Misery Update

We apologize for the delay on the next installment of Misery Loves Company.  Once we convince Mr. Love to find the next chapter and submit , we will get it posted.

Again, we apologize for the delay.

The Editors.

Misery Loves Company Installment #8

Chapter 5 (Continued)

Slowly I opened my eyes. I fully expected to see nothing but white lights and angels standing around me. But instead I was lying on my back in the middle of what used to be well trimmed hedges. My arms and legs were pinned to the ground by hundreds of twigs and branches that had grabbed me when I came crashing through the hedge. A black tractor wheel lay spinning beside me. The chain was sprawled out over my chest. In fact, my tractor was all around me in about a million pieces.

A voice broke the silent air. "Hey, little boy," the voice said. "Are you all right?"

It was a soft, gentle voice. It sounded concerned. It definitely belonged to a girl. I was positive it belonged to the person I just about ran over. The bushes started to rustle and twigs snapped as I heard footsteps come closer. "Where are you?"

I wanted to yell for help, but nothing would come out. I looked towards where the sounds were coming from, but the person was still on the other side of the hedge. "Where are you?" the voice asked again.

I struggled to take a breath and squeaked out a groan. The sounds got closer and the crackling of the leaves and snapping of twigs got louder. Then I saw two hands reach through the bush and pull them apart. I finally saw my rescuer.

"There you are!" she said as our eyes met. "Don't worry. I will get you out."

My eyes were still a bit blurred from the crash, but as she began removing the twigs and branches that trapped me, the girl began to look more and more familiar. She started talking some more to me as she cleared the debris away. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Misery." I answered quietly, still trying to catch my breath. "Misery Love."

My rescuer laughed. "What kind of name is that?"

I was all put out now because she was laughing at my name. It wasn't bad enough that I had just crashed and burned in front of her, but now she thought my name was funny.

"It's my name!" I replied seriously, defending myself. "My parents gave it to me and it's mine!" After a short pause I finally asked her what her name was.

She looked at me as seriously as I answered her and said very matter of factly, "Annette. My name is Annette."

At that moment I knew I had died and gone to heaven. That was why she looked so familiar. I looked back at her and just stared. Then I got very excited. All my aches and pains suddenly disappeared and I forgot about my cuts and scrapes. This really was my lucky day! Who would've ever thought. It really was Annette! And I met her right here on my own block! And I even had my Mickey Mouse ears on when I met her. And by some miracle, they were still on my head. A little bit worse for wear, but they were still there! Then all of a sudden I felt embarrassed. What a terrible way to meet the girl of your dreams. I managed to squeeze out a sheepish little grin.

Annette pulled me out of the bushes and felt around my arms and legs to see if anything was broken. It ticked and I started to laugh. I couldn't believe that I was standing there getting tickled by Annette. I was still having a hard time believing that she was even there. Then she asked me how old I was.

"Five." I answered. Then I looked at her and felt guilty because I wasn't really five. "Well, almost five." I confessed. I'll be five next month."

Annette looked at me in total astonishment. "Wow! You're getting to be a big boy then, aren't you!"

"Yea." I blushed. I kicked a rock off the sidewalk. "That's what my mother says."

Then Annette took a tissue from her purse and started to sop up the blood that was running from my cuts and scrapes. "Well, you must be a big boy because you didn't even cry."

When she said that it made me feel all grown up inside. Right after I crashed I wanted to cry because it hurt so much, but I couldn't because I couldn't catch my breath. Now I was glad I didn't cry. There was no way I wanted to cry in front of her.

The excitement of having Annette there finally got to be too much. I couldn't hod back any longer. "I watch you every day on TV!" I blurted out proudly as I threw my arms around her. I grabbed her around the neck and pulled her to me as she managed to squeak out a gagging response.

Annette took me by the arms and pulled me off of her and looked back at me looking puzzled. "You watch me on TV?"

"I sure do!" I answered! "Everyday on the Mickey Mouse Club!"

Annette paused for a while and then a big grin slowly formed at the corners of her mouth. "Why yes." She said. "That's right. Of course you watch me everyday on the Mickey Mouse Club. I am Annette, and I am on the Mickey Mouse Club." Then she looked at me and asked, "And do you like me?" She winked.

"I love you!" I screamed as I threw myself around her again. Then I had to ask. "Do you really know Mickey Mouse, and Googy, and all those guys?"

Annette looked at me and assured me that she knew each and every one of them. I was in awe. Then I turned and looked at what was left of my tractor in the bushes. "I'm afraid there's not much left of it." Annette consoled me putting her hand on my shoulder. I pulled her tigher around me and looked up and said,"That's OK. It was worth it!"

I started to pull the remains out of the bushes when something dawned on me and I just couldn't figure it out. I stopped what I was doing and turned around to Annette and asked her what she was doing here. "Don't you live at Disneyland?" I asked.

She stood for a moment and finally said, "Of course I do. But I'm on vacation right now." That seemed to satisfy my five year old brain even though I had no idea why you would take a vacation away from Disneyland. I went back to gathering up my tractor.

Annette helped me carry the remains of my tractor to my driveway where I dropped it on the spot and gave Annette another great big hug. When she pushed me away and told me good-bye, I ran into the house as fast as I could. I couldn't wait to tell my mother that I had actually ran into Annette! It was so fantastic that there was no way she was going to believe it. Just as I reached the door, Annette called back to me. "Hey Misery? How would you like to come watch the show with me tomorrow?"

This was just unbelievable. Too good to be true! Annette was inviting me to come watch the show with her! I got even more excited and started to dance around in an uncontrolled frenzy! This meant going to Disneyland and meeting the other Mousketeers. This meant meeting Mickey Mouse! I ran back and gave Annette another great big hug. "Do you really mean it?" I asked not believing my what my ears had just heard.

"Of course." She said. "It's my favorite show, too. Just come on over tomorrow and we will watch it together."

I looked straight up at her and told her I couldn't wait. I turned and ran straight back into the house. I had so much to do to get ready. I shouted goodbye to her and ran in banging all the doors on the way in. I had a lot to do to get ready. Disneyland was a long ways away and I had to get packed and everything. And I just had to tell my mother. I was sure the next day was going to be the biggest and best day of my life! It couldn't get any better. Could it?

Misery Loves Company Installment #7

Chapter 5

CRASH AND BURN
or
Chance Meeting
or
A Big Surprise!

That afternoon after I had opened the rest of my presents, I put on my Mickey Mouse ears, gathered my drum and horn and got on my tractor and headed to the hill. I would toot holding the horn to my mouth with one hand and bang on the drum with the other. In between toots and bangs when the tractor started veering off course, I would grab the steering wheel and steer it back on course. I tooted and I banged, and along with the clanking of the chain on the tractor as I pedaled, I sounded like an army going up that hill. Neighbors would pop their heads out of their doors to see what the racket was all about as I passed by. I was so excited, decked out with all my Mickey Mouse gear, that I was determined to make this the fastest ride down the hill ever!

I slowly made my way up the hill conserving strength so I could pedal even faster as I came down the hill. My toots and bangs came slower and slower as I crept up the hill, synchronized with my pedaling. When I got to the top of the hill I turned the tractor around and sat there a moment or two pondering the sidewalk and street down below. Since I was determined to make this the fastest ride ever, I wanted to make sure nothing was in the way.

It was a quiet, sleepy, Christmas afternoon. There was no-one on the sidewalk. There were no cars on the street. I scooted back in the seat of the tractor and made myself comfortable. I stretched a bit and then placed both feet, one at a time very purposefully on each of the pedals. I put the bugle in my mouth and held it there with my teeth. I held the drum in one hand and the mallet in the other hand. I was ready.

I took a long deep breath and held it for a second. And then I sounded the loudest, longest, most chilling note I could, breaking the sleepy silence of the afternoon. Birds flew from the bushes. Cats screatched from nowhere. And dogs barked and howled from their yards. My feet pushed at the pedals, slowly at first, but gradually moving back and forth faster and faster like the pistons on a powerful steam locomotive. I was on my way!

I started to band my drum and blew my bugle and pedaled with all my might. HONK, BANG, pedal, pedal; HONK, BANG, pedal, pedal. I put all my strength my legs had to offer into the pedals. HONK, BANG, pedal, pedal; HONK, BANG, pedal, pedal. Nothing was going to stop me now. By the time I was at the bottom of the hill I was sure I was going faster than I ever went before. I could hear the wind howl as it rushed past me in a whirlwind frenzy. I honked and I banged with a passionate fervor, pausing only momentarily throughout the ride to correct the steering to keep the tractor on the sidewalk. I remembered thinking: If only Annette could see me now.

I was still picking up speed as I approached a house with bug bushy bushes that surrounded it's yard. The bushes were so high and thick that you could never see inside to the yard. I had often wondered what was behind those bushes, but was always too afraid to poke my head inside to find out. And then, I as I approached the house, with no warning at all, a dark figure stepped out from behind the bushes, and out onto the sidewalk. It occurred so fast. And I was going so fast. In a sudden panic I blew one long and loud blast as hard as I could on my horn as I threw my drum and mallet into the air so I could grab at the steering wheel. Then my bugle went flying as I spit it out so I could scream as loud as I could. The dark figure turned and stared right into my eyes in horror just like a deer in headlights. The figure was too frightened to move as I quickly came upon it. The tractor veered out of control as I covered my head with my hands and hid my eyes from the coming tragedy. The tractor weaved out into the street, flying off the rounded curb of the sidewalk, becoming airborne for a moment before landing in a haze of sparks and a loud clunk. The tractor was still moving at breakneck speeds, and fearing for my life because I knew I was never suppose to be out in the middle of the street, I panicked even more and over corrected the steering of the tractor so now I was headed straight for the curb of the sidewalk. As I hit the rounded curb it acted like a ramp and sent me and the tractor up into the air, flying over the head of the figure that I was trying to avoid hitting, just standing there and watching me fly past overhead in total shock and amazement. As the tractor began it's downward arc I became seperated from it and headed down towards the bushes. The bushes got bigger as I fell closer and closer to the ground. Then everything went black and all I could hear was loud snapping and crunching, twigs being snapped and brittle autumn leaves being crushed. Then just as fast as it all happened, it stopped. There was total silence. The stillness had returned to the crisp afternoon air. I couldn't move. I thought I was dead.

Editor's Note

I apologize for being so late with the updates.  Between work, traveling and getting sick, the last thing I wanted to do was work on my blog.  Anyway, here is the exciting conclusion to Chapter 4 of Misery Loves Company.  I hope to be back on schedule and offering more excitin posts to My World.

Bob

Installment 6

Conclusion of Chapter 4

Christmas was coming and so were the Christmas catalogs. I went wild looking through the catalogs as they came one by one in the mail. The Sears' catalog came first and then the Penny's catalog and then Montgomery Ward’s. I would snatch them up and spend hours sitting on the couch flipping through the pages and pages of toys. The Christmas catalogs were truly a child's delight of fantasies and dreams. I wanted everything but knew I would be lucky to get even a fraction of what was in those catalogs. But what I really wanted for Christmas was in the section of toys that had the Mickey Mouse Club supplies. What I really wanted was a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, a Mickey Mouse drum, and a Mickey Mouse bugle. When I met Annette, I wanted to be prepared. I wanted to be everything she was. When I met Annette, I was going to make sure she liked me best.

I spent the whole Christmas season telling everyone what I wanted. I even stood in numerous lines to tell Santa Claus what I wanted. But every time I saw him and sat in his lap he would ask what my name was and what I wanted for Christmas. I began to think my case was hopeless because every time I saw the man he would have forgotten my name and what I wanted. I must have talked to him a hundred times that Christmas and not once could he remember who I was let alone what I wanted. Even when I tried to give him hints, he didn't have the faintest idea. But I couldn't give up. I even tried writing painstaking letters and included a string to tie around his finger so he wouldn't forget. Santa was my only hope of getting what I really wanted. He just had to remember.

My mother kept telling me not to be disappointed if I didn't get the bugle and drum. She would tell me that I really didn't want them, anyway, because they would keep my baby sister awake. I was starting to get real tired of my baby sister. I wasn't about to let her stand in my way from being appropriately attired when I met Annette. I kept begging my mother for the bugle and drums, and even promised never to play them in the house. I even went back and told the hundreds of Santas that I talked to before that I would never play them in the house, but just to give me the ears, the bugle and the drums. But as Christmas approached my hopes were getting dimmer and dimmer for the Mickey Mouse ears, bugle and drum. Santa couldn't remember who I was or what I wanted, and all my mother would say was "NO!"

On Christmas Morning I came running out to the blinding glare of home movie lights. My dad always got up early on Christmas Morning to set up the 8mm movie camera that had more lights than blinding sun at noon day in the middle of July. When I ran out to see what Santa had brought me, I had to stop and shade my sleepy eyes until they had time to adjust so I wouldn't run full blast into the Christmas Tree. But slowly my eyes began to adjust and I could see faint images. As the objects began to take shape and the colors began to glow, I froze with delight. I took a deep breath and yelled a victory whoop as I ran over to the tree! Mickey Mouse Ears! And they were sitting on a small rocking chair under the tree. And on one side of the chair was a Mickey Mouse bugle, and on the other side was a Mickey Mouse Drum! Santa, by some miracle, and much to my pleasant surprise, remembered me.

I grabbed up the drum and the mallet, and then shoved the horn in my mouth and took a deep breath and was ready to blow when... "Misery!" It was my mother. "You promised." She was reminding me of my promise I made that I would never play the drum or horn in the house.

"Aw, mom." I begged. I really wanted to get a toot on that horn and a bang on that drum. "Just once, Please?" I begged.

"You promised, Misery." Was all my mother would say. Then my dad came to my rescue.

It was a warm California Christmas and my dad told me that after I opened all my presents I could go outside and beat my drum and play my horn. My mother looked over to my dad and smiled and told me that would be alright. But I didn't want to wait. I got what I wanted and I really didn't care what else I got, at least for the moment. Any other present could wait. I ran out of the house and as soon as I was through the door I started banging my drum and tooting my horn. It was great! I was ready for Annette and as I ran around the yard banging my drum and tooting my horn I shouted, Annette, Annette, wherever you are, here I am, come see me, I'm ready for you!" And was I ever ready.  I was ready for my wildest dreams to come true that very afternoon!