Chica shoved the rack of pizza pans and plastic cups onto the floor with a roar of laughter. No more confusing schoolwork, no more mean teachers, and no more Mommy to get mad!
She was Chica the chicken now, and no one could tell her what to do. No more marching numbers and letters she got made fun of by her peers for not understanding even though she was going into the first grade and should by now. No more dowdy, frilly dresses Mommy would smack her for spilling juice on, and certainly, no more tight pigtails that made her scalp hurt.
Being the little girl who had to be pretty and poised and listen to every adult she met, Chica kicked the fallen rack and then moved her segmented body in order to make a sound reminiscent of a fart.
Her mother would've slapped her upside the head and wildly sprayed perfume if she did that in public.
Because little girls with green ribbons in their perfect blonde pigtails didn't do that.
At least, not good little girls who exclusively wore Daisy Kingdom dresses and lace anklet socks that were one day going to marry a rich doctor or lawyer.
Just like Mommy, who tossed sweet baby Jane and her lace anklet socks and green ribbons into the back of the car with her high-school aged siblings and big brother Chet, who could do no wrong and played college football and had been found last year with his sobbing girlfriend.
Behind closed doors Janie had heard Mommy and Daddy say that the nice lady dating Chet who'd always take Janie to McDonald's or to GoodWill to buy what she liked, (Currently a stained Rainbow Brite tee-shirt and a smushed My Little Pony with ratty yellow hair, not the pretty one with a fancy sticker still in the box collecting dust on a shelf high above her head she'd gotten for Christmas.) was just a whore trying to ruin Baby Boy's future career.
Baby Jane didn't know what a whore was or why the nice lady was trying to ruin her brother's future career as a doctor/lawyer/NFL receiver.
Either way, Chet had come home a bit earlier than expected that summer, and suddenly Daddy was nervously itching to go on roadtrips.
After the road-hog Chevy full yelling teenagers, three adults, and happy accident Janie finally went silent after another screaming fight between everyone but Janie over who was in the wrong, with adults siding with Chet and teenagers shrieking about how awful they were for defending him, Daddy angrily swerved off the highway and onto an exit to a chorus of angry honking.
"I don't get why you kids can't be more like Janie!" Daddy had shouted angrily.
"Where the hell are we going?" Big Sis Susan, a high school junior going into her senior year crabbed.
"We're getting dinner, dammet!" Daddy snapped, "Everyone will be better behaved after dinner theatre."
"What?" Bradley, going into his junior year asked incredulously, "Is this about stupid Freddy's place? I'm fuckin' sixteen dude!"
"Watch your damn language Bradley Victor jr!" Mommy snapped, "And your father's right, we need to calm down and get dinner."
"Ths is rape we're talkin' about!"
"She was asking for it!"
"You're gonna take Chet's word for this? He had three other incidents with cheerleaders in highschool!" Susan shrieked as Daddy roughly pulled into a parking lot.
"That's enough for now. You two can take Janie and get as many arcade tokens as you want, we'll be watching a lovely performance." Mommy snapped, "We're done here."
And that had been the end of it.
And when Mommy said that a conversation was over, that meant that she'd decided on who was right.
And Mommy was always right.
But what was the point of going to a party if you couldn't get dirty or eat pizza even though you were sitting at a booth with your big brother and sister, wearing your favorite shirt? Big sis Susan said that Bradley was going to win her a Chica plushie because Janie wasn't good at video games like he was.
Janie wanted to meet Chica, but not the big, ugly lumpy thing that made her cry but the one that replaced her.
She thought the big, broad, muscular farm girl in yellow was soooooo pretty and so cool and so strong. She even helped sing the loud songs Bradley lifted in the basement to.
She wanted to be just like Bradley.
He was a wrestler and a powerlifter and worked at Central Dairy and always had a cone of chocolate dipped something-tasty for her during his shifts. Sometimes on open mat night or during fundraisers he'd take her along, and she'd roll around on the mat or join in on games like dwarf racing or tower-toppling.
She felt special and safe around the boys and the few girls on the team, they'd even cheer for her or show her how to flip around.
Of course Mommy and Daddy never approved of her coming back in baggy, sweaty clothes with ruddy cheeks and giggles.
Chica stopped her giddy rampage and stopped, snotty tears rolling down her vinyl cheeks.
There was no room in Playland for big brothers and sisters and nice ladies who had pockets full of candy.
She sniffled and let out a wail, remembering how she'd been forgotten, even by her cool older brother and sister.
Seeing that she was being watched, Chica reached up and ripped the camera from the ceiling, and shoved it into her fluorescent orange beak with a loud 'CRUNCH' and pretty sparks, like on the Fourth of July.
Chica made a sound reminiscent of that of a loud, raunchy man-burp and laughed raucously, loneliness forgotten.
More cake for her.
"Why so blue, you know I'll be true, because I'll never leave you!"
An intruder?
No!
Now she'd have to share!
Chica waddled over to the swinging doors, bits of camera shrapnel tumbling from her toothed beak, no throat to swallow with.
She could vaguely remember her older sister telling her not to wander too far. Janie had though, growing bored of watching her big brother play the games she couldn't understand.
She'd wandered from room to room, in hopes of seeing Chica. Instead, she was shooed from a party room by Bret, him hissing scary words at her from where he took pictures of the girls on the stage. He was standing right under them with his Polaroid, as the girl in brown signed pieces of paper.
Janie thought Bret's angles were strange, he could barely make out their faces from where they stood.
And who wants to look at underpants?
When Janie went running and crying after a sharp kick from Bret, she bumped into a tall bunny.
The yellow rabbit stooped on one knee so she could see his vinyl face and square teeth.
She tried to count them, but numbers were hard.
He asked Janie what was wrong.
She couldn't tell him, so the rabbit took her hand and led her away from the loud party rooms and ringing arcade down the hall.
He said he had toys for her, candy, and even a special gift.
Just for her.
Because everyone else had forgotten her.
It was Bonnie!
If she could, Chica would've grinned, a distraction from the yellow rabbit's promise of toys and candy as he led her into a dark room full of heads.
The room had been scary.
She swiped at Bonnie's ears, one easily ripping off in her hand.
"Hey, I was singing!" He shouted, then lunged at her in a way that animals of metal and plastic shouldn't be able to. Chica giggled and side stepped him, making a fart noise as he toppled over, fiberglass guitar and all.
With a static-filled burst of screaming, Bonnie pulled her down to the tiles with him, and then punched her, cracking her lower jaw off. Chica immediately stopped laughing and ripped his ear off.
And that's why Henry had to make emergency repairs the next morning with William as his loyal assistant.