Work Text:
A Look Down From Heaven
An Oklahoma/Little Shop of Horrors Crossover
Notes: Picture if you will It’s A Wonderful Life where George Bailey looks down upon his life but is asked to view it from the perceptive of him not being it. This mirrors that same idea only we replace George Bailey with Jud Fry from Oklahoma & Orin from Little Shop Of Horrors both characters which die at the end of their respective shows. Jud & Laurey’s relationship was never explored very deeply in Oklahoma but I always sort of felt bad for him. I own no Oklahoma or Little Shop characters.
One day up in heaven Jud Fry and Orin Scrivello were playing some poker.
“Hey ya Jud, do you ever think about that girl you were nasty to when you were alive?” Orin asked his friend.
Jud shrugged. “ Not really very often. To her I was mostly a lousy hired hand.”
“What was her name again?”
“Laurey Williams.”
“Do you think she still thinks about you?”
Jud shook his head. “I reckon not. The last time I saw her she was at her wedding and she looked pretty happy. What about you? Do you ever think of that girl you left behind?”
Orin nodded. “Yeah, I really wish I could apologize to her for how I treated her so bad.”
“What was her name anyway? I don’t think you talked about her.”
“Audrey Fulquad.”
After their poker game they decided to go to the gate keeper and talk to him.
“Mr Gatekeeper sir, we were just wondering if we could have a look back at our lives? We treated two ladies awfully bad when we were alive and we wanted a look back on our lives to see what we could change if we could do things over again.” Orin said
The gatekeeper peered over his glasses at Orin & Jud. “Well, let’s see. Orin, you were eaten by a plant. Died in Upstate New York in 1956 correct?”
Orin nodded
“And you Mr. Fry, you died during a fight succumbing to injuries from falling on your knife in 1902 am I right?”
Jud nodded. “Yes sir, the doctors could not save me.”
“Who would like to go first?”
Jud shrugged.”Why not?”
“Alright,let”s get on with it then”
A sight very familiar to Jud came into his view.
“That’s Aunt Eller’s farm house and there’s Miss Laurey talking to Curly McClain. Gee, I sure couldn’t stand him.”
“Why was that?”Orin asked
“He just bugged me that’s all. He was always trying to impress Laurey. He thought he was better than me when he wasn’t..even that fancy surrey didn’t impress me.”
“Everyone seemed pretty surprised when you asked Laurey to go to the box social with you.”
Jud shrugged. “I guess they didn’t expect much from a hired hand.”
“What did you do in that smokehouse all day Jud?” The gatekeeper asked.
“Just thought of what it’d be like for me & Ms. Laurey to be together. I was really hoping to ask her to marry me & take over the farm for Aunt Eller once she died. Curly stole her away from me though.”
“Did you care what other people thought of you?”
“All of Ms. Laurey’s friends always talked about me behind my back. I didn’t care though. All I cared about was getting her to be with me.”
“Did you ever stop and think that you made her feel uncomfortable and that’s why she didn’t want to go to that dance with you?” The gatekeeper asked.
“Nah.”
“What gave any type of feeling she loved you?” Orin asked curiously.
“That day last winter when I was sick & she brought me some soup to the smokehouse. We sat real quiet for 20 minutes. I reached out and touched her hand.”
“What was her response?”
She looked into my eyes and said.”I hope the soup makes you feel better Jud. She didn’t turn away when I touched her. I don’t think she was scared of me then.”
“After that did she ever come down to the smoke house again?”
“Once but she didn’t stay for long. I don’t think the pictures I had on my wall made her feel too comfortable.”
The three looked down at a scene that was of Laurey asleep in her bed.
“When was this?”
“The girls suggested she get some rest before the Box Social.. I think at that point she was torn up about not going to the dance with Curly.”
A few minutes later the scene unfroze Jud enters the room and shook Laurey awake
“Laurey ,it’s time to start going to the party.”
“Did you notice the look in her eyes at that moment?”
“She looked drowsy but also maybe a little scared. I didn’t think anything of it
“Why would she be scared?”
Jud shrugged again. “I dunno, it could a had something to do with the dream she was having.I yanked her right out of bed and told her we needed to get going.”
“Do you think she was having second thoughts about not going to the dance with Curly?”
Jud put his hand up. “I’m done talking bout this now Gatekeeper. We all know how things ended for me and it sure wasn’t pretty.”
The gatekeeper shuffled some paperwork around. “Ok then, let’s review your life then Orin.”
Orin saw his childhood home come into view.
“There’s Audrey and me on our first date at The Gutter.”
“The Gutter?” The gatekeeper asked.
“That was a Skid Row bar. Audrey worked there at nights. She needed to work two jobs so she afford her apartment.”
“What was her day job?”
“She worked at Mushnik’s Skid Row Flower Shop.”
“Is it opened anymore?”Jud asked
Orin shook his head. “Nope.Mr. Mushnik had to move the store up town because of all the violent crime.”
“Did you have a good relationship with Audrey in the beginning?”
“Yes, then I gotta admit I got a little jealous of that twerp Seymour Krelborne that she worked with at the flower shop.”
The Gatekeeper looked on with interest. “Was that the reason you were so abusive to Audrey?”
Orin shrugged. “I dunno. All I know now is that I really regret treating her so terrible.”
The scene suddenly changed to a family around a holiday table. Orin instantly recognized Seymour, Audrey & Audrey’s two younger sisters Debbie & Darlene.
“Looks like Audrey is really happy now.” Jud remarked.
Orin nodded. “Yup, looks that way. Gotta admit her & Seymour make a cute couple.”
“Looks like they have kids now too.”
Orin nodded. “ Yup, the teenager is Seymour’s niece Claudia. Seymour & Audrey adopted her in the midst of all the insanity. Looks like they had a kid of their own too. Wish I knew the baby’s name.”
The gatekeeper looked at his paper work, “The child’s name is Emma Marie Krelborne.” She was just born about a month ago.”
“Did Miss Laurey & Curly have any kids Gatekeeper?” Jud asked.
The gatekeeper nodded. “They sure did.”