I Dream Of Smurfette (story)/Part 4

"That doesn't seem too bad that some Smurfs are trying to deal with their physical maturity through creative outlets, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "In a way, that could be considered therapeutic."

"I would have to agree with you on that, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "Unfortunately for Smurfette, though, the whole thing ended up confusing her, as she started noticing that most of her fellow Smurfs are starting to act a little...cautious around her."

"This smurf could understand the caution, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "Maybe a little elaboration may help illuminate how this was starting to be a problem for her."

As Papa Smurf continued to tell his story, Empath saw that Smurfette was emerging from her house, ready to start her day of preparing little flower gardens around the village when she noticed Farmer going about with his wheelbarrow. "Hello there, Farmer," she called out.

"Uh...hi there, Smurfette," Farmer said. "I hope your flower garden project is starting to smurf well with you."

"Oh, it has been smurfing wonderfully," Smurfette said. "I'm just wondering if I can borrow your help in smurfing up some more areas that I would like to smurf up some more gardens in."

"Oh, I would like to very much, Smurfette," Farmer said, sounding very nervous. "But you see, I have some plants in my fields that I need to smurf after and so I..."

"Farmer, what's wrong?" Smurfette asked. "You're acting as if you're afraid of me. Have I smurfed anything to you?"

"Uh, no, you didn't, Smurfette," Farmer said. "I'll see if I can get some Smurf to help you upsmurf some dirt around the plots that you want to smurf some more gardens. I'll smurf you later."

Smurfette watched as Farmer quickly wheeled his wheelbarrow away from her. She had no idea what was going on with him that made him act that way.

She found a few more Smurfs just standing idly by talking with each other. "Hello there, Smurfs," she pleasantly greeted. "Would any of you want to help me smurf up some dirt so I can smurf some more gardens?"

They turned to her and looked at her with some hesitation. "Oh, hello there, Smurfette. We'd like to, but we're kind of busy right now," one of the Smurfs answered.

"Yeah, Hefty has called us to smurf some work on the bridge over by the River Smurf," a second Smurf said.

"Real heavy work that's going to smurf us all day to smurf," a third Smurf said. "We might smurf you around dinner time."

And Smurfette saw those three Smurfs walk away from her, as if they too were fearful of her. This was starting to make her feel like she was no longer welcome in the village.

In fact, everywhere that Smurfette went to ask for any help for her gardens, most of her fellow Smurfs just shied away from her and made it look like they had other important things on their minds to do. They would quickly walk away or close their doors or go off doing something as if they were purposely avoiding her.

"Okay, this is smurfing a little too much," Smurfette said to herself when she realized that hardly any Smurf was going to directly answer her. "I thought that this village was so welcoming to me, but if that's how most Smurfs want to treat me..."

"Oh, Smurfette, you're just the Smurf that I've been smurfing for," a fellow Smurf's voice said.

She turned and saw that it was Amore with his accordion. "Well, at least there's one Smurf who's willing to smurf me the time of day. I'm wondering if you would be interested in helping me smurf up some new gardens in the village."

"I would be willing to smurf you a whole garden of beautiful roses, just for you," Amore said. "In fact, I have composed this little number just for you. Would you like to hear it?"

"Oh, sure, Amore, why not?" Smurfette said.

The other Smurfs watched from a safe distance as Amore followed Smurfette around while playing his serenade with his accordion. "Well, would you smurf at that?" Greedy said as he and his kitchen staff watched.

"I wonder why he's not afraid to be smurfing around her like everyone else who's smurfed the 'Smurfette dream'?" Culinary asked.

"That's just Amore for you, gentlesmurfs," Biscotti said. "It's like he was born to love her whether she likes it or not."

"I wonder how long she's going to put up with Accordion Smurf playing his music for her," Gelato said.

"If only I were in his smurfs right now instead of being so fearful to even smurf near her," Vino said.

"Yeah, if it weren't for this 'Smurfette dream' driving us to be near Smurfette in a way that she wouldn't even like us to be near her," Greedy said. - A little later on, Papa Smurf heard a knock on the door of his laboratory. He opened it up and found that it was Smurfette, still being followed around by Amore playing his accordion.

"Papa Smurf, can I talk to you in private without Amore following me?" Smurfette asked, having to shout above the music.

"Oh, sure, Smurfette, I would be delighted to," Papa Smurf said, also raising his voice. "Amore, please take your accordion playing elsewhere. Smurfette would like to be alone now."

Amore stopped his music playing and started looking sad as he walked away and Smurfette had entered Papa Smurf's laboratory.

"You look upset about something, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "Is there a problem you have with your fellow Smurfs?"

"Yes, there is, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said. "It's been several days and I'm noticing that hardly any of them want to smurf anything with me. They all seem afraid of me as if I smurfed something wrong with them."

"I can't imagine what it is that you smurfed that made them smurf that way," Papa Smurf said. "Unless..."

"What is it, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.

Papa Smurf began to think of what to say. "Well, do you remember when we were first smurfing together about what you were planning to smurf in the village, and you were finding yourself attracted to your fellow Smurfs?"

"Sure I do, Papa Smurf," Smurfette answered. "What does that have to do with their being afraid of me?"

"It's not really what you did to them that made them smurf so afraid of you, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It's actually what they think they might smurf to you that makes them afraid."

"What they might do?" Smurfette said. "But Papa Smurf, I don't see how they could ever harm me."

"I guess there's just no other way to smurf it, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "The reason that they're so afraid of you is because they all have experienced the same dream about you."

"This is all because of a dream?" Smurfette said. "Why would a dream make them think like that?"

"You see, in dreams you can never always tell whether they're real or not, and with this kind of dream, there's this physical reaction," Papa Smurf said. "It's the kind of dream that happens to young Smurfs their age that tells them that they're ready to someday become Papa Smurfs."

"You mean...they want to marry me and smurf a child with me?" Smurfette asked.

"Well, yes and no, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It's just simply what Mother Nature has smurfed into every creature so that males and females could be attracted to each other and have families. But what your fellow Smurfs want may be something different than just...mating with you."

"So they're afraid of these desires that they have of me?" Smurfette asked. "Now I'm beginning to understand why they're so worried. Maybe my being in the village as a real Smurf wasn't the greatest idea."

"It's not your fault, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It's just a part of nature that we're all going to have to deal with together. I'm sorry if this news is rather upsetting to you."

Smurfette sighed. "Really, Papa Smurf. My being here would cause too much trouble. I think I would be better off smurfing in the forest so you can smurf together in peace without me smurfing around."

Papa Smurf watched as Smurfette left his laboratory, looking rather sad. He really didn't want to see Smurfette leave the village just so soon after being a part of it, but he wasn't sure what else to do to resolve the situation. - With the sounding of Harmony's horn, every Smurf gathered around the speaking mushroom to hear Papa Smurf's announcement. They all saw that Smurfette was with him.

"My little Smurfs, as much as we liked having Smurfette being a new member of the village, it saddens me to announce that she's planning on leaving the village so she can smurf into the forest and allow us to smurf in peace without her being around," Papa Smurf said.

This news made the Smurfs react in shock. "Leave the village?" they said in unison.

"But Smurfette, are you sure that's what you really want, given what's happened to your fellow Smurfs?" Tapper asked.

"Aye, just think of what danger you might smurf yourself into out in the forest," Duncan said.

"Who's going to smurf you a nice plate of fresh morning muffins when you wake up?" Greedy asked.

"And who's going to smurf you help with your gardening?" Farmer asked.

"And who's going to smurf you help in finding flowers for your garden?" Tracker said.

"And who's going to help make your gardens smurf so beautiful, just like me?" Vanity asked.

"Please, Smurfette, just say that you're not going to smurf away from us," Hefty said.

"We want you to smurf yourself at home in the village," Handy said.

"I hate seeing Smurfette leave," Grouchy said.

Smurfette listened as her fellow Smurfs raised their objections to her leaving the village, sounding like they were going to miss her very much.

"Don't smurf this the wrong way, my fellow Smurfs," Smurfette said. "This is not saying that I would want to be without your company, but if you're all afraid that you're going to hurt me just because of what smurfed on in a dream that you had about me, it would be best if I wasn't part of your life at all."

"Smurfette, I would have to say for the rest of the village that life here would no longer be the same or smurf back to the way it was without you," Papa Smurf said.

"That's very true, Papa Smurf," Brainy said. "In fact, I would have to say that each of us are very essential in our contributions to everyday life in the Smurf Village, and for us to lose one of our members would cause us all to function very differently without their presence in our lives, and furthermore..."

"I'm sure that's very sweet of you, Brainy, but I'm afraid that's not going to be enough to make me want to stay with you," Smurfette said as she stepped off the speaking mushroom and headed away to her house.

Tapper and Duncan watched Smurfette walk off with a sigh. "Well, that certainly leaves me without any idea of how to keep Smurfette from smurfing a terrible mistake by leaving us," Tapper said.

"I'm sure your Almighty will help you or us smurf a way to keep our sister Smurf from leaving," Duncan said, putting his hand on Tapper's shoulder to comfort him. - Smurfette was in her house, trying to figure out what things she would like to take with her out to her new home in the forest when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it and found that it was Tapper.

"So are you all set on your journey into the world beyond the village, my dear Smurfette?" Tapper asked.

"I wish I were, but there's just so many things for me to smurf on my journey, I don't know if I could smurf them all with me," Smurfette said.

"I was figuring that might be the case, so I asked my fellow Smurfs if they could smurf you a hand," Tapper said.

Smurfette looked as Tapper stood aside and saw that her fellow Smurfs were gathered around outside her house with wagons, all looking like they were willing to help her move out into the forest.

"You mean...you would smurf all of this for me...just to find a place in the forest where I could smurf by myself and not bother you in any way?" Smurfette asked, sounding surprised.

"Well, why not, Smurfette?" Hefty asked. "If you're going to leave us, we might as well smurf together and make sure that your new home is just as smurfy as your old one."

"Architect has some plans that you might want to smurf at when you find the place that you want to call your home, Smurfette," Handy said. "And me and Carpenter can smurf it together any way that you want it."

"And me, Hefty, and Tuffy can smurf your furniture in there to make everything all smurfy for you, lassie," Duncan said.

"And if you're in need of curtains, I'm sure that I can smurf you some designs that will give your new home that really smurfy look," Vanity said.

Smurfette looked at all her fellow Smurfs gathered together just for her. "I'm...realy flattered that all of you want to help me...it just...makes me wish that I never even thought...of leaving you," she said with tears in her eyes.

"We're all going to miss you so much more than you'll ever realize, Smurfette," Papa Smurf as he showed up at Smurfette's door. "But just remember that wherever you go, you'll always have a home here in the Smurf Village."

"And you'll always have a home with us, in our hearts," Tapper said.

"We'd rather have you as part of our dreams and desires than not be part of them at all," Hefty said.

"So say the word and we'll get your journey underway," Duncan said.

Smurfette felt so touched by the emotion her fellow Smurfs were showing her. "I really thought that leaving you because of this dream you're all smurfing was going to make you feel all better about yourselves. But now I'm seeing that I'm going to leave behind a lot of memories of things that we could have smurfed together. If I'm going to remain with you Smurfs when I'm gone, then I guess there's just no point in ever leaving you at all."

"Things will get better in the village, we promise you," Tapper said.

"Then I guess it's settled, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf said. "Smurfette will remain with us here in the village!"

"HURRAY FOR SMURFETTE!" every Smurf shouted.

"I think this calls for a little celebration," Tapper said. "Smurfette, do you still have that bottle of smurfberry wine?"

"Oh, sure I do, Tapper," Smurfette said. "But I don't think one bottle's going to smurf for the entire village to share."

"You and Papa Smurf should smurf the honor of having the first two glasses from this, Smurfette," Tapper said, as he produced two wine glasses. "All I need to do smurf this thing open and we'll be all set."

Smurfette noticed as Tapper struggled to get the wine bottle open. "Are you sure you're going to need help with that, Tapper?"

"Never you mind, Smurfette," Tapper said. "I've had a lot of practice with smurfing these things." He placed the wine bottle between his legs for leverage while he struggled with the cork. Suddenly it popped out with a lot of force and Tapper felt some foam spraying out of the wine.

"Uh-oh, Smurfette, I think Tapper just had an eruption for you right there," Jokey said, as the other Smurfs laughed.

Smurfette looked at Tapper as he tried to keep himself composed in the face of embarrassment. "Well, I'm sure that the smurfberry wine will taste really smurflicious straight from the bottle," she said with a smile.