Chuck The Ambitious

Once, not so long ago, there was a small marshmallow chick. A purple marshmallow chick to be exact. His name was Chuck. He spent his days amongst his four purple marshmallow brothers and sisters in a small box covered in plastic. Chuck knew that he would never leave this prison-like home until the spring day when some wee boy or girl begged their mothers or fathers for a sugary treat. And the freedom that would follow would be short and sweet. But this knowledge did not stop Chuck from having dreams. Big dreams.

The one perk of being a marshmallow imprisoned in a box was that the box had no lid. Just a layer of clear plastic across the top that enabled Chuck to view the outside world on a regular basis. What Chuck saw in the outside world was the idea of being free. Instead of letting the fact that he would never truly be free depress him, Chuck invented fabulous fantasies about what he would do if he were out there in the world, free to do whatever he wanted. He would go to Paris and visit the Eiffel Tower. He would climb to the top of the Empire State Building and look out over the city. He would sit outside on a sunny day and enjoy the fresh air and his freedom.

Chuck‘s biggest dream though? More than anything in the world, Chuck wanted to meet Batman. The shelf on which Chuck‘s jail sat in the small convenient store on the corner of 5th Street and Ash Avenue had a perfect view of the rack on which the shop’s owner kept newspapers and magazines. And the vigilante was quite frequently a star of the front pages (right along with billionaire Bruce Wayne). Stories about how The Caped Crusader had saved a woman from being mugged in a dark alley, had stopped a smuggling ring, had taken down a gang of drug dealers in The Narrows. Batman was Chuck‘s hero.

Chuck daydreamed about being out there. He would meet Batman one night. Batman would like him so much that he would make Chuck the next Robin (he was a bird of sorts after all) and the two would fight crime together. Chuck knew that this would never really happen but it didn’t stop Chuck from fantasizing about the idea.

One night, the day before Easter, a man walked into the small shop. Chuck recognized him instantly as the billionaire playboy that shared the spotlight with the great Batman on a regular basis. Bruce Wayne walked straight over to the shelf on which Chuck and his siblings sat. He picked up Chuck‘s prison and carried them to the counter where he paid for the marshmallow chicks. The box was put into a bag, shielding Chuck‘s view of the outside world. Unsure of what was happening around him, Chuck let himself get lost in his own thoughts, knowing that this was likely the last time he would get to dream about his adventures with Batman.

The box that Chuck had called home sat in the plastic bag for hours. Unable to see outside the bag, Chuck lost track of exactly how long it had been. Just as he was about to give up wondering and go back to the impossible scenarios he had conjured up about his hero, the bag moved. It was lifted into the air off the surface upon which if had been resting and was carried through the air before being set down on a different surface. Chuck waited in anticipation. Was this going to be the end?

The top of the bag opened and a black gloved hand pulled the box out and set it down outside bag. Chuck looked up through the plastic over his head and could not believe what he saw. Excitement coursed through him. The face looking down at him from above was not that of Bruce Wayne. It was The Dark Knight himself. All of Chuck‘s dreams were suddenly coming true. He was about to meet Batman.

The plastic around his box tore open and was gently set aside by the large man in front of Chuck. The gloved hand reached down and lifted Chuck out of his spot in the prison he had called home. Chuck had dreamed of this day. He had envisioned this moment, planned out exactly what he would say to his hero. Now that it was actually happening, Chuck was too excited and nervous to say all of the things he had told himself he would say. Chuck just sat there in shock in Batman‘s hand. After staring at Chuck for several seconds, Batman smiled a small smile. Chuck was unable to smile back.

“Hello, my little friend.” Batman said. Chuck felt like he might faint. Batman had just called him his friend. “This will just be our little secret. No one else has to know.” Before Chuck could muster up the courage to respond, Batman raised Chuck in the direction of his mouth and just before everything went black, Chuck thought At least I got to die happy.

The moral of this story? Potato.