The Thread of Pound Foolish

[Pound Foolish]

Here it is, the finale. To quote Kevin McCreary talking about the Scoopcast, "Every once in awhile I'll start putting out a bunch at once, and then everyone will be like, 'Oh he's doing these regularly now.' And I'm like, 'Nope. You don't know meee." So anyhow, long time no new installment, but it is now here for your reading delight (delight!) or anguish (anguish.)

Part 7
A voice spoke. Years had passed since Connie had heard it. Decades. “Terminating program.”
Falling again. Darkness. Connie wept tears of joy. Free. A room materializing. “What? Can’t I get out? Not back to Whit’s office, please. Oh God, help me.”
The room came into focus. Connie felt covers over her. The white walls and curtain told her she was in a hospital. She opened he mouth, a rush of air flooded in, and she coughed. “Whit? Eugene? Mom. Penny.”
“Hello.” Penny waved.
“Connie.” June hugged her daughter as if she never meant to let go. “Oh, my baby.”
June let Connie go and Whit hugged his dear friend. “Welcome back Connie.”
“Yippee!” Eugene leapt into the air. After landing, he folded his hands behind his back. “That is, huzzah.”
“I’m home?” Connie whispered to Whit.
“Yes.” Whit smoothed his hands along Connie’s shoulders. “Welcome home. We’re glad you’re here.”
“Can I get my place at Whit’s End back? How long was I gone?”
“A few days. I got a temporary replacement.”
“Who?”
Penny touched a finger to her glasses. “I’m good with smushing ice cream.”
“You’re kidding.”
Doctor Grahame rushed in. “Connie, I’m so glad you’re-no, don’t get up.”
“Sorry. Just did. I feel great.”
Whit shook his head. “Connie, you need rest.”
“It’s not like I got eighteen stitches.”
“Come back here, young lady.” Insisted Doctor Grahame.
Connie charged into the hall. “You’ll have to catch me.” I’m free. I’m free.
Connie bounded through the hall, down the stairs, into the lobby, and charged through the revolving door. Over the gravel of the hospital grounds, hop over a flowerbed, through the parking lot, and onto the sidewalk. She kept running, until she sweated and panted. “Phewf.” She recognized the multicolored stone walkways, maple trees and green grass of McCallister Park and plopped onto a bench. A song from her pocket signaled a call. “Hi, Whit. Sure, come on over. Yeah, tell them anyone can come see me.I’m in McCallister Park so I’ll be here at least another half hour." Connie laid down on the bench. "Whit,” a bird twittered. Flowers danced in the wind. “It’s good to be home.”
A while later, cars parked along the sidewalk in the distance. Connie recognized Whit’s ford, Wooton’s convertible painted with Power Boy, Captain Absolutely and Drake the Cosmic Copper images, and her mother’s old clunker. June ran out of her car first, jogging across the grass. Connie saw some kind of package in her left hand, but couldn't make it out because June swung it back and forth so fast as she ran. Connie hopped off of her seat, June hugged her again. “I have something for you.” Her mom said. June held out a box of Lucky Charms. “For you. I got them on my way home after I first visited you in your coma. For when you woke up.”
Connie laughed. “Thanks. You even remembered those are my favorite.”
“Because some of them are green.”
“Mom don’t put me in a box. I don’t like things just because they’re green. Okay, that’s why I like those but I have other reasons too!”
Whit, Eugene, Wooton, and Penny reached Connie by that time. Wooton presented Connie with a smiley face balloon. “Connie I’m just so glad you’re not dead! And you’re alive and I’m so happy and – Monkey bars! Be right back.”
Whit squeezed Connie’s shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Really. I wasn’t exactly in a coma, I just. I don’t know. Whit, I did go in the Room of Consequence, right? That wasn't a dream?”
“No. It wasn't a dream.”
Connie collapsed onto the ground and laid her head against a tree. “You know. I’m actually kind of overwhelmed. A lot has happened.”
“Strictly speaking, all that happened is you have lain comfortably in a bed in a non-responsive sate.” Eugene pointed out. “You might call it a nice long vacation. Without leave.”
Connie hugged her knees to her chest. “Whit. I was happy there. Not always. Sometimes I thought my sanity was leaving through my ears. But a lot of the time.”
Whit nodded.
“I know now that’s not what God wanted for me. Or for Mitch. But I was happy. I had Odyssey, I had Mtich, I had… Whit, I had a little girl. I gave birth to her. And I loved her.”
“Oh.” A look came into Whit’s eyes Connie had never seen before.
“I was a mother. And it felt so real sometimes.” Connie bit her lip.
“Oh. Gee whizz.” Penny breathed. Silence followed. Breeze blew. A blue jay cawed.
Whit sat down next to Connie. “Maybe you would have been happy with Mitch. Doing the right thing can bring us peace. But we won’t always be happy. Sometimes it’s precisely the wrong things that make us happiest. Ultimately, what matters is that we do what matters. There’s only one plan for us. It may or may not make us happy. But it will make us complete.”
“Yeah.” Penny played with a daisy. “I know as well as anybody being happy can just make trouble.”
“Especially if you’re in a virtual-reality machine and you accept it as your actual life.” Wooton hollered, swinging on the monkey bars. “Which is actually kinda philosophically fascinating if you think about it. I mean, part of what makes real stuff real is that we know they’re real. So if we treated something fake as real and ignored what was real then would the real stuff not be real and the not real stuff real?”
Everyone winced and held their head. Except Eugene. “That is fascinating!” He exclaimed.
“And one day.” June cradled Connie’s chin. “You will be a mother.”
Whit stroked Connie’s hair gently. “And if you are, your children will have an amazing mother. Who’s kind. Who’s brave. And who belongs right here.”
“Yeah.” Connie gently pulled away from Whit, looking into his brown eyes.
Whit brushed a lock of hair behind Connie's ear. “Oh, Connie. There’s somebody who just arrived at the plane station and came straight to the hospital when we called him. We told him you left the hospital and he said he’d meet us here.”
Connie’s curiosity filled her with questions. “'He’s on his way'? Who is he? How far away does he live?”
“You’ll find out soon. In fact, you might want to look behind you.” Whit advised.
Connie looked. “Jeff? Jeff!”

[Ashley]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Perfect! The ending is just... wow.

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

This is sort of like a combination of "Gloobers", "The Twilife Zone", and "The Mortal Coil", except with Connie and Mitch. Nice job, PF. You have an engaging writing style, even if you often skimp on description (or is that just because AIO is an all-dialogue radio drama?). I look forward to another story from you, and you've inspired me to write some fan fiction of my own.

[Ameraka]

Awesome! I like your writing style. and you are good at writing the characters and dialogue--it feels like a real Odyssey episode, including the way the lesson was interwoven.

There are a few spelling errors etc, but I'm the kind of person that notices that type of thing.

Looking forward to your next story! (hopefully you won't go so long between updates. )

[SirWhit]

Reminds me of the Silence in the Library episodes from Doctor Who.

[Mickey]

LOVE it! Write more! Please!

[HomeschoolCowgirl]

Whoa. WHOA. That was well written and well, weird, at the same time, but I like it! Your Wooton is very Wooton-y.