Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You know, before she killed herself."
----------
"Hey. What are you guys doing?" Phoebe walked into the apartment.
"Monica's making us watch Old Yeller." Richard glanced back at her, tears streaming down his face. I mean, that's what we all looked like at this point. Rachel and Ross were cuddling on the arm chair, and Richard and Monica were on the couch together. Of course, I had no one, so I was stuck with a pillow.
"Why are you guys so upset? It's Old Yeller. It's a happy movie." She giggled.
"What are you talking about?" The rest of us look at her weirdly. It's like she's never seen it.
"Come on. Happy family gets a dog. Frontier fun." She took a bite of her cookie.
"Yeah, but, Pheebs, what about the ending?" Ross inquired as we went back to watching it.
"Oh, when Yeller saves the family from the wolf, and everyone's happy?" She questioned him.
"That's not the end." Rachel spoke up.
"Yuh–huh. That's when my mother would shut off the TV and say 'the end'." Phoebe shrugged her shoulders and stood behind the couch.
"What about the part where he has rabies?" Monica asked.
"He doesn't have rabies. He has babies." Phoebe corrected her, but she was wrong. "That's what my mom said." She answer.
"Pheebs, I don't think your mom would want you to see what's about to happen." I warned her.
"Why? What's about to happen?" She glanced over at the TV. "I've never seen this part before." She tilted her head to the side in slight confusion. "Travis, what are you doing with that gun? Oh, no. No, no, Travis, put down that gun." We knew what was about to happen. "No, no, no, he's your buddy. He's your Yeller. No, no! The end! The end!" The gunshot echoed loudly, making us jump. "Okay, what kind of a sick dog snuff film is this?" We looked at her sadly. Later that night, Rachel was working at the coffee shop while Monica and I entertained ourselves with a couple of Calvin Klein magazines.
"Hey." Phoebe walked into Central Perk.
"Pheebs, what do you got there?" I nodded towards the tapes in her hands.
"Okay. Love Story, Brian's Song, and Terms of Endearment." She sat down at the small table.
"Wow. All you need is The Killing Fields and some guacamole, and you got yourself a par–tay." Monica cheered jokingly.
"Yeah, I talked to my grandma about the Old Yeller incident, and she told me that my mom used to not show us the ends of sad movies to shield us from the pain and sadness, you know, before she killed herself." Phoebe explained.
