1: Christmas 1995

From the desktop, Hamm stared out the bedroom window to the yard below. Even though it had finally stopped snowing about an hour ago, the entire street was blanketed in white. Three humans, bundled in snowsuits, made their way to the family van. Even from the second floor, Andy could be heard laughing and shrieking as he scooped up handfuls of snow to toss in the air.

As the Davis trio piled into the minivan and pulled into the street, Hamm waddled to the desk edge. "They're gone!" he called to the toys on the floor. "Over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house they go!"

Woody had been sitting by the bed but now he stood up. "If it's anything like the last two Christmases, they probably won't come back until this evening." He turned to Buzz beside him. "I guess…we might as well get this over with."

Buzz looked unsure. "Do you think it's safe?"

"Of course not! But we don't really have much of a choice, do we? Besides," he stuck his fingers in his belt loops and shrugged. "I wanna see for myself what we're dealing with."

Rex stood with the other toys. Holding his claws together tightly, he whimpered, "You mean the new dog right?"

"No Einstein-asaurus! He means Andy's new box of a hundred and twenty crayons!" Potato Head snapped.

Buzz ignored Potato Head. "Sarge and the rest of troops saw it. He said it was a big dog."

"Any dog looks like a big dog to Sarge," Bo said. "Andy said over the monitor it was a puppy."

"Yeah but what kind? There's a huge difference between a Chihuahua and a, I don't know, Neapolitan mastiff or something." The toys stared at Woody blankly. "You know, a Neapolitan mastiff? They're big and black and drooly and they weigh like three hundred pounds?"

"Somehow I don't think there's a Neapolitan mastiff under our tree right now," said Bo.

Rex let out a shriek. "What if it's a pit bull like Scud?"

"Scud was a bull terrier."

"I don't care what Scud was!" said Woody. "We're not dealing with Scud! At least," he added under his breath. "I hope we're not."

Buzz stepped forward. "Woody's right. We need to face this problem head on. So," he looked around. "Who's coming with us?"

Silence. After a moment, Bo stepped forward. "I'll go."

"Very funny. Anyone else?"

Bo narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Woody opened his mouth to speak, but seeing the look on Bo's face he swallowed his words. Instead, he took her gently by the arm and moved away from the other toys. "Look, we don't know what we're dealing with yet and…I just think you'd be safer up here."

"I wouldn't be in any more danger than you or Buzz."

"I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing will happen to me. I'm going with you."

"But…"

"Don't 'but' me!"

"Ooooh!" came the chorus from Andy's other toys, who had snuck up behind them. Woody jumped, embarrassed. He turned back but Bo was already walking toward the door.

"Well," said Potato Head. "If the Princess can handle it, I certainly can."

"Me too," said Hamm.

"Count me in!"

"Wait for me!"

Woody and Buzz watched as Andy's toys hustled to the door. Buzz coughed. "She really doesn't like being told what to do, huh?"

"Who asked you?" Woody grouched. Still he stared after Bo as she disappeared out the bedroom door, anxiety creasing his features.

"Woody, are you coming?"

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah, I'm right behind you."

As the toys walked down the stairs, Slinky could be heard saying to Rex, "Lady was a true class act, but Perdita had style too."

"I like Goofy," said Rex. "Goofy's funny…"

"Who wants to hear some fascinating canine trivia?" Hamm suddenly called out. There were groans but he went on, "It's a well-known fact that dogs were first domesticated by cavemen tens of thousands of years ago but did you know that a dog's bite can exert up to two hundred pounds of pressure per square inch…" Rex screamed.

Buzz rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Hamm, please!"

Woody began to lag behind. Bo was beside him and he tried to give her a smile. "Hey." She didn't answer, and he sighed, running his hand under his hat. "Look, I'm…I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to be a jerk, all right?" She looked at him. "It's just that, I know what it's like to be around an aggressive dog. Scud tried to chew me to bits and if anything happened to you…"

They stopped walking and she turned to face him. "But you said it yourself. We're not dealing with Scud."

"Well I've been wrong before." Without thinking he touched his arm. He had never told anyone about how loose the stitches were after Scud had tried to rip him from the moving van, but he supposed it didn't matter…

Bo placed her hand on his, breaking him out of his thoughts. "You are sweet," she said. "But I'm fine. How bad can one puppy be?"

"Hey Sheriff!" The two looked down the stairs where their fellow playthings were already standing by the living room door. Potato Head was looking at them scornfully. "Haven't you already had enough kissy face for one day? Get your butts down here!"

Woody turned five shades of red and tried to hide under his hat. "That jerk!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Don't pay him any mind," said Bo. "Let's just go take a look at that dog."