For The Smurf Of Money/Part 7

"That's really sad, Trader," Empath said as he continued to watch the whole thing. "Your fellow Smurfs want to have a party just to celebrate a rescue from Gargamel, and all you could really think about is just how much a party would cost."

"I didn't like it all that much either, Empath," Trader said. "Neither did I like having to smurf with the fact that Papa Smurf doesn't have a laboratory to smurf his work in. I guess I was just too blinded by money to really see any of this smurfing."

Empath watched as Papa Smurf talked to Handy about rebuilding his laboratory as they looked at it from a distance. "I'd love to help you out, Papa Smurf, but it's going to cost you smurfly," Handy said.

"That's not a problem, Handy...I do have the money," Papa Smurf said, sounding confident at first. But then a thought came into his mind. "However...have I not paid Smurfette for smurfing care of me when I was sick? And a few other Smurfs as well?" He then turned to Handy. "I'll have to smurf care of these small problems first, and then with what I have left over, I'll see what I can smurf."

And so Empath watched as Papa Smurf paid off his debts to the Smurfs who took care of him during his illness: Greedy for the food, Medic and Smurfette for the medical care. They were happy to finally get reimbursed. However, after those Smurfs have left with their pay, Papa Smurf realized that he had now ran out of money as he shook the money bag and nothing came out.

Trader watched this as he passed by the window of Papa Smurf's spare house. "So much for smurfing a new laboratory," the village leader said, sighing.

"Maybe I can help you out with your problem, Papa Smurf," Trader said. "Here's the solution: I can finance the work, and you smurf me a percentage of what you ask the other Smurfs for your services. What do you think of that?"

Papa Smurf didn't like the sound of that solution one bit. "ME...CHARGE MY LITTLE SMURFS? NOT ON YOUR SMURF, TRADER!" he shouted as he banged his fists on the window sill.

Trader backed away fearfully. "Okay, then, smurf it your way...I'm just trying to help!"

Papa Smurf decided that his new laboratory will have to wait, and that he will take a walk through the village to see how things are faring. During his walk, he saw Trader turning down Vanity for money when he had nothing left that he could use as collateral for a loan. He saw one Smurf charging another Smurf money for the simple "favor" of moving a table into that Smurf's house. He saw Lazy pacing around inside his house, unable to get any sleep as he now worried about how he was going to pay back a loan. He saw Poet working on a poem about money, calling upon it to "smurf upon us and see the despair it has sown". He saw a Smurf walk away disgusted from having to pay for flowers he wanted to send to Smurfette. He saw two Smurfs fighting with each other and calling each other horrible names. To Papa Smurf and to Empath, things in the village have not been going well at all.

Papa Smurf sat down on a bench in order to think. Then Smurfette showed up with a glass of his medication. "You need to smurf this," she instructed.

"Oh, thank you, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said as he took the glass and drank its contents. "How much do I smurf you for this?"

"Nothing, Papa Smurf, as it should be," Smurfette said as she sat down near Papa Smurf. "Have you smurfed what's going on around here? Everywhere in this village, it's money for this and money for that. Things have gotten impossible around here with this 'new system'."

"I have noticed it, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It just makes me sad to think that this is what money has smurfed on us."

Then Tapper joined Papa Smurf and Smurfette. "The good book says that the love of money is the smurf of all evil, and that those who are greedy for it have smurfed themselves through with many sorrows."

"Tapper, what happened to your business?" Smurfette asked.

"I had to close it down, Smurfette, because I didn't like having to smurf my customers for money," Tapper said. "I was prosperous for a time, and I was even generous to those who needed some money to make smurfs meet. But this whole thing of smurfing money for everything that we normally had smurfed for free just never smurfed right to me from the very beginning."

"We've got to smurf something about it," Smurfette said. "I don't like seeing where all this is smurfing us to."

"Neither do I, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "If money ruined the lives of humans, it can smurftainly ruin us as well."

"I just know in my spirit that things will all smurf out in good time," Tapper said to both Papa Smurf and Smurfette. "Eventually the other Smurfs will see the light when it smurfs to money." - Some days later, a few Smurfs were gathered with Trader near a newly-constructed Smurf building, fawning him with attention and praise.

"So is everything going as you smurf, Finance Smurf?" one of the Smurfs asked.

"Well, what can I say? The new system works!" Trader said. "How do you like my new office?"

"Why, it's majestic," one Smurf responded. "Just as majestic as you are."

"Our money must surely be smurfed in a safe place," another Smurf said in the same obsequious manner as the first. "And this is the place where it will be smurfed safe."

"Yeah, really safe," Hefty muttered as he passed by the builiding and looked at it in disgust. "But then, he knows what he can go smurf with his money."

He then went into the house. Some minutes later, he came back out carrying a small sack on a stick. "Hey, Hefty, where are you smurfing with that?" Handy asked as he saw Hefty with his sack.

"What does it look like I'm smurfing?" Hefty answered. "I'm leaving the village."

"You are?" Handy asked. "But why?"

"Because I'm sick of this 'new system'," Hefty snapped. "I'm smurfed up with money, I'm smurfed up with this crazy life we're smurfing. Nobody sings, nobody dances anymore. It's all about money! Well, they can smurf it, because I'm smurfing elsewhere."

"Wait a minute, Hefty," Handy said as he watched Hefty start off again. "If you're leaving the village, then I'm leaving too!"

"You want to leave?" Hefty asked. "But I thought you were happy smurfing things for money now!"

"Well, I thought I was," Handy said. "But the more I think about it, I felt that I was more happier smurfing things when I didn't have to think about money. I want to smurf things back to the way they used to be."

"You're in luck, Handy, because where I'm smurfing, there won't be any need for money!" Hefty said.

This caught the attention of a few Smurfs who were just overhearing the conversation. "You're going to smurf to a place where there won't be any money?" one of the Smurfs asked.

"That's right, and me and Hefty are going to build it together," Handy announced.

"So if you want to smurf to a place where the only thing you need is hard work, or even if you don't want to work, now's your chance," Hefty said.

This made the other Smurfs cheer with excitement. "NO MORE MONEY! NO MORE MONEY! NO MORE MONEY!"

"Let's smurf our things and get the smurf out of here," another Smurf said. And so all the Smurfs went to their houses to pack their belongings.

Papa Smurf just came onto the scene. "What's this that I'm smurfing here?" he asked.

"We're going to smurf a whole new village, Papa Smurf, and it will be one where you won't need any money," Handy said.

"Why don't you smurf along with us?" Hefty said. "After all, this new village is going to need a leader, and the only Smurf around here qualified to be that leader is you."

Papa Smurf chuckled at the thought. "Well, why didn't you smurf so?"

Smurf to Part 8