I opened my eyes. As things came into focus I could see a familiar brown, shaggy face peering at me with one glass eye.
“Hamish?” I gasped.
“Yes, it’s me, Laura.” He gave me an evil grin, his mouth cracked from a steady diet of crayons and buttons.
Only a moment ago I had been in the attic looking at the Barbie dollhouse I got for my eighth birthday. How could I be forty years old already?
I looked down to find myself tied to a dollhouse-sized plastic chair with Barbie’s silver chain belt from her mini dress. Was I the size of a Barbie doll?
“I remember how you treated me!” Hamish spat out an old crayon. I think it was Burnt Sienna, but it was hard to tell. ”It’s payback time, kiddo!” He grabbed a pair of children’s safety scissors, yanked at a lock of my hair and lopped it off near the scalp.
“Stop it, Hamish!” I begged.
“It’s a pity we’re not in the back yard so I could finish you off in the wading pool. Remember when you tried to drown me?”
“I was giving you a bath!”
“I was so mildewed, your mother almost threw me in the garbage,” Hamish snarled.
“I wouldn’t let her throw you away.”
“Do you think hanging from the clothesline by my ear was any better?” Hamish snipped off another strand of hair.
“You! Bear! Hand over that girl right this instant!” There was a thump as something landed on top of Hamish.
“Captain Valiant!!” I cried. My brother Steve’s action figure still looked pretty good after all this time. I admired how well he filled his red, white and blue spandex super-hero outfit.
“Are you all right, Miss?” he asked while untying me with one hand and wrestling Hamish to the ground with the other.
Hamish tried to stab Captain Valiant with a pair of safety scissors, but the captain overcame him. I threw Captain Valiant the Barbie belt, and he bound Hamish’s paws together like a prize heifer.
“You won’t get away with this!” Hamish screamed as Captain Valiant stuffed him into the toy box.
“You were great!” I gushed.
“It was nothing.” His steely blue eyes sparkled with recognition.
“You’re Steve’s sister, Laura.”
I nodded, blushing at the memory of how I had once removed all his clothes to see if he was the same as Steve. What a letdown that had been!
“You were always kind to me, unlike your brother.” He patted his muscular right leg that I had carefully glued back on after Steve broke it off during a tantrum. ”Can’t you stay? It’s so dull here with only that airhead Barbie to talk to.” He pushed a strand of stray hair behind my ear and his fingers brushed against my cheek.
I looked around debating the idea. Maybe this dusty attic wasn’t so bad. We had the dollhouse to live in. House cleaning would be a breeze with everything made of plastic. I wasn’t so sure about eating plastic food though.
“I wish I could, but I don’t think it would work.” I brushed a cobweb off my face and sighed. “So how do I get back?”
“Talk like an adult. Be unimaginative.”
“What do you mean?”
“Be a nag.”
“Like this? I’ve told you a million times to pick up your clothes!”
“That’s it,” he urged.
“Eat everything on your plate. Don’t you know children are starving in Africa?”
“You’ve got the idea,” Captain Valiant said with a sad smile.
I felt myself growing to normal size. When I looked over at the dollhouse, a tiny Captain Valiant saluted me before disappearing over the roof.
Sadness washed over me like tepid bath water as I trudged downstairs and got ready for bed. I crawled under the comforter and tossed and turned for hours.
“Laura. It’s me, Val,” a deep voice said.
“Captain Valiant? How’d you get in here?”
“I have my ways. I am a super hero after all.”
I reached for him in the darkness and was surprised to feel a man’s warm body.
“You’re a real man! But how?”
“It’s a long, boring story. I’m here. That’s the main thing, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said leaning forward until our lips touched.
More happened, but that’s between Val and me. Let’s just say it was way more fun than playing with the toy captain years ago.
Hey,
I thought I’d stop by and check out your blog. I like how you are putting your work on here. Good idea.
Congratulations!
Margo