It wasn’t long before Forky became tired and Woody carried him again. When they reached the edge of town, the sun had just started to creep into the sky, giving the shops along Main Street a soft glow. Even though it was still too early for most people to be awake, Woody kept an eye out for any movement. He saw a banner over the street advertising the town’s Carnival Days, and a Ferris wheel above the treetops in the near distance also caught his eye. Then he saw it—the lit RV park sign. He pointed it out to Forky.
“Forky, look!” he said. “Bonnie’s right over there.”
Forky gasped and jumped out of Woody’s arms. “Hurry,” he called as he ran toward the sign.
Woody chuckled and started to chase after Forky. Then a pattern of familiar lights on the sidewalk outside one of the shops caught his eye. He looked up and gasped. Inside the front window of an antiques store was his old friend Bo Peep’s lamp!
When Forky realized Woody wasn’t behind him, he stopped. “Woody?” he said, turning to see him gaping through the window.
“Bo…?” Woody muttered. He turned to look back at the RV park sign, thinking before approaching the front door.
“Woody?” Forky said again. “Aren’t we—aren’t we going to Bonnie?”
Woody peered through the glass and into the dark store. “I know, I know, but my friend might be in there.”
“But, Woody, Bonnie’s right there,” said Forky, pointing to the RV park.
“Yeah, we—we’ll have you back before she wakes up. Come on,” said Woody. He picked up Forky, tucked him under his arm, and climbed through the mail slot in the shop door.
Woody searched the enormous antiques store, calling Bo’s name. Forky followed.
“Bo?” Forky repeated as they wound through the store. He seemed to enjoy saying her name. “Bo, Bo, Bo, Bo, Bo,” he said until he grew tired of it and turned to Woody. “Can we go back to Bonnie now? I don’t see your friend.”
“Yeah, okay,” Woody said with a sigh. “She’s not in here. Come on, let’s go.”
Just as Woody grabbed Forky, the sound of squeaky wheels coming toward them made him pause. The sound grew louder and louder, and Woody pulled Forky behind a nearby shelf of vases. They watched through the glass, waiting to see what was making the sound.
An antique ventriloquist’s dummy wearing a red bow tie appeared. He was pushing an old-fashioned baby carriage with squeaky wheels.
“Is that Bo?” asked Forky in a loud whisper.
Woody winced and covered Forky’s mouth as the dummy stopped walking. Its head slowly spun around until it stopped, staring straight at them. Forky screamed.
Woody had no choice. He stepped out from behind the glass and forced a smile. “Uh…hey, howdy, hey there,” he said. “Sorry to bother you, but—” Inside the carriage, a doll wearing curled pigtails and a frilly yellow dress sat up.
“Why, you’re not a bother at all,” said the doll in a sweet voice. “We were just out for my early-morning stroll—and look, we met you! My name is Gabby Gabby. And this is my very good friend Benson.” She gestured to the dummy.
“Oh, uh. Woody,” said Woody. “Pleasure to meet you.” He tried to hide his reaction to Benson’s creepy smile.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Woody. And you are…?” Gabby Gabby smiled at Forky, waiting for an introduction.
“This is Forky,” said Woody.
“I’m trash,” said Forky.
“Our kid made him,” explained Woody.
“Kid?” said Gabby Gabby, her eyes widening. “Toys around here don’t have kids. Are you two…lost?” She raised her eyebrows when she noticed Woody’s pull string in the reflection of the glass behind him.
Woody chuckled. “Lost? No, no, but we are looking for a lost toy. She’s a figurine? Used to be on that lamp in the window? Name’s Bo Peep?”
“Bo Peep?” said Gabby Gabby, perking up again. “Oh. Yes. I know Bo.”
“You do?” asked Woody, eager to hear more.
“Hop on in,” she said, moving over to make room for them inside her carriage. “We’ll take you to her.”
Benson picked up Forky and Woody.
“Oh, um, you don’t have to do that,” said Woody as Benson set them down in the carriage. “Ah, well. Okay…”
“Benson, be careful with our new friends,” said Gabby Gabby.
“Wow, what service!” said Forky with a big, innocent smile.
As Benson pushed the carriage, Gabby Gabby stared at Woody, which made him uncomfortable.
“Uh, th-thank you for your help,” he stuttered. “I haven’t seen Bo in years—”
“May I ask, when were you made?” asked Gabby Gabby.
“Me? Oh, I’m not sure. Late fifties?” said Woody, wishing they could go back to talking about Bo.
“Me too!” said Gabby Gabby with a gasp. “Gee, I wonder if we were made in the same factory. Wouldn’t that be something? I gotta say, you are in great condition.”
Benson leaned over and inspected Woody’s pull-string ring.
Sensing him, Woody turned around. “Well…I try to stay active,” he said, trying to scoot away.
“And look at that, you have a voice box like me. Benson, show him.” Benson stopped the carriage.
“Oh, that’s really not necessary,” said Woody.
Benson slid Gabby Gabby’s voice box out of her back compartment, revealing a small record player. Gabby Gabby started the record, and a deep, warped voice came out of the speaker: “I’m Gabby Gabby, and I love you….”
“Wow, you need to fix that,” said Forky, wincing at the terrifying sound.
Gabby Gabby opened the voice box and removed the record. “My record works just fine,” she explained. “It’s the voice box that’s broken. Does yours still work?”
Before Woody could answer, Benson pulled his string.
“Hey!” he shouted. Woody’s voice box blurted, “There’s a snake in my boot!”
“Listen to that,” said Gabby Gabby with an admiring smile. “Let’s see it. I bet it’s the same type.”
Woody squirmed in his seat. “N-no, thanks. Mine’s sewn inside. Is Bo around here? Because we need—”
Suddenly, the store clocks chimed.
“Oh!” exclaimed Gabby Gabby. “The store is about to open. Don’t worry, we’ll take you where no one will see us.”
“Oh, no,” said Woody. “We can’t stay.”
“You can’t leave yet. You have what I need,” said the doll, pointing to Woody’s chest as three more dummies emerged ominously from the shadows. “Right…inside…there.”
Chimes on the front door jingled as Margaret, the store owner, entered with her daughter and young granddaughter.
Gabby Gabby lit up when she saw the little girl. “Harmony!” she said, looking at her with admiration.
Woody noticed that Gabby Gabby was distracted and seized the opportunity. He grabbed Forky and jumped out of the carriage. As soon as they hit the ground, Woody broke into a sprint, dragging Forky behind him.
“Stop him, please,” Gabby Gabby said, her voice quiet and steady.
Hearing Gabby Gabby’s order, Benson and the other dummies chased Woody and Forky up and down the store aisles.
“He’s coming, he’s coming, I see him, I see him, I see him,” said Forky, terrified.
A second later, Woody realized he was holding only Forky’s pipe-cleaner arms. He looked back to see the dummies running toward him, carrying the rest of Forky.
“Woody!” Forky screamed.
One of the dummies got close enough to Woody to grab hold of Forky’s arms. Woody fell down as the dummy snatched the pipe cleaner from his grasp.
Harmony passed by, and Woody, thinking fast, pulled his string, causing his voice box to say, “I’d like to join your posse, boys, but first I’m gonna sing a little song.”
Harmony turned to see Woody in toy mode. The dummies watched from a limp pile nearby as she bent to pick Woody up. She ran toward the front of the store.
&
nbsp; “Grandma, look what I found,” she said, holding Woody. She asked if she could take the cowboy to the park, and her grandmother said yes.
Harmony carried Woody out of the store as she and her mom left for the park. Woody couldn’t believe it—he was leaving without Forky.
As birds sang and the sun rose in the sky, Bonnie’s parents sat quietly outside the RV with their morning coffee.
Bonnie was still fast asleep in her bed. Rex popped his head up and looked frantically out the back window.
“Any sign of Woody?” whispered Slinky.
“I don’t see him!” said Rex a little too loudly.
Mrs. Potato Head said, “Shhh!” The toys peeked out to make sure Bonnie was still sleeping. Bonnie rolled over, pulling her blanket close, and clutched a spoon.
“Maybe we should have gone with a fork,” said Jessie, looking over at her.
“The spoon is safer,” said Buzz.
Buzz and Jessie dropped into toy mode as Bonnie’s eyes fluttered open. She sat up, smiling, and looked at her hand. “Forky?” she said, confused. “Where’s Forky?” She dropped the spoon and began to whimper.
Bonnie’s dad stepped into the RV. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“Are you okay?” asked her mom, following behind him.
“I can’t find Forky!” she cried. “He’s missing!”
Still frozen in toy mode, Buzz and Jessie exchanged a worried look.
Bonnie followed her parents out, and the toys broke into a desperate chatter.
“Poor Bonnie,” said Dolly with a sigh.
The toys listened as Bonnie’s mother tried to make her feel better, but the sad girl could not be comforted.
“We have to find him, Mom!” she said. “He needs me.”
Buzz leaped up and ran to the window. “Woody was right,” he said. “We all should have been safeguarding the utensil.”
“Why isn’t Woody back yet?” asked Trixie, worry rising in her voice.
“Oh, do you think he’s lost?” said Rex nervously.
“Buzz, what do we do?” asked Buttercup.
“What do we do, Buzz?” asked Trixie.
Buzz’s eyes darted around as he searched his mind for an answer. He could only stammer in response.
Rex blurted, “What would Woody do?”
Buzz repeated Rex’s question to himself. “What would Woody do?” He looked down at his chest, turned away from the toys, and pushed his button. His voice box said, “It’s a secret mission in uncharted space. Let’s go!” Buzz turned to the toys and announced, “I think…I have…to go.”
The toys panicked. “Where?” said Rex.
“Where you goin’? Why?” asked Slinky.
“Should we all go?” asked Trixie. “Are we going?”
With a raised eyebrow, Buzz turned away and pushed his button again. He listened as his voice box said, “No time to explain! Attack!” Buzz spun toward the toys again and said, “No time to explain!” Then he dove out the open window. The toys gasped and looked at each other, shocked and not sure what to do next.
“Okay, what is it with everyone jumping out the window?” asked Dolly.
Buzz managed to stay hidden as he raced through the RV park’s grounds. He sprinted and took cover behind a trash can to scan the area and consider his next move.
“Woody and Forky were last seen on the highway,” he said, thinking aloud. “But where is the highway?” Buzz pondered this important question as he searched.
Finally, he pressed his voice-command button, searching for the answer. He listened as it said, “The slingshot maneuver is all we’ve got! Full speed ahead!”
Buzz saw that he was right at the edge of a carnival. A ride swirled nearby, spinning and dipping through the air. “Thanks, inner voice,” he said with a nod. Then he charged toward the ride, slipped under a barricade, and grabbed on. He held tight as the ride spun, lifting him higher and higher.
From the very top, he could see the highway. He grinned triumphantly and yelled, “On my way, Woody!” Then he let go of the ride, ready to take flight. His wings popped out and the momentum flung him like a slingshot into the sky. But when the ride came around again, it smacked him and he began to spin out of control.
Buzz screamed as he hit a huge ice cream cone on top of a vendor’s cart and began ricocheting like a ping-pong ball. He hit the side of the bounce house, the roof of the carousel, and then an umbrella, and finally slammed into the door of a portable bathroom. He landed on his feet in a crouched position and looked both ways, trying to figure out which way to go, when—WHAM! The bathroom door opened and knocked him over.
A carnival worker stepped out and spotted Buzz. He glanced around and picked him up. “Rad,” he said, celebrating his find. Then he carried Buzz over to his game booth, called Star Adventurer, and zip-tied him to the wall of prizes.
“Step right up!” he shouted to the carnival-goers. “Put your money down. Get yourself a real Buzz Lightyear.”
Unable to move, Buzz hung there, wondering what he should do next…and feeling sorry that he couldn’t reach his button.
A few blocks away at the park, Harmony plopped Woody into a baby swing and pushed him, sending him higher and higher. Her mother soon called her over to apply sunscreen.
As soon as Harmony left, Woody slipped off the swing and landed on the ground. He was sneaking toward the park exit when a bus with grand basin summer camp on its side screeched into the parking lot.
A crowd of energized kids poured out of the bus, and Woody climbed into the sandbox, trying to hide. A cupcake toy popped up and looked behind Woody.
“Did you see ’em?” said the toy. “How many are there?”
Before he could answer, a dancing doll with helicopter-like wings flew in, forcing Woody to duck.
“We got a busload of campers,” announced the sky-dancer doll.
Woody backed away and three Combat Carl dolls—an original, a Volcano Attack, and an Ice Attack—climbed over the sandbox wall, chanting, “Hut. Hut. Hut.”
The rowdy sea of kids blasted onto the playground, and all the Combat Carl figures dropped into toy mode. “Playtime, baby!” one of them exclaimed.
Woody gasped and ran for cover, hiding beneath the base of a covered slide. He peered out and watched as a nearby kid launched the flying doll into the air, sending it spinning toward the clouds.
A shark in a boat rowed past. “It’s a good day to PLAY! Eh? Am I right?” he said, laughing as he scooted himself up the slide.
Just then, Woody saw a small, familiar-looking sheep scurry under the merry-go-round. He crawled closer to get a better look.
Woody froze when a little girl on the merry-go-round spotted him. She jumped down and grabbed the cowboy, and when she raised him up next to the figurine she was clutching in her other hand, he couldn’t believe his eyes—it was Bo Peep!
When the girl set Bo and Woody down to run off to the swings, the friends looked at each other in astonishment.
“Bo?” said Woody, awestruck.
Bo grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet. “Come on,” she said. Stepping on the edge of a nearby Frisbee, she flipped it up and used it for cover, rolling it as she led him to the safety of some nearby shrubs.
Then Bo gave Woody a big hug, accidentally knocking his hat off. “Oh! I can’t believe it’s you!” she squealed. They were so thrilled to see each other that they began talking at the same time, bombarding each other with questions.
When they both leaned down to pick up Woody’s hat, they bonked heads. They chuckled as Bo grabbed it and placed it back on his head, just like old times.
They asked each other which kid on the playground was theirs. At the same time, Bo said, “None,” and Woody said, “No one.”
“You’re a lost toy?” asked Bo.
“Wait—you—you’re a lost toy?” asked Woody.
Again, they answered together, with Bo saying, “That’s great!” and Woody saying, “That’s awful.”
Woody
corrected himself, smiling awkwardly, a little unsure. “I mean, awfully great! That you—are lost…out here…”
Suddenly, a skunk appeared, and it was heading right toward them! Woody fell to the ground, screaming.
He looked up to see Bo holding the skunk up with her staff, revealing that beneath its black-and-white exterior were spinning wheels like on a remote-controlled toy car.
“I told you not to drive so fast,” said Bo. “You almost ran him over.”
She dropped the vehicle to the ground and flipped the top open. Her three sheep were at the wheel. When they saw Woody, they raced to him, bleating and tackling him to the ground, licking his face.
“Oh, h-hey, guys!” said Woody. “Whoa! Hold on there, okay! I missed you, too.”
“Let’s get a look at you,” said Bo. “You need any repairs?” She went into her skunkmobile and sifted through some items in the trunk.
“Repairs? No, I’m fine,” said Woody.
The sheep trotted over with a safety pin they’d found and presented it to Bo.
“Hey, nice find, girls,” she said, taking it and adding it to her collection.
“Where’d you get all this stuff?” asked Woody, looking over her shoulder at the variety of supplies.
“Here and there,” said Bo. “You know, some kids play rougher than others, so I try to be prepared.”
“How long have you been out on your own?” asked Woody.
“Seven fantastic years!” she said. Woody was shocked. “You would not believe the things I’ve seen,” she added. The sheep trotted over with an old bottle cap. “Uh, no.” She handed it back to them.
Bo shouted, “Gigs!” and tapped on a toy police badge inside the skunk. The badge popped open, revealing a tiny police officer toy studying a chart of missing pets.
“What’s the situation?” said the toy. “We heading out of town, or—Whoa!” she said, noticing Woody. “Who’s this?”
“Woody, this is Giggle McDimples,” said Bo, introducing her friend.
“Hi, Giggle,” said Woody.
“Howdy, Sheriff,” said Giggle. “OFFICER Giggle McDimples. I run Pet Patrol for Mini-Opolis. Yeah, search and rescue. The kind of pets? Ants, caterpillars, miniature poodles, spiders—”
Toy Story 4 Junior Novel Page 3
