The No Hug Zone/Part 1

It is the morning of Hug-A-Smurf Day in the Smurf Village, and Empath met Tapper at the entrance of his tavern. "Salutations, fellow Tapper," Empath greeted.

"Smurf o' the morning to you, my good Empath," Tapper responded, giving each other a hug. "And happy Hug-A-Smurf Day to you. I always enjoy smurfing a hug with you."

"This smurf enjoys them as well, Tapper," Empath said. "You're the one who helped this smurf not be afraid of hugs when this smurf was still fearful of being touched by any Smurf."

"I am not ashamed of ever helping you become the Smurf that you are, Empath," Tapper said, smiling. "Have you seen Grouchy lately?"

"If the other Smurfs are starting to engage in the holiday's activities after Papa Smurf's annoucement, he should be coming any minute by this smurf's estimation," Empath said.

"Empath! Tapper! Quick! They're smurfing after me!" Grouchy shouted, running straight toward the tavern.

"Ah, smurf o' the morning to you, my fellow Grouchy," Tapper said. "You're just in time...my tavern is open for you. Smurf right in and make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks!" Grouchy said as he rushed past them and straight into the tavern.

Empath looked at Tapper with some amusement. "This smurf didn't think a Smurf like you would be purposely keeping a Smurf from being hugged on Hug-A-Smurf Day."

"You know me, Empath, that as much as I like the holiday, I do not like how my fellow Smurfs abuse the holiday, particularly when it smurfs to Grouchy," Tapper said. "That is why I have established my tavern as a No Hug Zone on this day, and that is why I have smurfed you to help me keep the other Smurfs out of the tavern."

"Even if it's Papa Smurf?" Empath wondered. "This smurf is not sure he would like not being able to go somewhere that is made off-limits to him."

"I'm sure that Papa Smurf would understand my reasons, Empath," Tapper said. "I have no reason to believe that he would smurf in a way that is totally against his own good nature."

"This smurf senses that he won't, Tapper," Empath said.

"Ah, greetings, my good laddies," Duncan said as he approached the tavern. "There's nothing like a good hug with my two closest fellow Smurfs to smurf off my Hug-A-Smurf Day."

"Smurf 'o the morning to you, my fellow Duncan," Tapper said as he and Empath received their hugs from him. "You're not here to try smurfing a hug with Grouchy now, are you?"

"Aye, that Grouchy Smurf is just too finicky a Smurf when it comes to smurfing anything from any Smurf," Duncan said. "I'd rather he smurf me a hug if he's going to smurf that way, but I'm not going to smurf any offense from him if he doesn't."

"We're just trying to keep the other Smurfs from 'mugging a hug' with Grouchy, as some Smurfs are fond of saying, Duncan," Empath said. "It's going to be tricky, with some Smurfs looking for a way to catch Grouchy off-guard and ambush him with a hug. But we're certain that we'll succeed in keeping Grouchy safe from the hug-muggers."

"That's a way of smurfing it, Empath," Duncan said. "If anyone's going to try to ambush me, they're going to wish that they haven't tried smurfing it. Anyway, I'll leave you both to your guarding Grouchy while I go smurf some hugs from the other Smurfs, particularly that Hefty Smurf."

"Aye, I would think my fellow Hefty wouldn't know if you truly love him as a friend or just want to smurf him with the kind of hugs that you smurf with him, Duncan," Tapper said.

Duncan laughed. "I'll let the laddie think whatever he wants!"

After Duncan departed, Empath said, "This smurf senses that there's a story about Grouchy that concerns this particular holiday, Tapper."

"Aye, Empath, that there is," Tapper said. "About a few years before you smurfed home for good, there was this fairy who smurfed a magic ice wand that would smurf the hearts of whoever it smurfed cold, so that they would not feel anything. I have seen my fellow Smurfs get smurfed with this ice wand before I myself fell victim to it. Papa Smurf read from one of his books that the power of the ice wand can only be broken if the holder of the wand was smurfed a hug from a confirmed grouch."

"And every Smurf knows that Grouchy is a confirmed grouch," Empath said.

"I would liken him more to an introvert, but make no mistake, that is what he is, Empath," Tapper said. "Grouchy didn't like that he had to smurf a hug to anybody, much less be smurfed a hug from anybody, but Papa Smurf said that if he didn't smurf a hug with the holder of the ice wand by sunset, the Smurfs who were smurfed by the wand would have frozen hearts forever. When it finally smurfed down to just him, Smurfette, and Baby Smurf, the fairy kept trying to smurf Baby with the ice wand, but its power didn't work on babies, so that gave Grouchy some time to try smurfing a hug with the fairy. It wasn't easy, but when Smurfette told him to do it for Papa Smurf, Grouchy bravely reached out and smurfed a hug with the fairy, and when that happened, the wand's power was broken over both the fairy and the Smurfs that were smurfed by it."

"And this made the Smurfs so grateful for Grouchy that they wanted to smurf a hug with him, whether he wanted one or not," Empath said.

"That poor Grouchy could never be smurfed alone, even for smurfing a heroic act, Empath," Tapper said. "I wisely chose to smurf myself away from Grouchy, because I know how he feels and I would never smurf him a hug unless he specifically asks for one."

"This smurf shares the same sentiment, Tapper," Empath said. "Still, for all the times that he knows what it's like for this smurf to be a Psyche, not being able to express any emotions, this smurf wishes that he would grow beyond himself and not be afraid to express himself with other Smurfs besides the both of us."

"All in good time, Empath, all in good time," Tapper said. "We must let the work of the Almighty smurf into his heart and help him to understand that he is truly loved despite who he is at heart. I will never stop praying for the moment when Grouchy will not be as...uh, grouchy as he normally is."

Empath nodded, understanding. "In the meantime, this smurf will never stop being a friend to Grouchy, and this smurf knows you'll never stop being one as well."