Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Marc’s mother had found Teddy and Isaac in his room, and had taken not only them but all his stuffed animals.
The falcon his parents had once bought him from a museum gift shop. His hippo, a Hannukah present from his nana. His ostrich, a gift from his dad his last birthday. The stuffed cat his mom herself had given him for his seventh birthday. The ram Randall had given him for the same birthday. A panda he’d won from a machine at the grocery store. Worst of all, his dog Buddy and his lion Ian. And, of course, Teddy and Isaac.
Marc sat on his floor and hugged his legs close to him. What was he going to do?
. . .
Randall approached Marc and put a hand on his shoulder. “Markie,” he said. “I don’t want Mommy to have Isaac and Teddy. I want you to have them. She won’t love them. You will.”
“What can I do?” Marc asked tearfully. “I can’t get them back, RoRo. She’ll hurt me.”
“But she won’t hurt the Knight,” RoRo answered. “Let’s ask him for help.”
. . .
Sir Perry was sitting in his house when there was a knock at the door. He immediately went to answer it, and found Marc, one of the boys he’d saved before, and Randall, his faithful Squire, standing there. “Hello,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
“A wicked witch took Isaac, and Teddy, and Buddy, and Ian,” Marc explained. “Can you help us get them back?”
“Certainly,” Sir Perry answered. He put on his armor, and sword, and shield. Then he put some on Marc and Randall. “Let us go save our faithful friends,” he declared. He climbed on his horse Moon, and Randall climbed on his horse Shadow, and Marc climbed on his new horse Star. “Off we go!” Sir Perry declared, and they rode off. They were soon joined by Steven and Jake, who, when they heard of what had happened to the animals, agreed to help.
“Do you know where she took them?” Sir Perry asked, as they went along.
“We think she took them to her headquarters,” Marc replied, “but we don’t know for sure.”
“Is she there now?” Sir Perry asked.
“We don’t know,” Marc said.
“Well, then, we shall have to look and see,” Sir Perry said.
They crept up to the witch’s headquarters. Sir Perry cautiously opened the door.
The witch was not inside.
“Let us go, and retrieve our faithful friends,” Sir Perry declared.
They went in. Inside, they found Teddy, Isaac, and a ram sitting on the witch’s dresser. “This is not a dresser,” Sir Perry declared. “It is really a mountain, too high for us to reach. I shall need young Randall to climb to the top to save the animals, for if any of the rest of us were to fall, the witch would surely hear us.”
So, Randall climbed to the top, and retrieved the three animals. He embraced Teddy and Isaac, then climbed down holding them and the ram, which he handed to Marc. “It is time you had an animal friend,” he said.
“Thank you,” said Marc. “I shall call him ‘Rand’, after you, because you gave him to me.”
Now they had to find their other animal friends. They searched the room, until at last Marc discovered Buddy and Ian, in a trash can. “We must free them carefully,” Sir Perry said, “for there may be traps. We must also put everything back exactly how it was, or the witch may become suspicious when she returns.”
They did just that, and soon, Buddy and Ian were reunited with Sir Perry. “Now we must continue our search,” Sir Perry said, “for, the witch may have taken other animals hostage. And, remember, when you finish searching a place, put everything back as it was.”
They found no other animals in the witch’s lair. “We must search elsewhere,” Sir Perry said, “for I am certain she has imprisoned other creatures. First, however, we must return our faithful friends home, and hide them safely, for I am certain she will capture them again, should she discover their release.”
They did, then resumed their search, this time in the bathroom, where Jake discovered a cat and a falcon in another trash can. “You saved us!” the cat cried. “We want to be your sidekicks now,” the falcon added.
“I’d like that,” Jake said. “I’m calling you ‘Felipe’,” he said to the falcon, “and you, ‘Cade’,” he told the cat. “Do you like those names?”
“We do,” they chorused.
Now they went to search downstairs. And this was dangerous, for the witch was asleep on the sofa. They crept about as quietly as they could, until Steven found two more animals, a panda and a hippo, in the kitchen trash. “You saved us!” the hippo cried. “We want to be your sidekicks now,” the panda added.
“I’d like that,” Steven said. “I’m calling you ‘Pandora’,” he told the panda, “‘Dory’ for short. And I’m calling you ‘Thomas’,” he told the hippo. “Do you like those names?”
“We do,” they chorused.
Next, they searched the downstairs bathroom trash, but found nothing. They sat down, thinking where else they could look. At last, Marc suggested the backyard trash. They all went outside to check.
Just as they reached the door, however, it swung open.
. . .
Elias looked down at his son, who was holding several stuffed animals and smelled like he had been digging in the garbage. “What on Earth is going on here?” he demanded, alarmed. Marc looked down at himself. Elias sighed and knelt down in front of him. “Marc,” he asked, more gently now. “Did something happen?”
Marc shuffled his feet. “Mom found Teddy and Isaac in my room,” he admitted softly. “She took them, and took all my other stuffed animals. I found most of them, but I can’t find the ostrich you gave me.”
Elias sighed. “Alright,” he said. “Go back to your room. You’re not in trouble, son. Just – go back to your room.”
Marc obeyed. Elias approached the couch, where Wendy was asleep, and shook her awake. “Wendy,” he said. “What did you do with Marc’s stuffed animals?”
Hate flashed in her eyes. “I threw them out,” she hissed. “He’s been keeping RoRo’s dog and rabbit. RoRo loved those toys.”
Elias took a deep breath. “He’s been keeping them because he misses him,” he snapped. Wendy opened her mouth, but Elias cut her off before she could speak. “No. I don’t want to hear it. He’s been keeping them because he misses Randall, and he’s going to continue to keep them. You’ve been threatening me with your father for months now, but I’m laying down some ground rules. If you want Marc and I to stay, he keeps Randall’s stuffed animals, and his own. I’m fully prepared to grab Marc and leave if you don’t, law courts be damned. Maybe you’ll find us, and maybe you won’t, but I’m fully prepared to take that chance. Now, where. Did. You. Put. Them.”
She glared at him, but he met her gaze unflinchingly. When she didn’t say anything, he started for the stairs. “Alright,” he said. “I’m grabbing Marc, and I’m leaving. And I’m taking those stuffed animals, too, by the way.” He continued marching toward the stairs.
“Wait!” he kept going, but she got up and grabbed him by the arm, turning him around. “Randall’s toys and the ram he got Marc last year are on my dresser. Marc’s dog and lion are in the trashcan in our bedroom. The cat and falcon are in the bathroom trash. The panda and hippo are in the kitchen trash.”
Elias knew his son’s collection of stuffed toys by heart, and especially noted one she hadn’t mentioned. “What about the ostrich I got him for his birthday?” he demanded.
She gave him a hate-filled look. “You got him that after what he did—” she begun, but he held up a hand. “Where. Is. It?” he repeated.
He held her gaze. Finally, she looked away. “I threw it in the yard,” she said. Elias went out and searched until he found it. Then, he went upstairs, but not before telling Wendy he would take Marc and leave if she ever did anything like this again.
. . .
There was a knock-on Marc’s door. He opened it to find his dad standing there. “I found your ostrich,” he said, and Marc ran up and hugged him. Elias hugged back. “You need a bath,” he declared. “I think your animal friends do, too.”
. . .
The others agreed the ostrich should be Marc’s sidekick, so they would all have two. She agreed, too. Marc named her Trish. After that, Sir Perry made them all knights.
. . .
Marc’s mom left his stuffed animals alone after that. She continued yelling hate at him and hitting him and blaming him for what happened to Randall, but his toys she left alone.
Elias took Marc with him everywhere he could. Still, the hate continued.
. . .
After a while, the animals became knights, too. Even the horses.
They, and Sir Perry, Marc, Randall, Steven, and Jake, had many more adventures together.