call you Lampy for short?", and Lampwick grinned, "We're friends, Pinoky. Lampy is good for me. Anyway, we better call it a night.".
Pinocchio nodded, climbing into the above bunk below Lampwick, and called down, "Sweet Dreams, Lampy.", and Lampwick replied, "Sweet dreams, Pinoky.", before extinguishing the single lantern that was in the room, and went to sleep immediately.
Pinocchio had more questions like heartbreak or the word of died, but he knew that the day awaiting for him and Lampwick is more focused on fun and such...He glanced at the single porthole that showed the night sky and sea, and whispered, "Sweet dreams, Father...and Mother...I wish I had met you or the little boy too...", before falling asleep, realizing that he was exhausted after such a long day with Stromboli, Honest John and Gideon.
Two and a half hours has passed during the peaceful motions of the steamship before when the horns roared on the steamship, waking up almost all of the passengers for several minutes as dawn was barely coming. The word was quickly spreading around that the ship had arrived at Pleasure Island.
Pinocchio rubbed his eyes as he heard the horns, blinking as he looked around, and then remembered that he was on the way to Pleasure Island, and looked over to see Lampwick sleeping kind of funny-like, and he climbed down the ladder, shaking Lampwick's shoulder, "Lampy, Lampy, wake up.".
Lampwick groaned, "Give me five minutes.", and Pinocchio frowned before hearing the screams and loud chatter from the other boys outside the small room, and he then replied, "Lampwick, you gotta wake up! We can't miss it! I think we're at Pleasure Island!".
"Sheesh, you sure got a loud voice...", Lampwick muttered as he rubbed his eyes before realizing what Pinocchio said, and looked at Pinocchio, "We're there? Pleasure Island?".
Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah!", and Lampwick grinned, "Let's go have the greatest day of our lives, Pinoky!", and the wooden boy returned the grin, and they left the room, following the bustling crowd of easily over 100 boys, seeing a huge cavern bay, with the steamship coming in, under the mountainous island somehow, moving around for some more minutes before turning to the deck to board.
After the ropes were caught, with the ramp boarded down, and the big doors to the entrance of Pleasure Island opened, the crowd went down instantly, running and going into a glorious huge, expansive land with so many things for a boy to do.
It had very much a large carnival atmosphere; all sights and wonders mostly unseen by many of the boys who were most unfortunate never to have been to; or such as in Pinocchio's case, very young to even have a chance to experience, despite the intelligence that of many of his fellows around him.
"Right here, boys! Right here. Get your cake, pie, dill pickles and ice cream. Eat all you can. Be a glutton. Stuff yourselves. It's all free, boys, it's all free. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!". An announcement could be heard as Pinocchio and Lampwick made a beeline for the food.
Jiminy himself had thankfully hitchhiked into the steamship when the carriage came upon the deck, but he didn't have much luck with searching for Pinocchio on the ship as it was a maze and of course, avoiding the Coachman and some black boys. And now it's even worse for him as he had to avoid footsteps and all in the chaos, realizing that he has to run for cover...With the boys running amok, he knew that he can't afford to be stepped on, and even if he's really desperate and worried for Pinocchio, he realizes that he has to wait for a break when the boys are exhausted out from everything.
He shook his head, seeing everything that is clearly tempting every single boy, and he had a feeling that Pinocchio is, sooner or later, caught into it, but for now, he just needs to stay in a safe place.
As Pinocchio went to enjoy probably the best day of his life ever with Lampwick, his best friend by his side, he thought that he might actually have all unneeded stress out of him by the end of the day which is good news for him as everything looks so much fun.
Meanwhile, the Coachman grinned as every boy is clearly distracted, and seeing that his minions had cleared out the steamship with no other boys lingering around, he yelled back at his minions, "Alright, you blokes, close the doors! Go below and get everything all primed out for tonight!", whipping his horsewhip.
All the boys were unaware of their sinister benefactor's motives and plans, but rather still all focused on the fun that they could have. Pinocchio and Lampwick had grabbed themselves quite a bit of food as they were moving around, trying to keep themselves from losing it thanks to boys running all around them.
"You think you can actually be able to eat, Slats? You know, being a puppet and all?", Lampwick asked as he took a bite out of a whole cooked chicken he had.
Pinocchio nodded, "Yeah, I ate breakfast before Father sent me off to school.", and Lampwick nodded, "Ah, good. Probably the wish of the magic making some things able for you while you're a wooden boy.".
"That makes really good sense, Lampy! You're real smart!", Pinocchio smiled, and Lampwick chuckled, "It takes one to know one. The streets can teach ya a lot.", as he kept eating, and Pinocchio nodded, eating and enjoying, soon ending up at a tent that showed shadows of boys brawling around, and Lampwick laughed, "Oh, boy, a scrap! Come on, Pinoky, I'll teach ya how to tackle somebody around!".
Pinocchio replied, "But we haven't finished eating yet, Lampy.", and Lampwick replied, "We can always get more food from other stands along the way. Come on, it's gonna be fun!", eating a big bite of chicken before throwing it over into the food scraps pile, and Pinocchio nodded, "Okay, Lampy.", throwing his food back after eating a slice of pie, and followed his best friend, copying his stance.
And so, the day went fast in all the boys' opinion, but they didn't care as they had fun, but little did they know, as evening approached, was that a terrible transformation is going to happen, in the painful sense that boys can't even tolerate, like screaming for their parents and such before becoming something else entirely, after being led to rooms below the carnival grounds, and to the docks, that was said to be bedrooms of a sort, but to find out that it was a lie.
As the evening hours droned on, it was finally quiet for Jiminy to come out, and he sighed heavily, looking at the mess, "Sheesh, what a mess...I wonder where all the boys are...Hmm, better find Pinoke.", starting to search and call out for his charge's name.
Pinocchio and Lampwick certainly had a long day: stuffing their faces with food, getting into fights, drinking, smoking, wrecking things with any matter of tools they could get their hands on, it was practically exhausting. By the time it was late, the two of them had somehow found themselves alone in the billiard bar, a building that was shaped and painted like giant 8-ball, with the two of them in the basement, enjoying a good smoke, drink and Lampwick playing pool.
"Where do you suppose all the boys went to, Lampwick?", Pinocchio asked as he took another swig of his beer. "They're around here, somewheres. What do you care? You're having a good time, ain't ya?", Lampwick said as he took another puff of his cigar before striking another ball on the table.
Pinocchio nodded, smiling, "Yeah, I sure am! This was the happiest day of my life, and the stress is out! I feel like I could just float by...".
Lampwick chuckled, "Told you so. And you have to admit that it was really fun, even with all the noise of the boys. Heck, we snagged some rides too...But this, this is really nice...I mean, I haven't played pool in ages!".
"And you're really good at it too, Lampy!", Pinocchio smiled, and Lampwick grinned, "Gee, thanks, Pinoky.", taking another puff of his cigar before trading it for another swig of beer by his table.
Lampwick nodded, "Alright, Slats, your turn. And oh, don't hit the ball too hard. I nearly had to duck last time.", with a dramatic smirk. "Okay...", Pinocchio said as he got the pool cue and started lining up a shot. He grabbed his cigar and took a few puffs.
"Ah, you smoke like me grandmother!", Lampwick argued. "Come on, take a big drag, like this!", he told him as he took a deep huff of the cigar.
"Okay, Lampy!", Pinocchio eagerly followed his lead and took a really huge drag on his cigar, before ending up going a bit too far and causing his face to turn red. He then accidently swallowed the smoke and caused his eyes to water up before starting to green in the face before he finally blows out a tiny smoke ring.
"Heh, need some more practice with that... but it certainly takes stress off!", Lampwick chuckled. "Now come on, take your shot before we end up being old men.".
Pinocchio nodded while still feeling fairly nauseous. His hands were shaking as he held the pool cue and was trying to come for the cueball; using his free hand to grab his cigar and take one more puff before he prepared to strike. "What's the matter, Slats? Losin' your grip?", Lampwick replied casually.
Pinocchio determinedly narrowed his eyes, lined up for the shot, focusing when an angry shout was heard, "PINOCCHIO!", causing the wooden boy to miss and narrowly sliced his pool cue into the side of the pool table.
Pinocchio was dizzy and confused for a moment before focusing his eyes on Jiminy Cricket that appeared upon a cue ball, lecturing, "Pinocchio, I should've have known! Smoking, drinking beer, this isn't what you do if you want to be a real boy!".
For a moment, just a moment, Pinocchio remembered seeing himself in the reflection of himself in that pretty rose red dress, and he muttered, "Maybe I don't want to be a real boy.".
"Huh?! It's the beer talking, not you!", Jiminy ranted angrily before being grabbed by Lampwick who blinked, "Blimey, who are you supposed to be?".
"Hey... who's the beetle?" Lampwick asked as he let go of Jiminy and let the cricket fall onto the table. Jiminy was all flustered as he was trying to fix his vest coat.
"Oh...", Pinocchio's mind finally came back to the moment at hand. "That's Jiminy, he's my conscience. Tells me what's right and wrong?"
"Seriously?", Lampwick started to snicker. "You mean to tell me that you take orders from a grasshopper?". Jiminy glared at Lampwick, "Grasshopper?! For your information, I'm a cricket! And Pinocchio, you're coming home straight now!", turning around to look at Pinocchio.
Pinocchio frowned, "But we're just having fun, Jiminy, and besides, I ain't leaving my best friend.", and Jiminy widened his eyes, "Best friend?! But you just met him today! And what friend am I? Or am I just your conscience?".
Lampwick looked at Jiminy, "More like a nuisance right now. Go on, bug, and besides, you heard Slats. The ship isn't probably going anywhere until tomorrow, and we're just fine here.", and Jiminy scowled, "Fine, fine, go drink and smoke for all I care! Your father will be very disappointed in you! I thought you wanted to be a real boy for him! Fine, goodbye!", before stomping off and hopping off into the darkness.
Pinocchio called out, "I did, Jiminy! I don't know right now! Please don't be mad!", and Jiminy ignored him as Lampwick replied, "Come on, Pinoky, let him go... He's stressing you out, and I thought you said that you wanted to be happy, right?".
It was true... but Pinocchio wasn't feeling it when he saw Jiminy leaving, more than likely just straight up cutting ties with him. Lampwick gave him another pat on the back, "Come on, take another puff... take a drag off. It'll calm you down.". Pinocchio sighed as he sat back down in his chair and took a long drink of his beer.
"Lousy little... can't do one thing right...", Jiminy said as he walked away in a huff out of the billiard hall. "Make asses out of yourselfers...", he grumbled as he started to look for the docks and where that ship was, "Just take the ship back to the mainland and... I don't know, do whatever I guess.". He sighed as he glanced up, "I'm sorry, ma'am...". He was imagining talking to the Blue Fairy, "But there's clearly no helping that boy...".
Lampwick glanced at Pinocchio, "What do you mean by that you didn't want to be a real boy? I mean you told me earlier that to make the wish complete, you gotta be a real boy to prove that you're brave and truthful, right?".