Jack the Clown

“Ya know I’m real sorry ‘bout yesterday, I didn’t mean to break him,” Anne apologized as she and Mary walked to school.
“That’s okay,” Mary hadn’t told Anne the whole story; she didn’t even know if it was real. But the note she kept in her locket was a constant reminder of what happened last night. She had also put a picture she took of Jack in it.
“I knew you’d say that, but I still had to make it up to you, so here,” Anne handed something on a keychain to Mary. It was a little stuffed bear.
“Aww thanks a ton Anne!” Mary said holding the toy as if it could break at any second.
“His name is Fuzzy, ya know, like the nursery rhyme,” Anne explained.
“I’ll treasure it forever and ever,” Mary said. She could do that even more now that she knew the whole story of toys.
“Bestest buddies?” Anne asked.
“Forever!” Mary and Anne giggled as they walked into the school.

When Mary got home, she took Fuzzy and put him up on Jack’s pedestal. He was small and had beady black eyes and brown fur. Mary loved him. She couldn’t help wondering if he would come to life tonight. And if he did come to life…would she go with him?
Mary remembered the toys saying that only Jack and Jill could transfer humans, but Mary secretly wished he could.
She was so excited to find out whether she could go over tonight that Mary went to bed an hour earlier than usual.
Once her head hit her pillow, Mary had a nightmare.
She dreamed that she was standing on a mountain. In the distance she could see a castle. There was a storm and she was cold. She turned around and saw Jack. He looked happy to see her. She ran towards him but a bolt of lightning struck him and he disappeared.
Mary woke up screaming. She heard other people screaming and focused on the two people in front of her. One she recognized as Jill. Her companion was a new face. He was the little bear her friend had given her.
“Hi there Mary!” Jill greeted.
“Jill!?” Mary was happy and confused to see her friend. “What are you doing here?”
“Fuzzy asked me to come get him, and I thought I could get you too,” Jill said.
“Hi!” Fuzzy said. His voice sounded like it belonged to a five year old. He looked the same only now he was missing his fur.
“Hello,” she said back.
“So, you guys ready to go?” Jill asked.
“Sure.”
They began walking towards the plant when they came to an obstacle. The stairs.
“How are we supposed to get down there?” Fuzzy asked.
“Why don’t you call the cat?” Mary asked Jill.
“Yeah…no. My brother’s the animal guy, cats sorta hate me,” Jill replied.
“Well then what are we gonna do?” Mary asked.
“I have an idea. Follow me,” they followed Jill back to Mary’s room. They went into the closet and with their combined forces they managed to push a slipper to the top of the stairs.
“Okay, everyone get on,” Jill instructed.
“What?” Fuzzy asked.
“Don’t worry. I think we’ll be okay,” Mary told him. She had gotten use to weird things.
“Okay…ready?” Jill asked following them onto the slipper.
“No,” Fuzzy said shaking his head.
“Too late,” Jill pushed from the back and the slipper began to descend the stairs.
They all screamed as the wind rushed passed and the slipper began to pick up speed.
“We’re gonna crash!” Fuzzy shouted pointing to the wall at the bottom of the stairs.
“Jump!” Jill shouted.
Once the slipper was flat on the ground the three friends jumped from it and landed with three soft thuds on the carpet. The slipper crashed into the wall and half folded over itself.
“Close call huh?” Jill asked with a smile.
“Too close,” Fuzzy was shaking all over and wobbled when he walked.
“I agree,” Mary said rolling over so she could get up.
“Come on guys let’s go,” Jill started walking towards the plant.
A large white fluff ball walked in their way. Its hair was all puffed out and it’s green eyes were hazed over.
“Like I said, cats don’t like me,” Jill said backing up.
The cat gave a great MEOW and chased after them. They ran away as fast as they could but they weren’t fast enough. The cat was catching ground on them and in seconds would crush them beneath its large paws.
“What do we do? What do we do! WHAT DO WE DO!?” Fuzzy shouted.
“Um, here this way,” Jill pulled Mary who pulled Fuzzy. They ran into a crack between a table and a chair.
The cat was too fat and couldn’t reach them.
“Okay, so now what?” Mary asked.
“What’s this?” Jill asked pointing back into the crack.
“Hey! That’s my skate. I’ve been looking for this for a week!” Mary said.
“Perfect!” Jill said smiling.
Mary and Fuzzy exchanged glances.
Within seconds Jill had tied what looked like a tiny firecracker to the back of the skate and all three were on top of it.
“Are you sure this thing is safe?” Mary asked when Jill lit a match.
“No,” she replied lighting the firecracker.
Soon the flame had reached it and it went off.
The skate went rocketing through the room. It whizzed past the cat who gave out another MEOW and flew past the plant.
“We missed it!” Fuzzy shouted.
“Hold on!” Jill grabbed a chair’s leg and swung the skate around. “Everybody get ready!”
The skate crashed into the pot and the three went flying through the air. They crashed through the plant and landed on the mountain overlooking the toy town.
“Well that was fun,” Fuzzy said sarcastically.
“Come on, we gotta go see Jack,” Mary cried excitedly.
“Follow me.”
Jill lead Mary and Fuzzy to a little cottage. Sitting outside the cottage was Jack.
“JACK!” Mary ran up to him. He looked excited and ran to her. They embraced in a hug. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“Chill, it’s only been one day,” Jill said as she led Fuzzy inside.
Jack gave her a look and they walked after them.
“I really need your help!” Fuzzy shouted as soon as they had sat down at the kitchen table.
“What’s wrong?” Jill asked.
“I’ve lost my hair to the king!”
“How is that possible?” Mary asked.
“You’re new right? You see the king has a wizard who is the one who brings toys to life. The wizard can make them and break them. So if the king is mad, he can destroy them. So I was playing with his daughter, and he didn’t like it. He was going to kill me, but his daughter convinced him not to. So instead…he stole my fur!” Fuzzy told me.
“Well that’s not right!” Mary replied.
“You’re absolutely right!” Jill agreed standing up. “We’ve got to fight this!’
Jack stood up waving his arms and shaking his head.
“What?” Jill asked.
Jack mimicked a rope being put around his head and him being chocked.
“Oh don’t be such a baby!”Jill said.
Jack stood firm and shook his head.
“Fine,” Jill said. She grabbed Mary and Fuzzy’s arms. “You don’t have to come!”
Jack grabbed my other arm and gave Jill a stern look.
“Guys, please…my arms hurt,” Mary said.
They both let go. “Jack,” she said. “Can’t we please go? I wanna help.” she gave him the puppy dog look.
He kept his stern face, but eventually it softened and he reluctantly followed the other three out of the house, down the hill and into the town.
“How are we gonna get in there without being noticed?’ Mary asked.
“There’s a secret passage way in the garden that leads to the cellar,” fuzzy replied.
They all looked over at him.
“What?” He asked scratching his head. “It’s not my first time sneaking in.”
He blushed and they followed him to the part of the garden where there was a secret latch in the midst of a few flowers. They went down some steps and a short hallway that ended at a small wooden door. Inside there was a cellar. It was cold and drafty.
“So where’s the hair?” Mary asked.
“Well, the wizard lives on the top floor. He’ll probably have it,” Jill led them up a small flight of stairs that opened to the grand hall. It was nighttime already and all the lights were off giving Mary a creepy felling.
On their way up they made several close calls. It seemed that every few minutes they were hiding from passing guards.
“Look! There it is!” Fuzzy pointed to a closed door.
They crept through and saw the room. Everything seemed to be floating except for the bed which held the sleeping wizard in it.
“Where’s the fur?” Mary asked.
Jack tapped on her shoulder and pointed to the large floating table. It rose eight feet off the ground and almost touched the top of the room. Mary could just make out a small pile of what looked like brown cat hair.
“And how do you suppose we get it?” Fuzzy asked.
“Simple. Here climb on my shoulders,” Jill went over to the table and bent down.
“I don’t think so,” Fuzzy said backing up. “I’ve still got bruises from the skate.”
“Mary?” Jill asked.
Mary too was too afraid to try.
Jack sighed and walked over. He clumsily got on Jill’s shoulders and she stood up so that Jack was just about the same height as the table. Jack was just about to grab the fur when the group heard a loud sound like thunder and a crash of lightning.
The room became filled with a dark feeling and they all turned around. When they saw the wizard floating above his bed with his long white hair flying around him they all jumped, which caused Jill to drop Jack.
“WHO ARE YOU!?” The wizard demanded in a large threatening voice.
“I,” Fuzzy said stepping forward. “I…I want my fur back…?”
The wizards cold laugh filled the room and echoed around the building. “YOU!? A TINY LITTLE BEAR? YOU WISH TO CHALLENGE ME? HAHAHA!”
“Jack what do we do?” Mary asked.
“You don’t have to do anything!” A voice called from the distance. They looked towards the door and saw the king’s doll daughter standing before them in her nightgown.
“Princess!” Fuzzy exclaimed excitedly.
“Fuzzy, please don’t do this,” she pleaded.
“I have to get my hair back. I want to look my best!” Fuzzy had made up his mind. He threw himself at the wizard, who deflected his attack with a quick movement of his staff.
The staff made contact with Fuzzy’s soft belly and he was sent flying through the air. He hit a wall and fell semi-unconscious at the floor.
“Fuzzy no!” The princess went running to his side.
The wizard used his magic to create a force field between them. “THIS IS NOT YOUR BATTLE!”
“It is! I love him and I won’t let you get in my way!” The princess was about to charge after the wizard when Jack caught her arm and held her back. He shook his head.
It was then that Mary remembered a present her uncle had given her a week ago. She also remembered that since she was about to go to sleep that night, she had put it in her pajama pockets and had never token it out. Mary reached into her pocket and sure enough there was a small firework in there.
Mary pulled it out and grabbed a match from Jill’s bag. Before anyone could protest, Mary lit the firework and aimed it at the wizard. It made contact and sent the wizard into the wall causing everything in the room to fall down, most landing on top of the wizard.
After that the room seemed to lose the dark feeling. Everything felt settled.
“Fuzzy!” The princess said running to him.
“Oh princess…I’m sorry I can’t look like all the others,” He replied.
“Fuzzy it doesn’t matter. I love you. I don’t care what you look like,” she told him.
“Really?” he asked.
“Of course.”
“But I won’t be fuzzy. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Not a bit. You will always be a fuzzy little bear to me,” She smiled and they hugged.
“Not…so…fast,” the wizard said climbing out from the mess. “You won’t get away that easily.”
“Mr. Wizard, sir. If you let the princess go, and not tell the king, you can keep my hair,” Fuzzy said.
The wizard wasn’t about to do that.
“Oh please. Weren’t you ever in love?” The princess asked.
The wizards snarl slowly turned into a frown. “Okay,” he said. “You all can go.”
The princess and Fuzzy hugged.
“Guess it’s about time you went back home huh?” Jill asked.
“Yeah…I guess,” Mary replied.
Mary hugged Jack and whispered, “Next time…you come get me.”
Jack smiled at her and she chuckled. Jack and Jill both put a hand on her shoulder and Mary woke up in her bed in the morning.
She walked downstairs to go get some breakfast and saw her mom at the bottom of the stairs holding her slipper.
“Mary?” She asked. “How did this get here?”
“I don’t know,” Mary said with a slight smile.