Prying himself loose from his plexiglas prison, Ollie jumped off the burger joint’s sign and sauntered toward the restaurants front door. For the first time in his life he felt alive and full of possibilities, no longer a mere two dimensional figure living the life of a cartoon.
At the front door Ollie struggled to wrap his hand around the brass door handle, he had never used his hands before, he turned plaintively looking for help. “Like this” said a little seven year old, reaching out she pulled the big imposing door open, she then smiled at Ollie, knowing what it was like learning to do things for the first time. Ollie gave her a big Ollie J. Burger salute and headed inside.
At first Ollie found himself disoriented, his new surroundings were a-jumble with clinking glasses and jabbering people. Everyone seemed to Ollie, to be talking at the same time, doing very little listening. Ollie had mastered listening, something he was very proud of, having lived for twenty three years on a sign, doing nothing but listening.
Waiters and waitress scooted by, smiling at his triumph yet frowning at his standing in the middle of the aisle. Ollie was slowing down commerce, the taking and serving of orders. With every whoosh of an employee Ollie would float like a leaf, being two dimensional didn’t prepare him for wind and commotion.
To protect his thin frame Ollie shadowed himself against a nearby wall, he watched the families and friends come and go, they ate and drank, laughed and chatted, all the while ordering and consuming many many Ollie Burgers. Upon seeing all this, Ollie noticed a small little warm feeling starting to grow in his two dimensional stomach, making it feel almost three dimensional. Ollie remarked to himself with great amusement, “why, I have a three dimensional stomach in a two dimensional body, how can this be.”
Not for a second had Ollie ever thought he could evolve into a three dimensional being, he was two dimensional and things like this just don’t happen. Again he remarked, only this time it was out loud and everyone in the restaurant heard him, “the possibilities be damned, this can’t be happening, it is just too wonderful, can it really be that I, Ollie J. Burger am becoming a real boy.”
Like a blow to the stomach the din ceased, every eye focused on the little two dimensional character shadowing on the wall. Ollie wished he could run away and hide but there was no where to go, he had climbed down from the plexiglas sign of his own accord, he now had to stand his ground, even if the ground was shifting way from his two dimensional existence.
Like all cartoon characters Ollie saw big bubbles above peoples heads containing their inner secret thoughts. What Ollie now saw shook his now three dimensional heart. Everywhere he looked words like outsider, foreigner, and wrong popped up above almost everyones head and then words became phrases and even whole sentences that made Ollie want to cry with dread. People’s thoughts became black with hate as they starred at the little two dimensional character now becoming a boy, they thought he was uppity for thinking he could fit in and worse some of them thought erasing his image altogether was the right thing to do. Ollie coward as he scanned the thought bubbles.
The silence was broken finally by the little seven year old girl who had taught Ollie how to open the front door, now she stood tall. Way far in the back of this Ollie burger joint she started walking toward the little image trying to become a shadow. At first her parents tried to stop her but relented, they knew her heart, they knew she was right.
Ollie could see her walking toward him, he noticed the little girl did not have a thought bubble but instead had a twinkle in her eye. Ollie knew the twinkle meant she was thinking from her heart and not her head, he felt his heart warm once again as the little girl got closer. The little girl reached Ollie, stretching out her hand she touch the little two dimensional character and peeled him off the wall. Ollie rejoiced at the touch and at that moment became a real boy, a real three dimensional boy.
Pandemonium broke out that day in the Ollie J. Burger restaurant as the little cartoon character became a human being with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that go with being part of the family of humanity. People climbed on tables to cheer, waiters and waitress danced in the aisles and the little girl sat with Ollie as he had his first Ollie Burger with mushrooms and cheddar cheese, “hold the onions” said the little girl “there will be plenty of time for spices in your new life.”
Ollie smiled and knew that cartoon characters everywhere now had more then just possibilities to point to, they had Ollie J. Burger, a real boy.
