Very Special Guest

The way there was barren. By the looks of it, in the time they were gone, almost ninety-percent of the guests had abandoned whatever they were doing to see the show. Frankie wondered whatever it was that could be so important. They still had another full day before the game ended…

The two only began to see life again after crossing the hallway into the Universe Theater, though everyone there was headed out to the frontside of the city. Walking out through the entrance, the sisters soon found why.

A massive standing audience viewed the newly-erected stage that blocked the road. Anyone who entered the park at this time was halted to watch from behind. Atop the great platform stood Walter Kidney, in the flesh.

“It’s him!” Katie chimed over the ambient noise of the crowd.

“Scary…” Frankie hadn’t forgotten the man’s letter, grateful as she was.

“Citizens and parkgoers.” He spoke in his usually uncle-ish tone, nothing like the villainous diatribe he went into near the end of his previous message to the girls. “Thank you all for coming. I’d like to welcome the man you’re all here to see, who has graciously obliged to promote our game with his presence.”

The sound of the national anthem blaring over loudspeakers triggered Frankie’s PTSD.

“Give it up for… Gesus Washington!”

The girl’s jaw dropped seeing the hulking brute step onto stage, looking exactly as he had when he simultaneously saved and traumatized her earlier that month, complete with his feather cape and fitted suit. She recognized his wife beside him, patting his back with support as he took the podium.

“Greetings, citizens of Kidneyland- and all people of America!” He addressed, enticing cheers from about eighty-percent of the crowd. “…And everyone else! I love you all.” Almost the entire rest of the crowd quickly cheered, except for Frankie- still grappling with reality. (Katie cheered.)

“My old friend has asked me…” He eyed the genius, a knowing look of a lifelong legacy together- at least on his end. “…to come and tell you all that we’re kicking this contest into overdrive!”

A tidal wave of testosterone hit the crowd as his spit shot across the mic, jolting the crowd into even further hype. All the while, the park’s pheromones did their magic- try as she might to resist, even Frankie felt slightly patriotic- and it might’ve been how hungry she was, but the whole place almost smelled like freshly-grilled burgers.

“Tomorrow morning, in my personal favorite area of this illustri… illus…” He scratched his great white beard. “Awesome park, the sky will rain tokens upon the land!”

“What’s your favorite area?” Some weirdo in the front called out as loud as he could, as if he wasn’t going to tell them. Gesus guffawed.

“What else could it be? As President of the United States… my most beloved zone… my choice sector… why, how could it not be the incredible Snowfall Kingdom?!”

A certain devoted slice of the crowd whooped and hollered in agreement.

“It’s not Eagle Frontier?” That same guy in the front asked. He wasn’t answered.

“Thank you, thank you!” President Washington kept on going. “Yes, yes- we’ll be using the powerful weather control there to literally drop free Moon Tokens out of the sky for a solid ten minutes! Kidney dubs it… the “Moonfall Event!”

Just about everyone cheered in excitement. Only the ones who had a lot of earnings already were worried.

“Huh…” Frankie held her chin, trying to get ahold of herself. “That’s not great… even after everything we collected, it could all just come down to this…”

“So?” Katie rebutted with a smile. “We’ll just win this, too, and ensure our first-place victory.”

“…Yeah.” Frankie forced herself to nod. “Yeah.”

After a bit of wishy-washy showing off, the nation’s boisterous leader was released somewhere they couldn’t see, and the presentation ended with a mostly-exciting sub-announcement from Kidney.

“Thank you, Mr. President.” The divine parkowner took back his crowd. “Now, before you all go back to having fun-“ He let everyone laugh at his joke for a few seconds- “I’ve got one more thing to announce: you might’ve been wondering, well, the contest is almost over, so where can I put my earnings? Worry not, for as of today, you can find these boxes in every zone of the park.”

A small box was wheeled up on stage, no more glorious than an arcade ticket-eater.

“You may make your deposit at any time before midnight tomorrow night. They will be automatically tallied, and the next day, the winners will be announced.”

Frankie gulped. This was it.

“…That’s all for me. But if you’d like to talk to Mr. Washington, he’ll be sticking around for awhile. Please treat him like a friend.”

Everyone laughed again as he stepped away, the President was left to roam the crowd unsupervised. Naturally, as everyone crowded the stage to see where the man was, Frankie turned to leave, thanking god for her late station at the back of the horde. Little did both parties know that each of them would get exactly what they didn’t want.

When she heard Katie gasp beside her, she knew she’d made a mistake.

“Mr. President!” Her sister exclaimed as she pinned herself. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m seeing you again!”

“Ah, you two!” She was even more disturbed that he seemed to remember them. “Good to see you’re doing well. I thought I’d make my way around to you folks in the back first, you know me. How’s it going, Frankie?” He crouched down to smile at the girl, addressing her like a friend. His hands were still blood red to her as he rested them on his colossal knees.

“G-good…” Frankie sounded like her spirit was in the process of leaving her body.

“That’s so great to hear.” He proudly admired. “But…why are you still wearing the same clothes as when I last saw you…? What happened to all that money I gave you?”

“Uhhhhh…” Katie rubbed the back of her head. “Just a coincidence! We always wear these outfits!”

“Really?!” His face shined like a golden retriever. “I thought it was just me who liked to wear the same thing everyday! We really do have a lot in common.” He stood up, giving the girls some space. “Can I tell you something? I think you young women are going to amount to a lot, one day… Walt said that to me once!” He chuckled nostalgically. “Not the young lady part, of course.”

“Walt… Kidney? I guess I always knew you knew him… but he set you down this path?” Katie couldn’t help but ask, transfixed by this fateful idea.

“That’s right. I would have never known otherwise…” He longingly smiled. “That I, of all people… was the direct descendant of George Washington.”

Frankie’s body couldn’t decide to snort or squint her eyes, so thankfully she did neither, nodding along to the wide-eyed lunatic.

“That’s… incredible!” Katie wanted to believe him, and quickly did. “I’d love if there was something like that for me…”

“You want to see every park in the world, right? Seeing you here… you’re well on your way. Never give up!” He stuck a thumbs-up in her face. “Go live out your dream! Remember, the president told you to. Twice!”

“Okay!” Katie was overjoyed, her eyes shutting and lips grinning. She’d been in desperate need of some kind of paternal encouragement.

“And you, Frankie… you too.” He loosely encouraged the other sister, firmly nodding as if to recognize a fellow hero. “Whatever you do… try to be happy.”

She stood speechless, the advice sliding off her.

“That’s him!”

“Ope. Duty calls. See ya!” Gesus waved goodbye, the crowd finally picking up on his location. Frankie shuddered as they left.

“What a nice reunion.” Katie beamed on their way out.

“I really hope it’s the last…” Frankie shivered.