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.".