There they were: Man against the wild product piles. Some of them had positioned themselves on the shoulder of the highway—piled high. The plates stacked up, the road’s lanes were backed up and the side of the road seemed to be riddled with trash. Only, it was more of a ‘coming-out’ bash. The plot got thicker at last! Straw and the other products overshadowed their human cast.
A lady yelled to an Officer, “Please, tell us how much longer will this crazy situation last?!” String lassoed her wig off and said, “I would be more concerned about this fake grass if I were you missy…” and tossed the wig at the Officer. Inck Pen and Dixie both shook their heads. Inck Pen wondered, “Dixie is it always going to be like this? I want to write out my wish: to figure-8 my way to the stars. To etch my edges on marble ledges; to spin with my ink and make people think of the grander things in life”. Dixie smiled, “Wow. Incky, that is too beautiful.
I used to be you. Dancing is all I knew; everyone partied and partied and spilled my contents. I had one too many dips, if you know what I mean…” And they both laughed.
Across the lane, the ‘boys-who-knew better’, raced towards the products with nets in-hand. A huge Officer snatched up Blue, the Rough Writer and snapped his top back on his head laughing, “Yeah! Now who’s the man?” And out of nowhere, Fuller, his son and a hundred other Odd Plates took to the sky. Then Fuller and Youth Fuller flew twice as high. And they screamed to the Odd Plates: "Down there! Attack that guy!" In rows of five, the Odd Plates screeched by. Swooping inches over the car tops. They knocked over twenty cops before they stopped short of the ‘giant man’. Youth Fuller looked to his dad, “Father, this time, I know I can” Fuller smiled and said, “I know you can too. Rescue Blue. Show the Man what you can do”.
The road fell silent; Youth Fuller gasped, then cried out, “Odd Plates, on my mark! Go!” and Youth Fuller zipped over 50 feet higher and the Odd Plates followed. A few brave people peeked out from inside their cars. String, Straw, Buck-L and Charlie: they all stopped to see the flight. Trixie giggled, “I swear, I have never seen such a sight!” Then remarkably, they came zooming down, shaped like a fly swatter. Youth Fuller ordered them to charge the Man. When they were less than 10 feet from him his partner yelled, “Jeff—oh my gosh! Put that marker down! Run as fast as you can!" Jeff dropped Blue and ran; he leaped over a parked car in a single bound.
Youth Fuller and the Odd Plates caught hold of Blue before he hit the ground. “Thank you guys! I was really a scared yellow-fellow for a second there!” They all shared a laugh and the other products cheered. “Bravo! Bravo! My son, you did me proud. You didn’t even have to touch the Man, but your actions spoke loud. There are many times when we really know it’s time to take a stand. I love how you stood up against that man” Fuller raved to his son. Red said, “Wait, we still haven’t won; Rough Writers, let’s leave ourselves permanent marks. Maybe they’ll etch our names in that park!” The markers started whistling and spinning on their caps. In the background, Charlie and Buck-L were giving one another slaps, “Hey, high-five buddy! I love this vibe. They just met us a few weeks ago, and it’s like they’re an integral part of our tribe” Charlie said.
Con was busy trying to prove his worth, he stuck to his plan and glued six Officers to the turf. “Uh-hah. Uh-hah…that’s what I like to see. A six-pack of cops pleading to me. Hmmm? Should I ‘stick-it-to-ya’ some more? Or do you think this is a tacky way to raise my score? Ahhhh…it doesn’t matter; you’ll be freed up later when the sun dries up that little batter that I splattered you gents with.”
Con then hopped off towards his next exploit. Straw was fast at work covering car windshields with spitballs. He flexed his neck into a cracked passenger-side window and said, “Boo!” and spit-balled a mini-van crew. Then he twisted and dismounted to the road. “Sold, to the ‘boys in blue!” Straw laughed and spit-balled three more Officers hiding behind their broke-down cruiser. “Okay boys: move it or lose it!” Straw giggled as they jumped to their feet and ran off.
The Mixed Nuts and screws were busy deflating tires. Threadbare was laughing, “I’m so ‘tired’ of how long it takes to let the air out these things. They ought to fire the dude who invented these products.” Threadbare said and then fell down in laughter. Slingshot overheard him and said, “Hey Threadbare! I have an idea. Why don’t you let me give you a hand. Consider it: my contribution to the plan” The nuts and screws were all spinning out of control because they found it so funny. Green rolled over and said, “I think I get it. Let an ‘X’ mark the spot. Then use a screw with Slingshot? Am I right?” Slingshot ‘pinged’ over to him and said, “Hey! You ‘nailed it’ right on the tire!” The group laughter was hard-wired.
Dixie and Inck Pen were practicing their pirouettes. Trixie let the breeze take her and floated down to them. “Ahem. Umm, girls we are – like in the middle of a battle zone? Earth-to-Dixie and Inck Pen, come in?” Inck Pen giggled, “Come on Trixie. Dance with me. You’re so pretty; you’ll love being free!” Trixie laughed, “Honey, it’s not me you need to convince. It’s my sister. She doesn’t like the party-scene and thinks I’m mean because I enjoy it so much. No, but right now dancing while we are moving towards the next city would be such a distraction”.
Just as she said that, a piercing screech vibrated the streets. Everyone looked towards the noise. A huge black armored truck pulled up. Then when it stopped sliding, four big white letters became apparent: “SWAT” had finally arrived. String tied himself into three knots and said, “Ahhhhh! Finally, we’ll get a fight worth our time. It is the Man who’s guilty of so many crimes. But he just refuses to see it. So he sends some ‘specialist’ to make his other crime seem ‘legit’. It is so obvious that we’re going to have to make them want to quit."
Just then, the commander jumped to the pavement with two other men in black-laced boots. String yelled: “Hmmm. Ain't that a hoot! My fellow strings, untie those boots!” And all of the strings in all of the men’s shoes immediately obeyed. Then String said, "Now Mr. SWAT man, I hope you prayed...”
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