"Yeah, I know, I know, maracas in a Mariachi band – lame! But dad and Mr. Henry were on a tight budget – Guillermo was going to be the sample they showed our new investors to convince them to help pay for the rest of the band and the food truck." Vinnie said. "There was s'posed to be at least half a band – dad was a big fan of Mariachi. He wanted eleven animatronics like a real Mariachi band, but all we could afford was a trumpet, one of those great big cool guitars, a regular guitar, a violin, and maybe one of those cute little itty bitty guitars with five strings or a harp thingy if we could get one – if we could get the investors to help, we could have all eleven – and shrimp tacos!"
Maggie, now dancing alongside the bull, nodded absently smiling, eyes closed, head swaying in time to the music as Guillermo segued into a Spanish language version of "Hotel California".
"Mags designed the Mangle to be in the band, she would be Margarita, Daisy. She was supposed to wear pretty clothes like Linda Ronstadt in her videos and have a macaw on her shoulder that clicked it's beak in time to the music while she played a little guitar and sang or dance with Foxy but after… after… after what happened to my little brother and then my little sister, the new investors had Mr. Henry turn the Mangle into Funtime Foxy… and… they put Guillermo away so that it never… never, ever… happened." Vinnie whispered, turning away, head down, shoulders slumped.
The yellow rabbit didn't like intruders.
Intruders caused trouble.
Intruders broke the dream.
Intruders made the yellow rabbit remember.
"Dad was gonna hire the best Mariachi band in L.A. to do the music and show us how real Mariachi was played... dad wanted to do it right, and launch the truck on Cinco de Mayo… Mags designed a burro, a coyote, an armadillo… and when my little brother died, the new investors said, "We'll take care of it. Do what you're told, it never happened – nobody will know!"
The yellow rabbit found remembering painful.
The yellow rabbit didn't like pain.
Tears running down his face, the boy collapsed crosslegged on the dirty floor, looking up at Spike where he stood debating the best way to take advantage of the bull's hand action. "And then Mr. Raus sent dad so some place back east, so nobody would know…"
Pain was for other people.
The intruder had to go.
That's what the demon, Simon, said.
Maggie turned away from her creation and put her arms around Vinnie, rocking him. Guillermo kept singing, face to the wall, maraca action spirited.
Simon was a hitchhiker the yellow rabbit had picked up… in that place.
Simon was useful.
Simon had good ideas.
And if this good idea worked, the dream wouldn't be broken.
And Freddy would keep the dream unbroken, like she always did.
Freddy understood.
Freddy marched forward towards the intruder, hands outstretched, ready to keep the dream unbroken, the beautiful day, the day when it all went wrong, when… when…
Spike quickly turned around at the touch on his shoulder to find himself face to face with the animatronic bear he'd distracted earlier with candy and loose change as it's paws clamped down on his throat, lifting him up off the floor as if he weighed nothing. The bear's jaws opened and closed as it began singing in a child's voice, "Happy Birthday" as it shook him like a rag doll, the rest of the animatronics milling around them, pummeling him, pulling at his clothes singing different songs in the voices of children as they savagely yanked at his arms and legs like a disputed favorite toy.
"NO DAD!" Vinnie stood, screaming at the yellow rabbit standing framed by the doorway as Maggie helplessly fluttered around the edges of the fuzzy mob, "It's over, stop it – let us go!"
The yellow rabbit considered this, head cocked to one side, one ear missing, listening to Simon.
Simon had a lot to say.
The yellow rabbit listened.
The yellow rabbit found that he agreed with Simon.
The yellow rabbit looked through the mass of animated toys eliminating the intruder at his son and shook his head, "No."
Spike would have yelled in agony as something nearly yanked one of his legs out of its socket, only Freddy's hands cut off all air, all sound. Instead, as with Glory, Spike struggled to stay limp, giving his attackers as little provocation as possible. Eventually they'd get bored and go away if he gave them as little fight as possible even as, still singing, Guillermo the bull backed away from the wall unnoticed, made an abrupt about face and joyfully danced towards the door that led out on to the loading dock out back.
"Dad stop it!" Vinnie stood, trying again, "Mr. Henry sent this one, he'll make everything right, he'll fix all this!" The boy gestured around it, "It's over! Don't you get it?"
Simon said something to the yellow rabbit.
Something funny.
About the intruder.
It had to be shared.
Doubled over with laughter, the yellow rabbit said through his stained, but happy mask as Freddy dropped Spike facedown on the dirty floor and began painting it a prettier color with his blood, "Make things right? This loser? Fix it all? Are you joking?"
The animatronics paused, staring as one at the yellow rabbit, their squabble over who got to pull Spike apart first temporarily forgotten.
"No dad. I'm not." Vinnie said quietly as Guillermo clattered out the back door, taking it with him, and danced down the stairs to the alley below before heading out of the alley and down the street, leaving the remains of the door and it's frame at Alvarado and Main to be puzzled over by the Sunnydale Dept. of Public Works as the morning rush hour traffic began.
"This one," The yellow rabbit jeered, gesturing at Spike, "Can't even keep his lovers faithful or his shit together for fifteen minutes without it blowing up in his face. What makes you think he'll make all this, THIS" Laughing, the yellow rabbit straightened, gesturing all around him with with expansive paws, "go away? He's a complete and total failure!"