This is a tribute to one of my favorite comics growing up. Many of you probably remember Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson that was written over the course of ten years that first appeared on November 18, 1985 and ended on December 31, 1995.

Calvin and Hobbes would make us laugh and cry. I think Watterson accurately captured childhood of all of us in one way or another. I hope to recreate some of the brilliance of his work in this little fanfic and the comic I fell in love with growing up. Bill Watterson and other cartoonists like Jim Davis, the author of Garfield, were a large part of my childhood. I hope you enjoy this and those who loved Calvin and Hobbes will remember them like I do.

It Begins Again

"Ready?" asked a young child.

"Ready," affirmed a large orange tiger. The tiger pushed a red wagon at the top of a hill. It was a cool crisp afternoon in October 2015. The leaves were a beautiful array of orange, yellow, and red covering the many hills in the area. There were farmer's fields beyond the hills that they would sometimes walk near as they explored the numerous paths the snaked through the hills. Between some of the hills were creeks that lazily flowed. It was surprising that so few people explored this place. It was a beautiful place that was serenely quiet minus the innocent laughter of 5-year-old girl.

"You sure you know what you're doing?"asked the tiger as they built up momentum. Beneath an oak tree they had dragged the wagon to the top of the hill. There they began their adventure into the blissful unknown. Of course these woods were explored and mapped out with detailed topographical map sitting in some county office made by some surveyor with a college degree. But as far as the young blonde girl with bangs it was an uncharted mysterious land with infinite possibilities for adventure.

"Of course!" said the girl sweetly innocent smile.

"Ah-huh," said the tiger rolling his eyes.

"Trust me, Hobbes. I know what we're doing," said the girl.

"I wonder why that doesn't make me feel any safer?" asked Hobbes sarcastically.

Hobbes jumped in the back once the wagon built up enough speed to carry them to the bottom of the unknown. "I don't understand why I have to push."

"Girls are delicate," said the girl simply.

"Righ~t," said Hobbes doubtfully.

"Shut up and keep an eye out for obstructions," said ordered the girl.

"Fine. I don't want to die anyways," said the tiger rolling his eyes.

The wagon was rapidly gaining speed and hurtled between trees and around boulders. The wagon's undercarriage rattled and squeaked as the girl steered to avoid collision after collision.

"Darn it, the steering is sticking a little," said the girl.

"Oh perfect. And after your dad tried to fix this thing after… well you remember last time we took this thing out."

"Yeah, dad's a regular Bob the Builder, Hobbes. The man who thinks everything can be fixed with a hammer."

"He bought you a new iPod."

"That's not the point!" shouted the girl looking at the tiger. "In this era, the freaking 21st Century, a golden age of enlightenment, tolerance, and information, my dad can't admit he can't fix a simple probably with a MP3 player that Apple has managed to dominate the market with and made it that we can no live without! I mean come on. Who is he trying to prove anything to? Mom? She married him for better or for worse. We don't have live in a society where people live in fear of revealing their identities and inadequacies."

"Yeah," said Hobbes with a nostalgic of a time long ago. A magical time that neither he nor that little boy so long ago would forget. For over 15 years Hobbes had sat alone in the attic when a young man picked him up with a smile.

"You have to remember when he was your age he listened to records," said Hobbes.

"What's a record?" asked the girl with a blank look on her face.

"You know, records. They're made of vynal."

"Like a CD?"

"NO!" shouted Hobbes slapping a hand to his face. Then a look of confusion. "Hey… you've been looking this way an awful long time…"

"Yeah, so? Mom says it's polite to look people in the eye when you're speaking with them," said the girl.

"But you've been driving."

"…"

"Uh-oh."

They both looked away to see a cliff. For a few seconds they seemed to be suspended in midair. The girl took a moment to notice just how lovely it looked around and how joyful it was to feel like one was flying. It was quickly replaced by terror as they seemed to plummet 1,000 ft, which was really 10 ft.

The wagon smashed into the ground and lay upside-down with one wheel still turning and squeaking as it did. The girl and tiger however had gotten stuck in a tree above the devastating crash site.

Hobbes groaned and opened his eyes. The girl was struggling to preserve her dignity which was hard to do while hanging upside-down by her shoes while wearing a skirt. With both hands she tried to keep it from falling down.

"DON'T YOU DARE LOOK YOU PERVERTED HAIRBALL WITH FANGS OR I'LL HAVE YOU CARTED OFF BY ONE OF THOSE SPECIAL VICTUMS UNITS!" she screamed.

Hobbes sighed. It had been like this for over a year. That glorious day he knew would come. The day that little boy, now a man, opened the lid of the cardboard box. There were many things in the box. A little red toy space ship, two dart guns, toy soldiers, cars, blocks, logos, trains, planes, dinosaurs, and many other things, but the man only had eyes for the stuff tiger.

"Hello old friend," he had said so warmly. He placed the tiger on top of the box and carried to downstairs to a familiar room with the box under one arm and a wagon under the other.

"His name is Hobbes and when I was your age he was my best friend," to a 4-year-old towheaded girl. Her eyes were wide with wonder and amazement. "These were some of my old things. I think you'll have some fun with them. Hobbes will show you how."

He turned to leave the room, but paused at the door. "Oh, and don't believe everything he says. Hobbes lies."

"What about the box, daddy?" asked the girl as she examined the hand-me-downs.

"Oh," he said with a mischievous grin and a wink. "Trust me. That's more than a cardboard box. You'll find some uses for it."

He had closed the door and left them.

Left them to discover…

And be suspended from trees apparently.

"Does your dad know you watch Law & Order?" asked Hobbes with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh… um, ur," sputtered the girl until she found her voice and started on a rant. "Dick Wolf is a brilliant man that captures difficult and controversial issues and manages to get us to think about serious legal matters and shows our American system of justice at its best and worst so excuse me for wanting to better understand the system that I can use to protect myself from the tyrannical bonds of our oppressive educational system!"

"Yeah, but sex crimes and child abuse?" asked Hobbes.

"Whatever," she muttered. "AND STOP LOOKING UP MY SKIRT!"

"I'm not looking up, I'm looking down," said Hobbes matter-of-factly.

"DON'T LOOK DOWN MY SKIRT!" screamed the girl. Hobbes wasn't sure whether it was because of the intensity of her yelling, her flailing around, or just because the branch was about to give, but the branch broke and the girl came tumbling down to the ground.

"Ow," she ground. Hobbes laughed. Suddenly the branch he was on broke. With a pained grin she said, "That's karma for you, Hobby."

"Don't call me that!" said Hobbes kicking dirt on her.

"Hobby, Wobby, Bobby!" she said mockingly kicking dirt on him.

After a few minutes they were doubled over and panting. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good," said the girl. "Give me a hand with this thing?"

"Sure," said Hobbes helping her flipping it over.

"It just wouldn't be a Thanksgiving Break with we didn't crash and fight with each other," said the girl with an innocent smile. She took in a deep breath of the cool clean air of the American Midwest. They walked a little and came across a creek with a sign that said: Hobs Crk. She smirked. Hobbes couldn't spell all that well despite his air of wisdom. She paused at the creek's edge and examined her reflection. She fixed her hair which was the same blonde as his father's but looked much as her mother did at her age. She dusted off her purple blouse and pink skirt, straighten her collar, and then pulled out a handkerchief. She dipped it into a cold water creating ripples which disturbed the mirror smooth eddy. Next she proceeded to clean the dirt off her face and then passed it to Hobbes. "Mom could kill us if we came home covered in dirt. It's lucky I didn't tear any of my clothes."

"Tell me about it," said Hobbes. The little girl liked to stay cleaner than the boy he'd been once played with. Perhaps it was just one of the differences between little boys and girls.

"Well, we better head back. Grandma and grandpa will be here soon."

They walked up hill along a path Hobbes knew all too well towards a house he called home to the people he called his family. Even though he wasn't related by blood he was just as much a part of this family as the girl he had been entrusted to help raise by his best friend.

"Hey," said Hobbes. "Look at that log."

"Yeah, it's all rotten…," she said blankly. "I bet it's filled with all kinds of cool bugs."

"Yeah," said Hobbes equally excitedly. "You want to check it out?"

"Heck yeah!" she said running over to the log. "Ew, look at them all gross and junk."

"I'll say," agreed Hobbes. "Let's take them back with us."

"Nah, mom would kill us. You know all the diseases," she said rolling her eyes. Her mother was a pediatrician. She knew her mother meant well, but she freaked out over every other thing and tried to force her to eat these god awful 'healthy' meals that even her father wouldn't touch.

"I don't understand what dad sees in mom. They're polar opposites," said the girl as they started walking home again, Hobbes pulling the wagon behind him.

"I knew them both when they were little. They were even worse then," laughed Hobbes.

"Really?" giggled the girl.

"Yeah. Oh, I have so many stories to tell you about them," said Hobbes excitedly. Then his smile dropped and he held up a hand. "Shh."

"What?" whispered the girl. "Aliens? Mutants? Arab Terrorists? Hippies?"

"No, your dad," said Hobbes grinning catlike pointing ahead. "You want to surprise him?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, let's sneak up on him and we'll jump him together."

"Cool," the girl said nearly squealing with excitement.

The girl saw a man in his mid-30s sitting beneath a yellow and orange oak tree whose leaves were gently descending. Next to him was a case used by artists for their sketches. In his lap was what looked like an oversized clipboard with a piece of paper he was drawing upon. The girl watched for a second admiring the man. She admired her father so much and yearned to grow up like him. He was a mature adult, but at heart he was a big kid and sometimes helped her in her antics. Unfortunately that made him her most difficult enemy because the girl's father could think like her and outsmart her. A leaf drifted downwards and onto his table. He gave a little start as if coming out of a trance and then brushed the leaf aside.

"Okay, now," said Hobbes.

"YAAAH!" roared the girl leaping out from around the tree.

"ACK!" shouted the man as his pencil left an angry scribble. He looked at his daughter and glared at her.

She looked around for Hobbes. "Hobbes? … uh, hi, daddy."

"And what do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" asked the man tapping his pencil against the top of travel-size work table. She looked around.

"Hobbes you traitor! Daddy it was all Hobbes's idea, I swear," said the girl with tears in her eyes.

She felt a light, but sharp tap against her nose where her father gave her light whack with the eraser of his pencil. He glared and then grinned. "Didn't I warn you not to listen to him all the time? He got me in trouble all the time with my parents."

"Yes, daddy. I'm sorry," said the girl looking at her pink sneakers. The man placed the table on the ground and walked behind the tree. He returned with a little stuff tiger and handed it to his daughter.

"Let go home. Grandma and grandpa will be there by now and probably driving your mother crazy," said the man seriously. Then with a grin said, "And we wouldn't want to miss that, would we?"

"No, let's go. Come on Hobbes!"

The girl looked at her father's drawing. "Did it get ruin?"

"Nah, it wasn't any good. I haven't felt very inspired lately," said the man packing it away in his bag and pulling on the shoulder strap. He wore black jeans, white sneakers, and a brown jacket over a red shirt with black horizontal stripes.

"So why are you out here?" asked the girl taking her father's hand while Hobbes pulled the wagon.

He looked down at her and smiled at the little girl pulling a wagon with the stuff tiger tucked under her arm. "Oh, I was trying to get inspired. It's hard to write a comic about your childhood. I was hoping to bring back some feelings of when I was six and ran around these woods."

"Oh," said the girl. They reached another creek. There was stepping stones, but no way of pulling the wagon through it.

"You go first. I'll carry the wagon for you," he said giving her a light push. She ran ahead with the stuffed tiger under her arm. She jumped onto the first rock and then the second. The second rock she wobbled a little, but held her balance and stood for a second on one foot.

The man smiled. She was five. He'd been six when he first got Hobbes and enjoyed five wonderful blissful innocent years of making trouble and having fun. He gave her Hobbes earlier so she would be able to enjoy these days longer than he did. It wasn't fair that they had to grow up and see the world as it was. He remembered that day when he could no longer see the living breathing tiger that was his best friend but only the stuffed tiger he was carrying around with him. He was heartbroken.

That day he ran into the girl, a little brunette, which he had terrorized for five years. She was about say something snarky to him when she saw the empty saddened look in his eyes. Then he asked her if she would help him spend one last day with his best friend. The girl could not bring herself to refuse the boy who had lost his best friend. They played the strange game which had one rule: you never play the same way twice. They crashed the wagon. They explored the unknown. They then placed the stuffed tiger in a cardboard box with the other toys the boy's mother had placed in the attic.

"Good-bye, old pal. I'll never forget you," said the boy sniffling.

"I'm so sorry," said the girl. She had never been close to him, but she was the only other person he really spoke to. She felt for him and it broke her heart to see this.

"… it's not the end," he said trying to sound stronger than he felt. "I can't see him anymore, but maybe my kids will."

"God forbid you reproduce," she said trying to get him to laugh. When that failed she tried being comforting. "Hobbes will live again. Worst case I'll marry you and have you child to play with your best friend."

"Careful, you might eat those words," said the boy wiping his eyes and trying to smile, but failing.

They were 11-years-old then. When they were 25 they were married and five years later they had a girl. He was 35-years-old now and he watched his 5-year-old enjoying her precious childhood. How he wished he could be her age again. He breathed in the fresh air. It was much better than working in his little den back at the house. A cartoonist like himself couldn't lock himself a way too long. He had to get out into the field. He had bought the house from his parents when they decided to move east to Virginia to be closer to the rest of his family.

He remembered with sudden clarity when he'd been crossing that creek and Hobbes had pushed him. He laughed with light-heartedness of someone years younger than him. He blinked. For a second he thought he saw a tall live tiger standing on its hind legs on the rock behind his daughter laughing with her. He blinked again and said his daughter holding Hobbes under her arm again.

He let it go and thought about how a fish got stuck in his pants when he fell in the water and he'd ran around trying to get it out while screaming at Hobbes to help him. A sudden breeze scattered leaves from the trees and seemed to cause it to rain orange, red, and yellow. The man saw a tiger behind his daughter. He stared for a second. The tiger turned and looked at him with a sad expression. The man smiled with an innocence of a child and raised his hand. He waved to his old friend and the tiger waved back. Hobbes looked ahead to the girl who hadn't noticed anything but kept balancing on one leg. The man nodded and Hobbes followed her across while the man carried the wagon over.

"Daddy? You okay?" asked the girl when he set down the wagon.

"Mmm? Oh, I'm fine. Better than fine. I feel inspired again," he said confidently to his daughter clutching the toy tiger. "Yeah, how about you two get in the wagon and I'll pull you guys?"

"Yay!" said the girl jumping. "Daddy seems to be in a good mood, right Hobbes?"

"Yeah," said Hobbes not really listening.

"I wonder what inspired him?"

"Can't you tell? How can you not be inspired by this," said Hobbes flexing his muscles.

"Oh please," said the girl.

The man stopped. A big mud puddle blocked the path.

"I guess we should go around," said the man.

"Yeah, we really should, shouldn't we," agreed the girl.

"Absolutely," agreed Hobbes.

"Weeee!" all three of them shouted as they leaped in the puddle and tackled each other.

Finally they reached the house.

"Okay, be quiet and hopefully we'll sneak up to the bathroom. We'll wash our faces and put on clean clothes before your mother or grandparents notices us… uh, hi, mom, dad, sweety," said the man.

"Calvin," said man with graying hair and glasses shaking his head placing his hand on his forehead. Some could swear there was a shiny mark there from repeatedly rubbing it in stress.

"You're 35-years-old, Calvin," said an older woman with brown hair streaked with gray.

"What were you doing out there?" asked his father.

"Uh, building character?" suggested Calvin. The little girl giggled.

"Calvin!"

"Sorry, dad," said Calvin. He leaned towards his daughter and whispered, "See, you never escape this kind of tyranny."

A younger woman sigh and took his coat. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"

"You know me, Susie," said Calvin innocently spreading his arms wide.

"Unfortunately I do," said Susie and half exasperatedly said, "And what have you done with her?"

"Uh, getting inspired for my next comic with our daringly daughter? … You wanna' help me out here, Katelyn?"

"Nah, I think I know to ditch a lost cause unlike our elected leaders," said Katelyn.

"What were you two thinking?" asked the brunette.

"Uh…," said Calvin.

"You see, mom," said Katelyn.

"It's was Hobbes's idea!" they shouted together while pointing at the stuffed tiger between them.

"Sigh… Katelyn, take a bath before dinner," said Susie pushing her towards the stairs.

"I'm going to my den," said Calvin. "Tell me when dinner's ready."

"Take shower before dinner," said Susie.

"Yes, dear."

Susie picked up the tiger. "I guess you need a bath too."

Susie remembered that day when she was eleven. Calvin had not been the same since. She stuck close to him through the rest of elementary school well aware she would lose many of her old friends, but she couldn't abandon him. In spite of everything Calvin had done to her she couldn't live him completely alone and friendless not after that day. She connected for a day with the blissful and imaginative world of Calvin. Always a serious and studious child she had never experienced the world like he had. He seemed like a monster for so long, but that day she had a taste of his world. She could name all the states and many of the countries in Europe and Asia. She knew all the known had been explored and mapped, but that day those woods had been a new world.

"It's a magical world, let's go exploring," he said to her holding Hobbes in one hand and holding out the other to her. She hesitated for a second. She knew this was her only chance to turn and leave. It could all be one of his dirty tricks, but there had been a neediness about him. She took his hand and never looked back. She stuck by him throughout junior high and started dating him in high school and college. To little surprise Calvin had graduated college with a degree in government and art and a minor in political science. He had started doodling comics in elementary school and Susie had encouraged him as an outlet and to get him to express himself. When he graduated Calvin submitted some comics about himself and his friend Hobbes while she went to medical school.

Susie put Hobbes in the washer machine.

"Well, he did warn me," she joked. "I did say I'd marry him 24 years ago."

She never felt so alive that day and she couldn't let go of the boy. Susie spent 24 years with Calvin keeping the spark of his inner child alive and feed off of it. She knew Calvin felt happiest when he did utterly pointless things like he had done at age six and Susie had only been too happy to join him.

"Calvin?" Susie said knocking on the door to his den. She opened it without waiting for an answer she knew wouldn't come. Once he got started it was hard to bring him back to reality. She walked over to him at his desk and peaked over him. He was working furiously and fluently. She smiled seeing the dialog and images. The world he remember all those years ago.

"Calvin?"

"Eh, huh, wah?" he said looking around. "Oh, dinner?"

"Yup."

"Right," he said absentmindedly while standing up.

"This is really wonderful," she said looking it over. "Out of your slump? I guess I was right for telling you to go out for some inspiration."

"I was with Katelyn today. I was remember the good ol' days-"

"Of pelting me with water balloons and snowballs?"

"Yeah… sorry. Anyways, for a second I thought I saw… I thought…"

"What? What, Calvin?" asked Susie looking seriously worried for a second. Calvin looked suddenly fragile and near tears. He smiled then and said, "I thought I saw Hobbes again for a second."

Susie hugged her husband. "That's great, dear."

"Yeah. Well, that was why I gave Katelyn Hobbes two years earlier than when I got him. So she could be a kid longer than I got to be. She's too young to know it will all come to an end."

"I don't know, Calvin," said Susie, but Calvin left to the dinner table first. She saw her husband walk by the stairs to join his parents, but their daughter leaped from the stairs with Hobbes in hand onto his back. He caught her and they collapsed on the floor laughing and rolling around. She smiled and said to herself, "I don't think you ever stopped."

Calvin's parents watched the commotion too and smiled watching their granddaughter wrestle with their son.

Susie after a while had to bring them back. "We have to eat dinner before it gets cold, come on you three."

"Yes, dear," said Calvin.

"Jawohl, mein führer," said Katelyn.

"Calvin!"

"She wanted to know about infamous dictators."

"Well stop. And stop teaching her German, I hate when she says things to me and I don't understand it."

"It's not like she understands us anyways," whispered Katelyn to Hobbes who sniggered. They all sat down at the dinner table.

"Susie, do you want me to help you shop for a turkey tomorrow?" asked Calvin's mother.

"Yes, that would be great. You know how it is."

"Well maybe we don't need a turkey," suggested Calvin's dad.

"Ugh, god," groaned Calvin.

"No, seriously. We can get something different and off beat. Think of all the money we can save instead of spending it on some overpriced overweight bird that you'll end up having to fight hundreds of other men and women over. And then all that hassle-"

"Mommy! Make grandpa stop!" cried Katelyn hiding behind her mother. Katelyn idealized her father, but her mother was the protector in this family.

"Must you do this to every holiday every year?" she asked glaring at him.

"What?"

"Let it go, dear, or you can go get the turkey," said Calvin's mother.

"Yeah, dad. It builds character," said Calvin.

Katelyn giggled. It must have been contagious because everyone else joined the little girl who held a stuffed tiger in her arms.

Hobbes smiled happily. It was just like the old days with Calvin filled with a magic and adventure. It was a magical world that they were going to explore. It begins again.

End

Respectfully Submitted

J. H. Kamiya

I hope you have enjoyed this fanfic. This is just a one-shot, but I might be a sequel and make it multiple chapters. I saw a motivational poster featuring a little girl that looks pretty much like Susie Derkins, but blonde with Hobbes and an older version of Calvin in the background with the caption: The Future; Don't put away your childish things, save them for your child. Tragically the picture doesn't include Susie in it, but the little girl looks so much like I think it's obvious who the mother is. This is sort of how I've envisioned Calvin, Hobbes, his parents, and Susie in the future. I named the little girl Katelyn because it says a little like Calvin.

I grew up with Calvin and Hobbes. Hobbes is real or make-believe. I take Bill Watterson's position that the reader can decided which is truer to them. The funny thing is when I was a kid I thought Hobbes was a toy that magically came alive, but now I think Hobbes is alive because Calvin's imagination gives him life.

I've tried to refer to various comics throughout the series like the Hobs Crk sign was in one comic. The mud puddle incident is based off another one of Calvin's antics. Twice I used the line 'magical world, let's explore'. That's a reference to the very last Calvin and Hobbes comic which ends with: It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy. Let's go exploring! Calvin's world wasn't perfect, but it was one of finite possibilities. Maybe that's why I love them so much.