CH. 1
"Wow, this is really it," Bonnie said, looking around her old bedroom at the belongings that remained. She reached up to play with a strand of hair, an old habit that started in her childhood. Her wedding band glinted in the late afternoon sunlight.
Her mom, Janet, handed her a cardboard box and a few trash bags. She kissed her on the forehead, smiled, and said "Take as much time as you need. I'll bring anything you're throwing away to the curb, and put the stuff you want to hang on to in the box. That'll go in the attic."
Bonnie smiled and thanked her mom, then settled onto her bed and picked through a pile of concert ticket stubs, old birthday cards, and notes passed in classes long gone by. "This will take a while," she thought.
Meanwhile, across the room on her hope chest, Bonnie's old toys-Woody, Buzz, Rex, Jessie, Ham, Slinky, and the others-did their best to keep their nerves under control. They'd known this day was coming, ever since Bonnie announced that her wonderful boyfriend Seamus had proposed. The toys all liked Seamus-when Bonnie had introduced them, Seamus had shaken every one of their hands, paws, or other corresponding appendages, while Bonnie beamed. It was unusual for a grown woman to be as attached to her toys as Bonnie was, but Bonnie was no ordinary girl. From the time they'd come into her possession, Bonnie had lived up to her promise to Andy. She always took care of them, no matte how old she got.
But now she was moving into a tiny loft apartment with Seamus, and there wouldn't be any room for them. There had been much discussion among the toys about their fate. Would they be donated again, as they'd been before coming to Bonnie? Would they be thrown away (no one believed this was likely, but it was in the back of everyone's minds)? Or would they go to the attic, a mythical place that no one ever returns from? Only time would tell.
Finally, after working her way around the room, Bonnie reached the toys' location. She picked each one up, neatening them up as necessary-brushing Jessie's hair, straightening Woody's hat, wiping a smudge off of Buzz's helmet-and placed each one lovingly into the box bound for the attic. She whispered a sad "goodbye for now" to them, before closing the box and bringing it downstairs to her mother.