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“Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to one of four places.”
Immediately Buzz brought a hand up to his face and sighed. Woody was at it again.
“It’s within the city. The Tri-County area seemed too broad when I first mapped it out.” He chuckled to himself. “Really, why in the world would Andy’s mom drive so far? And then it hit me. She wouldn’t! So I mapped out the four closest places where she could have taken her.”
This had been going on for nearly a month. Woody had never been anything less than impressive when it came to getting a job done, be it keeping the toys in line or putting together a search and rescue team when a toy mistakenly made its way into the trash. Still, even Buzz Lightyear wondered how much more he could take of seeing his best friend in such an obvious state of not only distress, but denial.
“Well don’t just stand there and gawk, come over here and take a look!”
Reluctantly, Buzz dragged his feet closer to where the piece of graph paper laid, a map with several locations hastily drawn onto it with a pencil. He stood directly beside his old friend, drawing in a deep breath as he tried to take interest. In all honesty, it was difficult. It wasn’t that he didn’t care for Woody’s quest; he just wasn’t sure how or even if they could pull it off.
His eyes scanned the words written, brows pulling together. “The Salvation Army, St. John’s Children’s Hospital… Tri-County Penitentiary?”
“What? No, no!” Woody grabbed the pencil at his feet and quickly clambered toward the opposite side of the paper and began to scribble furiously. “I thought I had crossed that one off. THIS is the other location.”
Buzz took a step further to read what was written—but he stopped himself. There was only so much more that he could take of this. “Woody, what are you doing?”
The cowboy doll did not look at him, only returned to writing more notes upon his map. His tone sounded as if the answer couldn’t be more obvious. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m figuring out a plan.”
“It’s been a month already.”
Woody kept writing. “I know that.”
“I think it’s time to let go.”
His writing paused for the briefest of moments before it continued on. “No.”
At this, Buzz huffed loudly. He reached down to grab the pencil from Woody’s hand, only to be met with resistance and a scowl upon his best friend’s face.
“Bo Peep is out there somewhere, and I’m going to find her!”
“We don’t even know where she was taken. Maybe if we’d been there when it happened we could have found some clues, but we have nothing to go off of. She could be anywhere at this point—”
Woody stood abruptly, his face moving within inches of Buzz’s. “Oh yeah? Well the same could have been said about me, couldn’t it? You didn’t know where Al lived, you just went where you thought I’d be and got lucky! Well, who’s to say that I won’t get lucky? Who’s to say that I won’t find her?” And now he dropped his pencil to jab a finger at Buzz’s chest. “You went after me. You saved me. And now you’re saying you don’t think I should do the same for Bo?”
At this, the space ranger brought fingers up to pinch the bridge of his nose, his voice calm. “That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are you saying, huh? ‘Cause if you’re not going to help me find her, I don’t have time for it!”
Losing all patience he had kept over the course of the month, Buzz could hold it back no longer. His words spilled out harshly, causing the cowboy doll to recoil visibly. “I’m saying that she’s gone! You can map out places all you want, but it would take us weeks to find her. And what about Andy? We need to be here for him when he—”
The cowboy’s own impatience burst through, though his tone was defensive in comparison to his friend’s. “When he what? When he forgets where he left us again? What makes you think he’d even notice we were gone? No. Molly might’ve shown she didn’t want Bo Peep around but…” His words faltered for a moment, and he sighed, “but I’m not about to say the same.”
An uncomfortable silence hung between the two friends. Woody lowered his head sheepishly before turning away, kicking the pencil aside and walking toward the edge of the desk they stood upon. Without a word, he sat down, pulling legs to his chest to sit in silence.
Buzz had been a little harsh, he knew this. But a month of gentle nudging and suggestions had gotten him nowhere and, quite frankly, he was worried. He wasn’t blind; he knew exactly how Woody felt about Bo, and vice versa. If there was anything that he could do to bring her back, he would have done it in an instant. Woody wasn’t the only one losing a friend in this situation.
They hadn’t been there when it happened. The two friends had been left in the backyard again—which was becoming a regular occurrence, much to their dismay—and rules being rules, they’d patiently waited where they’d been left for Andy’s return. It was only when they’d convinced Buster to return them to the bedroom that they knew anything had happened.
Barbie had been in hysterics, which was not unusual in itself, but the reason behind it was. Andy’s mom had taken to redecorating Molly’s bedroom as a birthday surprise. New bed sheets, new furniture… a new lamp to place at her bed-side. No one had seen it coming save for Molly’s toys, and by the time Barbie could feasibly warn the others, all traces of Molly’s former room had been packed and taken away in boxes without so much as a word uttered about where they would be stored.
The days after were tough. Buzz had watched his best friend in pain with no way to fix it. They had no lead. Sergeant and his troops couldn’t find a single note, receipt, or To Do list, and Molly never asked her mother where the old toys went. They had nothing to go off of. Worst of all, Woody wouldn’t give up.
He didn’t expect him to. Bo Peep was his world, second only to Andy. He knew that Woody wasn’t ready to give up. But when days had passed, it was glaringly obvious to the other toys that there wasn’t going to be a search and rescue team. Woody, on the other hand, refused to admit it.
Seeing Woody perched at the edge of the desk, Buzz heaved a heavy sigh before slowly walking toward him. He half expected the cowboy to walk away, or even leap off the desk just to get away from him. Instead, he remained as motionless as if Andy was in the room.
Buzz sat beside him, legs stiffly hanging over the ledge. After a moment longer of silence, he reached a hand out and placed it on Woody’s shoulder.
“Look, I’m sorry.”
Brown hat tipped over his eyes, Woody shook his head. “I’m the one that should be sorry. This isn’t your fault, it’s mine.”
Before Buzz could reply, face twisted into one of confusion, Woody continued.
“I should’ve been there for her. I could’ve stopped this. I’ve saved toys before, but I didn’t save Bo.”
“You didn’t know,” Buzz said, hand never leaving his friend’s shoulder. He squeezed it reassuringly. “You couldn’t have known. You’re a lot of things, Woody, but you’re not psychic. No one saw this coming. It’s just…” Buzz huffed. Emotions were for girl’s toys, he often thought to cover the fact that he had difficulty expressing himself. “I don’t like seeing you like this. None of us do. And if I could fix things, I would, just for you.
“Bo’s going to find a new home, and a new little girl to love her just as much, if not more.”
Woody remained still.
“I think it’s time to let her go, Woody, and it doesn’t mean you don’t care about her.” His hand dropped from his shoulder. “We just want Woody back.”
Another bout of silence, this one much shorter than the last. When Woody lifted his head, he looked to Buzz, the hurt finally evident after holding it back for so long.
“I’m gonna miss her, Buzz.”
“We all will, cowboy.”
Finally uncurling himself, Woody slipped off his hat and held it between his hands. It was almost as if he was finally paying his last respects while Buzz said not a word. After a few minutes, he placed his hat back on his head and sighed, eyes still cast toward the distance.
“Thanks, partner.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Buzz said. “I’ll always be here for you.”
For the first time in a month, Woody managed a small smile. “For infinity and beyond.”