Empath's personal journal, June 20.
It is now about a month since this smurf had left Psychelia for good. The village has been left a wreck since Gargamel attacked it using the Gauntlets of Gantharros, and though we have managed to drive him away from the forest for good, along with his cat Azrael and his apprentice Scruple, we still had to deal with the mess he left behind. It wasn't easy to have everything in the village back to the way it used to be, even as the other Smurfs would rather not have this smurf do all the work of restoring the village for them, but now the village looks as good as new, if not even better than before. It may not have the sturdiness of Psychelia, but then the Smurfs wouldn't want to have their village looking or built any other way. Today Papa Smurf has called for the celebration of the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer, which means we will have three months of nice warm weather to look forward to. This smurf is glad that this smurf's birthday is about a month before this event, because this smurf enjoys summer, as before now it would give this smurf an excuse to wear less clothes than normally -- but then, Nudie Smurf would rather wear no clothes at all, regardless of what day of the year it is. How that Smurf ever manages to go about his business, this smurf would never know.
Anyway, this is the first Summer Solstice celebration that this smurf would spend not only as a free Smurf, but also with Smurfette, who finds herself attracted to this smurf. It is something this smurf can never completely figure out about her, as this smurf doesn't see myself as any different appearance-wise from any other Smurf. Maybe it's because this smurf has the star-shaped smurfmark on my forehead, but who really knows. It doesn't change the fact that this smurf finds Smurfette totally attractive, and she knows what it's like to have every Smurf fall at her feet looking at her all day. And it also doesn't change how close this smurf feels toward Smurfette ever since we both kissed each other. Something about the kiss told this smurf that she has never given any Smurf that kiss before. And this smurf thinks that every Smurf would be jealous if they ever found out about that kiss. This smurf senses that Papa Smurf knows, but he's not telling any Smurf about that.
Every Smurf had gathered around the riverside to enjoy the celebration of the Summer Solstice, pleased to have a day off from all their duties. Greedy and his kitchen helpers were already at work serving smurfburgers and smurf dogs hot off the grill with every kind of side dish a Smurf could think of. Tapper was serving fresh cold soda of all flavors, and Gelato was serving ice cream using Handy's ice cream maker. The other Smurfs were either busy swimming, lying in the sun, playing smurfball, or doing their own things.
"Don't you just love the first day of summer, Empath?" Smurfette asked, as she was standing next to him watching the other Smurfs.
"This smurf loves it better when this smurf is actually here to celebrate the first day, Smurfette," Empath said.
"Well, you don't have to worry about smurfing back to that nasty place called Psychelia anymore, Empath," Smurfette said. "So you can celebrate all the holidays and smurfdays with us, and more importantly, you can smurf those days with me."
"And what if the Smurflings want to spend the days with this smurf?" Empath asked. "Would you be jealous?"
"Jealous of the Smurflings? Now why would you think I would ever smurf like that?" Smurfette asked.
"They are also the new Smurfs in the village, and besides, they're already looking up to this smurf as being someone they could admire and have around as a playmate, Smurfette," Empath said. "There just isn't enough of this smurf to go around for every Smurf to take advantage of."
"Hmmm...I don't know about that," Smurfette said. "It would be nice for you to have a twin or something that could smurf his time with the other Smurfs while you smurf with me. I just wish you didn't have to smurf a shirt in front of me all the time."
"This smurf knows how you feel about that, Smurfette," Empath said, slightly blushing. "It's just that this smurf was so comfortable about being a Smurf, and then Papa Smurf had to reveal that this smurf was his only begotten son and that he sent me away to Psychelia. This smurf wishes he never even said that."
"At least you know now, Empath, which is very important," Smurfette said. "Would you be happier if you never smurfed out that you had a family?"
"This smurf thought that this smurf already had a family...with all of you Smurfs," Empath said.
"You still do have a family, Empath, and so does everyone else," Smurfette said. "And speaking of the Smurflings...there they are, out on the river with Handy, watersmurfing while testing out Handy's new motor boat."
Empath laughed. "It's amazing how Handy is able to make anything run with a motor, Smurfette. This smurf hopes they're not making very big waves out there."
Empath and Smurfette watched as Handy pulled the motor boat to shore. "Smurfabunga, Handy, that was an awesome ride," Snappy said as he and the other three Smurflings got off their watersleds. "Thanks for letting us smurf out your new motor boat."
"Anytime, Smurflings, anytime," Handy said, sounding pleased. Empath and Smurfette had gathered at the shore where Handy parked his boat. "So, what do you Smurfs think of my latest invention? It certainly would save time and energy when it smurfs to making rescue missions out in the water."
"Fisher Smurf might want to take you up on using the motor boat for some deep-sea fishing, Handy, if that becomes a possibility," Empath said.
"Too bad he still can't catch anything, no matter where he smurfs for fish," Smurfette said.
"Well, if he needs to smurf away from the village for a while to try smurfing for some fish, Empath, he's more than welcome to use the motor boat," Handy said. "That lake up in the mountains would be smurfect for that kind of fishing trip."
"Oh, that place where we have smurfed that Smurf Paradise," Smurfette said, as if remembering something. "We haven't smurfed there for a few years now."
"Smurf Paradise?" Empath asked. "This smurf never heard of that place before."
"It's a private beach resort that I have smurfed up for the Smurfs to get away from the village for a while, Empath," Handy explained. "You would have liked it up there when it was in operation."
"Yeah, until Gargamel found our village and wouldn't leave until Papa Smurf and a few others have smurfed him away," Smurfette said glumly.
"This smurf would like to hear all about this Smurf Paradise, Handy," Empath said.
"I have to remind you that some of the details of this story came from Narrator, Empath," Handy said. "But anyway, this is how it all started."
As Empath listened, he was transported physically into the memory of what happened a few years ago. He was watching Handy work on a machine in his workshop, with Dimwitty mostly asking questions rather than offering any assistance, since most Smurfs knew asking Dimwitty to get anything for them would result in them getting something completely different from him whenever he went to get it.
"So what is this machine supposed to do again, Handy?" Dimwitty asked.
"As I smurfed you before, Dimwitty, it's a cherry desmurfer," Handy answered. "It's supposed to remove stems and pits from cherries while smurfing the cherries intact."
"And that's supposed to be a smurfy thing for us, Handy?" Dimwitty asked.
"Unless you like smurfing your cherries with the pits, it is," Handy said. "Of course, smurfing this thing isn't easy when you've got a hundred Smurfs all wanting you to smurf something for them at the same time."
"Yeah, I have no idea why everybody wants to smurf your attention away from this machine," Dimwitty said. "Even though I don't know how this thing smurfs, it's pretty awesome."
"Let's see how this machine smurfs first, Dimwitty," Handy said as he got finished with its internal workings. He fed some logs into the furnace of the machine, and then dumped a basket of cherries into the funnel before throwing the switch. After seeing and hearing the machine turn its gears, Handy and Dimwitty saw the stems dumped from the machine into a basket, then they saw the pits dumped into another basket. "And now smurfs the moment we're all waiting for...the cherries," he said as he looked at the funnel on the other end of the machine, where a tray was placed to receive the cherries.
Handy and Dimwitty watched as the cherries came out of the machine...but they came out as mush.
"I don't understand it," Handy said as he turned off the machine and looked at the tray full of cherry mush. "The cherries should have smurfed out of the machine smurfing like they did when they were smurfed into the machine."
"Smurf at it this way...at least Greedy will smurf the cherries all ready for his pies," Dimwitty said with a slight laugh.
"This isn't funny, Dimwitty," Handy said, sounding offended. "I didn't smurf this machine so that Greedy would have instant cherry paste for his pies. I smurfed this machine so that we could smurf our cherries without pits. And if the machine can't smurf that, then it's failed in its job and it needs more smurf."
"Hey, calm down there, Handy," Dimwitty said. "You don't have to smurf so angry with me about your machine."
"Then you try smurfing up a machine like this," Handy said, his angry tone not changing. "It's already hard enough to smurf this thing without you or your brother Clumsy smurfing in the way."
"Clumsy smurfs around with Brainy all the time, Handy," Dimwitty said. "I'm not sure why he does. Brainy isn't half as smart as you are."
Then came a knock on the door. "Who is it? I'm rather busy!" Handy responded.
"It's Biscotti," the Smurf said as he entered. "I'm just wondering if you could smurf the door of my oven right now, if you have the chance."
"Can't it wait?" Handy asked, sounding exasperated.
"No, it can't wait," Biscotti answered rather impatiently. "I have bread to smurf!"
Handy let out a frustrated growl. "Now you see why I can't smurf this thing in peace," he told Dimwitty after they saw Biscotti head back to his bakery. "You'll have to excuse me, Dimwitty...I have things in the village to smurf!"
"Don't mind me, Handy...I'll just smurf myself out," Dimwitty said as he watched Handy grab his toolbox and follow after Biscotti.
Empath watched as Handy along the way had a few Smurfs ask him about things they need fixing. "Uh, Handy Smurf, I do be wondering if you have smurfed my wheelbarrow," Farmer Smurf said.
"I'll smurf into it when I have the time, Farmer," Handy said.
Then Chatty peered out from the fence of his yard, all covered in tall grasses. "Handy, what about my grass smurfer?"
"When I have the time!" Handy said hastily.
Then Anonymous stepped out of his house. "There's something wrong with the cuckoo in my clock, Handy. It doesn't smurf hello, it smurfs..."
"I HAVE NO TIME!" Handy yelled, cutting him off. He entered Biscotti's bakery and saw that the door of the oven fell off its hinges. He realized that it needed to be bolted back on. "One of these days, I smurf that I'm going to explode," he muttered to himself.
"All throughout the day, Empath, I had that cherry desmurfer machine on my mind," Handy said. "I had to smurf out what was wrong, but with all the requests for my attention and services, it was just bothering me that I couldn't smurf on the solution. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep much. I had to figure out why the machine was smurfing the cherries into mush, and how I could stop that from smurfing. If I could smurf that one little problem, then I would be happy to smurf all my attention to my fellow Smurfs."
Empath watched as Handy went through the rest of his day, working on his fellow Smurfs' problems as best as he could, and then going to bed, tossing and turning as the thought of how to fix the machine was on his mind. And then he woke up early next morning. "Eureka! I think I have smurfed it!"
He went straight to his workshop and opened up his cherry desmurfer machine. "We just need to relax the smurfing belt on the centrismurfal governor," he said to himself as he did exactly that before he closed the machine up again and loaded it up with a new basket of cherries. "Here's smurfing that it will work this time," he said as he crossed his fingers and flipped the switch on the machine.
After a short while of seeing and hearing the gears in motion, Handy saw the machine eject the stems and then the pits. But then he looked at the funnel at the other end of the machine. "Huh? How come nothing's smurfing out?" he said as he banged on the funnel pipe.
Suddenly the cherries came out in a single burst of goop that covered Handy's face.
"ARRRGGGGH," Handy growled. "SMURFED MACHINE! I'M GONNA..."
"Excuse me, Handy," the voice of Timber Smurf chimed in through the window, "I would like to smurf my axe."
"NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Handy shouted.
"But I need it right now!" Timber insisted.
Handy went and got the axe handle and blade, then grabbed a hammer and started banging on the blade to put it on the handle. "For Smurf's sake! You could have smurfed this yourself without asking me!" Timber ducked out of the way as Handy handed him the axe through the window. "HERE IS YOUR AXE!"
"Boy, that Handy Smurf is surely in a sour mood today," Timber said to himself as he headed off to the forest.
Then Farmer Smurf appeared in the window. "What about my wheelsmurfer?"
"And my grass smurfer?" Chatty asked.
"And my puree smurfer?" Greedy asked.
"And my waffle smurfer?" Nabby asked.
"And my smurf iron and ironing smurf?" Vanity asked.
"And my smurf mill?" another Smurf asked.
"And my smurfs desmurfer?" yet another Smurf asked.
Suddenly came a very loud scream that made Papa Smurf jump while he was busy doing an experiment. "That sounds like a wild animal smurfing in agony," he said, sounding very concerned. "I might as well go smurf what's wrong."
As he headed in the direction that the scream came from, Papa Smurf saw a Smurf hiding for safety behind a door. "You don't want to smurf any closer, Papa Smurf," he warned. "I think Handy's finally smurfing out!"
Papa Smurf approached Handy's workshop and saw things flying out the door. "I'M SICK AND SMURFED! GO FIX THEM YOURSELVES!" Handy yelled. He then picked up a hammer and pounded on the funnels of his cherry desmurfer machine. "AND HERE...TAKE THIS, YOU SMURFED SMURFING MACHINE!"
Papa Smurf bravely entered when he saw that Handy had come to the end of his fury and exhausted himself. "I think we need to smurf a little talk," he calmly said.
In the bedroom of Handy's house, Papa Smurf had Handy lie down while he did an examination of him and checked his pulse. "I don't know what smurfed into me, Papa Smurf," Handy calmly explained. "There's this trouble I'm smurfing with the machine that doesn't smurf the way I want it to...and there are these other Smurfs who smurf after me all day long. Finally I smurfed red and...well, things were smurfing in my workshop."
"I believe you're suffering from a nervous breakdown, Handy Smurf," Papa Smurf said after he finished his examination. "You're just too tense."
"You could smurf up a remedy for me, Papa Smurf, couldn't you?" Handy said. "You do know all smurfs of medicinal plants..."
"No, Handy, this isn't something that I can fix like that," Papa Smurf said. "What you really need is rest...no more inventions, no more tinkering. You need to smurf away from your work for awhile and smurf nothing."
"Smurf nothing?" Handy said. "I don't know if I would be able to smurf that. I'm so used to smurfing things with my hands that I don't know how to just smurf nothing."
"I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to relax, Handy," Papa Smurf said as Handy followed him downstairs to the door. "In the meantime, I'll tell the other Smurfs to smurf you alone in peace. And above all, don't let yourself get all smurfed up over a machine. A cherry desmurfer isn't exactly a vital necessity."
"Oh? You think so?" Handy asked.
Papa Smurf smiled. "If the village needed a cherry desmurfer so badly, I'm sure that you'll be the first Smurf to know about it."
Handy sighed. "If you smurf so, Papa Smurf," he said as he watched Papa Smurf leave.
Some Smurfs were already waiting outside Handy's house, including Tapper and Duncan McSmurf. "So? Has he calmed down?" Farmer asked.
"What has smurfed him off like that?" Chatty asked.
"He's not dangerous, is he?" Vanity asked.
"Listen, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf said. "Handy has been oversmurfed. He needs to smurf complete rest, so for the time smurfing, I want you to not ask anything more for him to smurf you. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Papa Smurf," the five Smurfs said in unison.
As the Smurfs walked away from Handy's house, Tapper and Duncan were talking among themselves. "Michty me, laddie, I never thought I would be smurfing a day when Handy would just flip his smurf," Duncan said.
"It happens to all of us, my friend," Tapper said. "Handy's just one Smurf of certain skills who can't smurf in many places at one time, as are we all."
"But to ask him to give up smurfing his skills so he could rest...I don't know how Handy would be able to smurf through his days without smurfing what he does best," Duncan said.
"I'm sure that Handy will find a way to relax, but all the same, I will pray that the Almighty will smurf him all the rest he needs so he could be refreshed in his spirit," Tapper said.
"The Almighty smurfing him rest? How is that even possible?" Duncan asked.
"When we smurf all our cares unto Him, He promises to carry our burdens while we only need to smurf His yoke upon ourselves, my fellow Duncan," Tapper answered. "He will always be there with us even to the end of the age, so we do not need to worry about anything, not even about tomorrow, for tomorrow will smurf care of itself. The grace of the Almighty is all we need, for His strength is made perfect in our time of weakness."
Duncan sighed. "I may not understand it, laddie, but I will smurf your word for it and just let things be."