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There were a select few holidays where the palace staff, and all other Celestevillian workers, were allowed a moment of peace from their work. Christmas, for example, was the biggest one. There was also Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s.
Unfortunately, Valentine’s Day did not fall under that category.
Which meant the children were off to school to exchange cards and candy, and Pompadour, Cornelius, and Troubadour were still hard at work, sifting through shelves, sorting papers, moving up and down the halls transporting paperwork to King Babar and back. Cornelius walked up to Babar’s desk and plopped a small stack of papers in front of the king.
“They’re all here, Babar,” Cornelius said.
Babar nodded, and began looking through the stack. “Thank you, Cornelius, once we fill all of these out, we can start preparations on Celesteville’s spring-warming festival!”
The king immediately got to work, signing one form, then another one. Cornelius sighed, but it was more of a content sigh than an exasperated one. “It’s always one thing or another, isn’t it, Babar? Will that be all for now?”
“It certainly is,” Babar agreed. “And yes, that’s all for now, Cornelius. You’ve earned a little break.”
Cornelius turned to leave, but stopped on his way out.
“Oh, Babar?”
“Yes, Cornelius?”
The older elephant cleared his throat, “Not to be intrusive, but do make some time for Queen Celeste today. I know you can get caught up in your work, and--”
Babar cut off his assistant by laughing. “Don’t worry, Cornelius, I haven’t forgotten what day it is. Celeste and I have dinner plans for tonight! Will you and Pompadour be alright by yourself?”
Cornelius smiled. “Oh, don’t worry about us, Babar. You two have a lovely evening, we’ll be fine.”
Babar responded by winking at his advisor. “Yes, I’m sure you will.”
“Ah, yes...thank you, Babar,” Cornelius replied, laughing sheepishly. He then exited the office, leaving Babar alone.
Cornelius went into the kitchen, where he found Pompadour getting something from the refrigerator.
“Managed to slip away for a moment, did you?” Pompadour asked.
Cornelius sat down at the table. “As have you.” He looked down to see the kitchen table was covered in little heart-shaped stickers. “I see Isabelle has been here.”
Pompadour giggled, and approached with two plates with sandwiches on them. “Quite the creative one, isn’t she?”
“Yes, quite…” Cornelius sighed with relief as he relaxed in his chair and Pompadour sat beside him. The older elephant took a bite out his sandwich. “It’s good to get away from the hustle and bustle of beuracracy for a moment. Shame we can only do it for a few minutes on any other day.”
Pompadour placed his hoof on Cornelius’. “Cornelius, just five minutes with you feels like five years.”
A slight blush appeared on Cornelius’ face. “Is that because time seems to slow down when you’re with me, or because I’m old and slow?”
The younger elephant pecked his colleague’s check with his trunk. “The first part,” Pompadour answered.
Cornelius‘ face lit up. “Oh, good. Because I feel the same way around you and I’d hate to call you old.” He finished off a piece of his sandwich, then reached his trunk into his military jacket.
“Now that we finally have a moment to ourselves…” Cornelius pulled out a heart-shaped card and handed it Pompadour. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Pompadour.”
Pompadour smiled and took the card. It was made of red construction paper, and drawn on with crayon. He opened it to find a crudely drawn picture of himself and Cornelius, trunks intertwined. “Oh, Cornelius, it’s lovely. I see Isabelle pitched in with her drawing.”
Cornelius blushed and cleared his throat. “Actually, I drew that picture, Pompadour.” He knew his art skills weren’t the best, but, come now...
“Oh.” Pompadour replied. “Well, it’s still very nice! Here, I have something for you as well.” Pompadour reached into his jacket and pulled out his own Valentine’s card. This one was clearly store-bought, shining with an exorbitant amount of glitter.
“Couldn’t be bothered to make your own this year, could you?” Cornelius teased.
Pompadour shrugged. “That was my original plan...but this one said everything I wanted to.”
Now intrigued, Cornelius opened the card and read it aloud. There was even more glitter, in the shape of little silver stars.
“Dear Valentine,
For always being by my side,
For never turning your back on me,
This card is to celebrate you.
I’m grateful to have you in my life,
And you’ll always be my shining star.
Love, Pompadour.”
Pompadour smiled proudly. “Normally, I’m not one for free verse, but—”
Pompadour stopped talking when he heard Cornelius sniffling. He quickly looked up and moved in close. “Oh, Cornelius, I know it’s a swee card, but you don’t have to cry…”
“Ah...ahh…”
Pompadour realized too late that Cornelius wasn’t sniffling due to holding back tears. “Achoo!” The older elephant sneezed, blowing glitter directly into Pompadour’s face. The advisor coughed and sputtered, trying to brush the stuff out of his face.
“Uh...sorry.” Cornelius groaned. “I really did love the card, though!”
Pompadour spat glitter out of his mouth, and wiped some more from his face. “Yes, well, maybe I’ll go for something...cleaner next year.”
Cornelius chuckled and held Pompadour close, his face still sparkling with glitter.
“Now you look like my shining star.”