4: Mr. Hippo

866 35 19
                                    

The next day, Mike entered the pizzeria, wondering/waiting for Helpy to pop out. But then he began to grow a bit worried...Helpy looked like he had been traumatized by the mere sight of his former father. It was likely that Helpy was going to be his only friend in this hellhole that he had now owned, so it was again likely that they would become friends or allies. Helpy seemed like an adorable and pure person that should not be put into dangerous situations...

"Helpy? Helpy, are you here?" Mike called out, walking around to try and find him, but then saw something that flabbergasted him.

Helpy was sitting criss cross applesauce and one of the animatronics that Mike had ordered seemed to be talking to him. The animatronic was a purple hippo, and while they talked to the bear cub, they seemed...alive almost. However, Helpy seemed to be patient in this animatronics' words.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, life... life goes on. W-well, from—for everyone else, life goes on. But that's neither here nor there. A-Actually, it reminds me of one summer day in the park. I was having just a delightful picnic with my good friend Orville. And I said to him, I said, 'Orville, I... I have a story.' And he said to me, 'What's the significance of the story?' And... I said to him, 'Orville, not every story has to have significance, y'know? Sometimes, a... y'know, sometimes, a story's just a story. You try to read into every little thing, and find meaning in everything anyone says, you'll just drive yourself crazy. Had a friend do it once. Wasn't pretty. We talked about it for years. And then not only that, but... you'll likely end up believing something you shouldn't believe, thinking something you shouldn't think, o-o-or assuming something you shouldn't assume. Y'know? Sometimes,' I said, 'A story is-is just a story, so just be quiet for one second of your life and eat your sandwich, okay?' Of course, it was only then I'd realized I'd made sandwiches, and... poor Orville was having such difficulty eating it! Elephants have those clumsy hands, y'know? Actually, I-I suppose that's the problem. They don't have hands at all, do they? They're f—they're all feet! And I-I couldn't imagine someone asking me to eat a sandwich with my feet. Now, if I recall correctly, there was a bakery nearby. I said to him, 'Orville, let me go get you some rye bread.' Now, I'm unsure if elephants enjoy rye bread, but I assure you that Orville does. Now, this was on a Tuesday, which was good, because rye bread was always fresh on Tuesday. They made sourdough bread on Monday, and threw it out Wednesday... Or rather, they sold it at a discount for people wanting to feed it to the ducks, and then, prob'ly at the end of the day, finally, they threw it all out. I-I don't recall. I do remember a man who would bring his son to the bakery every Wednesday, and... then go feed the ducks. He would buy all of the sourdough bread. Of course, y'know, you're not supposed to feed the ducks sourdough bread at all. It swells up in their stomach, and then they all die. At, uh, at least... at least, that's what I've heard. Y'know, I-I never saw any ducks die myself, but I did notice a substantial decrease in the duck population over the course of a few years. I just never thought to stop the man and tell him that he was killing the ducks by feeding them sourdough bread! And if you want my opinion on the matter—heh, and I told Orville this as well—if you wanna feed ducks, or birds of any kind, for that matter, it's best to buy seed. I mean, when you think about it, bread of any sort don't occur in nature. They don't grow on trees o-or spring up from the bushes. I don't think birds know what to do with bread. What was I saying? Oh oh, yes, yes! So I bought Orville some rye bread. What a fine day it was."

"Did he enjoy it?" Helpy finally asked, sounding like he's been holding in that sentence for a long time.

"Well, l-like I said, he enjoys- No, no, he LOVES rye bread. I-I promise you, if you're ever having rye bread on a nice summer or fall or spring, or even a winter day. That will go away real quick." The old hippo replied simply.

"Oh...Well, remind me never to have rye bread...Whatever that is."

Mike didn't even bother to walk over, he was just wondering what the heck was going on and if he could get an early day off.

Helpy's Survival StoriesWhere stories live. Discover now