"Mary Gibbs?" Jessica asked again.
Mary thawed. "What was in that coffee?" she asked, and when she looked at the driver her voice went a few pitches higher. "Eyes on the road!" she shrieked, and he looked at the abandoned stretch of road ahead. Mary looked back at Jessica in amazement. "How...How do you know my name?"
"I remembered James," Jessica said simply.
"So...you were mine."
The man alternated between looking at them and looking at the road.
"Did James know a...little guy named Mike?" Jessica asked.
"Yes..."
"Was Mike, uh...missing an eye?"
"Yes!" Mary's enthusiasm faded. "Guess you are too. Looks like you've been through the shredder."
Jessica tried to understand the odd expression.
"I think I can fix you," Mary murmured, tilting Jessica from side to side.
"Really? I wanted to hear that for almost fifty years," Jessica answered, as Mary plopped her onto the dashboard.
The driver looked at Mary with raised eyebrows. "You told me you were thirty-four!"
Jessica's good eye went wide, going from one person to the next.
He put on the brakes, stopping on the abandoned road. "Get out."
"What? Are you joking?"
"Liars don't hitch!"
Mary huffily let herself out, taking Jessica with her. She closed the car door and he sped away, turning at an intersection.
-0-0-0-0-
Daylight returned to Sunnyside long before Buzz did, but finally he trudged wearily into Room 17, sighing and leaning with a clatter against the wall.
"Buzz!" Woody's voice made him jump. "Hey, welcome back."
"Did I miss anything?"
"What about me?" Jessie asked, walking toward him.
"Of course." He took her hand, making her smile.
"You look beat-up," she observed.
"Oh, it was a long walk." He sank with a squeak of his armor to the floor, then grimaced and rubbed his knee. "Oh, that's not good. Think I might need to be greased." He stood up. "Hey, Stretch! Does the repair spa have any WD-40?"
Jessie's giggle was muffled as she followed him. Woody watched them go, a slight smile on his face. The sound of the daycare monitor suddenly arriving had the toys scattering to safety. Eric sat in his chair, putting his cup down on his desk, and his eyes roamed over the toys.
"It's Sunday," he suddenly called. "We all know I wouldn't be here if I didn't know your secret."
With his back to him, Woody thawed, looking surprised.
"You think I didn't notice, when a toy wasn't how a kid left it?" he continued. "I once got a Ken doll instead of my grape soda. I found a toy tied up and gagged inside a drawer; you think I didn't wonder what that was about? So let's just drop the pretense."
The room was quiet, until a creak shattered the stillness. Woody's eyes flashed over to see Stretch peering timidly out of the repair spa. Barbie sat up and Woody finally allowed himself to turn around.
"How'd'ja find out?" Slink asked, and Woody wanted to slap him with a newspaper.
"Friend told me. Showed me a video of..." He looked at Jessie and pointed. "Her."
Every toy looked at Jessie, who stared at the man. If toys had hearts, hers would have been pounding.
"Come on!" Buzz suddenly yelled, as he raced for the dor. "She could be in trouble!"
The toys ran after him. "All toys are in trouble, you lunatic!" Mr. Potato Head called, as he tailed Buzz.
The toys burst out into a miserable rain, stopping in the doorway.
"Oh," Mrs. Potato Head groaned. "It's time to get soggy."
"Okay, you stay here," Woody snapped. "Kick up your feet, relax, and have a lovely chat with Eric. Come on, Buzz." He stomped out into the rain, and Buzz shut his helmet, striding after him.
"Woody, wait," Buzz shouted, over a thunderclap. "It'll take all day and night. Again. That could be too long."
Woody looked at him, then turned his eyes to the daycare. "I've got an idea," he said, and ran back into the building. He disappeared into a nearby room, opening a toybox and disappearing from the waist up inside of it. When he emerged he set a toy plane and its remote control on the carpet. "Check the batteries," he ordered, and dove back into the toybox. He sifted quickly through the sea of toys, hearing the distinct whir of an engine behind him. Finding a remote controlled helicopter, he grabbed it and placed it on the floor, then dove in further looking for the remote control.
The lid fell on top of him, and his muffled yelp grabbed his friends' attention. Buzz went over to Woody's kicking legs and lifted the lid. Woody stood up and handed him the remote. "Battery compartment is empty, just a sec. Hold the top."
Buzz kept the toybox lid from closing again until Woody emerged with a pack of batteries.
"So we're flying there?" Rex asked.
"Flying where?" Jessie asked.
"This is nuts," Mr. Potato Head chimed in. He grabbed the batteries Woody handed him and put them into the compartment.
A honk distracted them, and they turned to see Jessie smiling at them from the top of a remote controlled monster truck. She leaned a little to give the remote to Mrs. Potato Head, who climbed inside. Her husband and alien babies climbed in after her, and the motor revved.
"Follow the helicopter," Woody commanded. "It's going to be a long trip!"
Slink jumped over the plane so that his slinky went in front of one wing and behind the other, and bit his own tail. Holding onto one of Slink's paws, Woody directed the plane into the air and through the open doorway. Standing near the outside door, Big Baby cocked his head to the side, cooing in wonder at their outrageous antics. He held the door open and watched the remote controlled vehicles and their toy passengers fly in single file into the oncoming storm.
Sitting in the box of the remote controlled monster truck, Bullseye lifted his head and looked at Jessie, who patted his nose. The toy helicopter zipped in front of them, and Slink looked down at the toy plane and toy truck that followed them. Moving in single file the toy vehicles jerked roughly offroad, sloshing through a mud puddle.
"Speed bump!" Mrs. Potato Head shouted, and Jessie's whoop of delight carried clear through the parking lot.
"I thought my flying days were over!" Woody shouted, as he steered the plane with one hand. Suddenly his hat flew off and floated gracefully, quietly - until it smacked into the blades of the plane. With a loud, horrible sound it was ripped in circles before smacking into Rex's face.
His whimper was muffled. Barbie lifted the hat and smiled at him.
Tied to the plane he controlled by a skipping rope he had cut and tied around his wings, Buzz looked through his helmet at the passing land below.
"Are we close?" Rex's voice carried to him on the wind.
"Nowhere near!" he shouted back.
Down below, Jessie looked down at the puddle forming in the box. She began kicking the barrier, until it fell open and allowed the water to drain. Coming up behind her, Hamm and Ken did the same thing. "Focus on the helicopter!" Hamm shouted, and Ken looked ahead. He yelped and pulled on the lever, swerving to narrowly miss a rock on the road. Up ahead, Jessie looked back at them, holding onto her flapping hat with both hands. When she turned to look ahead her wool braid fluttered wildly. Something about it made Ken chuckle.
Buzz lifted his eyes to the sky, which was slowly turning black. The early morning light was disappearing fast, replaced by sheet lightning that rumbled across the clouds. As Buzz continued to lead, with the two trucks following him as quickly as they were able, he couldn't deny he felt something would go horribly wrong.