Tale 2 – Nothing but Smiles
Life is miserable for me. College
is stressful and useless because there’s no job that I want to get with my
degree, but since my parents are adamant about me going to it, I have to go. It’s
not like any of my job applications have been accepted or an alternative that
they would approve of. I’m not like my outgoing friends who managed to land a
decent job who have connections that let them get a job without going through
college. My parents won’t let me forget it either because of how many times
they talk about how other people are doing better than I am. It feels like I’m
being disowned when they say it over and over again.
I’m at a loss in what to do with my
life and I want it all to end. Sure, you could say that I have it better than
most people who have no home, no job, and no family, but that doesn’t make it
any better. Not when you feel like you’re a disappointment of a child and that
it would be better if anyone else is in your place. This thinking is tearing me
apart from the inside, so I go to my quiet place, a river down by the woods. It’s
the place that I go to where I know no one will judge me or think less of me. I
mean God is less judgmental than most people, myself included-I have to stop
thinking about what other people think and just clear my head.
The sound of echoing distant
laughing catches my ear and startles me a little. Since I have little concern
for my own wellbeing, I follow the sound of the noise to a small cave that I
didn’t know was over here. The river flows from the cave, and it looks like I
can go into it if I head into the water. Of course, I’m not going to do that
since I do have some concern for my wellbeing and not none.
“Whatcha see down there?” I hear
someone say behind me that makes me fall into the river.
Once I get out of it, I see a creepy
clown looking at me. He’s all black and white as if he walked out of an old
cartoon and has hundreds of smiles on his clothes. Even the scars around his
eyes and mouth look like they’re separate mouths that smile.
“Who are you?” I ask him.
“Me? My name is not important
because I’m not but smiles. What’s your name?”
“That’s not important. I’m glad you’re
always happy, but I have to go. Bye!”
I try to walk away from Smiles but
he just appears from behind a tree in front of me as if he teleported.
“I’m glad to hear that you’re happy
about my happiness. Most people today only care about their own happiness like
your family and friends.”
“How do you even know that?”
“Since you’re not going to tell me
your name, I’m not going to tell you how. All I’ll tell you is that it has
something to do with all my smiles.”
“Okay, but I really have to go.”
Again, I try to get away from
Smiles, and again, he teleports in front of me behind a tree.
“Go back to what? A life that you
don’t enjoy living? I know what you’re going through. I lived through it myself
before I got my smiles.”
“What do you want with me?”
“I want to make your life and the lives of many more happy through you. You want to impress people and make them
happy, right?”
“Right…”
“Then embrace the smiles.”
“Why me though?”
“Because you remind me of myself
and fate would have it that we met. So, what do you say? You don’t have many if
any options in your life that will make you happy.”
“…fine. As long as it doesn’t hurt.”
“Oh, it doesn’t.”
I begin to feel my face uncontrollably
smile and every part of my body starts growing mouths that smile and start to
laugh. This can’t be real! This has to be a dream, and thankfully I wake up in
my bed, though I still feel my face and skill twitch as if it’s still trying to
smile. When I wake up and go downstairs to eat breakfast, I see some good news
for once on the news channel, but my family doesn’t seem to be happy about it.
“Haven’t you been waiting for this
to happen? I’m surprised that you’re not talking to the TV about how you were
right this whole time,” I ask them.
“It’s great that we finally get a victory,
but the media will play it down and plan to regain power somehow. Just you wait.”
“I know it’s disappointing but that’s
just how politics is.”
Always so disappointed with
everything. Why can’t you see the bright side of things? Why can’t you smile
for once? Oh, I know what might get them to smile.
“I got my final grades this morning,”
I mention.
“Did you make the Dean’s List?”
“N-no, but I got all As and four
point GPA.”
“What about a job? Did you hear
anything back from them?”
“No, not yet even though I keep
emailing and calling them.”
“Eh, keep trying.”
You’re not happy even for that? But
school is what you keep talking about and me getting good grades is a step
forward for me to get into honors classes and the job that I’m
aiming for. Now I see that making any effort to get this job
will not make them happy. Instead making them smile and happy will make them
happy. It’s so obvious that I’m surprised that I was so blind to it. The only
question is how I’m supposed to do this.
There is getting them what they
want, but what they want doesn’t always seem to make them happy and even if
they do seem happy, they don’t stay happy for long. I need to make them feel
happy for a long time possibly forever. Oh, I know what I can do. I still feel
happy from that dream with Smiles. I smiled and felt happy for the first time in
a while. I go to the bathroom so I can look at my smile in the mirror.
Yes! That smile on my face is new,
genuine, and most of all, a face that will inspire happiness in others. The
more that I smile the more smiles appear on my hands, face, eyes, and all over
my body. What a blessing it was to meet Smiles! I touch every member of my
family with my smiling hands to make them feel happy as I do. Though one or two
try to run away, the power of my smiles and happiness gets my family to help me
get them to see the goodness of the happiness that I offer. I’m actually glad
that they ran away because it’s made me remember how I felt when I first saw
Smiles.
I have to be careful with how I spread
my smiles so I start small with comedy clubs. While talking and joking around,
I touch one person and then another until the whole club is affected. Just like
Smiles, I can teleport in front of people and keep them in the space around me.
My audience grows until I get the opportunity to appear on a late night show
where I’m interviewed by a big name and watched by a big audience.
“My, my! That smile is something
else. It’s no wonder why you got so famous after a month of being in the
business,” the show host says.
“What can I say? People like being
happy and that what’s I aim to do,” I say.
My smile is already infecting people
with lots of people in the audience smiling thanks to my followers that spread
the joy.
“I’ve seen videos of you, and I do
laugh, but I’m not sure what I find so funny. Can you explain your flavor of
comedy to us?”
“It’s quite simple. If a person
strives with every fiber of their being to achieve their goal, they’ll do it
especially when they do it with a cheerful heart.”
“Haha, I like the idea, however, that’s
not exactly true for everyone.”
“It’s true for me and I aim to
inspire people to achieve the same.”
“I hope you do for their sake. Oh,
and where's my manners. I forgot to ask your name since you don’t have a stage
name and you didn’t give the show announcers your name either.”
“My name is not important because,
heh, I’m nothing but Smiles.”
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