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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Love stories / Romance
- Subject: Life Experience
- Published: 02/09/2024
Cartoons.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States![Cartoons.](/storage/story/ABB46448-5C29-3393-C27B-93DE3FD8F807_1707513414-image(227x285-crop).png)
"Wait, you want me to read a cartoon?”
I blushed. What was I supposed to say. She was in Tenth Grade. I was a Senior. How silly it must have looked to her.
“Please…I just want you to read one little cartoon strip.”
She was holding her book across her chest. She was wearing the glasses that I found so enduring…and cute. She had heavy eyebrows, and I liked those too. I guess most folks would say she was “girl next door cute”. I would say: “You are wrong! She is beautiful.”
I was a Senior in HS. I had never had a girlfriend. Not even a date. I wasn’t a great student. Maybe a little bit better than average. There were more “B’s” than A’s or C’s on my report card. But that had more to do to how hard I worked, not how smart I was.
I was on the X-Country team, but barely earned a letter. I played on the JV Basketball Team, but Seniors weren’t allowed to play on JV. So I had only two years of Basketball Letters. Both on the JV Team.
So I wasn’t much of Jock either. Just one of millions of kids just muddling through their early teens floating along on the eddies of life. Then, last year, I saw her. She was a Freshman then.
She was in my half semester Speech Class. I was smitten before she even got up to introduce herself. We chatted once in a while. Not often. Since Speech was the only Class open to any grade. I took the second semester just to be around her.
Now, a year later, I am a Senior. She is a Sophomore. I found out she was fifteen. I am seventeen. I thought that was just the right distance in age to make it work. After all, girls seem to mature a lot earlier than us guys. Or at least it seems that way to me.
I didn’t get to see her much during X-Country season. I wouldn’t be playing Basketball my final year…so maybe I could ask her out to one of the Dances or something.
Our lockers were right next to each other. So every morning, at lunch and at the end of the school day…I got to see her for a minute. I lived for those minutes. But the minutes were sliding by dripping out as so many “might have beens” or: “might have saids.”
Time…was running out. Christmas break was only a month away. And I still hadn’t had the courage to ask her out. She had filled out over the summer, and now had a figure as cute as her face. Boys noticed. So did some girls. It didn’t seem to have changed her though. She was as quiet and shy as she was in Speech Class. She had a quick smile, that made dimples appear to melt anyone’s heart…let alone mine.
It was time.
“Have you ever read the Comics?”
She turned and looked at me as she spun the combination lock to close it. She had that shy smile I loved so much.
“Of course. Everyone reads the Funnies on Sunday!”
(I took that as a good sign.)
“Well, I kinda have a crush on you…”
There was an awkward silence. She pulled her books closer to her chest and leaned back against her locker. Her eyebrows rose in a sort of surprised questioning way…and a flush on her neck let me know I had aroused some emotion. I didn’t know which.
I took a deep breath and just barreled through with what my heart was telling me.
“Actually, I have a crush on you since I saw you in Speech Class. Last year. I just thought you were so pretty, and smart (when I said “smart” her eyes widened and she blushed a furious red).
I figured all the guys wanted to go out with you. Well, I am a Senior now, and it is almost Christmas…and I still didn’t get up enough courage to talk to you.”
The bell went off. We had five minutes to get to Class. She looked up at the bell, but didn’t change position. She just lowered her head and looked me in the eye. I took that as permission to keep talking. So I did.
“Anyways, I read this Comic Strip every day. I have all the books that he ever put out. I love it.”
She spoke. And the words went straight to my heart, mind, and soul. I almost burst with joy.
“I bet it is Calvin and Hobbes.”
I could barely breathe.
“Yes…yes! How did you know?”
Her eyes twinkled. She leaned a little closer to me, winked, and then whispered:
“Is there any other comic strip that would help you talk to a girl…or a guy?”
I laughed.
I took out the strip I wanted to share with her. It was the first strip…the day Calvin met Hobbes. I handed it to her and watched as she read the short strip.
Calvin asks his Mom to make him a tuna fish sandwich so he could trap a Tiger.
The trap worked. Hobbes was hanging upside down from a tree. Calvin asked him how it was possible he was caught by a tuna fish sandwich.
“Tiger’s like tuna fish sandwiches, huh?”
Hobbes chews on the sandwich and says: “We’re kinda stupid that way. Munch munch.”
Her giggle made him have goose bumps. She looked back up at him and said:
“I love it. But why did you give it to me?”
I swallowed. It was time to let it all out.
“Well, you are my tuna fish sandwich. You caught me a year ago. I just thought you should know. I think I love you…and well, I am sort of stupid that way.”
I don’t know what I was expecting. It sure wasn’t tears. I stepped back. I was beet red and ready to run. Boy had I stepped in it. I wanted a friend, maybe even a girlfriend, and I messed up.
Before I could turn and run…she dropped her books and reached for my hand. She pulled me close and buried her head in my chest. I didn’t know what to do.
So I just kept patting her back with my hands. Gentle pats, not even hard enough to move material around. I could feel her hug crushing me close enough to feel her heart.
The bell went off. We would both be tardy for Class now. She made no effort to move. Then I felt her laugh.
I pulled back enough to look down at her. Her eyes were wide. They spend a doorway right to her heart. Mine must have looked the same way.
She reached up and took both my cheeks in her hands. Pulled me so close our lips were almost touching.
“So you want to trap a Tiger, eh?”
I couldn’t talk. I just nodded.
She reached up and gave me the sweetest butterfly kiss on my lips.
“We’re late for Class.”
I nodded. She let me help gather her books. Then she gave me one last look.
“You meet me here tomorrow for lunch. Okay?”
“Sure!”
And she was gone. Of course we both got Tardy slips. The next day at her locker …we met again.
She smiled at me. She reached in her backpack and brought out a very pretty looking package. It was wrapped like a Christmas Present.
My forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. She just pointed at it…miming me to open it.
It was a Tuna Fish sandwich. There was a note:
“You caught a Tiger. I caught Calvin.”
We shared that sandwich at lunch. We share everything... now. Sometimes at night, we hear our kids laughing. We smile.
We know they are reading our Calvin and Hobbes books. Someday we will tell them our story. That guys like me are Stupid that way. And everyone needs a Calvin…and their Hobbes.
Cartoons.(Kevin Hughes)
"Wait, you want me to read a cartoon?”
I blushed. What was I supposed to say. She was in Tenth Grade. I was a Senior. How silly it must have looked to her.
“Please…I just want you to read one little cartoon strip.”
She was holding her book across her chest. She was wearing the glasses that I found so enduring…and cute. She had heavy eyebrows, and I liked those too. I guess most folks would say she was “girl next door cute”. I would say: “You are wrong! She is beautiful.”
I was a Senior in HS. I had never had a girlfriend. Not even a date. I wasn’t a great student. Maybe a little bit better than average. There were more “B’s” than A’s or C’s on my report card. But that had more to do to how hard I worked, not how smart I was.
I was on the X-Country team, but barely earned a letter. I played on the JV Basketball Team, but Seniors weren’t allowed to play on JV. So I had only two years of Basketball Letters. Both on the JV Team.
So I wasn’t much of Jock either. Just one of millions of kids just muddling through their early teens floating along on the eddies of life. Then, last year, I saw her. She was a Freshman then.
She was in my half semester Speech Class. I was smitten before she even got up to introduce herself. We chatted once in a while. Not often. Since Speech was the only Class open to any grade. I took the second semester just to be around her.
Now, a year later, I am a Senior. She is a Sophomore. I found out she was fifteen. I am seventeen. I thought that was just the right distance in age to make it work. After all, girls seem to mature a lot earlier than us guys. Or at least it seems that way to me.
I didn’t get to see her much during X-Country season. I wouldn’t be playing Basketball my final year…so maybe I could ask her out to one of the Dances or something.
Our lockers were right next to each other. So every morning, at lunch and at the end of the school day…I got to see her for a minute. I lived for those minutes. But the minutes were sliding by dripping out as so many “might have beens” or: “might have saids.”
Time…was running out. Christmas break was only a month away. And I still hadn’t had the courage to ask her out. She had filled out over the summer, and now had a figure as cute as her face. Boys noticed. So did some girls. It didn’t seem to have changed her though. She was as quiet and shy as she was in Speech Class. She had a quick smile, that made dimples appear to melt anyone’s heart…let alone mine.
It was time.
“Have you ever read the Comics?”
She turned and looked at me as she spun the combination lock to close it. She had that shy smile I loved so much.
“Of course. Everyone reads the Funnies on Sunday!”
(I took that as a good sign.)
“Well, I kinda have a crush on you…”
There was an awkward silence. She pulled her books closer to her chest and leaned back against her locker. Her eyebrows rose in a sort of surprised questioning way…and a flush on her neck let me know I had aroused some emotion. I didn’t know which.
I took a deep breath and just barreled through with what my heart was telling me.
“Actually, I have a crush on you since I saw you in Speech Class. Last year. I just thought you were so pretty, and smart (when I said “smart” her eyes widened and she blushed a furious red).
I figured all the guys wanted to go out with you. Well, I am a Senior now, and it is almost Christmas…and I still didn’t get up enough courage to talk to you.”
The bell went off. We had five minutes to get to Class. She looked up at the bell, but didn’t change position. She just lowered her head and looked me in the eye. I took that as permission to keep talking. So I did.
“Anyways, I read this Comic Strip every day. I have all the books that he ever put out. I love it.”
She spoke. And the words went straight to my heart, mind, and soul. I almost burst with joy.
“I bet it is Calvin and Hobbes.”
I could barely breathe.
“Yes…yes! How did you know?”
Her eyes twinkled. She leaned a little closer to me, winked, and then whispered:
“Is there any other comic strip that would help you talk to a girl…or a guy?”
I laughed.
I took out the strip I wanted to share with her. It was the first strip…the day Calvin met Hobbes. I handed it to her and watched as she read the short strip.
Calvin asks his Mom to make him a tuna fish sandwich so he could trap a Tiger.
The trap worked. Hobbes was hanging upside down from a tree. Calvin asked him how it was possible he was caught by a tuna fish sandwich.
“Tiger’s like tuna fish sandwiches, huh?”
Hobbes chews on the sandwich and says: “We’re kinda stupid that way. Munch munch.”
Her giggle made him have goose bumps. She looked back up at him and said:
“I love it. But why did you give it to me?”
I swallowed. It was time to let it all out.
“Well, you are my tuna fish sandwich. You caught me a year ago. I just thought you should know. I think I love you…and well, I am sort of stupid that way.”
I don’t know what I was expecting. It sure wasn’t tears. I stepped back. I was beet red and ready to run. Boy had I stepped in it. I wanted a friend, maybe even a girlfriend, and I messed up.
Before I could turn and run…she dropped her books and reached for my hand. She pulled me close and buried her head in my chest. I didn’t know what to do.
So I just kept patting her back with my hands. Gentle pats, not even hard enough to move material around. I could feel her hug crushing me close enough to feel her heart.
The bell went off. We would both be tardy for Class now. She made no effort to move. Then I felt her laugh.
I pulled back enough to look down at her. Her eyes were wide. They spend a doorway right to her heart. Mine must have looked the same way.
She reached up and took both my cheeks in her hands. Pulled me so close our lips were almost touching.
“So you want to trap a Tiger, eh?”
I couldn’t talk. I just nodded.
She reached up and gave me the sweetest butterfly kiss on my lips.
“We’re late for Class.”
I nodded. She let me help gather her books. Then she gave me one last look.
“You meet me here tomorrow for lunch. Okay?”
“Sure!”
And she was gone. Of course we both got Tardy slips. The next day at her locker …we met again.
She smiled at me. She reached in her backpack and brought out a very pretty looking package. It was wrapped like a Christmas Present.
My forehead wrinkled in puzzlement. She just pointed at it…miming me to open it.
It was a Tuna Fish sandwich. There was a note:
“You caught a Tiger. I caught Calvin.”
We shared that sandwich at lunch. We share everything... now. Sometimes at night, we hear our kids laughing. We smile.
We know they are reading our Calvin and Hobbes books. Someday we will tell them our story. That guys like me are Stupid that way. And everyone needs a Calvin…and their Hobbes.
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Kevin Hughes
02/13/2024Thanks Platt,
I used to love reading Calvin and Hobbes. It kind of reflected my childhood. And the Artist lived on the other side of the same city I grew up in. So I could drive over and see the places as they appeared in the Cartoons!
Smiles, Kevin
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