2/2 THE MOOON
Karen couldn't help
but giggle at his befuddled
state. His usual stoic demeanor
was nowhere to be seen,
replaced by a childlike
wonder and confusion. He
tried to sit up again, his
movements clumsy and
uncoordinated. "Stay still,"
she said, placing a firm
but gentle hand on his
shoulder.
"How... how's it... it over?" he
slurred, his mouth feeling
like it was stuffed with cotton
trying to form words around
his thick tongue.
The nurse, who had seen
this reaction before,
offered a reassuring pat
on the arm. "You're all done,
Mr. Plankton. The anesthesia
is just taking its time to
wear off. You're going to feel
a bit funny for a while."
Plankton's eye rolled back,
his body lolling to the
side like a ragdoll's. "I can't
feel my face," he mumbled,
his words barely coherent.
"It's the anesthesia," she
explained, her voice soft and
soothing. "It'll wear off soon."
Plankton's eye rolled
back in his head, and
his antennae flopped to
the sides as if they had lost
their will to stand tall. "I've
been... I've been... to the
mooon!" he exclaimed, his
slurred words tripping over
each other. The nurse and
Karen couldn't help but laugh
at his nonsensical rambling.
"The moon?" Karen
managed to get out between
giggles. "You mean the dentist's
chair?"
Plankton's eye snapped
back to hers, his antennae
perking up slightly. "No, no...
the moo... the cheesy moo!" he
insisted, his speech still
slurred and his gaze
unfocused. His hand
waved in the air, trying to
describe something that
clearly only existed in his
anesthesia-induced haze.
Karen's laughter grew
louder as she
watched him. "The cheesy moon?"
she repeated, trying to make
sense of his gibberish.
The nurse's chuckles grew
to a full-blown laugh, shaking
her whole body. "It's ok
Mr. Plankton," she said,
wiping a tear from her eye.
"You're safe here."
Plankton's antennae
waved erratically, his mouth
forming another round of
slurred syllables. "The... the...
shmoobly wobble!" he exclaimed,
his eye glazed over with a
far-off look. "Whewe's shmoobly
go?"
Karen couldn't hold back
her laughter anymore.
"Oh, Plankton, you're so
funny when you're like this!"
she exclaimed, her voice
full of mirth.
"Fum-fum," Plankton
slurred. "I'm not
fum-fum," he protested, his
voice a mix of indignation
and the lingering effects of
the anesthesia. His antennae
wobbled. "Whaโ you do wiff
Mx shmoobly?"
"Your mouth is just numb," she
explained, her voice shaking
with laughter. "You had
wisdom teeth removed."
"Widom... teef?" Plankton
repeated, his voice a mix of
slurs and half-sounds. "The...
the shmoobly wobble took
them?"
Karen's laughter grew. "No, Plankton,
your wisdom teeth. They were
removed."
Plankton's eye searched hers,
his expression one of utter
perplexity. "But... but where's
the shmoobly wobble?" he demanded,
his mouth a mess of numbness
and anesthesia.
Karen couldn't contain her
laughter any longer, bending
over in her seat, her hand
over her screen. The nurse
was equally amused, her shoulders
shaking with silent giggles.
"Shmoobly wobble?" she
managed to ask between gasps.
"What's a shmoobly wobble?"
Plankton's antennae
waved with the vigor of a
drunken sailor. "It's... it's a...
a vnorbly snork!" he exclaimed,
his words a delightful jumble
that made no sense in the
sober world. Karen's laughter
was infectious, and even the nurse
found it hard to maintain her
professional demeanor.
"A vnorbly snork?" she
repeated, her smile growing
wider. "What does that do?"
Plankton's face
scrunched up as he
tried to gather his thoughts.
"It... it makes... makes the teef...
it makes the teef go bye-bye!"
he exclaimed, his antennae
waving wildly. The nurse
covered her mouth, her eyes
twinkling with amusement.
"Oh, I see," she said, nodding
as if she understood. "The
shmoobly wobble is quite
a character."
Karen wiped a tear
from her screen, her
laughter subsiding. "I think
we should get you home,
sweetheart," she said, her voice
still thick with mirth. "You
need to rest."
Plankton's antennae
twitched, his gaze
firmly locked on the nurse.
"The... the... snibble-bobble?"
he declared. "Take the
snibble-bobble home, Karen..."
The nurse's eyes
twinkled with humor and she nodded.
"Yes, Mr. Plankton. The snibble-
bobble will take good care of
you at home."
Plankton's mouth
opened and closed a few
times, trying to form
words that simply would
not come out right. "Karen,
did you... did you see the... the...
the... floobly-doobly?"
Karen's laughter
bubbled up again. "The floobly-
doobly?" she repeated, her voice
wobbling with mirth. "What's a
floobly-doobly?"
Plankton looked at her with
confusion. "Huh? The whath?"
He asked her.
Karen tried to calm her
laughter.
"The floobly-doobly, Plankton,"
she said, smiling broadly. "You
mentioned it just now."
Plankton's eye searched hers,
his thoughts a jumble. "I... I don't
know," he murmured, his voice
trailing off.
With the nurse's help, Karen
managed to get him into a sitting
position, his movements sluggish
and clumsy. His legs felt like jellyfish,
flailing about with no sense of
direction. "Come on," she coaxed,
helping him stand.
Plankton's eye remained
half-closed as he stumbled towards
the door. The hallway looked
like a twisted kelp forest, and
his body felt like a ship adrift
without a compass. The nurse
provided a steady arm, guiding
him down the corridor.
"Keep walking," she instructed,
but with each step, Plankton
seemed to drift closer to sleep.
His head bobbed, his eyelid
fighting a losing battle against
the siren's call of slumber.
"Plankton, stay with me,"
Karen urged, her voice a gentle
reminder of the world around
him. But his body had other
ideas, his legs giving out
under him.
The nurse caught him, her laugh
now a warm chuckle at his
plight.
"It's the anesthesia," she
explained. "It'll wear off
soon. Just keep talking to him,
it'll help keep him alert."
Karen nodded. "Look, Plankton,"
she said. "Can you see
the little fishy?"
Plankton's eye snapped open,
his antennae shooting up. "Fishy?"
he repeated.
He took a few wobbly steps
before his legs gave out
once more, and he leaned
heavily on the nurse.
"Whoa, there," she said,
steadying him with a laugh.
"We're almost to the car."
Plankton's antennae
drooped, his eye half-closed
again. "So... so tiwed," he
mumbled.
"We're almost there,"
Karen assured.
The nurse opened the door
to the waiting area. Plankton
blinked slowly, his eyelid
drooping once again. The
bright light from outside
was like a siren's song,
lulling him back into the
depths of sleep.
"Come on, Plankton, stay
awake," Karen encouraged.
But the world was spinning,
and the siren's call of sleep
was growing stronger. With
each step closer to the car,
his eyelid grew heavier, and
his mind swam with a haze
of disorientation. The floor
beneath his feet felt like
waves, and he stumbled again,
his hand reaching out for
support that wasn't there.
"Keep talking," the
nurse whispered to Karen, her
eyes sparkling with
amusement.
Karen took a deep breath,
forcing her own laughter
down. "Remember the time
we found the treasure?" she
asked, hoping to keep him
alert. Plankton's antennae
perked up slightly, his
sluggish eye focusing on
hers. "Tweasure?" he murmured.
The nurse nodded encouragingly,
and Plankton took another step,
his body swaying like a piece
of kelp in the current. "Yeah,"
he mumbled, "the... the...
goldy wobble." His words were
slurred, his mind lost in
the fog of the anesthesia.
They made it to the car,
and Karen gently guided him
into the passenger seat. She
buckled him in, his body already
slack with the weight of
exhaustion. "Tell me more,"
she said, trying to keep
his thoughts on the treasure
they had found together,
anything to keep his mind
engaged.
But Plankton's eye weas
closing again, his head lolling
against the headrest.
"Goldy... wobble... " he murmured,
his words barely audible. "It's okay,
sweetheart," Karen said, her voice
soothing. "You can rest."
With a contented sigh,
Plankton gave in to the
warm embrace of slumber,
his body going limp. Karen
started the engine and drove
carefully, her mind racing
with the events of the day. The
thought of her stoic husband,
reduced to a slurring mess,
was too absurd to fully
comprehend. Yet, there was
a tenderness in his vulnerability
that made her love him all the
more.