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12. Polygonius
Mika
looked up from the dirt and saw a man with a long
grey beard and a strange flopping hat atop his head.
He looked so familiar, somehow. Just when Mika realized
the strange figure looked like all the rest of the
people in the crazy town, the old man began to speak.
"Don't
be afraid. I won't hurt you. I'm so sorry for what's
happened," he cried. "It's all my fault!"
Mika
hated to see anyone cry. "Please don't cry. What's
the matter, sir?"
"If
you're sure you don't hate me..."
"Of
course not!"
"You
can call me Polygonious then," the old man sniffled.
"It's all my fault..." he began to cry again.
Mika
scratched his head. "Um, I'll listen if you'd like
to talk, sir, I mean Polygonious."
"Well...All
those people you saw... They're really me..."
Mika
didn't understand.
"The
keys!" Polygonious sighed. "I was always afraid
to be anything, so I let them all out with the keys.
Please, you won't hate me now, will you? Those are
all my hidden personalities. I'm such an awful person."
Polygonious' eyes filled with tears. "Oh what am
I to do? I've caused so much trouble."
"Make
them come back," Mika suggested.
"How!
Oh I'm so ashamed of them... Of what I am."
"But
everyone has many sides to them," Mika offered.
"We act differently at different times and with
different people. Don't be afraid or ashamed. You
just have to learn to control them, and show them
when you want to."
"No...I
couldn't do it. I'm just an old fool!"
"You
have only to see that you are and you become," Mika
found himself saying, and he had to think a moment
to remember where he had heard those words before.
Polygonious
sniffled. "You think I can do it?"
"I know
you can!"
With
Mika's help, Polygonious made every one of his hidden
personalities come drifting back through the walls,
back into their smiling owner.
"I did
it!"
Mika
just smiled.
"Oh,
I'm so grateful to you," Polygonious laughed. "Now
I can go back to being with people. And I won't
be ashamed that I'm...Well that I'm me, with
all my good sides, and all the bad."
Then
Mika remembered his own troubles. "Polygonious,
have you ever heard of Gumba the Wise? I'm on a
Quest, and I really must be on my way to see him."
"Gumba!
Why Gumba's the one who gave me the keys. He'd be
happy to know how I've turned out. But then, he
probably knows. Yes, Gumba the Wise. Why, he's not
more than a few days from here."
Mika
trembled with excitement. At last his quest would
be over. No more searching.
"Of
course you must be eager to be on your way, but
please take this before you go. I don't need them
anymore!!" Polygonious smiled and handed Mika a
ring of keys. "Someday you may need them to find
a part of yourself you're hiding from."
Mika
thanked the old man, and placed the keys on his
belt. Then after helping Polygonious gather his
belongings together the two went their separate
ways -- Polygonious towards civilization, and Mika
towards the mountains his new friend had told him
was the home of the great Gumba the Wise.
 
Table
of Contents
story
& illustrations © 1981-2013 Robert Alan Silverstein
pforpeace@aol.com
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