A Hundred Smurfs Of Gray: A Narrator's Story/Part 1

It is a quiet night at Tapper's Tavern, when most Smurfs were just enjoying themselves by playing cards, darts, pinball, or board games with each other while drinking sarsaparilla ale. Empath was sitting at the counter working on the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle when he, Tapper, and Duncan noticed Narrator coming in, looking rather haggard.

"Empath...Tapper...Duncan...I'm so glad to smurf your faces," he said in an exhausted voice as he pulled himself up onto a seat near the counter.

"Great Smurfiny Crickets, my good Narrator, you sound as if you've been smurfing through Hades or worse," Tapper said. "Here, let me smurf you a good cup of tea to help you relax."

"Oh, that is very kind of you," Narrator said, as Tapper poured him a hot cup of smurfberry tea with mint.

"This smurf senses that you've been busy in your job being present in other stories than the ones you would normally appear in, Narrator," Empath said.

"Busy doesn't explain what I have been through, Empath," Narrator said, taking a sip of his tea after he received the cup. "Smurfing the job that I have isn't without its own set of hazards, as I would appear in places that I would not wish any of my fellow Smurfs here to smurf in."

"What kind of place would have you smurfing like this, laddie?" Duncan asked.

Narrator sighed. "It's the same kind of place that we all smurf in, Duncan, but things about it are completely different. Whenever I appear in a different story, it's as if time stops for me alone and I just smurf into the scenario like I've been in it all my entire life. The faces all smurf the same, though there are Smurfs in there that I don't ever see in this village. Some of them just don't even have names to them, as if they were just smurfed to be part of the background."

"Sometimes it's like that here, Narrator," Empath said. "There's a good deal of Smurfs that I don't normally associate with, and it makes me wonder what their purpose is in the village."

"I personally don't believe that any Smurf here is smurfed here for no purpose at all, if the Almighty has anything to smurf about it," Tapper said. "We may be as uniform as blades of grass, but even blades of grass smurf a purpose when they're all together."

"That may be the whole purpose of the story that I was smurfed into, Tapper, and to smurf witness of," Narrator said.

"Don't smurf us all in suspense, my good boy," Duncan said, sounding eager. "I want to hear just what it is you've witnessed."

"As I have said, the story smurfs place in a village just like our own, with Smurfs that are just like us, only different in some ways," Narrator said. - And as Narrator told his story, Empath, Tapper, and Duncan saw in their own minds that very same village, with Smurfs doing the same things that they themselves would normally do: working, playing, talking with each other, and having fun. And like the village they themselves knew of, Papa Smurf observed it all and felt glad that things were going along peacefully in the village.

"Hey, Hefty, I've got a little present for you," Jokey said as he approached his fellow Smurf with one of his surprises.

"Oh, really?" Hefty said, sounding like he was eager to find out what it is. "This should be interesting."

"I promise that you'll smurf a real bang out of it," Jokey said, snickering.

And as Hefty opened the present, it exploded on him as usual.

"Surprise!" Jokey shouted, laughing as he left Hefty holding what was left of the present.

Just then, Tuffy came by hauling some sacks when he noticed Hefty falling for Jokey's usual prank. "I wonder why you always smurf for the same old trick that Jokey smurfs on you, Hefty," Tuffy said as he put down the sack and wiped his brow with a handkerchief.

"Oh, I just know him, Tuffy," Hefty said, tossing what was left of the box away. "He can smurf a good joke from time to time, but he never seems to smurf any harm with them. Of course, I like the jokes better when he smurfs them on Brainy of all Smurfs."

"Doesn't every Smurf in the village," Tuffy said. "In the meantime, I'm trying to help Miller smurf these heavy smurfs of grain to Greedy's kitchen, and I could sure use the help in smurfing them, because I can't smurf them all by myself."

"Smurf no more, Tuffy," Hefty said. "I'd be willing to smurf you out with the sacks."

"Hold on there, laddie," another Smurf wearing a blue plaid kilt said. "I'm not gonna left Hefty smurf all the work by himself."

"Figures that you would smurf along just to smurf the heavy work, Gutsy," Hefty said.

"Well, what are Smurfs like you and me for, Hefty?" Gutsy asked. "Besides, it wasn't you who asked for help anyway."

"I couldn't ask for better Smurfs like you to be my friends," Tuffy said, sounding pleased. "Miller and Greedy will really appreciate it."

"Now this is a really odd story you're smurfing us, Narrator," Duncan said, watching as the Gutsy in the story walked off with Hefty and Tuffy carrying the sacks. "Hefty and I never smurf off as being this friendly with each other."

"That's just simply how the Smurfs were in this story...friendly at the first," Narrator explained. "It was after some time that things began to change."

And as the three Smurfs watched, two Smurfs who were going in opposite directions toward each other ended up passing close by, when one of the Smurfs just bumped into each other.

"Hey!" one of the Smurfs said. "Why don't you look where you're smurfing?"

"Watch where I was smurfing?" the other Smurf said. "It's your fault, you stupid Smurf, for smurfing so close to me."

"I'm starting to see what's changing in this village you were in, Narrator," Tapper said, observing what was going on. "These Smurfs aren't as friendly as they were when the story had started."

"Indeed, Tapper, and that was just the beginning," Narrator said. "One by one, the Smurfs were treating each other as if they were strangers and even complete enemies. Smurfs were refusing to help each other with simple tasks. They were becoming spiteful and impatient, and some were just downright mean and rude to each other. Papa Smurf watched everything start to change around him and was wondering what was smurfing on that would smurf on such a change in the Smurfs."

"Even Smurfette is starting to change," Empath noticed, as he watched what appeared to be Amore bringing a bouquet of flowers to her so he could ask her something.

"Oh, Smurfette, you would make me the happiest of Smurfs if you would accept an invitation to smurf with me under the smurfy moonlight," Amore said in his most romantic voice.

"With you? Not a chance, Amore," Smurfette said coldly as she walked away from him. "Have you smurfed at yourself lately?"

Amore walked away upset as he tossed the bouquet of flowers aside. "Oh, who does Smurfette think she is anyway?"

In the meantime, Jokey approached Vanity with an object in his hand. "Guess what I found, Vanity?" he announced.

Vanity recognized the object. "Oh, it's my mirror! Thank you so much, Jokey! I really appreciate the effort you smurfed into finding it!"

"I bet you can't wait to smurf your own reflection," Jokey said.

"This is truly the moment I've been waiting for, Jokey...to smurf my own reflection again wherever I go," Vanity said. And then he looked at himself in the mirror and screamed. "AAAAAAAH! I smurf so ugly!"

Jokey laughed as he watched Vanity walk away crying, leaving the mirror on the ground. "It's one of my joke mirrors that you fell for, Vanity."

Papa Smurf watched Jokey playing the prank on Vanity. "Shame on you, Jokey, for smurfing such a prank on him," the village leader scolded. "Don't you have any consideration for your fellow Smurf's feelings?"

"It's all his fault for being such a smurfy crybaby, Papa Smurf," Jokey snorted. "But you have to admit...he sure did smurf rather ugly."

Papa Smurf watched Jokey walk away snickering to himself, not caring that he played a cruel prank on Vanity. "These Smurfs of mine used to be so kind to each other," he said to himself, pondering the situation. "I will have to smurf a talk with them to smurf the matter straight."