Title: An Amazing Adventure
Author/Artist: lightbird
Characters: Helga, Gerald
Rating: PG
Prompt: Set 4, Prompt C, left behind
Word Count: 805
Summary: Helga’s life took an unexpected turn.
Disclaimer: Hey Arnold belongs to Craig Bartlett. I make no money from this fanwork.

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A long time ago, in the fourth grade, there was nothing she wanted more than to spend her life with Arnold. In her vision, they were soul mates and would travel around the world together before they settled down to a life of marital bliss. Of course she couldn’t let him know it then. Her love for him was her deepest, most personal secret, so much so that she’d tormented and bullied him to convince him that the opposite was true.

So, it was with irony and amusement that she looked back on those days as she sipped her galão at an outdoor café table on the pedestrian walkway Rua dos Correeiros and wrote in her notebook. Lisbon was the last stop on a year-long trip around the world before returning home and a time of her life that she would never forget. Arnold, who she considered a dear friend now, wasn’t with her; he was back at home. He’d always felt connected to their neighborhood and had decided to stay there to ensure that nothing bad happened to it, that the nostalgia and history of the place was preserved.

Same naïve, optimistic old football head, she thought with a wry smile.

When she returned to the states she would peruse the pink notebooks full of her thoughts and impressions and experiences of the whirlwind trip. Writing was one of her many talents; maybe the narratives in her multi-volume journal could be pulled together into a travel essay book. After all, it was full of colorful characters that they’d met along the way and exciting adventures. Even the bad experiences had lessons to offer.

She’d been sending them home as she filled them up and buying new blank ones; the pink notebook that she wrote in now was number twenty.

Helga looked up from her writing and glanced at her companion, who sat on the other side of the table sipping his own galão and watching the passersby. Gerald had been the perfect travel partner. Affable and easy-going as he’d always been, he made friends effortlessly wherever he went and was a natural at picking up languages. His presence allowed her to pass safely in countries where foreign women that traveled alone were looked upon strangely, and blonde women were looked upon as if they were a valuable commodity. And his open, amiable and social nature granted them entry into the lives of the people who dwelled in the countries they visited.

Locals opened up to him, invited them into their homes, to meet their families. Joining in a backgammon game with the local men in a village in eastern Turkey, sharing a hookah pipe of tobacco and apple and spices in the Middle East, or watching a soccer game with a group of Portuguese fans in a bar, Gerald embraced what was unique to each culture and the people they met appreciated it. If she’d searched far and wide, she couldn’t have found a more perfect companion. He was as eager as she was to try new things and his gregarious personality opened doors for her that wouldn’t have necessarily been open had she traveled alone.

And yet they allowed each other personal space. Traveling together for so long, they required time apart so they wouldn’t tire of one another. So comfortable was their relationship that either of them could suggest time alone and space from each other, and the other wouldn’t be offended. She enjoyed his company immensely, but she didn’t depend on him; she also valued Helga time.

“You know, I’m gonna miss traveling,” he spoke up as she finished writing and closed her notebook. “Even if I am glad to be going home.”

“Yeah, me too. Being home is going to seem very dull.”

“Of course, I’ll be occupied. Looking for a job, and…I think I’ll take your advice.”

“About?”

“The book. I don’t have the same skill at writing as you, of course.”

“Just write the way you speak. You have your own way of telling the stories that’s unique. It’s what made you the esteemed keeper of the urban tales. Who better to compile them all into a bestselling book? Besides, you’ll have a very tough editor looking it over for you,” she added, pointing to herself.

He grinned. “The toughest. We’re both gonna be busy working on our books. How many notebooks have you filled now?”

“This is number twenty,” she told him, indicating the latest journal. “It’ll take time to edit all of it into something publishable. And then it needs to be accepted by a publisher. But it’s worth a shot.”

“Definitely.”

With a grin she picked up her glass and drained the rest of her coffee.

Who would ever have thought that Gerald Johanssen, Arnold’s best friend, would turn out to be her soul mate?