Where MY Wild Things Are
Hello, peoples. This isn't, strictly speaking, a fic based on WTWTA, but it is a dialogue that takes place between me and WTWTA plushies in a Border's store. It also tells the story of how I made the Judith plushie I talked about in my profile! I don't own any characters or Wild Things in this!! There, now I don't have to worry about lawsuits, LOL! Enjoy!
Once, I was in a Borders bookstore while my father was getting a haircut in the nearby salon. I was browsing around in the Children's Section (as it is the least crowded area of the store on a Saturday), and I eventually sat down on a stool next to a display of stuffed Wild Things.
I took notice of the stuffed Wild Things and smiled at them. The way they were depicted in the original storybook used to frighten me as a young child, but now that I was much older, I found them quite charming. I walked over to the display and picked up a Wild Thing with a black, shaggy mane and tail, and a broad, mischievous smile. I playfully brought the fluffy tail under its nose and waved it around, tickling the handsome fellow.
"Aaaah! That tickles! Stop it!" cried the Wild Thing, who had started to giggle and squirm in my hands. I stopped tickling the Wild Thing and gaped at him.
"You're talking to me!" I cried. "Stuffed animals can't talk!" I looked around to see if anyone noticed that I was now deep in conversation with a stuffed toy. Luckily, no one seemed to take any notice.
"We can talk," said a female Wild Thing plush with long, red hair and a nervous expression. "My name is Sipi, but everyone calls me KW. And that fellow you have in your hands is Carol."
"Yeah, Carol. Like a girl," Carol told me, crossing his eyes. I laughed.
Then, a little doll of a boy in a wolf suit approached me, as he rode on the shoulders of a scowling, shaggy Bull – thing.
"I'm King Max!" the boy doll announced boldly. "I look after these guys!" He then snatched a pen out of my jeans pocket and pointed it at me like a scepter. "Who are you?"
"Uuumm… I just wanted to check you guys out," I replied uneasily. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you at all. I can go look somewhere else…"
"No, no!" cried Carol, sounding as though he might cry. "Please stay! Please keep holding me!"
"You mustn't mind Max, friend," Daniel, the bull, told me. "His status of royalty has gone to his head." He frowned at the stuffed boy – king who kept fidgeting on his shoulders. "You may stop bouncing your tiny, firmly – stuffed rear end on my aching shoulders anytime now, your Majesty."
I had to laugh at the antics of the Wild Things. I was having a wonderful time!
Except for just then, I heard the sound of piteous crying. I gently set Carol down and turned my attentions to a shelf populated by other stuffed animals.
There, on the far corner of the shelf, sat the most cuddly – looking little stuffed lion I had ever seen. A little pool had gathered under her, and she just cried and sniffled and wiped her eyes with her paws and tail.
"Aaaawww, hey there, sweetheart," I said, hurrying over. "What can the matter be?"
The lion noticed me, and started to say something, but instead gave a violent hiccough from having cried so hard. She began taking deep breaths to calm herself to the point where she could speak clearly, and in order to help, I started patting her silky mane and singing a song that my kindergarten teacher used to sing to me when I needed consolation:
Oh, dear, what can the matter be,
Oh, dear, what can the matter be,
Oh, dear, what can the matter be –
"Judith is feeling so sad!" the cute little lion finished for me, her voice wavering on the last note. Our poignant little duet had not gone unnoticed. Behind me, I could hear Carol swallowing a lump in his throat, and KW murmured to herself, "Poor thing." Max appeared bored by all the sentiment.
I smiled at Judith and cupped my hand under her chin so she could look at me properly.
"Is that your name; Judith?" I asked her. She smiled faintly and nodded. "That's a lovely name," I said. "I bet your friends call you "Judy."
"I don't have any friends," Judith wailed. "All the other lions besides me were all bought up." Her eyes began to fill with tears again.
"Oh, you must have felt terrible!" I said empathetically, as I gave her some tissues.
"What I really want," Judith continued; her voice sounding congested as she wiped her nose, "is to be a Wild Thing, like them." She pointed to Carol, Bernard, KW, and Max.
"A fine aspiration!" I commended her, patting her gently on the back. "The world certainly needs more Wild Things!"
"But I can't be one," Judith cried. "I'm not allowed."
"Not allowed?" I asked. "Why ever not?"
"Well, look at me," Judith replied, with a hint of exasperation in her voice. "I haven't got any horns or claws."
I thought for a moment, and then I came up with a great idea.
"I think I can solve your problem, Judith," I told her.
"You can? But how?" Judith asked as she stared up at me with soft puppy dog eyes.
"If you come home with me, I can easily set you up with some horns and claws!" I said. "How about it?"
"Oh, yes!!" Judith cried, vaulting off the shelf and into my arms. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome so much!" I replied as she began licking my face. "So no more crying, okay? Your paws might get wet, and you'd catch a cold!"
"Hey, can we come, too?" Carol asked.
"Sure!" I replied. "You can all come!"
"You heard her, Daniel!" Max squawked at the bull – thing. "Get moving!" He thwacked the poor creature on the nose with my pen.
Daniel looked at me with a supplicating expression. "Does he have to come?" he whispered to me, jerking his head towards the tyrant on his shoulders.
"I heard that!" Max shrieked, biffing Daniel once more with the pen. "I will not stand for treason! No supper for you tonight!"
I knelt down so that I was eye – to – eye with Max, and I held out my open hand.
"Your Majesty, if you would do me the honor of returning my pen," I said in a very firm voice. Max pouted and handed it over.
So, we all proceeded to the checkout counter, where I purchased them, and then I took them all home.
While Max and Carol, KW, and Daniel got settled in on a comfortable shelf (Carol finally decided on my bed, which was fine with me), I cut scraps from an old, tattered pair of khaki Capri pants that I had, and sewed a pair of horns and some claws for Judith. I wanted to document the whole meticulous process, so I found a disposable camera and snapped away at regular intervals, while Judith posed. I told her to relax and fall deeply asleep, and then I attached these to her head and paws.
When Judith awoke, she was thrilled beyond words. I was quite satisfied with the end results, as well, and showed her to my father, stepmother, and older stepbrother; who all thought that she had turned out very well indeed. How pleased I was to have made someone's day a little happier – even if that someone happened to be nothing but a little stuffed lion!