"So who was it?!" Radio called up to the phone, which had been returned to its mount in the wall. The phone had to be placed receiver-down, so that the other appliances could only see its silvery back - or rather bottom, since they all had to look up at it from the floor.
Radio waved his antenna and jumped up and down, calling to the phone. "Why are you so curious? People have called the Master and Mistress before," Toaster interrupted him.
"Do you know that phone has been here the whole time since we moved in, and never spoken to us once? I think it's conceited!"
"Maybe it's mouth is covered by the mount, did that ever cross your mind?" interjected Kirby as he rolled over to his friends.
The kitchen appliances all stood underneath the phone's mount and looked up at it. The phone was silent. Kirby tossed his cord up and lassoed the phone's short, stiff antenna. The phone startled as Kirby pulled it away from the wall, "What wha-OOOOOHH!" The vacuum pulled a little too hard, but luckily the others grabbed Blanky's corners and used him as a safety net to catch the phone.
"OH!" it exclaimed as it slightly bounced. "What did you do that for!?" The friends let go of Blanky, allowing both him and the phone to stand up. The phone was block-shaped with a slight wedge at the bottom end, where the humans talked into. Both ends had many small holes, and at the top on the right side was a short antenna. Between the two receivers were twelve buttons. It had no apparent eyes or mouth.
"Sorry about that," said Toaster stepping forward, "but we've been wanting to meet you. How come you never answered when we tried to call to you?"
The phone relaxed a little, "Sorry, but my mount covers up my receivers. I can't hear anything, and no one can hear me. And I don't dare try to move because it's a long drop!" The phone had a feminine voice.
"Oh, sorry about that!" piped up Radio. "I thought you were being smug!"
The phone shook it's "head" before introducing herself, "My name's Telly."
Baby Robby was holding onto Blanky in his car seat, staring wide-eyed out the window. Eventually the car came to a stop in front of a wood cabin, where a woman was seated expectantly on the front porch. She was about the same height and size as Rob and Chris, but a few years older. She was blonde and wore blue clothes. "Hi!" she greeted the family as they climbed out of the car.
"Hi, are you Jenny?" responded Rob as Chris held Robby, who was still clutching Blanky.
"Yep, come on in!" Jenny held open the door as they all filed inside. The living room of the cabin had been equipped with a futon and a reclining chair, both of which stood next to a round coffee table. A television set stood before the futon, against the wall. The air conditioner had been removed from the window. A lamp and a combination radio-cd player-kassette tape player stood on the table, as well as a cleaned and polished gravy boat. "Here it is," said Jenny as she handed it to Rob.
The veterinarian held the object up to his eyes, reminiscing about his childhood. "My Grandma used to pretend it was a real boat to get us to eat our potatoes and stuff," he chuckled slightly.
"Did you want to look around, see if there's anything else you left behind?" asked Jenny, apparently unused to having strangers around.
Robby dropped Blanky as his parents carried him upstairs, Jenny following after she had placed the electric blanket on the futon. As soon as they were gone, Blanky sat up, "Hi! I used to live here!"
The t.v. screen switched on, a Japanese-looking woman appearing. "I'm Toshiba," she introduced herself. The lamp, a vase-shaped base on four feet with curved handles and a wicker-like shade grew eyes and a mouth on her shade. The radio beside her grew eyes between his speakers. "Those are Lightla and Ray," continued Toshiba.
Blanky looked over at the empty window, "Where's Air Conditioner?"
Lightla pointed towards the kitchen, "Our Mistress moved him to the kitchen. It gets warmer in there."
Blanky excused himself as he scooted off the futon and towards the kitchen. There he found the old refrigerator, an oven, a toaster with four slots, a dishwasher, a black microwave oven, a coffee percolator, a juicer, and the air conditioner sitting in the window. "Hi, Air Conditioner!" the blanket waved, scooting closer.
The a/c opened his eyes, "Blanket? I thought you and the others were long gone!"
"You guys know each other?" asked the juicer, leaning over the counter to look at Blanky.
"He used to live here," answered the a/c without much emotion.
Just then a voice came from the hallway, "Hey blanket, the humans are coming back!" Blanky excused himself once again as he quickly returned to the futon in the living room.
"Have you some lunch before ya head back!" said Jenny as she led her visitors to the kitchen. Chris detoured to grab Blanky. In the kitchen, Jenny shoved a tray of sandwiches and cookies to her guests. "Didn't think to ask if ya had any allergies," the blonde apologized.
The family ate eagerly until Robby threw a crumbly cookie down on the floor. "I'm so sorry," mumbled Chris as she stared at the mess at her feet.
" 'S'okay, lemme just grab the vacuum," Jenny walked into the hall, reaching into the space under the stairs and returning with a hand-held vacuum. It was the size of a small cat with four wheels, black plastic casing, and a long cord sticking out from the handle, looking like a strange tail. It looked old, and had scratches, chips and dents all over the casing. The blonde plugged it into the outlet Toaster used to occupy, then vacuumed the cookie.
"I've been wanting a vacuum like that," Chris mentioned when Jenny had switched it off. "The one we have isn't really meant to do stairs."
"Well here, why don't ya take this one," Jenny offered it to Chris after she had unplugged it. "My friends gave me another one with a hose, so I don't really need this one anymore." She waved off Chris and Rob's objections. So, when the family left, they took the gravy boat as well as a "new" vacuum cleaner, much to Blanky's anxiety.