20 Years Later
A few years after college, I ended up in the box with my friends. I was…. Heartbroken for a bit. But I got better. I can thank the others for that and I was glad to see them. I had so many stories to tell them about our Andy. Every sleepless night he had doing his school work, every heartbreak, every hangover, getting his first apartment, him coming home from his first major job, seeing the love of his life walk through his front door….. I got to see all those things. Remembering those days, talking about those days, about him, seeing my friends faces as I tell them how our Andy has grown makes being in the box not so bad.
Today though…. Today feels different. I can't explain why it does though. It just does. Suddenly the box is shaking, everyone is panicking. The Potatoheads are holding each other tight, Rex is freaking out, Buzz is trying to comfort Jesse, who's having a panic attack, none of us knows what's going on!
The shaking stops, I assume we're on the floor.
"Is this it, is he finally getting rid of us." Jesse asks, breathing heavily.
"Don't think like that Jesse, Andy wouldn't do that to us." Buzz tells her. He looks up at me, silently asking me if he's right. I nod to reassure but as much as I love Andy, I can't say for sure if it's true.
I can't say how long we wait there, then again no one really knows how long we've all been in the box to begin with. Then suddenly, I hear something outside. It's muffled but it sounds like…. Laughing. A child's laughter. It's getting louder. Coming closer? It's so clear now. Like hearing tiny little bells but mixed with another laugh that sounds like a drum. The bells are new but the other laugh, the laugh that's deeper but still filled with so much happiness, I know that one. I know it better than anyone.
I look to the others, probably with the biggest smile I've had in years. I see so much wonder and relief on everyone's faces. I know they know that laugh too.
"Andy." I tell them. I've never loved saying that name more.
The bells are so loud right now but now…. Now there's a voice too.
"What's in the box daddy?" I hear the little bell say through, what I assume is her, laughing. "Is it my gift?!" She…. she sounds so excited.
"Yes, my little drop of sunshine!" I hear Andy say. "A very special gift." He tells the bell.
It's been so long since I've said these words.
"Andy's coming." And, as we've done so many times before, we've paused. Not before Slinky makes sure me and Buzz are on top. I look at my oldest friend smiling at me, I hope my smile shows just how thankful I am. I look to Buzz, it's been so long since I've seen my friend this happy, I'm sure it's the same for him. Then suddenly, there's light. And I see a face. It has aged a bit but I'd know it anywhere. Andy. He starts taking us out of the box.
"Toys!" the little bell squeals. A little bell with strawberry blonde curls, little dimples, and her father's eyes. A woman with similar blonde hair and brown eyes, beautiful Janey who could make our kid smile as much as we could, is sitting next to her and Andy closer to us but hugging the little bell to his side. Gosh, he looks happy.
"Very special toys, these were the toys I played with as a kid Amy." Andy tells the little bell. Amy, her name is Amy. "I kept them just for you but I wanted to wait until you were old enough before I gave them to you. I spent so much time playing with them, creating adventures for them to go, full of heroes saving the day and bad guys getting what they deserve and just having the greatest time doing so!"
He tells her the stories of how Sheriff Woody and his best friend Buzz Lightyear of Star Command with all of their other friends, sometimes villains, would fight in canons, travel through space, stop robberies, and everything else in between. With every story Amy eyes would fill with more wonder and I can see Janet's just filling with amusement and love as Andy reenacted all of the stories using us. Andy, Janet and Amy spent hours with us in that living room, just playing and telling stories, old and new as Amy, and even Janet, kept adding more to our old tales.
Amy is getting tired though, playtime is coming to an end but she's so happy and she just wants to keep playing. She's yawning, even her yawns sound like bells. All three of them start picking us up and carrying us to what can only be her room. Covered in pink and other toys she'll play with along with us, we're put in the corner with them. Andy and Janet are getting Amy ready for bed, poor girl is all tuckered out. And none of us could be happier because of it. She's tucked into bed, Janet kissed her forehead, squeezes Andy's shoulder and leaves the room. Andy….. Andy looks sadder all of a sudden.
He gets up and walks over to us. He picks up Slinky, Mr. Potato Head and me, and brings us over to Amy's bed. He sets Mr. Potato Head on the edge of her nightstand and slightly wraps Slinky around her lamp. He sits on her bed, still holding me. He still looks sad. What's wrong my little deputy?
He smiles sadly at Amy.
"We've had a lot of fun today, haven't we, my little sunshine?" He asks Amy. She nods her head happily.
"I've had the best day, daddy!" she tells him.
"I'm glad." He tells her still smiling at her sadly. "I've told you a lot of stories today," he pauses, looking down at me, "I've got one more to tell you, about this guy's favorite little deputy." He says while handing me to her. I guess he has another story about us to tell her.
"You daddy?" Amy asks, hugging me close.
"No, not me." What? "This is a story about your Grandpa Andy."... What?
Andy pulls out a photo I've seen before in his old house. It's of a man and Andy sitting in a bed, Andy with the biggest smile on his face but the man's smile is sad….. Much like Andy's is now. The man on the photos around the house has always looked familiar to me but I've never met him before in person….. I thought I had never met him before. I've never knew his name was Andy too.
Andy moves closer to Amy so that he can show her the picture better. She cuddles into his side, holding me tight to her chest.
"You don't talk about granpa much, daddy." Amy says. I think back to when Andy was little, when all I ever heard about the man was what Andy's mom would sometimes tell him and Molly before bed. How could I have not known his name was Andy too.
"Well, I didn't really know him that long, sunshine." He tells her,"He… he died when I was very young." Amy squeezes me tighter. "But I know he was a good man. And I know one really important story he would have wanted you to know." He looks at Amy and me. "Do You want to hear it?"
Amy nods her little head, her curls bouncing a little because of it. She really is cute.
"All right then," Andy says putting the picture down and turning towards Amy and I, "Back when your Grandpa Andy was around your age there use to be this show called Woody's Roundup, and your grandpa loved that show. He would watch every episode, whenever it was on, he never missed one. At some point during the show, the company who made the it, and who was also a cereal company, had a special contest they did. They made it so that for every kid who sent in thirty box tops would get a special Sheriff Woody toy. And your grandpa wanted one more than anything else!"
I don't believe this…..
"However, for whatever reason, the company wasn't able to do it. Something about space toys becoming more popular or something."
I remember Pete saying something about that… kids just wanting space toys….. Something about a satellite.
"Frankly, I think they probably still could have done it, but moving on. Your grandpa, even though he only had seven box tops at the time, was determined to get his Woody doll, he just had to have one. So he took his seven box tops and wrote a letter talking about how he was Woody's number one fan, how much he loves the show, about how the only thing he wants is to just have his own Woody. He drew all over the envelope, making sure it would stand out, and mailed in his box tops and letter."... he really wanted me that much?
"The problem was that the company hadn't made any Woody dolls yet, deciding to just send the kids who entered space toys so they wouldn't be too disappointed. The only Woody doll they had was a prototype they made for the commercials, which they threw out." Those poor kids, I hope they at least enjoyed playing with the space toys…. Wait, how am I…..
"However, there was this woman, a secretary, who felt the kids would still be sad not getting their Woody dolls, so she had an idea. She took the prototype out of the trash and decided to send it to the kid she thought deserved it the most. Can you guess who that was?" Andy asked her.
"Grandpa Andy?" Amy asked, holding so tight.
"That's right, sweetie." Andy told her. He took out a second picture that was under the first. It was an old, black and white photo, of a little boy who looked just like Andy and…. And of me. "Your grandpa got his own, one of a kind, the only Woody. He loved him so much….. But your grandfather didn't get to have him long. He got… he got very sick. And at the time, when a child got as sick as he did, the parents would have to….. Would have to burn their things, so they wouldn't get sick again."
Amy, sweet little Amy, gasped in surprise, holding me as tight as her little arms could. And Andy….. Andy looked so sad. And I'm just confused. If I was the only Woody, how am I here if I was burned?! How did Andy… that Andy in the picture, holding me right there, how could he have lost me? He wanted me so much, why take me away?!
"But daddy," Amy whimpers, "How could Woody be here if grandpa's Woody was burned?!" Thank you Amy for asking the right questions… oh sweetie please don't be sad, Don't worry. Andy, what are you doing, you're making our little bell sad?!
"Now don't you worry, sunshine," Andy tells her before kissing her head, "I didn't like hearing this part either but hearing it makes having Woody here even more special... I'm going to continue the story now. Think you can handle it?" He asks her.
Our little bell looks down at me, looking at me with such sad eyes. Gosh, I never want to see her with those eyes ever again. Luckily, I don't have to for long as her eyes go from sad to determine so quickly. She nods her head, blonde curls bouncing once more.
"Woody wants to know what happened." She tells Andy.
Thank you little bell. I really do.
"Good. He deserves to know." he tells her before continuing, "You see, your great grandfather, my grandpa, couldn't bare the thought of his son losing so much. Especially when our family didn't have much to begin with, they were rather poor at the time, so he decided to save three of his sons toys. Those being this Mr. Potatohead, this Slinky Dog and..."
"Woody." Amy interrupts.
With how Amy is holding me I can see said two friends. They look just as shocked, relieved and…. Sad as I feel.
"And Woody" Andy says, smiling the first content smile I've seen on his face during this entire story. "Your grandpa wouldn't get the chance to play with them again though, due to the fact that by the time he got better he was old enough to move out and make a life for himself. He moved to Seattle where he met your grandma. They fell in love and…"
"Had you." Amy states, interrupting her father again.
"Exactly. And they were very happy but…" Andy paused, once again looking so sad and so lost.
Please cheer up my deputy.
"But your grandpa got sick again and this time… this time he didn't get better" Andy said, looking close to tears.
Amy, holding onto my arm, hugged her father. Allowing me to hug my… one of my Andy's. He hugged us back before whipping his eyes and smiling at us. He turned back to the pictures, taking from under them a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it, letting us see that it was a note, a note that also held a key.
"Before he… left, your grandpa gave me this key. He told me, "Andy, go upstairs, you're gonna find a very special little trunk. It's waited for you all these years. There's something very special from my childhood, and now it's yours. And inside is gonna be your best friend in the world." I went upstairs to get it but by the time I had gotten back to him, he was… gone." Andy tells her, still somehow smiling. "I couldn't even open the trunk until a few days later but when I did I found them… I found Woody."
I remember that day. I remember seeing him. I remember the three of us so happy to see our boy again. To play with him again, to see his smiling face looking at us. But he wasn't our Andy… he became our Andy but he wasn't the Andy we thought he was. He's still our Andy though.
Andy, this Andy sitting next to me, next to his daughter, who means so much to me and all of my friends, he takes out a chain from his pocket and put the key on it. He put it around our little bell's neck.
"I've kept this key for you just like I did these toys. I kept them so you'd always know how much I love you, and how much I love seeing you smile while you play with them. And so you'd always have something of the amazing man you can never meet in person but who will always be there for you. Always." Andy says, wrapping his arms around his daughter. She started crying.
They sit together, just holding each other. I'm in between them. My friends are around us. They all heard the story of someone they never knew… of someone three of us didn't know we knew.
"Daddy," Amy says while she stopped hugging her father but not letting go of his arms, "Can we go see grandpa?" She asks. "I want to meet him… and I think Woody and the others wants to see him again." She says while holding me up to Andy's face. He's smiling again. It's not sad anymore.
He gently pushes down her arms, get's off the bed, and tucks little Amy in again. He brushes away the hair that fell in her face away and kisses her forehead.
"I'm sure grandpa would love to meet you and see them again." he says while petting her head, "We'll go see him this weekend, first moment we can."
He gives her one last kiss goodnight, turns off the light, and goes to leave the room. He stops in the doorway, ready to close the door, and turns towards us again.
"I love you, my sunshine." He tells her.
"I love you too, daddy." Amy tells him, smiling at her father.
He smiles back and closes the door.
Amy holds me tight. She looks at Slinky and Mr. Potatohead. She gets up just a little and looks at her toys in the corner, new and old, my friends there amongst the ones she already had. She lays back down, squeezing me once.
"Goodnight grandpa," she whispers to me before falling asleep.
I waited awhile to make sure she was asleep before getting up and going to her nightstand. Slinky throws part of him over so I can climb over, Mr. Potatohead is looking down at the pictures on the nightstand with the note that Andy didn't read. I just look at them, at him. My first Andy, the one who wanted me more than anything else.
"How did we not know?" I ask out loud.
"We can't blame ourselves Woody." Slinky told as he surrounded my legs.
"They look and acted so much alike, we couldn't have known," Potatohead told me.
They both looked so depressed. I imagine I don't look much better, though. I feel a hand land on my shoulder. I looked next to me to see Buzz, the greatest friend I could ever ask for, standing there by my side. Jessie goes around us hugging my other side with Bullseye nudging my front. Mrs. Potatohead and the aliens three go to Mr. trying their best to comfort him. Rex and Hamm join us, doing what they can to comfort all three of us.
"You alright there, cowboy?" Buzz asks me, squeezing my shoulder in support.
"No… I forgot my kid Buzz. How could I have forgotten my kid." I ask him not expecting an answer.
"WE forgot him, Woody," Slinky tells me as Potato Head nods in agreement.
"No, you didn't," Buzz says gently.
"Yes we did!" I yell as quietly as I can. I can't wake Amy. "My kid needed me Buzz, and I forgot him!"
"But Woody, Buzz is right," Jessie says as she holds me tighter, "You never forgot him."
"Look at me, Cowboy," Buzz says, moving my face to look at him, "I know you, Woody. You would never forget you're kid. Every time you made Andy, our Andy, smile you thought it was him. All three of you thought the Andy who told that story tonight was the Andy who had you back then. And even then, when didn't, when you couldn't have known that he wasn't your guys' original Andy, you were still there when he Andy in the picture needed you most."
"Buzz what are you talking about, I wasn't there!" I yell at him again.
"Yes you were, because you, you three, were there when he needed you to watch his son, his Andy. That's when he needed you most, cowboy." Buzz tells me with such certainty. I look to Jessie and the others, seeing them smiling and nodding in agreement. I look at Potato Head at my side and Slinky at my feet, seeing them smile as well. Seeing them trying not to cry.
I walk a bit forward, kneel at the pictures, and look at the two. I see them both, both my Andy's, smiling at the cameras. I pick up the picture with both of them in it. I just look at them… and then I focus on HIS face. My first Andy's face.
"Well, deputy," I say to him, holding back my tears, "I did my best with our boy. I wish you could have seen what I did. I wish I could have known he wasn't you but a part of you. I wish I could tell you everything… I will tell you everything." I say with all the determination I could muster, "I will spend every moment I call telling you what an amazing kid he was and what an amazing man I've watched him become. Our little deputy gave me a new mission. I got another one of you I got to look after. And I got a lot of friends to help me do so. She's gonna be as amazing as both of you, maybe more so. If nothing else, I'll try to make her as happy" I tell him, laughing through my tears. I feel Jessie and Buzz hugging me from behind while Slinky wraps around us and the others gathering closer. "She wants to meet you. She's going to meet you and I'm gonna see you again and I'll know who you are… I'll see you soon partner."
I put down the picture. In the corner of my eye I notice the note once more. The note that hasn't been read. I pick it up and read it aloud:
"To my favorite deputy." That's what it said. And that's who he was. He was the little guy who wanted me more than anyone else. He was the young man who went too soon but kept me so I could be there for his Andy, our Andy, when he needed me. He is the man a little girl, my little bell, will remember through me. He is my first kid.
He is my favorite deputy. They are my favorite deputies.