She almost missed the melted pony amongst the cookie crumbles. Blanche often took home Nerissa’s scraps after the monstrous child had torn them to bits. She loved to see her daughter, Lena, shower the tossed away toys with excitement and love. Lena had a heart of gold, and she never judged her mother for not being able to afford new toys. It was Lena’s joy that made Blanche give the trashcan a second glance. Amidst a mess of burnt chocolate chips laid a flat, singed, and stained plastic pony. Blanche wasn’t sure what she would do with the poor creature, but with rough hands she picked up the broken toy and placed it in her purse.
The sun had just gone down when Blanche finally made it home from a long day at work. She greeted her daughter who was playing with the patched doll Blanche had sewn together for her only a week before. Lena made herself a grilled cheese for dinner and was sweet enough to prepare another for her mother. ”Thank you, my love”, Blanche said to her daughter before she took the sandwich in hand and walked to the back room.
Blanche had created a crafting room for herself when Lena was little. Blanche collected everything from worn down crayons and markers to left over sewing supplies. The room was a hodge podge of tossed away supplies. It looked like a goodwill store mixed with a hobby lobby. In truth it was her little haven. Blanche found comfort in cleaning what was dirty and fixing what was broken. After she took a few bites out of the sandwich Lena had made Blanche opened her purse and took out the mangled body of Speck. She questioningly looked the pony over. Crumbs fell from her mouth and she lurched forward to catch them with her open hand. ”First is to get you cleaned up.”, she spoke with her mouth still slightly full of sandwich.
Blanche took the toy to the bathroom and scrubbed the body clean of its cookie remnants. She did her best to wash away the pink strokes that covered the orange body. Bits of the pink managed to be scrubbed away, but for the most part Speck remained covered in the permanent marker. Blanche returned to her room. She twirled the body around. Half of Speck’s body was flat and melted while the other half still had some lift to it. Blanche took long scissors and cut off the excess plastic that had melted above the horse form. Once the form clearly returned to that of a horse she took lime green and yellow thread and patched up Speck’s mane and tail. Most of it had been singed off in the oven, but Blanche repaired it to its former fullness. Next Blanche turned the pony over and glued large black strips to the flattened side of its body. ”Perfect.”
The clock struck 9:00, and Blanche sent Lena to bed. Blanche went to her workroom and grabbed Speck. She placed the flat part of the pony with its black strips against the fridge. Speck stuck. ”Lena will be so surprised in the morning.” Blanche said with a smile and yawn before she went to bed.
Speck felt like she had been clocked over the head with a giant stump. Every piece of her body was sore when she came to. ”Ughh…” She mumbled aloud. Speck attempted to move her legs, but they refused to listen to her. In fact she could not even budge one bit of her body. She felt like she had been dumped in a bucket of glue and frozen in a single position. ”What is happening” She cried.
”Oh calm down.” A voice from above said. ”None of us can move.”, The voice came from the letter “A”. When Speck had been placed on the fridge her head came into contact with the bottom of the letter. Scattered around her body were the other letters of the alphabet.
”What is happening?!” Speck repeated this time with more enthusiasm.
”You are a magnet. You are on a fridge. That is what has happened.”, A replied.
”A What?” Speck felt frantic at this point. She had endured a toy box, a monster, an oven, what next? A did not reply. ”Please speak to me.” Speck spoke with desperation, but A would not reply. There was nothing more to explain. Speck spent the rest of the night in dying silence.
The sun rose and with it a tiny brunette girl. Lena always greeted the morning with much joy. She sprung from her bed and leapt onto the soft, cotton carpet beneath her. She then ran out to the main area of the house and from across the kitchen spotted the new addition to the fridge. ”MOM!!!!!” Lena yelled as she ran over to the pony magnet. ”I love her!!”. Lena pulled the pony off the fridge and rolled it around in the palm of her hand. It was beautiful and perfect to Lena and she gave the tiny toy a giant hug.
Over the next few days Speck was enjoyed in her frozen form. Lena sat at the kitchen counter and colored pictures of meadows and forests to later be stuck under Speck. One picture in particular reminded Speck of her home. Lena drew rolling hills onto a flat white sheet of paper. Once she colored in a bright blue sky she held the paper against the fridge and placed Speck over it. Speck looked like she was running through the green grasses. It was an image she missed although she greatly enjoyed making the little girl, Lena, smile and laugh. Speck was getting used to being a magnet. At night she floated above the ground, and during the day she ran across make shift lands. She expected that the frozen life would be her entire life until the third day passed and Lena decided to take Speck on a bigger adventure. ”Kelly wants to see you. I told her all about you.” Lena sang sweetly when she pulled Speck from her spot on the fridge.
Lena held tightly onto the pony magnet. She skipped through the kitchen and opened up the tall side door that led to the garage. Once in the garage Lena place Speck’s flattened hooves onto the wall and rolled them along the rough edge as if she was running on the wall like a real horse. Lena played with Speck on the wall until she reached the end of the garage. Once on the driveway she once again tucked Speck to her side.
Kelly, her neighbor, was another brown haired girl with bright green eyes. She held a confidant smile as Lena approached. Lena smiled in return and was happy to see her friend. Lena walked toward Kelly until a blonde haired bully appeared out of nowhere. Nerissa had hid behind Kelly’s stout form. Lena felt her heart race and she did her best to tuck Speck behind her back, but Speck’s lime green tail was still clearly visible.
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tiny daughter of brennen and bother
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