3:
The field Woody was standing in seemed endless. All around him, sheep bounced and rolled in the waving, pink grass like helium balloons. She was standing in the distance with her back to him. "Bo!"
She didn't turn as he ran to her. "Bo…" By the time the Cowboy reached her, he was out of breath. Still, he gulped air and forced himself to speak. "Bo…I love you." She didn't move. "Bo?"
Finally, she turned and gave him a sad smile. "Woody, it's too late…" Suddenly Jessie appeared. With a naughty grin she slung an arm around Bo.
"That's right, Woody! She's my girlfriend now!"
Woody bolted up in bed gasping. He groaned. Just a dream. Lying back down on the pillow next to Bonnie, he wiped his forehead.
"Are you okay?" He turned his head to left. Trixie was looking at him with concern. "Are you okay?" she repeated.
"I'm fine, Trixie. I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
"Nah, I'm waiting for two AM. Rex and I got an online playdate set up with Velocistar and LittleFoot88."
Woody inched himself up slightly so he could see the clock. It was one forty-five.
"You were talking in your sleep," Trixie continued. "Was it a nightmare?"
"Not really…" He paused. "Maybe at the end."
Trixie sat down on her haunches and gave him a friendly smile. "I know you're not much of a gamer," she said. "But whaddya say you join us for a friendly game of smashing trolls and beating the daylights outta orcs? Come on, it'll be fun!"
Woody stared at the dark ceiling. He knew that he really should just try to get back to sleep. He wanted to be at his best for playtime tomorrow. But what if he had another dream? What if this one was worse? This time Bo could end up married to Potato Head!
"I'll just watch."
Trixie clapped him on the shoulder with her front right foot. "That's the spirit!"
Woody watched as Rex and Trixie huddled together in front of the brightly lit computer screen. From his vantage point, he had made a nest out of a few doll blankets so he could be comfortable.
Rex wiggled impatiently. "Where are they? Shouldn't they be online by now?"
"Come on Rex, you know LittleFoot88 is always late. He probably fell asleep again. He'll show."
"But Velocistar isn't on either!"
Trixie frowned. Positioning herself over the keyboard, she began to type with her feet. "What are you doing?"
"Checking my email," she answered. "Look, there's a message from Velocistar."
"Read it! Read it!" Rex shrieked.
"'Trixie and Rex, can't play tonight. Rodney has the flu. Gotta stay with him. Have fun and smash some ugly trolls for me! Velocistar'" She sat back.
"Well, now what?" asked Woody. "Can't you just play without him?"
"Well, sure. There are tons of other players."
"Strangers! Human strangers!" said Rex. "What if they ask questions about human things like algebra and service contracts? How would we answer? They'd figure out we're toys! The very fabric of toy-human relations would be destroyed! It would be chaos!"
Trixie tilted her head. "You know what we could do?" Once again, she launched herself over the keyboard and began to click away. "Let's look at Bonnie's stuff!"
Woody straightened up. "What?"
"Bonnie's got a folder full of webpages that she's saved! Let's look at them until LittleFoot gets on!"
"If he gets on," Rex whimpered.
Trixie scrolled through the folder. "Hmm, 'Girl Games Magic'…'Jellybean Flipflop'…Ooh, sounds yummy…"
Woody leaned back in his blanket nest. He tipped his hat over his face and closed his eyes.
"'Doctor Marcella's Doll Hospital.' Wow, she's got a bunch of these videos saved!" Trixie said.
"Why?"
"Silly, it's probably because Bonnie wants to go into toy repair like Grandpa Geri! Look Rex, 'Eye replacement for a vintage Winnie doll…'" Rex yelped. "Maybe we'll start with something less gory. Let's see, stain removal, limb repair, voice box restoration, porcelain doll cleaning…"
Woody startled so violently that his hat nearly fell off. "What? What was that last one?"
"Porcelain doll cleaning…" Woody was already at the keyboard. He pushed Trixie out of the way. "Hey!"
"Woody, what are you doing?" Rex questioned as the Cowboy leaned over and clicked on the video link. Immediately an older woman with wavy long grey hair held back by a purple headband and round purple glasses appeared on the screen.
"Welcome Friends. I'm Doctor Marcella and today on the Doll Hospital, I'll be teaching you how to clean your delicate porcelain, china, and glass dolls. Our first patient is a beautiful little lady who has spent some time in storage, and was eventually bought at a yard sale. As a result, she's quite dirty…"
Woody's heart seized.
Doctor Marcella held up the doll for the camera. "Say hello to Baby Buttons!" Woody felt his hopes dash and plummet all the way down to his boots. The filthy doll on screen was a chubby toddler with dimpled cheeks.
He sat back, feeling quite stupid. Of course it wasn't her. What would've been the odds of it being her anyway? Probably a billion to one. Maybe even a trillion.
"Wow, she's really good," said Trixie as Doctor Marcella used a chemical sponge to wipe away grime from the doll's surface.
Woody just sighed as the video began to wrap up. "…And there you have it! Baby Buttons is clean as a button again!"
"I've never heard the phrase 'clean as a button' before," said Rex.
Onscreen, Doctor Marcella held the doll up for the camera. "Don't forget to visit our website, linked below! We're located in Berkeley, California for all your doll and toy repair needs!"
"That was fun!" Trixie said as the video cut to a still photo. "Let's watch another one!"
"No eye surgery please…"
"Whaddya say, Woody?" Trixie turned to him. "Woody? Are you okay?"
The Cowboy was staring at Doctor Marcella's final picture. In it, she stood in front of a wall, filled with hundreds of dolls, toys, and bears on shelves. The bright white light from the computer burned into the Cowboy's face as his eyes fixated on a spot right behind Doctor Marcella's hip. From behind her peeked out the rounded side of a white skirt. A white hoop skirt with pink polka dots and a lace ruffle bottom.
"Bo."
