Previously
Part 4
Woody’s head was banging. When he came to, he found himself wedged between a wall and the desk. There was barely enough room for him to move from side to side. His hat was lodged above him and above that was a nail on the wall holding the office keys. If Woody could just reach behind him then he could maybe use his pull string as a lasso. Woody wasn’t sure if this would work and he kinda wanted to try it in a less strenuous environment, but now seemed like the time for some drastic action and creative thinking.
Woody is a stuffed rag doll. That kind of flexibility should work to his advantage. He reached his right arm behind his back. His fingers could almost touch the plastic ring. Each wiggle of his finger frustratingly pushed the ring away, his own pull string teasing his inability. With one last big assertion, Woody pushed his arm to the left and grabbed hold of the string with his two long fingers.
Step one accomplished. Woody pulled his arm and the string out further from his body. The trick would be to make a fist around the string so he could throw it. He yanked the string out and tried in vain to catch it as his string went back to its spot on his back.
“I’d like to join your posse boys but first I’m going to sing a little song” chimed a voice box in Woody’s chest. A muffled “huh?” came from the other side of the desk. The desk started to inch forward and Woody went limp.
“How did you get back here?” asked the priest at the desk. He reached down and pulled Woody back up, set Woody’s hat back on, and carried the toy back to the playroom. Kids were playing in there at the moment so all Woody could see was where his head was positioned.
15 minutes passed and the Sister Pickeneli rang her bell for the kids to line up and head out to recess. Once the door closed, Woody jumped to his feet and started running frantically through the room. A crowd of toys closed in on Woody.
“Where have you been?” asked one
Woody wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying. He first checked the spot where Dave hid and no one was there. Woody then darted across the room to the back with all the coats and book bags. He couldn’t see Dave and he couldn’t see Andrews stuff.
The world stopped for a minute. Woody turned to see a wall of toys staring at him intently. Woody had just made a comeback and no one was even sure where he went.
“Where’s Dave?” asked Woody. All the toys in the room looked at each other. An indistinguishable murmur was made.
“He left,” said a booming voice in the back of the crowd.
“Who said that?” asked Woody.
The crowd parted and a small stuffed bunny stepped forward.
“I did. I saw him hop into a book bag. I think it belonged to that kid who’s been playing with you a lot lately”.
“How long ago was this?” asked Woody.
“Just a couple hours”.
“Right”.
Woody straightened his hat and made his way to the window at the far corner of the room.
“Where are you going?” asked Albert the Alligator.
Woody looked back at Albert and then to the toys of the playroom. A kind of sadness was in his eyes.
“There’s a kid who needs me. There are kids who need all of us, but there’s one kid out there that I need.”
Woody hopped down from the window and started walking.
It was about 30 minutes into his walk that Woody found himself incredibly lost. On one side of the street was Bud’s Toy Barn. It looked like they were having some kind of closing sale. Too bad. Across the street was a construction project for what looked like an apartment complex. He walked until he saw a couple biking down a street towards him. There was nowhere to hide so Woody just had to go limp. The man picked up the toy.
“Woody? Wow. I had one of these when I was a kid.” Said the man.
“What’s it doing out here?” asked his wife.
“I don’t know, but I think we ought to do something with this. There’s a thrift store down that street there. We can turn him in there.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Maybe some kid will really like him and pick him up”.
The couple turned around Woody in hand, to the thrift store down the street.
Woody was set casually into the donation bin. This was not the place to be. Woody ran out onto the store floor. The place smelled old, a little musty too. He had to find a way to exit out of the building. It was his only chance to get back to Andrew. He had no idea how to get back to him, but Woody didn’t care. If the kid moved to china, Woody would not rest until he found him.
As Woody was thinking this to himself, he heard a groaning moan from above him. There on the shelf were dozens of toys, all crying in pain. Most of them were broken, unusable. They reached their appendages toward Woody through the crates.
“Help me” moaned the toys. Those who were too broken to talk would just latch onto him. Woody tried backing away but a hand caught his leg. Woody tried to escape when everyone stopped. A kid was approaching. A small hand reached down and picked up the cowboy doll.
It was Andrew.
Andrew went to his mother and father
“Mommy, look! This is just like the one that was at school! Can I have him? Please? Please? Please?”
“I don’t think we can afford that sweetie,” said his mother.
Andrew looked at the toy.
“I’ll pay for him myself! I have a lot of money from my birthday left over!”
Andrew walked right up to the register and put Woody on the counter. The woman running the counter looked at him curiously.
“How much for Woody?” asked Andrew. The woman looked at the toy and gave an estimate.
“50 cents” she said.
Andrew dug around in his coat pocket. He pulled out a dime, two nickels, and 7 pennies.
“Is this enough?” he asked.
The woman looked at the child and then at the parents. A small smile crossed her face. She counted out the coins on the counter one by one.
“You know, I think it is. Just be sure you take good care of him.”
“I will!” shouted an ecstatic little boy. Andrew picked up Woody, gave him a hug, and then gave his mom and dad a hug too. The family walked out of the store.
Woody could not help but smile all the way to the new house as Andrew held him tightly. From his view, it looked like the parents were happy as well. The family arrived at the new home that they had purchased. It was a small, modest apartment, but it was home. They unpacked the few suitcases that were stored in the back, Andrew picked up his book bag and took it into his new room. Before he unpacked, though, he asked his dan an interesting question.
“Daddy, do you have a marker somewhere?”
Woody started getting concerned. What was the marker for? Thankfully he didn’t have to worry long since Andrews dad asked first.
“What do you want a marker for”?
“Well, when you get something new you like to put our name on it, right? That’s what I want to do. I want to make sure that if Woody ever gets lost that people will know who he belongs too.”
“I think that’s a great idea sport. Try to write it somewhere where it won’t get in the way, like under his boot.”
Andrew took the marker and under Woody’s boot wrote his name. “Andy”.
Andrew set Woody down on his bed. Andrew went into the other room for Dinner and Woody sat up. He looked at his boot with great pride that he found a kid who loved him that much. The book bag unzipped and Woody turned around. Coming out of the book bag was Dave. First was a bit of worry, then confusion. And then, Dave shook in absolute rage.
Part 5 coming soon.
Woody has just entered the home of Andrew Davis, but it looks like Dave could present a big problem for him. Be sure to like my Facebook page and check out the Toy Story Collections page on Facebook to get updates on this particular pet project of mine. Until then, thanks for liking and sharing and be sure to always be your best self.
No comments:
Post a Comment