Pinocchio looked out the door into the darkened park for a long time. Jiminy had never steered him wrong and always wanted to help him become a real boy. But Candlewick was a real boy right now, and he had been Pinocchio's friend! Not to mention the puppet had been introduced to the concept of 'Fun.' As a puppet he'd never experienced it before in his young life. From the blue fairy, to jiminy, to stromboli...he'd pretty much always done as he was told.
Candlewick however, was the first one that had told Pinocchio he should do what he wanted to do. Thus...he'd been introduced to fun. It was bad according to Jiminy and the Blue Fairy. But it gave him a good feeling, a feeling that nothing mattered but what he wanted. If it made him feel good...why was it bad?
"Yo Slats you gonna play? Or do you want me to call the beetle back?" The boy asked as he pressed a beer into Pinocchio's hands.
"I don't know...Candle." The impressionable puppet said looking down at his beer. He liked this stuff. It made him feel all tingling inside. "Jiminy never steered me wrong before..."
"Nahhh phooey Pinoke. He wanted you to go to school, you just sit around and listen to adults talk all day there. Does that sound like fun?"
"Well...I guess not." Pinocchio looked at his beer again, then took a long swig. Instantly the good feelings came back and he laughed. "Nah you're right Candle! This is a swell joint!"
Candle laughed. "Knew you were a cool cat!" He turned around and examined the table.
Pinocchio meanwhile kicked up on the chair, relaxing. He took a long swig of his beer and a puff of his cigar, his worries slowly being consumed.
"Besides." Candle said as he knocked a ball in and grabbed his beer. "It's an amusement park. But hear that beetle talk..." He took a swig. "You'd think something was gonna happen to us!" Lampwick's ears suddenly twitched...and then both of them show up, the outsides rounding, the insides turning pink, and the outsides coating themselves in dark brown hair. He spit in the pool cup, completely oblivious.
Pinocchio blinked, looking down at his beer, then up at the strange ears that now adorned his friend's head. Candle didn't seem worried at all.