by Todd M. Cobb
Linus looked at Charlie Brown's big round head, the lone curly hair spiraling from his brow, the half crescent ears jutting from the sides, and loved him like never before. He took in a deep breath and tried to fight off the tears, it seemed like all he wanted to do anymore was cry; ever since Bethany. At Bethany, Charlie Brown had gathered them all around him and, in a hushed, somber tone, said that soon he would be betrayed - by one of this number.
They'd all been shocked, thrown out their chests and proclaimed it would never be them, each with as much conviction as the next. Who could betray one so precious as Charlie? What could make a man turn on his leader, his master? Nothing on Earth.
Or so Linus had thought.
Satan had come to him in a dream, as he often did, in the guise of a lean, white beagle with a long nose and black ears. Linus stirred in his sleep and gathered his blanket more tightly around him. The beagle perched itself atop a rock and glared at him. He could feel the frigid eyes of coal bearing down on him, boring through his very soul. The beagle didn't speak, Linus simple understood.
"How can you say such a thing?" Linus had said in his dream, "How can you?"
The beagle did not move, but continued to stare.
"But why me? None loves Charlie Brown more than I. I am part of him. Betraying him would be betraying myself."
The beagle did not blink.
"I will not! I will not betray him! There is nothing you can do, nothing you can say!"
The beagle grinned. Like a serpent it crawled on its belly leaving a trail in the dust and moved from the rock. It stopped next to him and he could smell it, foul and fetid; reeking of darkness and sorrow and fear.
Linus wailed and gnashed his teeth. "NO! NO! Say it isn't so! Anything but that, anything - just don't take that from me!"
Why? Why had he been forsaken so? Of all the things in the world, there was only one he believed he could not do without, could not live without.
The beagle's paw snaked out like lightning and tore the blanket from Linus's shoulders. Even in the dream, Linus shivered at the cold.
Wrapping itself in Linus' blue security blanket, the beagle sang a song in its strange nasal voice. Then it danced. Then it became night, mingled with the dust at its feet and was gone.
That night in Bethany, Linus had jolted from sleep still shaking from his dream. On the ground next to him was the trail left by the beagle as it had crawled on its stomach, the foot prints where it had danced and its awful smell. Linus wept and prayed but found no comfort in it. Eventually he slept again, but fitfully - he was cold, so cold, for no longer had his beloved blanket.
Time from that point on had become a blur. He'd gone to Jerusalem in a frenzied search for this blanket. Believing he glimpsed it hanging from the window of a ship he went inside. He found only soldiers waiting. When he asked for his blanket he was told he know what he had to do and Linus relented. He wept as he broke faith with Charlie Brown, but all he wanted was his blanket. Please, could he have it back? The soldiers promised it would be in his hands once Charlie Brown was in theirs. Somewhere in the back, Linus heard a beagle laugh.
The next day Linus had lead the soldiers to where Charlie Brown was eating a peanut butter sandwich with the remaining eleven. Linus, dizzy and sickened with grief, approached Charlie Brown, "You are the one that I love the most," he told his master, "you ..." but he could not continue. He threw his arms around Charlie Brown and kissed him. His gesture was full of the admiration and love that could not be expressed by words, but it was also the signal to the soldiers. This is the one, the embrace had said, this is the one you are after.
Charlie Brown place a gentle hand on Linus's tear shaken shoulder. "I knew it would be you, Linus," he said, his voice low and even, "I knew it would be you and I love you for it."
The soldiers, ridiculously armed to apprehend such a man of peace, led Charlie Brown away
* * *
The memory of all that had transplanted burned Linus's eyes like acid tears as he watched Charlie Brown, naked and beaten, standing in court before Lucy.
"You say you are the truth, Charlie Brown, son of the barber," Lucy intoned.
With slow, almost indiscernible motion, Charlie Brown nodded.
"So speak. Tell us this truth and I will set you free. That simple, barber's son, the truth for freedom."
Linus leaned forward in the crowd. He had made a terrible mistake, he'd sold out his dearest friend for his blanket - which he sill did not possess - but now he was faced with the opportunity for absolution. Charlie Brown need only answer Lucy's question and he would be free. Linus had kept up his end of the bargain, he'd given them Charlie Brown, now if Charlie would only give them what they wanted he could go free and Linus would get his blanket.
"So, Charlie Brown - answer my question."
Yes, thought Linus, answer her question, please. Answer he question and we can leave ... please let us leave.
Charlie remained silent and spoke no truth.
"You missed the football again, Charlie Brown." Lucy, leaning back and crossing her arms, frowned. "So be it. Your fate was in your own hands. Your disposal was your own choice."
With that Lucy changed the sign over her head to read: "The Judge is Out" and left. Linus fell to his knees, stricken with grief, and pound his head on the ground. The crowd cheered Lucy's verdict, how quickly Charlie Brown had fallen from their favor. It was simply not stylish to follow the funny looking boy anymore, so they chose not to.
Their conviction as weak as their hypocrisy strong, the crowd had begun to stone the little boy with the round head as the soldiers took him away. They shouted and spat and cursed him; why had he not answered, why? Linus continued to dash his head upon the rocks. The crowd's anger and frustration boiled over and Linus felt it, too. Finally he stopped and, from between bloodied lips, whispered, "Good grief, Charlie Brown."
Women and children fought over stones to throw as the crowd kept up its constant barrage. Linus loved Charlie Brown, why had he ignored his chance to save himself? It infuriated Linus, it was like Charlie Brown wanted to die. WHY WHY WHY!! Linus demanded it of heaven, but there was no answer. His fury increased, blinded him and took control. HE rose from his knees clutching a large stone in his left hand. Emotion rolled through his body as all the anger he felt at himself was directed at Charlie Brown. And Linus, too, threw stones.
Even though they weren't the hardest to hit, Linus's stones caused Charlie Brown the most pain.
* * *
The sun had painted the sky the color of blood as the soldiers drove the nails through Charlie Brown's outstretched hands. The world shuddered with his screams. Prostrated on the cross beam, it was almost impossible for him to breath. For each breath Charlie had to raise up on his impaled feet and snatch at the air while the shock waves of pain racked his body. Blood puddled at the base of the center beam. Charlie's sister Sally and Peppermint Patty were among the faithful who waited with Charlie trying to offer words of comfort and secretly hoping it would end soon and he could escape his torment.
Linus, his face hidden by a heavy hood inspite of the heat, watched from a distance. He watched as the sky turned black and Charlie Brown spoke and suffered and wept. As droplets of sweat rolled off the end of his nose, Linus watched flies and other pest light on Charlie's wounds, crawling over his eyes and tongue.
Then, as the world seemed to buckle and fold, Charlie Brown died - helpless and alone.
Linus remained motionless for hours, long after the crowd had left, until the solders took down the body. They wrapped the lifeless form in a funeral shroud and handed it to the grinning beagle who stood waiting. The beagle turned and faced the distant Linus, looking directly under this hood and into his eyes. It began walking, slowly, with deliberate steps, toward him. The single member funeral procession seemed to take forever before the beagle reached Linus.
It stood before him for a moment, the remains of Charlie Brown in its paws, before it raised the cloth covered body so Linus could see. Spots of blood has seeped through the blue material in places. Then, for the first and last time ever, the beagle spoke. "Here's your precious blanket, Linus, here's your precious blanket."
Todd M. Cobb is twenty-one years old and lives in Austin, Texas were he scraped out a meager living pushing fish in the seafood department of a grocery store. He is also terrified of being locked naked in a room full of nuns. "
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