A Boy and His Butter - By Meredith Mercer Once upon a time, there was a young boy named David. David was a very sad boy. In fact, it seems he had always been sad. Even when he was a precious little baby.
David was also sad at school. Not even the predictable antics of the school photographer could make David smile for his yearly picture.
When the town playhouse awarded David the role of Tom Sawyer, his mother was very proud. But David didn't seem all that thrilled about it.
That's because there was only one thing that truly made David happy - thoughts of his former best friend and pony, Butter.
That is to say, thoughts of Butter before a terrible thing happened. The day he first saw Butter, David was sitting in a field, thinking about how sad he was.
David followed Butter, and called to him. David said, "Hey! Pony! Come here, pony! COME HERE!"
Butter did not come there. But he did let David walk alongside and talk about all the things that made David sad. Butter was sympathetic.
Soon, they were the best of friends. And David was finally happy.
It wasn't long before David learned to ride Butter like a big boy. And they rode every single day.
Until something bad happened. But before there were problems, there was much joy. David and Butter practically grew up together. When they were young and immature, they wore wigs and funny hats and played outside.
As they matured, they did grown-up things. Like going to the beach and burying their heads in the sand.
They were so close that Butter even went with David to his first job interview. He waited quietly in the background until David was done.
David didn't get the job, but it didn't matter. Butter was the only thing he needed. As long as Butter was by his side, David was satisfied with life just the way it was. So was Butter. He felt happy and safe as long as he was with David. One day, while David was in the shower, Butter decided to take a walk by himself in the woods. Just a short one. He'd be back before David even knew he was gone. But it wasn't long before Butter stopped. He felt nervous. Like someone was watching him.
The man who was watching Butter approached him. And began to juggle. The man had a wig like David. Butter thought, "David should still be in the shower, so how could he be in the field juggling?" Butter was very confused. The man said, "Come with me, Butter. I'll give you some sugar cubes." Butter was surprised, because David didn't give him sugar cubes very often because they were bad for his teeth. But boy did Butter love sugar cubes. He was so excited at the prospect of sugar cubes that Butter didn't hear David yelling as he ran onto the field, "NO! BUTTER, NOOOoooooo!"
And before David could stop him, Butter left with the juggling man. Soon, Butter was living with a whole group of men. They had dirty faces and greasy hair and seemed to get into fights with other people their age who had more money than they did. Butter had not seen David in a long time. He missed David terribly and didn't understand why David didn't want to be his friend anymore. Butter thought David had given him to the juggling man and this made him depressed. But Butter tried to be strong. And fit in.
It turned out David had not given Butter to the juggling man. In fact, David was sad again for the first time in years because he thought Butter had left him. And he began to let himself go ...
and engage in rather self-destructive behavior.
One day, while sucking upon his hookah, David thought to himself, "Butter didn't leave me! Butter was kidnapped!" David wasn't sure if this was enlightenment or paranoia, but it didn't matter. He knew what had to be done. It just so happens that David had an incredible sense of smell, and he tracked the juggling man to an old house in the country. David crawled underneath the house and waited. While he waited, he met a rabbit named Buster. David told Buster of his plan to rescue Butter. Buster was impressed, but skiddish. Because he was a rabbit.
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