At The Mercy Of Thy Enemy/Part 6

"And so that night, after all the Smurfs have gone to sleep, I smurfed out in the rain, carrying a basket of food with me to the place where I might find Gargamel," Tapper said. "I smurfed a collection of fruits and vegetables that I knew he wouldn't get sick eating. I found him smurfing underneath a mushroom, huddled together, trying to smurf warm, which was why I also smurfed him a blanket. He didn't notice me at all when I was smurfing him the basket and the blanket. He just simply grabbed the blanket and covered himself over while he smurfed in his sleep."

"Did Gargamel even eat the food that you left him by the place where he rested, Tapper?" Polaris asked.

"I'm not sure if he did, but Greedy and Farmer didn't seem to smurf a fuss over anything that was missing from the storehouse when I smurfed together the basket of food, Polaris," Tapper answered. "Despite what Gargamel did with any of the gifts, I felt like I have smurfed something good for one of my worst enemies."

"'If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; for you shall heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah will reward you,' as Tapper's holy book would say," Duncan said.

"It's funny how Tapper's holy book rubs off on you, Duncan, for the type of Smurf that you usually are," Empath said. "So when did Gargamel show up again, and how did he get restored to his normal size?"

"That came the day after, Empath, when the rains have stopped and Papa Smurf had smurfed a day of swimming for us all," Tapper answered.

And as Tapper continued his story, Empath and Polaris saw that it was now morning in the Smurf Village, and the sun was shining bright and warm over the forest after the rains have stopped. It was at this point where Papa Smurf stood outside with Smurfette and Tailor, looking out into the forest on what would turn out to be a beautiful day.

"Such a beautiful morning we're having, Papa Smurf," Tailor said. "Isn't it so nice when the rain smurfs everything fresh and beautiful after it ends?"

"It certainly is, Tailor," Papa Smurf said while he was holding onto Baby Smurf.

"Papa Smurf, I was wondering that, since the pollution is now gone from the river, we could smurf a whole day of swimming," Smurfette suggested.

"Why, Smurfette, that would be an excellent idea," Papa Smurf said. "We could surely use a break from our daily routines to smurf a day of enjoying ourselves."

"You know, I still am worried about Gargamel, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said. "Not because that we might be in danger of him again, but that he's so alone out there in the forest with nobody to help him smurf any good."

"I know how you feel, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "But as the leader of the village, I have to smurf the safety of the Smurfs first and foremost over our concern for helping the wizard."

"That evil wizard will never change, Smurfette," Tailor said. "If he shrinks himself so small that there's no way to resmurf him because of his hatred of us, there's nothing much we can smurf for him, and that will be all his fault."

"That doesn't mean that I should feel smurfy about it, Tailor," Smurfette said. "Maybe it sounds silly to you, but I'm still hoping that there's the slightest chance that Gargamel might change for the better."

"We can only hope for the best, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "That's all we can do." - And so the Smurfs spent the entire day enjoying themselves at the beach by the riverside. While a group of Smurfs lined up to jump off a low-hanging branch into the water below, others spent the time lying on the beach in order to get a suntan, playing games with each other, or eating food provided by Greedy and Tapper.

Brainy was with Clumsy watching over Baby Smurf as they were busy burying Lazy in the sand while he was sleeping. Then Brainy decided that he was going to go into the water for a swim and so got up from where he was sitting. "Clumsy, keep an eye on Baby while I go for a swim, will you?" he asked.

"Uh, sure thing, Brainy," Clumsy replied as he watched his friend go into the water.

Baby Smurf raised up his pail and looked up to Clumsy as if to ask for something.

"Oh, okay, Baby, I'll get you some more water," Clumsy said, taking the pail from the infant and carrying it with him to the riverside. "Lazy, keep an eye on Baby for me."

Lazy did not respond. He just continued sleeping, blissfully unaware of what was going on around him.

Duncan came out of the water and headed for Tapper's refreshment stand to get a bottle of root beer. "Ah, what a bonnie day this turned out to be, laddie," Duncan said as he received his root beer. "You should smurf some time with in the water while you have the chance."

"I will, my fellow Duncan, after I see that my friends have smurfed their fill of the drinks and food," Tapper said, sounding a little less enthusiastic.

"You're still worrying about Gargamel being out there in the forest," Duncan said, noticing Tapper's reaction.

"I feel that I should have smurfed more for him, so that he wouldn't have left the village the way that he did yesterday, Duncan," Tapper said.

"It's not your fault, laddie," Duncan said. "You've done all that you could for that wizard, and now you've just to let him go and let the Almighty smurf His work in him, if you truly believe He is capable."

"You're right, Duncan," Tapper said. "I guess I wanted Gargamel to change so badly that I have forgotten my own limitations as a mortal creature."

"We'll smurf through this together, laddie, because we're both brothers of two different clans," Duncan said, smiling as he put a hand on Tapper's shoulder, which in turn made Tapper smile.

To be expanded on.