Jessica stood and jumped into the grass, which all at once was taller than she was. Had she been wearing a hat, not even the top of it would have been visible. Turning left, Jessica pushed her way through the neglected blades, knowing her clothing was getting wet. She heard a quiet growl of thunder.
Then, suddenly the thunder sputtered and roared into mechanical life. Jessica didn't know what the noise was anymore; she just knew it was not thunder. And that it was coming closer. What she didn't know was the direction it was coming from.
Jessica stood in the tall grass, hands nervously entwined as she tried to locate the strange noise. All at once she didn't have to try. A moving thing appeared, ripping the grass into a bunch of pieces. Jessica's curse was muffled by the deafening roar as she ran as quickly as her legs would carry her. None too soon she popped out of the forest-like lawn, sprinting to a nearby patio and diving under the furniture. Not understanding what a lawn mower was, she wrapped her arms around her legs and looked at the man-propelled object with growing wonder.
The man would not come to the brickwork; he was loyally staying on the yard. Feeling a little safer Jessica crawled to the other side of the table and stood, allowing the furniture to hide her from him.
It seemed he did not like living things.
Jessica ran alongside the building, where she came to an abrupt stop at the small cluster of people standing outside of the insurance building. They looked at her but continued to socialize to one another; and feeling a rush of relief Jessica went to the edge of the sidewalk and waited for traffic to slow down.
Perhaps the toys' secret being limitlessly divulged was not so horrible. Unless, she thought quickly, the strange machine had been trying to capture me.
No, impossible. The man pushing the machine could not have seen her. Or at least, that is what she preferred to think. She paused on the other side of the road and looked cluelessly on, wondering which direction Sunnyside was in and which direction Mary had taken.
She should have stayed up by the window and looked at the land marks. No, she should have asked Mike or Sulley to take her to a door that would lead to Michigan. Feeling stupid, Jessica did the only thing she could think of. She turned back and approached the group of humans. One of them wore long pants, and she tugged on the legging, effectively interrupting the conversation.
The human knelt. "Uh, what's up?" she asked.
"Can you tell me how to get to Sunnyside Daycare?"
"Sure, you're almost there. You see that red truck?" she said, pointing towards civilization. "Go that way until you come to the corner of Asphalt and Stoney, and follow Stoney; the daycare will have a big sign and a rainbow on the door."
Jessica nodded politely. "Thank you."
They parted ways and Jessica carefully crossed the road.
-0-0-0-0-
For a driver, it would have taken roughly ten minutes. For a pedestrian, perhaps twenty.
Almost an hour later Sunnyside was in sight, and forgetting all about her fatigue Jessica started running. As she neared the crosswalk, she saw a new button on the pole. Much lower down than all the other buttons, it read TOY PUSH.
Jessica stood on her tiptoes and reached up to push the button; and somehow, it affected everything. A sign came on that read TOY CROSSING, and all the cars got red lights.
Jessica ran across the road, hopped up onto the sidewalk and ran up to the daycare. She knocked on the glass to get the attention of the janitor, who opened the door for her.
"Thanks," Jessica said before she ran down to Room 17.
It was empty.
She slowly walked inside. There were no children. There were no toys.
"Woody?" she called. "Buzz?"
Silence. Sighing, Jessica turned to see Buzz in the doorway. But it was the broken Buzz from the waiting room.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Not you. I have to find my friends." Jessica walked past him.
"I can help." His boots clunked on the linoleum as he followed her.
"What about your mission?"
"Sadly no one believes me."
Jessica spared him a brief look. "You don't seem too upset."
"If you didn't mean me, there's another Buzz here, correct?"
"There should be."
"He will definitely believe me. He has to."
Jessica decided to ignore him. "Woody!" she called again. "Buzz!"
"Buzz!" Buzz echoed.
A door opened down the hall and Buzz poked his head out to look at them. Seeing an old friend and a mirror of himself he took a step out into the hall, speaking over his shoulder. "You've got to see this."
The broken Buzz was distracted when another Jessie came walking out of the room. The two Buzzes and the two Jessies approached each other.
Finally Buzz extended a hand. "Good to see you again, cowgirl."
Jessica shook his hand. "You too. All of you."
"Hey, you look good!" Woody said, and hastily added, "Even better than before."
"So," Buzz said to the broken version of himself. He smiled sardonically. "Who are you?"
"Very funny."
"Listen, around here everyone calls me Jessica," she told the broken Buzz. "Would it be okay if we called you Buzzard?"
"Uh, yes. Yes, that would be helpful. Listen, trouper," he said to Buzz, "I need your assistance regarding a serious matter."
"Why me?"
"Because no one else would understand. It's about Zurg."
Buzz looked back at the toys who claimed to be his friends. "I told you he was real!"
"Ah, this is too much," Hamm said, and as he walked away he took most of the toys with him.
"Look, here's the problem. If Zurg doesn't know he's a toy, like us, he could very well be on a mission to destroy the planet. We need to confront him."
"Huh? Huh? I told you. That's all the confirmation YOU need!" Mr. Potato Head cut in. "It's your turn to deal when you get back." He walked away.
"Well, that...that does sound serious."
Jessica rolled her eyes as she followed the rest of the toys, pushing the door mostly shut behind her.
"So what's the deal with Buzzard?" Barbie asked. "Do you - like - love him?"
"Aha, couldn't get enough of him, could you? Buzz got in your head," Woody added.
"No! And shut up," Jessica told them, motioning subtly to Jessie.
They shut up.
"Despite your...overwhelming welcome party, I'm still glad to be back," Jessica continued. "I can't wait to be played with. What day is it?"
"It's Friday."
Jessica sighed at her luck. "Of course it is."
"You waited this long," Mrs. Potato Head answered. "What's two more days?"
"Including tonight, fifty-two hours," Jessica shrugged.
"We'll play with you! I'll get Buzz to deal you in," Jessie answered as she approached. "You can be on my team."
Jessica's eyes passed around the toys she had come to love. "I know I am."
She followed the players to the table and knelt on the floor, waiting for their dealer.
"So he seems to really like you," Jessie observed.
"Yeah, I guess. He began stalking me at Mary's house. I don't know what to think."
"If he followed you that long, he might do anything for you," Slinky said.
"Look, can we talk about something else, please?"
"Like what?" Ken asked.
"I don't know, I personally think we've talked about everything," Woody answered.
Jessica halted, looking up at first Woody, and then Jessie.
"Well," she grumped. "I know one topic that's going to interest you."
"Try me." Woody confidently folded his arms.
"You're Jessie's brother and the Prospector's son."
A long silence followed that statement.
Finally Woody began standing. "Well, that's just perfect. I threw my own dad into the trash compactor."
"No, you never touched him!" Rex said.
"And technically that one was my dad," Jessica added helpfully.
Woody looked at her. "I'm sorry."
Unable to say anything more, he walked slowly away.