Life Inside A Cartoon World

Life Inside a Cartoon World

For years, cartoons have been a daily source of entertainment for children. People might think that cartoon characters’ lives are so grand and fun, at least that is the impression that they are given. But living in a cartoon world was no laughing matter, at least according to Chett. Chett was the main character of the daily cartoon show, Cityville.

Chett detested Cityville, his cartoon world. Life was monotonous; nothing ever changed. Every day of his life, Chett did the same thing. He would wake up, have breakfast, perform for the big glass eye and the children on the other side, come home, and practice what he had to do for the next day. The big glass eye looked over the town. Sometimes it would be far beyond the city limits, sometimes so close to Chett he could breath on it.

Chett probably wouldn’t have minded the monotony of his daily life if he got to leave Cityville each night. As it was, Chett had spent every moment since he was first drawn in or around the town. What a town Cityville was! all the buildings were short and stout, and very bright. Dark and dreary weren’t even words in Cityville. There was a restaurant, doctor’s office, the house where Chett lived, and various other buildings. All of them were the same shape. the only difference was each had a different bright outside, sickeningly bright according to Chett.

Even the weather stayed the same. The sky was always the same shade blue, and there were only six clouds. The clouds didn’t even change; they were always in the same position over the town. Chett wished that it would rain or snow, or even be windy. Just something to change things. Chett wondered at the writers, who told him what to do every day. Writers from the outside world would figure that even a little wind would excite Cityville, at least for a little while.

What bothered Chett the most wasn’t the town or the weather, it was the people. The people were always happy, sickeningly happy. They too never changed. It was always smile, smile, smile. Not one of them were as board with the monotony of the cartoon, and everyday life, as Chett was. They were so happy and giddy that it made Chett physically sick just to think of having to deal with the same people day in and day out, probably for the rest of Chett’s drawn life.

Even Alice, Chett’s blond bombshell of a wife, (who was barely suited for a children’s cartoon) was constantly happy and chipper. Chett was really irritated by the fact that Alice remained that way, even after the big glass eye had shut down for the night. For once, Chett wished that she would be mad, or frown at least. That alone might have moved Chett from being disgruntled to only being board.

One night, while Chett and Alice were having their dinner, Chett threw down the script he was studying and started to pace the floor. “I can’t stand it anymore, Alice,” he said. “I can’t stand living in a cartoon anymore. I want to leave Cityville. I want to go on the other side of the big glass eye. I want to be somewhere were people get sad once in a while, or where it rains. For once in my life I want to see rain. I can’t stand being a cartoon anymore.”

Alice rose and put her arm around Chett’s shoulder. “But you are a cartoon,” she said cheerily. “You have always been one. You will always be one. You make more children happy than any other one of us on this cartoon.”

Chett looked sharply at his wife. “You, along with all those other losers out there, are another problem. Don’t you ever get sad, or mad, or anything besides happy. Everybody in this lousy cartoon is so happy that it makes me sick.”

“Well, I suppose that I don’t have to be so happy, all the time.” Alice said, in the hope of calming her husband down. “But just remember, us being happy is what makes all those little boys and girls on the other side of the glass eye happy. You, Chett of Cityville, are what the children love. Now come on, let’s go to bed.”

Alice’s remarkably clever speech was enough to keep Chett pacified for two weeks. After that, all the old problems came to the surface again. Before long, Chett was so angry that anything would set him off.

One day, Chett got so angry that he blew up right in the middle of performing for the glass eye. “Stop!!!” Chett yelled. “I can’t take this anymore!! I can’t take all the cheerfulness, all the smiles! You are all idiots!!” At this outburst to Chett’s fellow co - stars, Chett picked up the nearest object, a plate, and threw it at the glass eye.

The glass eye cracked. It actually cracked, from the bottom to the top. Chett was so surprised at what he had done that he stopped his rampage, and just stared at the screen. He saw something move on the other side of the eye, and walked up to see what it was. It didn’t matter if Chett did that, because when Chett threw the plate, the network had shut off the glass eye, so no one could see the town.

Chett pressed his eye up to the crack. On the other side, he saw a little girl who was lying in a bed. She was crying. “Mommy, what happened to Chett?” The little girl coughed, and looked very sick.

The mother rubbed the tiny girl’s forhead. “I don’t know, Elsie. Maybe something happened at the television station. I’m sure Chett will be there tomorrow.”

“I hope so. I love Chett. I don’t want him to go away.”

Chett heart leaped. Alice was right. A child loved him, a child really loved him. And this child was sick, Chett could see that as well as he could see his own hand. There was no way Chett would let a few irritating things interfere with his entertaining a little sick girl who loved him. No, he would go on, and he would do it with a happy heart.

But sometimes, things returned to the way they were. When they did, Chett would just think of poor little Elsie, who despretly waited for Chett to come on the television. Chett would think of Elsie, and nothing else would matter except making her happy. So, it was a little girl on the other side who had made Chett love Cityville, his cartoon world.