don't worry.

     Calvin was a rather sympathetic kid, which is why most people refused to believe that he had actually gotten stuck in the sky.

     Sometime mid-summer he needed a certain medium to do something for him. It was the radio. And somehow, the radio signals forced him to shoot up through the atmosphere of the Earth, right through the sky and right out into space. While in space, suited in nothing more than the street clothes he had been sporting, he met the radio waves of his hated enemy country. The two forces battled, producing electric metal arms that tangled around poor Calvin and he could do nothing. 

     After some time, he felt himself falling back to Earth, going home. He was shooting back out of space and entered again the Earth's atmosphere but he was going very slowly. So, so slowly, in fact, that he did not come back to Earth with enough speed and ended up stuck in a little bubble at the tip of the sky. Well, this was very, very bad, as you can imagine.

     Back down at the place where human beings live, Hobbes was explaining things to people, including Calvin's family, with whom he was on a big dark cruise ship. According to him, that was the way the world had been created, from one little space bubble that popped and everything was created. Another one could be very dangerous; it could ruin everything ever made. Calvin's poor position was the first ever recorded in human history, but no one believed Hobbes. Even Calvin's father told Hobbes, "that is most impossible. He couldn't even make it off the Earth without a space suit and a rocket. Plus it is impossible that he is just stuck somewhere very off in the sky, a place so far away that no one can see him. He is a victim of gravity, just as you and I are."

     But Hobbes was persistent. On the cruise ship, the entertainment director, who had been an English professor in a past life, was holding a poetry contest. The prize for the best, most beautifully moving poem was anything the winner wanted in the whole world. Hobbes thought this was the perfect opportunity to get his best friend back, whom he sensed was growing very afraid up there. Hobbes considered himself a fairly good poet and sat to pen the most emotionally moving piece he could. It wasn't the very best he had ever written, but he believed he had a very good chance. Plus, the dilemma was so incredibly important that he had had had to win. There was no other way about it. He felt confident.

     Finally, all the contestants presented their work. Most of the pieces were satisfactory. Some very good, and others okay. And then a dark-skinned young girl went up to perform. And when I say perform, I mean her piece was more of an extended rap. As if this had been a poetry slam. And everyone was going crazy for her as if she were a celebrity. Her name was up in lights, and Hobbes couldn't tell if he was just imagining that detail or not. Finally, after a loud standing ovation, the girl was done and it was Hobbes' turn. Well, how could he possibly follow her?! He, remembering his mission and his dear friend Calvin, collected himself and found the courage to go up.

     Halfway through his short, but rather profound, poem, the crowd began laughing at him! What was he to do? Well, he finished his reading with as little outward chagrin as possible, and then tried to block the whole thing from his mind. The next day, he received his score back from the judges. A 3 out of 33! What had happened to poor Hobbes? The entertainment directing professor had written some scathing remark on his paper about his volatile garbage of a piece and Hobbes became very sad. He would surely never get his friend back now.

     And then, while the contestants were sitting at tables going over the judge's favorite pieces, Hobbes whispered to the professor, a thin Indian woman sitting directly next to him.

     "Psst," he said, "there is something I must tell you about the contest."

     "Shh!" she said, "it will have to wait!"

     Hobbes was getting desperate. He was sweating through his tiger fur! And suddenly, he began to feel it happen. The room began to shake violently and people began screaming. It was too late! The world was ending, and he could have prevented the whole thing! He would never see Calvin again, or anyone he loved. It was all over.

     Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Hobbes turned around, as the vibrations of the Earth were slowly beginning to subside. It was Calvin's father.

     "Relax, Hobbes," he said, "it was just an earthquake! Everything is fine and the world is not ending!"

     "But what about Calvin?!" Hobbes cried. He was so confused. Was his best friend still stuck somewhere deep in the sky?

     "He's right over there!" Calvin's father said, and pointed to the corner of the dark, colorful room, where Calvin was gently floating down from the air and onto the floor.

     "Calvin!" Hobbes screamed at his drifting friend.

     "It's alright, Hobbes," said Calvin. "It was all safe up there, no destruction or death for now. And besides, I don't know who would leave a stuffed tiger in charge of saving the world, anyway."

~~~

Okay, you're right. It was all a big dream I had last night.