Really, I was the only one opening the closet; Hamm and Slinky's arms were practically useless in this situation.
I saw Bo helping too. We slid the door all the way to its stopping place, producing a loud chink.
Andy sat up in an instant, his head spinning. He tried a few times to copy the sound before studying his closet. And the toys that were... walking and talking inside it. Great.
Shocked, my eyes met Andy's for the first time. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if that was the end of it... But that's when Andy smiled. At me. His eyes brightened, and his emerging teeth shone my way.
The other toys froze.
"Uh oh." Hamm announced, "Back to the shelf."
"Don't worry about Andy," Bo told them, "He won't remember this... he's not old enough to remember... I'm Bo Peep, by the way."
She shook hands with Hamm and patted Slinky's head.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Slinky outdid every gentlemanly thing I ever tried on her in one sentence, "I'm Slinky."
"Hamm." With that, the piggy bank began his march back to the dresser, "Can't take any chances with kids these days."
Bo completely ignored him.
"Where did you come from, Slinky? I came from a toy store."
"Me too." He said simply.
"I'm from a yard sale." Was Hamm's response, "Got to watch all the toys in the house while Lynn played with them. And me? I got to sit on the kitchen counter and hold her spare change. I hate kitchens. Most boring place in the house for a toy."
"I know how that is..." I added, attempting to sound consoling, "I spent forty years in one."
"Forty years?" Hamm was skeptical, "You look fresh out of the box!"
I told them my history and got the same reactions from Hamm and Slink that I did from Bo. Cringing and lots of head-shaking.
Even Andy joined them in looking sad. Next, he joined the conversation with a long string of babbling. This was followed by a single, somehow calm shriek.
"Mom will be running in here any second..." Bo warned.
"Everyone back to their places!" I shouted.
Slinky leapt back to his shelf. Hamm froze. Bo shut the closet.
My acrobatics brought me to the bar of Andy's crib. He looked into my eyes again. The shrieking stopped. Andy thrust out an arm, reaching for me. He shook the whole crib until he could grab me. The tremors he created even rocked the shelf where I was supposed to be. That's when Mom came storming in, switching on the corner lamp.
"Andy? Are you okay, honey?"
Andy lay down and held me in both hands. I was soaring over his face when Mom looked our way.
"Oh no... How did Woody get down here?"
She noticed the trembling bookshelf and wondered no more.
"I don't want you to get hurt, Andy." She reached for me. Andy's grip was too much even for Mom. She gave up and took away my hat, then knotted my pull-string around my waist. My plastic gun was removed from its holster.
I had been child-proofed. What fun.
"There. You can play with Woody for a few minutes." Mom told Andy. She leaned against the dresser to watch while he did so.
"Woody?" Andy said, amused. He sat up and looked again into my eyes.
"Yes, that's Woody." Mom looked at the clock above the bookcase, "You can play with him again tomorrow, honey... It's late. You need to go to sleep now, Andy."
Played with? That was it?
This time, I was successfully removed from the crib. Mom sat me down on the dresser, and laid my arms over Hamm to steady me.