Once upon a time (yesterday, actually)…
…it was a dark and stormy night (which is how all the best stories begin). Ivan Fussy and his whole family; Diane, Charlie, little Jean, and Bonnie the dog; were moving east for Ivan’s new job in Washington, D.C. with the National Product Safety Commission. All of the family furniture and the other heavy things were loaded onto a great big moving van. To follow close behind was a smaller truck with all the lighter boxes; the linens, the bed clothes, and of course the children’s toys. Curiously, there was no extra security with the second truck even though is carried the Fussy’s famous collectible stuffies, including a 1904 Steiff Teddy bear (possibly the world’s most valuable toy, except perhaps for the 1904 Ideal bear in the Smithsonian Institute). Maybe Ivan Fussy just thought no one knew the toys would be moved, or maybe he just trusted in his own security measures (indestructible and untamperable titanium alloy carrying cases). For whatever reason, there would be no one guarding the second moving van.
Because of the special cases for “Mommy and Daddy’s toys”, little Jean insisted on packing her own stuffies, because “they deserved special attention, too!” Little Jean used three roles of duct tape, just to be sure.
Along with the other boxes there is the box of Bonnie the dog’s things, including her chew toy, Chew Toy. But since he belongs to the dog and not a child none of the toys really worry about him very much.
Even though moving day is always a scare time for soft toys no one was particularly worried. Smedly the elephant had that everyone have a travel buddy, and he had done numerous head counts. Emperor Charles had also applied his leadership skills to organizing the move (this largely involved him growling at everyone to “calm down and do, oh, all that stuff you are supposed to do.”)
There was some small concern about the weather. Smedly had checked, and the unseasonable rain they had been having was supposed to turn to freezing drizzle during the trip. But Smedly had also checked all the maps, and he said that they would be on great big, straight super highways for most of the journey.
Just to make everyone extra confident about the move, Smedly had everyone look out the window before they were backed; and they could all see a pair of plush purple sharks on the dashboard of the parked truck. Everyone agreed; if the truck driver used soft toys as lucky mascots then he was a man they could trust.
Only one curious thing happened before the trip began. Two toys, Presley the hound and Zipper Zilla the monster, were added to the big box of toys. Presley explained that they were moving presents for Charlie. All the stuffies thought this was odd, but none of them worried about it very much.
Then they were all packed and the journey began.
Soon it was obvious to even the least attentive stuffie that they were not on any super highway; they were going up, up, up a windy mountain road. The driver did not seem particularly steady on the road, but he seemed to be going very fast.
Then there was the sound of a great big crash!
It’s difficult to tell what happened next, because all the stuffies were knocked silly, and tumbled ears over tails.
It felt as if the truck swerved and swerved and swerved, and then with a great big bang it fell on it’s side. Then there was another crash. The truck seemed to slide around sideways, then it slipped down a hill and came to rest with it’s top pointed mostly down.
Finally, everything became very still and almost quiet. The only sound was that of rain on the truck’s steel body (or maybe it was hail). No, that’s not right, from just outside there was another sound, the sound of running water. There was an unpleasant smell that might have been gasoline. And no one could tell what had happened to Mr. Truck Driver.
Oh, my!!!