Calvin and Hobbs, New chapter(Fan Story)

Calvin was sitting alone in his room. The days were bleeding into one another. He never imagined he would outlive the love of his life. After all, he was the reckless one not her. She used to say, "Calvin, if it wasn't for me, you would have been dead before you graduated college." He knew deep down that she was right. With a tear in his eye, he could not help but smile. "I miss you honey."

The door opened and drew his attention from the beautiful view out his window. It was a crisp Autumn Day, and the leaves were changing colors. They would fall soon, and he would be able to the through the trees into the woods where he played as a small child. "Grampa?" A small voice whispered to him.

"Yes, little Suzie, Can I help you?" He picked her up and placed his granddaughter, who was named after his late wife, down on his lap. He could not help himself. He smiled. Grampa, daddy found all these pictures in a shoe box in the attic and said they were yours." Little Suzie handed him a stack of old polaroid pictures. His smile widened as he flipped through them. All the pictures were of a small smiling stuffed Tiger. Calvin picked up his granddaughter and placed her carefully on the edge of his bed. "Those are pictures of Hobbes. My very best friend in the world." He walked around and from a high shelf he pulled down the very Tiger from the pictures. Little Suzie could not stop looking at the picture and didn't notice Calvin had brought Hobbes back to the chair with him. "But there all the same picture."

"No, they're not." The voice was strange, yet familiar. Little Suzie had looked up and saw her grandpa holding Hobbes. "Who said that?"

Calvin sat Hobbes down on his right knee and asked Little Suzie if she remembered Hobbes. "You let me play with him when I was little."

Calvin laughed. He laughed like he hadn't laughed in a very long time, since his wife's passing. "Yes, when you were little."

"Grampa, I heard a tone.'

"No tone. I know you are a very mature 6 years old. You see young lady. All those pictures are of Hobbes making faces." She looked confused. That familiar voice once more made her look around, "Don't worry. It takes a little bit."

"Did I ever tell you about the adventures I had with Hobbes?"

"Gramma said Hobbes was the reason you were together." She put down the picture and stood on the bed, leaning on her grandpa and petting Hobbes softly. "She was right. You see before I met your gramma, it was just me and Hobbes. We lived right here in this house. We would build snowmen armies. Play games. Watch TV on rainy days. And the summers. Young lady, the summer days belonged to us." Calvin switched Hobbes to his other knee and gave Little Suzy the right knee to sit on.

"Is that when you met gramma? When you were little?"

"Oh yes, she moved in during the summer." Calvin gave his granddaughter a tight hug and asked if she would like to hear his stories. She said yes.

He told her stories. He told her tales that were unbelievable. He told his granddaughter how he built a time machine and went to the future to make his future self do the homework he had not done. Only to find his future self convincing him that it was actually their past self's fault for not doing the homework in the first place. Tales of swashbuckling adventures on the high seas. A space odyssey with the Spaceman Spiff. Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire. Calvin ball, a game he invented with his best friend Hobbes.

"But first I have to tell you how I found Hobbes."

"Did your mommy buy him for you?"

"Oh no. When I was a small boy about your age, I was up in my room trying not to go to sleep. I looked out my window and saw a large, ferocious Tiger stalking through the trees. No one would believe me the next day, so I hatched a plan. I was going to capture the Tiger myself and prove to everyone he was real." Little Suzie's face lit up with excitement and a little fear. "Did you catch him?" "Yes."

"How." She was standing on his knee now. Excitement barley contained. "Well, with a tuna fish sandwich." The excitement was replaced with confusion. "Huh, a tuna fish sandwich."

"Yes, Tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich."

Little Suzie looks at Hobbes. Hobbes winked at her. She took a deep breath. She couldn't believe it.

After telling her many of his stories, some including her gramma, a man walks in. "What are you two doing?"

Calvin looked up into the mirror image of himself many years ago. "I am telling your daughter about how Hobbes and I met."

"Daddy, did you know grampa caught Hobbes with a tuna fish sandwich?"

He smiled, hands on hips and in a mock voice of his dad's, said. "Tiger will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich." Calvin leaned back. "Yeah, their kinda stupid that way." Laughter filled the room. "Dad, Moe's here about the car."

"Little Suzie, I am going to leave Hobbes with you right now okay." She hugged Hobbes and smiled. "Aight Son, let's go see what the damage is." They left Little Suzie on the bed holding Hobbes. "You can sit here Hobbes." She picked up the photographs, now scattered about the bed. The longer she looked at them she noticed they were changing. A small stuffed Tiger began to grow fur. His buttons turned to eyes. Her grampa was right. Hobbes was making a different face in each picture, and she could see it. She could see him. She felt the bed sink a bit under her. She looked down at the covers. It looked like someone sat on the bed. Her eyes moved to her left. Where she put the small stuffed Tiger now sat a large real tiger, smiling looking over her shoulders at one of the pictures. "That one is my favorite." Said Hobbes pointing at a picture of himself standing on his head with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and to the side. Little Suzie's eyes widen. She jumps off the bed. Hobbes climbs off the bed and stretches with a big yawn. "I feel like I was asleep for a long time."

Little Suzie looks up into the eyes of the Tiger that was her grampa's best friend. "I knew it." She runs and wraps her arms around Hobbes and the embrace in a big hug. Tears form in Hobbes' eyes. "We are going to have great adventures."

"It's a magical world Hobbes." She pulls back to get a good look at him. "Let's go exploring."

Calvin is filling a glass with water at the kitchen sink. He looks out the window above the sink and sees Little Suzie and Hobbes running across the backyard. Hobbes stops and turns to look at Calvin. Their eyes meet. Hobbes waves at his friend. Calvin smiles and waves back.

"It's a magical world, Hobbes Ol' Buddy. Go explore it."

The End, no THE BEGINNING.

Dear Mr. Watterson,

I have enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes since I was a child. Reading the Essential Calvin and Hobbes helped me through a very hard time when I was younger. I was able to connect to Calvin in a way I could not connect with the people in my life. Yukon HO! was the first book I ever bought myself. I saved up money and bought it through one of the scholastic events at my school. Even now when I get sad or nostalgic, funny how sometimes those two go together, I popped open Calvin and Hobbes and instantly transported to a happy place. Because of Calvin and Hobbes, I have never lost my imagination and hopefully have passed that on to my children and grandchildren.

I just wanted to say thank you. You've helped me more than you will ever know.

Sincerely

Barney Martin

It truly is a magical world.