...Mom lied that night. Big time.

Andy didn't get to play with me the next day. In fact, I waited another four years for him to even touch me.

"He's a collectible!" Mom told Dad one evening, "What if we need to sell him? Andy will ruin him, Tom."

"He's a toy, Anna! It's not like Andy has very many!"

"Only because we don't have extra money to be spending on them right now."

But my first playtime? An actual one? It was the day of Andy's fifth birthday. To the joyous approval of Andy, Mom deemed him old enough not to get hurt or damage me.

The parents were downstairs, setting up for Andy's birthday party. Mom was decorating a cake while Dad pinned red streamers to the walls.

Bo was right about playtime. I'm not gonna lie, it was awesome.

Slinky was twisted around the post of Andy's new bed. Hamm and I stood across from each other. More glaring.

Andy enjoyed speaking through all of us.

"I took your dog, Cowboy!"

Then, with a wondrous tug on my pull-string; "This town ain't big enough for the two of us."

"Help me, Woody!" Slinky's head was rocked side-to-side.

Andy left us briefly to dig through his dresser drawers. He removed a fire truck and rolled it our way.

"Let's have a race to see who can win the dog." Hamm took a step toward the truck.

"That's not fair cuz I don't have a truck!" Was my addition to the conversation.

"Do you have a horse?"

Andy shook my head until my hat fell off.

"You're not a good cowboy." Hamm got on the fire truck and looked at me.

"Let my dog go!"

My string turned into a lasso. After several failed attempts at roping Hamm, Andy cheated and tied the loop himself.

"Gotcha!"

Hamm was reeled towards me, while I muttered something about a snake in my boot.

"Andy!" Mom called up the stairs, "Come look at your cake."

"One more minute!"

"Your grandparents will be here in one more minute, Andy. Come on!"

Andy sighed, and glanced to me in one hand and Hamm in his other.

"You can play later, Andy."

Andy tossed Hamm down. He fell to his side, pennies whooshing. Hastily, Slink was untangled and left under the bed. With Andy holding onto one of my hands, we dashed down the stairs.

We reached the living room... Somewhere I'd never been before, aside from the day I was passed from the grandparents to Mom.

Andy sat with me on the couch.

"Andy, over here! In the kitchen!" Mom called.

Andy rested me on the center couch cushion. My head lolled slightly to the side, but I still had a good view of the downstairs from my post.

A/N: So... five year old dialog doing okay? How are characterizations? What do YOU think will happen next?