36. THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER ENDING

 

 

The skies were lit with colors flashing like fireworks. How could the end of the universe be so beautiful, I wondered.

I looked out over the edge of the asteroid, and some rocks slipped down beneath my feet and floated away. I fell with them, but I caught the edge of the asteroid, and held on to the rocks, with my feet dangling in the empty space as the lights burst in the skies.

My YODELcap fell into oblivion and I held on for dear life.

An eternity later I took a deep breath and pulled myself up with every last ounce of strength.

Then I sat down on the edge of the asteroid and wondered where I could possibly have hidden my beloved pumpkin.

I checked my shoe. I seemed to have stored some of my more precious belongings there, like my heart...

"My heart!" I gasped, and I reached into my soul. I had to stretch real far to find it. Ah, there it was. But wait, there was something even deeper inside, so much a part of me that no one would ever have found it...I reached further...it was big and round...it was my pumpkin!

I pulled it out and hugged it close.

I kissed it again, and again, hoping that, like in a fairy tale, it would turn into Mary, but it didn't, and the lights in the sky were getting brighter now as they came closer to the grand finale.

With tears in my eyes, I placed my pumpkin down beside me and pulled out my heart and placed it next to the pumpkin.

It stretched around the pumpkin's base, hugging it in desperation, then sighed and sat still and limp.

I sighed as well and lay back on the rocks, staring at the flood of lights, wondering how it could all end this way.

Then slowly I smelled a mixture of cigar smoke, garlic, and tabasco sauce.

"CUPID!" I gasped as he floated alongside the asteroid. He pulled back his bow as he puffed on the cigar, and an arrow sailed straight for my pumpkin.

My heart leaped into the line of fire, and the arrow pierced through. It fell to the ground, flapped a few times, then lay still.

"Oh, brother," Cupid moaned, and he pulled another arrow from his bag.

"NO!" I yelled as he aimed at my pumpkin again. This time I leaped into the air, and the arrow shot right into the hole in my soul.

I fell to the ground dramatically, walking back and forth like the dying hero in a bad movie.

But the truth is, it didn't feel like I was dying. When the arrow pierced my soul, it felt like a tiny pin prick, and then something nice started to wash all over me.

Nevertheless, I continued my dramatics while Cupid looked on.

"This is ridiculous!" Cupid growled, and he pulled out his last arrow and shot it through the pumpkin.

The next thing I knew, I was holding Mary, and she was holding me, and we were kissing, wrapped in an eternal embrace.

"Look, you," Cupid was saying as he floated close to us. "I may be a real sleaze and all that, there's no denying it, but hey, I like a happy ending as much as the next guy. See ya later, folks. Hope you enjoy the show," he added, pointing to the last colored lights in the sky. And then he floated away.

Mary and I held each other even tighter. "Never leave me again, Mary."

"Never," she promised.

Far away we heard a clock gonging. Mary looked at her watch.

IT WAS 12:00!!!

"George," she gasped. "George, what if I'm going to turn into a pumpkin again? Oh, George ...hold me!"

"I won't let it happen to you again, Mary," I whispered.

"Gong," the clock sounded for the 12th time.

Mary was still there. "Mary," I gasped in joy, and I kissed her face tenderly.

"Oh, George!" she sighed, and we kissed forever as the last of the stars in the sky burst into flames of color, and we lived happily ever after.

Brand New Start
( Chapter 36- MP3 song demo by Lyndon DeRobertis)

 

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