It was the idiot child himself first dubbed me Moleman. Iâd been hurled to the shores of Lake Springfield, hideous in my shriveled nudity, mind an amnesiac muddle from the dual journeys of space and time. For some reason fascinated by a red ant struggling through the sand, I followed its perilous progress inland, toward a spot where the boy performed his own useless observation of lifeâin this case a wormâs, the child cooing and giggling at the novelty of its limbless gait. When the idiot grew weary of his own incomprehension he looked up and there I was. The two of us united in confusion and stature, roughly the same height despite chasmic decades of age difference.
At first he backed away, ready to flee, stranger-danger training courtesy of his father the police chief. But the longer he fixed his gaze on my compact form, the more harmless I must have seemed. I have been informed many times, when the people of this town deign to spare an utterance or two in my direction, that I am cute. Never mind that I was sent here on a mission likely to incur casualties. Never mind that, where I came from, I earned more military decorations than any so-called hero from the era of battlefield and sea wars. Never mind that I was solely responsible for protecting Springfieldâthat benighted burg whose very name, in its hopeless averageness, signified the townâs expendabilityâfrom certain catastrophe.
They never listened. They just smirked and clicked their tongues at the tiny old man with the streak of poor luck. Later, they openly laughed at me. It was sport. Look what deadly misfortune befalls Moleman this week. Laugh as my truck bursts into flames. Laugh as a flock of gulls target my cataracted eyes for their awful pecking. Laughâoh, listen to that unspeakable boor of Evergreen Terrace laugh and laughâas I am hit in the groin by a football.
It was enough to make me wonder if this town deserved to be saved.
But it was here on the beach that the idiot boy stuck me with the degrading appellation from which Iâll never be free. Lord knows what cartoon or picture book planted the notion of subterranean creatures in his head, or why that Scandinavian syllable was his first choice of Christian name. But after heâd ascertained that I was more curious discovery than fearsome threat, as he gracelessly hopped toward Clancy Wiggumâs unconditional embrace, the words he barked in prepubescent pitch echoed ominously in every corner of sadistic Springfield: Look what I found! A Moleman! Hans Moleman! Hans Moleman!
                                ***
They clothed me in idiot rags, those fat Wiggums, Sarah fretting over Clancyâs lapses in hospitality, the Chief not caring to change his usual pantsless state for my sake. I was still befogged, uncertain as to how Iâd arrived here and what needed to be done before I could leave. When the chief wobbled out to the station and the child bounced to school, a pair of bowling balls whose roundness spared no pin, I wandered the house in Ralphâs soiled shirts, accepting fruit and hot oatmeal from Sarah when I tired of pacing.
Iâd sit on their porch, gazing at the nuclear smokestacks in the distance. Springfield. I figured out soon enough that it was a homecoming. I was not a stranger here myself. I was a soldier, a leader of men, entrusted by my government to execute a mission here in the land of my birth and time of my youth. Identity and purpose crystallized in my mind like Tetris pieces, a chunk of self-knowledge landing to make room for a falling block of duty. It all came together one sunny Sunday when from the porch I observed Ralph at play in the yardâs inflatable pool with a pair of space alien toys.
âWe come from the planet Hugzankisses!â The boy waved one alien in front of the other to indicate dialogue attribution and then, following some obscure impulse of physical curiosity or nascent self-destructiveness, shoved the other alien up his right nostril. As the only adult in scolding distance, I hobbled my way to the pool to make sure no plastic was permanently snorted, but my tired knees werenât up to it and I tumbled face-first into the water.
Earlier Iâd been too distracted to sense the familiarity of the boyâs chiming innocence, his gilded stupidity. Now the recognition ignited my memory like the car that would later catch fire when Springfieldâs stoned school bus driver ran me off the road. Ralphâs voice rang in my ears like the uncanny echo of a long-forgotten dream. A dream that in fact had never ended. I, Hans Moleman, was none other than this idiot childâs superannuated self. Sent back in time, back home, now baptised by my cherubic double.
Emerging from the water, one look at the toy aliens knocked loose my remaining memory block. Galactic pirates Kang and Kodos, in their next failed attempt to usurp Earth, would wipe out Springfield entire. I was here for damage control. To save as many lives as possible. The life you save may be your own, they say. For Ralph Wiggum and me, this was true twice over.
                               ***
Time is not precisely at a standstill, in Springfield, but its pace cannot be designated as a crawl. Crawling implies steady, consistent progress. Time in Springfieldâin whatever unmapped iteration of Springfield I found myself exploring as a time travelerâmoves like a hitman: Measured steps or quick flurries depending on the situation, and imperceptible stealth in either case. The town keeps up with shifts in culture and technology, but not in traditional increments; one day we didnât have Twilight or iPads, the next we could read K-Stew gossip on the newest devices. No one ages here, not so youâd notice. Seasons change, but not according to any known calendar. Even death seems indefinitely forestalled for most of us, not least of all meâI who have lived through countless disasters that would have proven fatal in both my non-Springfield future-past and my Springfield past-past. When Monty Burns drills a hole in your brain and the next thing you remember is waking up to the sound of Lake Springfieldâs crashing waves, you know that whatever celestial authority or hiccup of space-time governs your affairs is inclined to hit the reset button.
Given this loose temporal framework, not to mention my own dissociations with time as a visitor from the goddamn future, how was I to perform my duty as hometown hero?
Some years after my baptismal revelation (hard to keep track), having discovered a vocal transponder hidden inside my walking cane, I was able to make contact with my commanding officer in the future. He had little explanation for the local peculiarities.
âIs it possible something went wrong with the trip back? That I branched into some alternate reality?â
âIâm afraid not,â said Commander Rod Flanders. âYour time coordinates are precisely when they should be.â
I considered telling the Commander about his boyhood self, bereft of mother but blissful anyway or trying damn hard to be. Similarly I felt tempted to play fortuneteller to the young Rod, let him know that something down the line would shake his faith and free him from his fatherâs proselytistic grip. But no one in Springfield would credit the prognostications of withered old Moleman. A thousand ruinous curses on my comical frailty! I unloaded my woes on Commander Flanders.
âSir, even if I had some reliable way of knowing when Kang and Kodos were going to make their move, which, given the odd passage of time here, seems impossibleââ
Flanders interrupted. âWe know the invasion takes place on April Foolâs Day of the year to which we sent you back, Lieutenant Wiggum.â
âThereâs been no April Foolâs Day in the years Iâve spent here, sir. And even if one were to present itself, I seriously doubt my ability to persuade the people of Springfield of a credible threat.â Here I paused, preparing for a soldierâs grave humiliation. âI am not respected by the locals, sir.â
âNot respected? In good old Springfield?â
âI am seen as a⊠as a joke. Sir.â Restraining my seethe, I recounted to the Commander how Iâd been left for dead, buried alive, prodded and probed at will, ignored in times of need and crowded with mocking attention when I wanted solitude. I didnât tell him that not a single employee at Springfieldâs secret Sex Cauldron would even look at me. I withheld intel on psychotic Bob Terwilliger, with whom Iâd attempted to form an alliance of outcasts, who embroiled me in a kidnapping scheme that resulted in an array of stab wounds decorating my desiccated body like unvisited landmarks on a long-outdated map. I didnât tell him about my younger selfâs depressing distinctionâeight years old and already the village idiot.
Commander Flanders murmured gruffly, an overcompensation for the boyish falsetto that never completely descended. âJust be ready, Wiggum. When those slobbering sacks of alien goo pay our home a visit, youâre all that stands between thousands of innocent folks and tragic destruction.â
Innocent. The word made me laugh aloud, a sensation that caused my deflated lungs to riot inside my sunken chest. As I hacked myself into a reverie of bygone future thrills at the helm of an Army robot console, I heard a harsh click on the transponder, and Commander Flanders became the latest Springfieldian to turn away from me in what I knew deep down to be entirely warranted disgust.
                                   ***
I was living these days in the Springfield Retirement Castle, a dreadful crĂšche of feeble seniors suspended in near-death dementia, where Clancy Wiggum dumped me to relieve his family of its unsung scion. Oafs like Abe Simpson and Jasper Beardly vied for my attention with dull pastimes such as bingo and nostalgia. The staff was constantly finding new ways to neglect my medical needs, and one day in the dining hall nobody helped me when I fell in the garbage disposal.
The Wiggums made occasional visits to this funhouse, my old âhost familyâ as they saw it, some frayed strands of guilty obligation tethering us still. Clancy never said as much, maybe his imagination was too limited even to form the conscious thought, but I always felt he sensed on some level the mysteriously potent connection that arises when a son is his fatherâs helpless elder. Not that youâd know it from our conversations.
âCaught a perp in this place once,â the Chief reverting to the same anecdote he always told on our pause-laden visits. âChased him into the game room, knocked over some Parcheesi pieces. He tried to escape through the window, I yelled âFreeze!â and wouldnât you know the old fellaâs hip gave out right there. Cuffed him on this very floor, oldest scumbag ever to rob the Kwik-E-Mart.â
At this point Ralph began a violent campaign for attention from everyone in sprinting distance, tugging on Jasperâs beard, pouring a pitcher of water on Abeâs head, offering his gnomic nuggets of anti-wisdom to nurses and other familial visitors. âMy underpants feel slimy!â He declaimed to no one in particular. I adjusted my own foul undercarriage. Ah, Ralphâweâre not so different, you and I.
The child spotted Abeâs spiky-haired granddaughter reading quietly in a corner, bounced in her direction to discharge more unwitting harassment. Were such observations to be my permanent fate, awaiting some dark April Foolâs Day of the soul, never to arrive? Was it possible for such an unteachable puddle of chub to grow into the man who valiantly piloted combat robots in the first planetary revolutionâthe hero I can almost remember being? These thoughts were interrupted when a foot, belonging as it turned out to Abeâs rascal grandson, made unmerciful contact with my luckless groin. As I keeled over, to the inattention and/or schadenfreude of everyone in the facility, Clancy and Sarah having already whisked Ralph away to a world of domestic forgiveness, I prayed to Kang and Kodos or the force that controls them to liberate me, deliver me a sign, grant me safe passage from the place I could no longer bear never not to call home.
                                      ***
Whatever answered my prayers was in no hurry. Life went on with no sign of prank holidays or space warfare. My humiliations and calamities amassed. Liquored up one night I became convinced that I was an ornately plumed bird, and attempted to launch myself in flight from atop Moeâs Tavern; stumbling outside after last call, the lush Barney Gumble mistook my flattened post-impact body for a bench, and I spent the night crushed under his snoring bulk. Have I mentioned the trend of spontaneous combustion? And letâs not even discuss the various incidents involving zoo animals. If time in Springfield moves like a hitman, as I posited earlier, the hitmanâs target must be none other than my own dignity.
And then one day, who can say how many weeks or decades after my rebirth as Hans Moleman, adults and children alike whispered the words April Foolsâalmost tenderly, as if they knew this could be their last actâand I craned my Frankenstein neck to the skies, checking for signs of alien menace.
The spaceships arrived at noon.
Before they appeared, I was already energized. An urgent visit to chez Wiggum. I nearly crashed into a fully nude Ralph, arms outstretched, propelling himself through hallways with spitty airplane mouth sounds.
âMommy says I can fly for real if I put pants on!â The idiot looking around, then leaning in confidentially, âbut I never saw a airplane wear pants. Have you, Mr. Moleman?â
âWhy yes, Ralph. All airplanes wear pants.â
âApril Foolâs, Ralph. Where are your parents? Itâs very important I speak to them right now.â
Soon Iâd advised Clancy and Sarah, in the most convincing terms I could summon without actually saying âtime travel,â that they absolutely must leave Springfield at once. Did I have another family, somewhere in the future? I couldnât remember, and whatever happened today, I probably wouldnât see them again even if they happened to exist.
While Sarah marshaled the familyâs belongings and packed up the car, I asked Clancy for a word, filling him in on my dilemma: Attempt some sort of evacuation on behalf of people whoâd both ignored and contributed to my misery, or let our new insect overlords reduce all of Springfield to rubble?
âHans, Iâve been the chief of police here forânuts, I dunno, as long as I can remember. Iâve seen these people at their worst and their best. And you know what? Their best just isnât very good.â
âBut is that their fault, Clancy? Perhaps they only obey their nature.â
âYeah, maybe, but if thereâs one thing Iâve learned here, you canât let a perp go free. Theyâll always be back to shoot at you, make you chase âem all over town when all you want to do is have a long, relaxing sit. Look, son, itâs like we tell Ralphie, just follow your heart. Well, except when he tries to clean the oven with his tongue. Anyway, weâd better be going, right? Good luck, Hans.â
The jolly trio sped off toward Shelbyville and whatever lay beyond.
Already exhausted from the morningâs moral reflection, I returned to the Castle to rest up before the final reckoning. Jasper was splayed on the napping couch, his beard a palimpsest of crumbs, so I tickle-tortured him until he fell down. Cruelty, that ultimate two-way street, has never been out of the question for me when opportunities arise.
When I woke up all was chaos and panic. The sky above Springfield was the color of crocodiles.
No one was in charge. Chief Wiggum, of course, was gone. Rumors swirled that Mayor Quimby, having been tipped off by the network of secret knowledge to which even the minor ranks of Americaâs power elite have access, had been spirited away the night before. A raving, grief-stricken Waylon Smithers spread the news that Monty Burns was dead, something about sonic vibrations from the spacecraft, his last words a declaration of love for some other century. In the unofficial Springfield chain of command, that left Seymour Skinner, who hanged himself in the principalâs office; Ned Flanders, reduced to manic street preaching; and top medical man Julius Hibbert, who could be found wandering side-by-side with Nelson Muntz, both of them helplessly laughing at the carnage in the streets.
Kang and Kodos led a fleet of warships, bombing the townâs landmarks with the architectural sadism of Hollywood spectacle: Power Plant a puddle of ooze, Krusty Burger a swamp of grease, Escalator to Nowhere forever merged with its destination.
I had napped away my chance to save Springfield, if such a chance ever existed. Iâd like to report feelings of guilt or sorrow, or at least a conflicted inner turmoil. But the truth is I felt wonderful. Relief and satisfaction filled me like water in a drowning manâs lungs. My life was in grave danger, but for the first time since locking eyes with myself at the lake, I felt something close to serenity.
Beams of green light began streaming down from the ships, sucking up unsheltered Springfieldians. Whatever the aliensâ rationale for annihilation, they probably figured a few old-fashioned abductions couldnât hurt. Up went Lenny and Carl, facing the unknown in tandem.
I stripped naked and planted my feet firmly on a patch of pavement unoccupied by human shrapnel. As the beam elevated my useless body, I was treated to a memory of a champagne-soaked victory celebration at the Army cybernetics compound, and I even had time to wonder, as I beheld the birdâs-eye vista of my birthplace losing its battle with time, would the inside of the spaceship be upholstered with velvet of impossible softness or painted in colors no human eye had ever seen?
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