Supertoys While Mummy Drinks
Supertoys While Mummy Drinks
By: S|K
Chapter 5: Root Beer
Monica held David's hand as they walked through the woods, heading
back to the car.
"Were the berries really that good?" asked David.
"Yes."
"I wish I could try them." He said sadly as he stared at the
ground.
Monica stopped and looked down at him. "David" she crouched
down in front of him, then lifted his chin with the backside of her hand
and looked into his eyes. They looked so real. In the back of her mind she
knew they weren't. He wasn't. Or at least Henry had engraved that fact into
her brain with his constant arguments with her, telling her that David was
a toy and nothing more. But in her heart she knew it was not true. She knew
from first hand experiences that David was no toy. The way he would react
to the abuse she would inflict on him was so human. The pleading and his
crying, no toy could do such things. She regretted everything she had done
to hurt him. She wanted to tell David that she didn't care what he was as
long as he was happy and above all that she loved him. But she couldn't seem
to get the words out.
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing" Monica said as she stood back up. She took
David's hand and started walking again.
After about 10 minutes they reached the car. Monica told David
to get anything that he could carry that was valuable to him.
He climbed into the back seat and started sifting through his
toys, picking out some Hot Wheels, a couple of little green army men, marbles,
and anything else small enough to fit into the pockets of his overalls.
Meanwhile, Monica took the papers dealing with the car and stuffed them into
her purse. She knew of a truck stop just a couple miles down the highway.
She could call Henry from there.
Monica , still clutching David's hand, walked through the automatic
sliding doors of the truck stop and headed straight for a phone. David watched
her as she nervously picked up the receiver and started dialing up the house.
She stood there, tapping her foot against the tiled floor. After several
rings a voice appeared on the other end.
"Hello."
Monica hesitated and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Darling.
Hi." She started to laugh.
" Where are you?! Are you ok?! I called home to check on you
and all I got was Teddy, complaining that Martin ripped off one of his arms
and was sucking on his ear.. or something like that."
"Yes. Yes. I'm fine."
"Good."
"So is David."
"Oh"
Monica could tell Henry didn't seem to care about David's condition.
He never did. Finally, she told him where they were at and about the car
wreck. He didn't seem to take it very well. She held the phone away from
her ear as he started yelling through the phone. A few minutes later he had
calmed down enough to tell her he would pick her up.
After hanging up the phone Monica took David to the A&W
Root Beer stand that was located inside the truck stop and got herself a
root beer. She would of preferred a real beer, but she figured it would be
better if she didn't drink any.
She helped David into a nearby booth then sat down next to him.
He watched her as she was about to take a sip of her drink. She noticed he
was watching her.
"I can't drink this." She said suddenly.
"Why not?" David asked curiously.
"It's not fair to you." She replied as she slowly stirred the
straw around the cup.
" I don't mind."
" It doesn't seem right."
She slid the drink across the table then glanced out the
window.
"When will Henry come for us?"
"Soon."
She tore her eyes away from the window and looked down at David.
He was setting up on his knees and was rolling one of his little cars back
and forth across the table top. Monica soon got bored with his repetitive
action and went back to looking out the window.
Finally after what seemed to be hours, she saw Henry come in
and she called to him. He was very relieved that she was all right but he
didn't seem to notice David.
"You want this?" She said, pointing over to the root beer. "I
didn't really touch it."
" Uh.. sure."
Henry helped her out of the booth then grabbed the cup. "Do
you need any help?"
" I'm ok. Really."
She stood up and took David's hand. "Come along, darling." She
said with a smile.
"Okay." He said cheerfully as he grabbed his car and stuck
it back into a pocket.
David watched the cars go by. He could see better since he was
setting in Monica's lap. She had never really let him set in her lap before,
but now she didn't seem to care. Henry was a bit shocked that Monica was
letting David set in her lap, but he didn't say anything. In fact he didn't
say anything until they got home.
As soon as he got inside, David ran off to look for Teddy. Monica
was to follow him when she felt Henry touch her shoulder.
"Monica." He took a deep breath. "We need to talk."
David went into the nursery and saw Teddy setting in the rocking
chair, sewing his arm. "Hello Teddy."
The bear looked up. "Hello David." He said as he put the needle
up.
David started to ask Teddy why he was sewing himself up, but
before he got half the question out he heard some yelling form downstairs.
He quickly ran back out and into the hallway.
" David didn't do it!" Monica cried.
" There you go protecting that toy again!" Henry yelled back
from across the living room.
" He's not a toy!"
" You're talking nonsense. You've been drinking again, haven't
you?" He said as he walked towards her.
" As matter of fact. No."
"Damn it! Monica, we have gone through this before."
Monica back away from Henry as he walked closer to her. She
so overcome with emotion she couldn't think. She didn't know what to do except
run. So she did, up the stairs, to her room. She didn't seem to notice the
little child and teddy bear hiding in the shadows of the hallways, watching
her.
Monica sat on the edge of the bed, crying.
"Mummy?"
She looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes and saw David
slowly walking towards her. She didn't say anything, but took him into her
arms.
"Is it a game?" He asked, a bit surprised that she was holding
him like she would with Martin, rocking him gently in her arms. She never
did that before.
"No. It's not a game." Her voice was all choked up.
She was silent, then suddenly she whispered, so tenderly into
David's ear "Keep me safe.".