by TK Wade
At mid-afternoon at the Origins of Cottontail Pines play, Flopsy peeked through the curtains looking for a certain skunk. “Where is he?”
Gumdrop the mouse–a dear friend of Flopsy’s–asked, “Where is who?”
“Blacky. His seat is empty.”
“Oh, him? I hear he’s been busy telling everyone about his dashing attempt to beat up Fang the wolf. He probably just forgot.”
The bunny frowned. “You don’t know Blacky though. He’s always come to my plays. Besides, he promised.”
Gumdrop checked the rabbit closely. “Are you gonna be all right?”
Flopsy sighed but nodded. “I guess so. I just hope he shows up. He’s really not that bad of a guy.” The play was about to begin, and Flopsy took her place as the curtain was called.
*****
The next morning, Blacky was up at the crack of dawn. He jumped out of bed, enthusiastically stretched himself, and skipped into the dining room. The skunk barely noticed his parents glaring at him as he sat down. He noticed that there was nothing to eat. “Hey! Where’s breakfast? A hero’s got to eat, right?!” The skunk boy suddenly noticed that his parents were not very happy with him. “Did we run out of food?”
Mother skunk waved her finger at the boy. “You should be ashamed!”
Blacky became defensive. “What did I do, Mom?!”
They both stepped aside and there was Gumdrop. She may have just been a mouse, but her anger made her seem several times as tall. Blacky just froze.
The mouse stomped up to him and poked the skunk right in the chest. “I can’t believe you missed Flopsy’s play! Do you know how much she wanted to see you out there?!”
Blacky went into a panic. “Oh, my gosh! Gumdrop, you have to understand. I went to Mr. Rupert’s and his kids didn’t want me to leave! They all wanted to wear my metal and all!”
“But you promised you would go see her!”
“I forgot!”
Gumdrop made a cute, squeaky growl and stomped her little foot. “Flopsy was crying after the play! You don’t know how much you mean to her! If you weren’t going around bragging about what you did, maybe you wouldn’t have forgotten about your best friend!”
“Look, I’ll go see her right now!”
Gumdrop stomped out of the house. “Don’t bother! I have to go back and brush her fur till she stops crying!” Even though she was just a tiny mouse, she was able to slam the door pretty hard.
Father skunk said, “Do you have anything to say for yourself, Blacky?”
The skunk frowned even more than he usually did. “I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I was really going to see the play, but I just forgot.”
Mother got down on her knees and hugged her son. “I think the fame went to your head.”
Blacky huffed. “It was that stupid Coffee the ferret that did this to me. If that article hadn’t been written—.”
His mother covered his mouth. “I don’t want to hear it. That was a good article even if it was a little exaggerated. You still shouldn’t have forsaken your friends like that.”
Blacky’s eyes went wide. “Walnut!”
Father asked, “What about Walnut?”
“I forgot that Walnut wanted to see me yesterday! I forgot him too?!” He grabbed his hair. “Oh, gosh! I’m a horrible person!”
Before his parents could say anything, Blacky was out the door. He ran as fast as he could to Walnuts house. Quickly, he knocked on the door. Mrs. Chipper opened the door. “Blacky?”
The skunk answered, “Is Walnut home? I really need to see him.”
She smiled and opened the door. Walnut was right behind her holding a stuffed skunk plush. He winced when he saw it but still walked inside and gave him a hug. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have abandoned you like that. You’re my friend. I went a little crazy after what happened.”
Walnut hugged him back. “I thought you were mad at me for going outside the borders. I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore.”
Blacky shook his head and looked into the little boy’s eyes. “You’re my friend. I want to be here for you. Who else are you gonna compare tail sizes with?”
Walnut laughed. “Mine is still gonna be bigger someday!”
Blacky removed his hero’s medal and put it around Walnut’s neck. “You deserve this just as much as I do. You’re a brave kid, even if you are annoying sometimes.”
The boy laughed. “That sounds like the Blacky I know. Thank you. Are we going to Donut Park today?”
“Yes, but I need you to wait just a while longer. There’s someone I need to go see.”
“I understand. I’ll wait here till you come back.”
*****
Flopsy had stopped crying for a while. Gumdrop was still hanging around the house, but she was for the moment alone in her room. She gasped when she suddenly saw the chubby legs of a skunk crawling into her window. She yelled, “Blacky?! What are you doing?!”
He answered without turning, “I brought something for you. Just be patient!”
Blacky reached over the window sill and picked up the biggest bouquet of flowers Flopsy had ever seen. He turned around and set them at her feet. “I am so sorry. I’ll never do anything like that again and not just because I honestly think Gumdrop will beat me up. It’s also because you are my friend, and I should have come to see you like I had promised.”
Flopsy smiled and gave him a hug. The skunk was a little unprepared for it and groaned. “Girls. Ugh.”
She asked, “Did you crawl through the window to avoid Gumdrop?”
“You bet I did.”
She giggled. “I don’t blame you at all. You’re a good friend, Blacky.”
The skunk smiled and replied, “Yeah, I know.”
The end.
