Chapter 3 – Too Good To Be True

As Amber placed him on a table in the bright sunshine, Buzz allowed his eyes to move ever so slightly. He could see some children running between the tables, playing hide and seek under them, chasing each other, their happy laughter ringing out in the summer air. It reminded him of all the summers he spent in gardens before now, being played with by a child, and his heart ached for the company of Andy, Bonnie or Amber all of a sudden.

He glanced back, moving his head just a fraction, to look over where Amber was unpacking the box onto the table beside him, noticing Jessie had been placed down with Woody and Bullseye – no doubt Amber didn't associate him with the cowboy posse. She continued to unpack the box without a second glance in his direction - books, trinkets and other assorted items tumbling onto the table to fill it.

As she picked up the empty box and started to move away from where they were, Buzz saw Jessie's wide green eyes search the table until they landed on him. She mouthed something to him, and he smiled at her.

"It'll be okay," he mouthed back, just as a shadow fell over the now cluttered table. The shadow moved over him; to be overlapped by other shadows soon after - people moving back and forth in front of where they were.

After some considerable time, Buzz noticed there was one young woman coming along the table from Jessie's direction, her short brown hair cut in a bob shape around her ears. She was running her fingers over the books on the table, not really taking any interest in them, but instead talking animatedly on a cell phone. As she drew nearer still, Buzz was able to make out snippets of her conversation, right up until the girl walked right along to where Jessie sat. He saw the girl glance over at Jessie and her expression changed.

"Gina, I'll call you right back," she said quickly, hanging up her phone and stuffing it into the pocket of her jacket.

With bated breath, Buzz watched the girl pick up Jessie and turn her over, exclaiming to herself. The space ranger watched as she spotted the other two now as well, placing Jessie down and beginning to pick up Woody and Bullseye too. She turned them over one by one, remarking to herself again, this time over the condition of them.

Buzz winced. He knew they all looked as if they could have badly needed a wash. He wondered why Amber hadn't bothered to tend to them before putting them out for sale. A voice along the table made him come out from his thoughts, to see Mrs Marshall – Amber's mother – talking with the young girl, who now held Jessie, Woody and Bullseye in her arms.

"I know they were donated to my daughter, and she just hasn't the time to look after them as she should, really. I'll let you have all three for $15." Mrs Marshall was saying, and the young girl nodded.

"Do you have a bag?"

"Certainly," Mrs Marshall started to take the toys from the young girl, and then stopped.

"Hm. The cowgirl appears to be missing her hat. I expect my daughter still has it in her room somewhere."

With a start, Buzz looked again at Jessie and noticed she was indeed, minus her hat. He watched as Mrs Marshall walked towards the house, leaving the young girl to pace down the table a little further. Her shadow fell across exactly where he was sitting. Buzz forced himself to freeze, waiting for her to pass him by in her browsing, but she hovered, setting the three toys she held down, in order to pick him up too.

He found himself staring up at a pair of chocolate brown eyes that appreciated every single detail. She pressed at the large red button on his right panel, and he felt his wings spring open. He saw her smile, as she pressed to check his helmet worked too.

"Perfect," he heard her say, just as Mrs Marshall rejoined them.

"Here's her hat. Found it lying beside Amber's bed. What do you have there?"

He was presented to the eyes of Mrs Marshall, and the older woman nodded. "Another of my daughters toys."

She paused.

"$20 for all four?"

"I can't believe it," Woody was the first to speak. "What are the chances?"

They were sitting in the back of the car that the young woman – her name still unknown to them – had driven them away from Amber's house in. She had stopped off at the mall and left them on the backseat, and the four toys had greeted each other with hugs – although none more violent than the bear hug Jessie bestowed on Buzz. In fact, she hugged him as if she didn't want to let go.

"I know," Buzz said quietly, his arms still around Jessie. He had been so afraid when they had been on the table. He thought he was going to be left for another child, that he'd never see Jessie, Woody or Bullseye again. He hadn't mentioned this out loud, though.

"She seemed to like us." Jessie murmured, "I heard her say I was pretty."

"She said I was perfect," Buzz murmured back to his girlfriend, kissing her forehead.

"She obviously sees something Amber didn't," Woody surmised, brushing at Bullseye's mane, which emitted a cloud of dust, making them all cough a little.

"Amber." Buzz muttered after he'd recovered. "She just dumped us out like we didn't matter. She didn't even say goodbye."

"Sometimes you don't get that chance," Jessie breathed, burying her head in his chest, and Buzz sighed. No doubt Jessie's observations of Amber had proved to be incorrect after all; although Amber had been, for the most part, placid and patient like Bonnie, she had turned out to be exactly like Emily in other ways.

"Well, at least we have a new home with this girl." Woody said from across where they were. "We're moving, even if it isn't to Nebraska."

Jessie's eyes clouded over. "I won't get to see my windswept desert home after all. And we won't ever see the other toys again. No more Slinky, no more Lottie, or Rochelle, or Dolly, or Buttercup, or..."

She trailed off and didn't finish. A silence hung in the air between them all, in which Buzz glanced at Woody. The cowboy only shook his head sadly, and Bullseye licked his cheek. With a snort, the cowboy pushed Bullseye away and wandered to hop up onto the ledge that afforded a view through the car window. Buzz stayed where he was with Jessie still snuggled into him, Bullseye nosing at the plastic bag that had contained them up until recently.

Woody was back very shortly. "Quick, into the bag! She's coming back!" he shouted, and the four of them dove into the confines of the plastic once more.

They heard a key in a lock – the car door opened, some things were put on the seat next to them, and then the door shut again. Another door opened, the jangle of keys heard clearly as they were fitted into another lock, then the drum of the engine as the car was started.

As the car pulled away, Buzz glanced out at the bag on the seat next to them, which bulged with shiny papers, ribbons and other accessories. The uneasy feeling returned, even as Jessie clambered onto his lap for the journey. He kissed her chastely on the cheek, not wanting to wonder anymore, but unable to help himself. What was going to become of them?

What if it really was too good to be true?