Chapter 24: That's the Spirit

Ein thought about Chucky, and how he used to act, and how he was acting now. The Chucky he made friends with was not the person he'd been talking to the past many days. There was something inside of Chucky. Maybe it was a ghost. Maybe it was something else. But no matter what it was, Ein believed Samantha, because he believed in true loved.

So he decided to help his friend.

But how was he supposed to get rid of a ghost?

"NEED HELP WITH AN EXORCISM, EH, EINNY-POO?!?" Grandma hopped on his bed. "COULDN'T HELP BUT OVERHEARING, LISTENING IN AND ALL! LUCKY FOR YOU, YOUR GRANDMA'S BEEN AROUND THE WORLD MORE TIMES THAN A RUSSIAN CHIMP, AND I'VE WITNESSED QUITE A FEW DE-SPIRITUALIZATIONS OVER THE YEARS."

Ein stared. "Are you serious?"

"OF COURSE I AM! NOW WHERE'S THIS FRIEND OF YOURS WHO NEEDS OUR HELP?!?"

***

"What with the costume?" Mrs. Flabbing said.

"Going with Chucky to one of his sci-fi conventions?" Mr. Fabbling said.

"Something like that." Ein went with Grandma up towards Chucky's room. "Tell me again why I have to be the one to do it?"

"I'M AN OLD WOMAN! I DON'T HAVE THE ENERGY FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS ANYMORE!"

"But you're always hopping around and--"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE MY OWN GRANDSON WANTS ME TO OVEREXERT MYSELF AND CHANCE BECOMING A GHOST MYSELF!"

"Ok, ok. What do I have to do?"

They entered Chucky's chamber, and closed the door behind them. Ein heard Samantha lock it.

"Why hello, Ein," Chucky said. "Dressed for a costume ball, are you?"

"Not exactly."

Grandma pulled out a blow-dart and shot it at Chucky.

"What are you doing?!?" Chucky stood, but collapsed again.

"HE'S ALL READY FOR YOU, EINNY-POO!"

"What are you doing, Ein?" Chucky said.

"I'm exorcising you," Ein said. "Your love war is about to be over."

"You can't do this," Chucky said. "Samantha, you must help me."

Samantha stared down. "I'm sorry, Lante."

Chucky shook his head. "I won't leave. No matter what you do, I won't leave. No again."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Ein said. "You're stealing Chucky's life away from him. You're stealing Daisy away from me. How can you let yourself cause so much pain?"

Chucky laughed. "You, my dear sir, know nothing about the pains of love. Have you spent years of your life so close to the woman you love that you could touch her, and yet you could not? Have you watched your most beloved fall in love with someone else, and you could do nothing else but stand by and watch them be together? You, at least, can yell at me. You, at least, can go to Daisy and tell her how you feel. I could not. I was alone. Don't make me go back."

Ein studied Chucky and couldn't get himself to despise Dante anymore. He turned to Samantha. "Do you still want me to do this?"

"It's for the best," Samantha said. She looked down at Dante. "Yonte, don't be afraid. It isn't so bad once you get used to it."

Dante was now too numb to speak. He just looked at Ein with pitiful eyes.

Ein looked away.

"DO YOU REMEMBER THE DANCE? SHOULD I SHOW IT TO YOU AGAIN?"

Ein shuddered. "No, Grandma. I remember." The hip swivels still haunted his memory. He adjusted his starfish belt and straightened his wok hat and took out his instruction paper. He was ready.

"BEGIN THE CHANT!"

Ein read from the paper. "Oolaboola! Lalafoola! Imastinka! Lalapinka! Mulamulawalo! Supasheepagalo!"

"NOW THE DANCE!"

Ein danced as he'd never danced before (and hopefully would never again). He put his hands up and spun around like a ballerina. Then he hopped around like a frog. And on and on and on.

"OK, THAT'S ENOUGH! NOW SHINE THESE TWO FLASHLIGHTS ON CHUCKY'S EYES! GHOSTS CAN'T STAND BRIGHT LIGHTS!"

"If it's the lights, then what does the dancing and chanting have to do with it?"

"IF I'M GOING TO MISS MY SHOWS, I HAVE TO BE ENTERTAINED SOMEHOW, DON'T I?"

Ein sighed, and took the flashlights.

He paused for a moment before shining them in Chucky's eyes. Dante wasn't a bad guy. He was just afraid of being alone. Ein couldn't help but thinking that Dante was a ghost because he wouldn't move on to a better place. Dante stayed frozen in time, just like Ein stayed frozen in time. Afraid of telling Waitress Girl how he felt. Afraid of taking the step.

Ein shined the light, and Chucky trembled all over.

"Hey Ein, what are you doing in here, and why are you wearing all that stuff, and who's that old woman on my bed, and why does my room look like this, and--"

"Chucky," Ein said, "it's good to have you back."

***

"I'm gonna do it, Vincent." Ein sat on the new guest-throne Old Hobo Joe had brought in. "I'm going to ask Waitress Girl for a date. I'm scared, but I'm going to go over there right now and ask her." Yes, he was scared. He still wasn't sure what had been going on between Daisy and Dante--and Chucky didn't know either, as he had no memory of it. "And I think you should try too. You can't avoid Sunflower forever. Go to her and ask her out. We're in the same boat. We can do it together."

Vincent shook his head. "We're not in the same boat, Ein. You have a chance with Waitress Girl. I don't with Sunflower."

"Yes, you do."

"No. Even if she said yes, she wouldn't be saying it to the real me. She doesn't know the real me."

"Then tell her the truth."

"She would never like me if she knew the truth."

"You're being too hard on yourself, Vincent. I know the truth and I…like you."

"You do?"

Ein nodded. "You're pretty nice for a Jerk Boy."

"Not a bad Mean Boy yourself."

***

Vincent took a wrong step, and caused a skeleton to drop in Sunflower's office. "Sunflower, I…" He took his foot off the tile trigger, and watched the bones' ascent. "I have something I need to tell you."

"What is it, Vincent?" She didn't seem surprised to see him, but her face was a little red.

"Sunflower, I don't quite know how to tell you this. In the beginning, I thought you knew, but when I learned that you didn't, I did everything in my power to keep you in the dark."

"What is it, Vincent?"

"I fear that you'll despise me. And yet there is something inside me that wants me to tell you the truth."

"I would never despise you, Vincent."

"You say my name, but you don't know who I really am. I want you to know who I really am." He remembered what Ein said. He reminded himself how even Ein became his friend, when they were such bitter enemies. "That picture you saw, of the child in the caviar, that wasn't Ein. It was me." He looked down. "I was rich, Sunflower. Very, very rich. I had so much, and yet you thought I had so little. I'm sorry that I allowed you to believe in my false past. But I would like to have another chance, so that you could know the real me. I suppose what I'm trying to say, what I'm trying to ask is, would you like to go on a date with me?"

She stared at him with her hands folded. Then she looked at her papers. "I'm sorry, Vincent. I can't. I just…can't."

"I…understand."

And the worst part was that he did.

***

Ein went to Mario's and said, "Daisy, would you like to go out with me?"

She said, "Yes."

Ein said, "Won't Dante mind?"

She said, "Dante is tutoring me on computers. Why would he mind?"

Ein could barely comprehend how he'd been so terrified of such a simple moment, and yet, now that the terror was over (or at least, most of it), he felt better than he'd felt for a long, long time.

Since Haunted House Dressing was closed for the night, Ein was able to cook for Daisy and only for Daisy.

She sat in the kitchen and watched him cook. "You're really good. How did you learn to cook?"

Ein's face shot outward. He couldn't say, "I have no clue." He didn't want to ruin this. So he said, "Oh, it's just been a hobby of mine." He cleared his throat, without having to. "You look really nice, Daisy."

"So do you."

"You know, you're so much more normal than…well, everyone else I know. I mean that in a good way."

"Thanks, I guess."

He'd phrased that wrong. His head puffed out more. "What I really mean is…um…you're just like the girl of my dreams…in my dreams. What I mean is…I don't know what I mean."

"I do. Thank you. I really like you too."

Ein froze, and only became unfrozen when a burst of flame slapped his face, from what he'd accidentally added to the pan.

"So," she said. "How do you like working here? It seems like it would be fun."

"Yeah, sometimes. Other times I just want to run away from it all. I mean, I would still keep in touch with my friends, but I don't know if I want this as my life."

"I can understand that. Sometimes I want to change things too."

"And do you?"

"I try."

***

Vincent dunked the washcloth in the bucket of water, and began cleaning himself. He washed off dirt that'd been there for a long, long time.

Old Hobo Joe sat beside him and asked him what he was doing, with an eyebrow.

"I'm going," Vincent said.

Old Hobo Joe asked where, with his hands.

"Back to my father. I'm going to beg him to take me back."

Old Hobo Joe asked why, with his eyes.

"Because I don't belong in this world. I never did." Vincent dropped the washcloth into the dirty bucket. "You're free now. I don't deserve to be your leader."

Old Hobo Joe said that he did, with a tear.

"Please, Joe. I have to go now."

***

Wall hid in the shadows and watched Mr. Einstein and Ms. Daisy eat. He had come here simply to examine the building; to search out its weaknesses. He had not expected to witness such a horrible turn of events.

If Mario found out about this, his wrath would be great and terrible. Wall decided that he would not tell Mario about this, for he liked Mr. Einstein.

However, Wall still needed to ruin the restaurant. It was his job, after all.

He also needed to break up Mr. Einstein and Ms. Daisy.

And right then and there, he created a plan that would accomplish both.