Part 3 of A Midwinter Nightmare Scream
. . .
The next thing they knew, Master Cupid was gone
So they hid in that spot, bows already drawn.
While they shushed one another to avoid being caught,
They saw someone coming, someone lost deep in thought.
“It’s Jack,” whispered Lock. “I’m not shooting him.”
“I don’t know,” said Shock. “He’s tall and quite slim.”
“Why not?” said Barrel. “Let’s give it a try.”
So each one took aim and let one arrow fly.
One arrow hit true for the young trick-or-treaters.
(The other two missed by at least fifty meters.)
Just then jilted Helga came into Jack’s view.
And he wasted no time in a desperate woo:
“May ask you one thing, my dear Helgamine?
I’d be humbly honored if you would be mine.”
“Be your what?” asked Helga as her guard went up quick.
She would not be embarrassed by some immature trick.
When Frank stumbled out from behind a big tree,
He went straight for Helga. She was all he could see.
Lock, Shock and Barrel watched as he bumped right past Jack.
A stray arrow protruding from the small of his back.
“We hit him, too!” the three said, and they started to snicker
As they watched the two smitten men quarrel and bicker.
“You think I’m dumb,” Helga said. “But I’m onto your game.
This morning neither one of you knew my full name.”
“Why think of the past?” Frank cooed. “The future is ours.”
“Forget him,” said Jack as he gave her some flowers.
But what the players involved did fail to behold
Was that Sally was watching the whole scene unfold.
While Jack swooned over Helga, Sally stayed most secluded.
“It was not meant to be,” she sadly concluded.
She walked away, mouth-stitches bent to a frown,
Deciding she might as well go back to town.
Fearing Dr. Finkelstein’s ill-tempered wrath,
She was surprised to meet Cupid with there on the path.
He saw all the mix-ups in his matchmaking game.
He must fix them regardless of who was to blame.
So before this mess brought on more serious harm,
Cupid gathered the players and removed every charm.
Jack woke to find Frank and Helga pressed at his face
Then realized he was wedged in between their embrace.
“Don’t mind me,” Jack said as he pried himself free.
“When kissing, there really is no need for three.”
Jack wondered if this trip was at all worthwhile
Then Sally emerged, with her bright, hopeful smile.
Seeing that things were all just slightly wrong.
She said “Let’s go home. We’ve been here too long.”
But before they could go, Jack had one more task.
A question for Cupid that he just had to ask.
“I came to see Valentinetown face to face.
But was saddened to learn that there is no such place.”
“No such place?” laughed Cupid. “Young man, don’t be dumb.”
It can’t be marked on a map, but that’s where I’m from.”
Jack scrunched up his brow and asked. “How can that be?”
“It’s a place,” explained Cupid. “That’s in you. And in me.”
“But to find it,” Jack questioned “where do I start?”
Cupid smiled. “Try the path from your head to your heart.
And with the right someone you’ll see that it’s true.
The path is more joyfully traveled with two.”
And with that Cupid gave Jack an all-knowing wink
And left him there feeling too puzzled to think.
Back in town some sad news was already spreading
A delay in the Mayor’s extravagant wedding.
The party of parties was being postponed
For the bride’s latest potion had left her de-boned.
There was no way to put on her black wedding dress
In her physical state of a globular mess.
“What a shame,” said Sally. “After all we did here.”
And in that moment Jack’s purpose was suddenly clear.
He took Sally’s hand and began to explain
That perhaps all their work was not done in vain.
“I set out to discover what is meant by romance
And ended up like a fool in some falsified trance.
But the spell, it did teach me that love isn’t new.
I feel it each day. It’s directed at you.”
Sally’s heart took flight to the dark clouds above
At last, she could share in her undying love.
Then Jack said: “At the risk of creating a fuss,
I propose a new wedding. The wedding of us.”
And so it was that these two took their vows hand in hand
And danced to the deadbeat of the corpsified band.
Through the moonlit night, the party stayed in full swing
As the whole town celebrated this wonderful thing.
. . .
It is hoped that the time you so chose to invest
Has made you feel welcome, a true wedding guest.
Now our story has ended, so believe if you may
That all of this happened on Valentine’s Day.