The Tonberry With No Name
The kitchen door opened unexpectedly from behind him, making Danny jump and almost drop his mug of fresh coffee on the floor. Turning quickly, he caught a glimpse of his teenage daughter Taylor, as she sheepishly stumbled into the house carrying a full looking duffle bag.
"Hi, Dad," she squeaked.
Danny glanced at the wall clock, it was too darn early for this. Putting on his most stern expression, the one that always caused his late wife to snicker at him behind her hand, he turned to his only child and asked, "Where have you been this early in the mor[yawn]rning?"
Taylor looked down at the floor looking abashed and began mumbling.
Danny sighed. "Taylor," he said gently. "Please look up at me and speak clearly. I do enough navel gazing for the both of us, yah." Danny smiled as Taylor giggled at his bad joke and atrocious Hawaiian accent. "So what's going on?"
"Nothing much Dad," she began, "I just went for a run down the road to the park to meet my friend, Pa... Sabah. She was dropping off some things to me for a school project on her way to work."
"Oh, what things?" Danny asked looking pointedly at her bag that was now on a nearby chair.
Taylor looked nervous for a moment then smiled, "Go ahead and look, I'm going to take a quick shower before school." Before he could reply, she took off upstairs to the bathroom and locked the door.
Danny took a breath before his curiosity got the better of him and unzipped the bag. He let it out slowly along with a light chuckle as he took in the cat plushy in his hand. It was a black cat with a white stomach wearing a gold crown and red cape, of all things. He chuckled at the image of the superhero cat plushy Taylor had brought home, then looked at the other two toys in the bag. One looked like a cross between a cactus and a man caught in mid running motion with an orange flower on the top of it's head. The other gave Danny pause for a moment, it looked like a green lizard in a monks robe carrying a rubber knife in one hand and a old fashioned lantern in the other.
"What an odd bunch," Danny mumbled, before placing the cat doll down on the bag and turning back to making his breakfast. Checking the time once again he clicked the radio on to find out the local news.
*bees, is our top story this morning. This happened not more then thirty
minutes ago in suburban Brockton Bay, as the famous 80's actor was set
to testify for the defense in the Canary Trials as a character witness for
Ms. McPhee. Witnesses say he was taking a morning walk in a local park
before his turn in court later today when a young teenage girl ran into him
causing him to stumble into the side of a storage shed, before she turned
the corner and disappeared. Moments later the infamous Gold Blur appeared
from around the corner the girl had turned and dodging around the now
recovered actor, clipping the storage shed in it's haste before disappearing
out of the park. The now damaged shed, released an angry swarm of bees
from their hibernation which immediately attacked the unfortunate actor.
The PRT is searching for any information on the teenage girl and her possible
connection to the Gold Blur. She is described as tall, gangly with long dark
hair in a blue hoody and jeans. Once again our top story, actor Henry Winkler,
covered in bees.
Now to the international news. Reports of a deranged man in a red costume
are coming in from Russia, as whoever he is cuts a swath of mayhem through
the country heading south towards China. One reporter says the menace keeps
repeating the same name over and over again. Arthur Jimmy Chong. It's said...*
Danny turned the radio off, shaking his head at the absurdity of the news today, almost like a bad comedy sometimes. Turning to the table with now cooked breakfast, he sat down across from the three dolls that were sitting on the table and began to eat. Half way through the meal, he began to think that there was something he was missing as he looked at the dolls. As ideas were starting to turn, Taylor stomped down the stairs moving quickly.
"I'm late! Bye Dad!" Taylor said as she quickly gathered up the dolls and ran out the door.
Danny chuckled as he thought about how in a rush his tall, gangly, dark haired daughter was. He should buy her a new sweater, that blue one she was wearing was getting a little thread-bare. Danny stopped chuckling to himself and almost choked on his now cold coffee when he looked down at the chair Taylor's bag had been on, and saw the large yellow feather.