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Amy Derryberry was growing up.
Stinky Pete, otherwise known as the Prospector by some, has come to that realization. He'd remembered the tiny little girl, remembered the days she'd spent doing makeup with him, remembered when he went back to the days of villainy, remembered the earlier days of her childhood after that cowboy doll, Woody, and the rest of his ragtag group of friends changed his life forever by putting him in that pink bookbag...
He'd remembered that clear fear of being a toy. A property to be owned. He'd wanted nothing more than to go to Japan and finally got what he'd craved all along and didn't need to worry about being replaced. But that was before Amy came into his life. Surprisingly, Amy got around to watching Woody's Roundup when she'd found out that Stinky Pete was a rare doll from her mother, and was able to get some old footage from her parents who also grew up with the show.
A bunch of artistic people with a good heart.
He'd remembered the days she'd found him on her bookbag as plain as day.
'Look, Barbie, a big ugly man doll. Ooh! He needs a makeover!'
All kids destroyed toys, he believed once upon a time, but he was proven wrong. In a surprising way, Amy was gentle with her toys. She was never hard on her toys and definitely had a thing for Barbies, but he knew he got most of the attention and loved it. He'd remembered when she first drew a rainbow on his mustache, accompanied by a couple of stars dancing across his face and a butterfly on his forehead. She'd never gotten rid of her art or any other toy, but she'd continued experimenting and replicating what she'd started to improve on prior. She'd slept with him for a matter of days that transcended into years.
But, progressively through time, Amy changed as she reached the age of 13. First, it was the vested interest that the girl suddenly gained for rock music, doing away with some of the Barbie dolls. She'd actually never thrown them out. She was too attached when her parents asked why. She placed them in crates and loaded them in the closet for an undetermined period of time.
Stinky Pete was surprised that he was not one of them. The isolation returned to his heart. While his kid softened his heart, she did not soften the feeling of dreading abandonment and what cruelties that kids could do to toys. While Amy hadn't been a participant, he had seen a few toys being thrown out by their owners in the neighborhood.
More than that, Stinky Pete found that he was missing them. He did get the occasional interactions with them, when they were able to leave the basement, but that took effort from other; the few, masculine toys that she had, but that was only when Amy and her parents were out. Given the difference in working hours, it made every moment felt like the last. For some, it was, as yard sales led to a couple or so of Amy's old toys being sold.
But Amy had a sudden interest in fashion, beauty, and social media. Her room changed. Those pictures she used to have were torn down and replaced with new, uncomfortable wlements. Her favorite rap star's poster was hung up on the wall, accompanied by new state-of-the-art technology that she'd gotten. Filmmaking had become an interest as well.
Amy had a need to fit in. She didn't want to be lonely anymore. And with that, people came into her life-some who the Prospector had a bad impression of from the start.
He'd wished he could have talked to her, but he didn't even want to imagine the consequences of what that would bring. Not to mention, he didn't know if she would feel betrayed by what he could do all this time and never doing.
One day, the toy watched as Amy came home with girls. Pete could tell instantly that the girls weren't the friendliest group, and Amy herself barely seemed to tolerate them.
"Ugh, who still has toys?" One of the girls pointed out, roughly grabbing him and tossing him behind one of Amy's desks, hat falling off of his white-haired head.
"Hey, don't throw Stinky Pete like that!" Amy growled.
"He earned the time," cackled one of the other girls.
The toy thought about coming to life and coming where Amy could see him, but one of the girls found him before the idea could manifest. She had green eyes and some dimples but was seemingly friendly overall unlike the rest of Amy's friends. Her green eyes softened upon seeing him, and she picked him up softly.
"Here you go, Amy," she said.
"Thanks, Hannah," Amy responded, instantly grabbing him and holding him close. Her eyes went wide as she caressed the top of his head. "Hey, where's his hat?"
"Hopefully, where the light doesn't shine," a girl with braces commented grinned maliciously.
Amy stared coldly, "All of you, get the hell out of my house!"
"Whatever," the one girl, responsible for tossing him, said. "Come on, girls, let's leave this toy-loving loser."
"Here, it is, Amy," 'Hannah' discovered, placing the wide-brimmed hat back on top of his head gently. "There's nothing wrong with toys, Kanea," she spoke up. "I still have my toys that my brother fixed up for me."
"Quiet, Phillips," the one girl snapped, pointing at her. "Nobody asked."
Hannah scoffed. "Being a dickhead isn't the coolest. Grow up."
The girls left, sneers on their faces and snickers emanating from them. Hannah smiled at Amy now, looking down at her toy briefly before staring up at him.
"I think he got some dust," Hannah commented.
With that, the two girls moved to the bathrooms, and they wiped the Prospector carefully with a washcloth, successfully removing the dust off of him and off of his face, making him look good as new. Hannah was no Amy, but she was still gentle. Despite that, Stinky Pete felt relieved that Amy was focused on him once again.
"I almost feared that he got broken, but I guess I shouldn't," Amy said when they were back in the room, offering a wink at her friend. "Sid could always fix him up for me."
"Sid would have. You know he's always been a big softie at heart, even when he was a jerk taking my toys and destroying them back when we were kids." Hannah responded with a slight laugh. "But that was before he'd suddenly started fixing them all, including mine. He became a whole lot nicer and even takes a few of his toys inside of his garbage truck now. Wish he could find Mrs. Nesbit."
"Who?" Amy blinked.
"You won't understand," Hannah retorted, grinning through her crooked teeth, as she scrubbed away a bit of dust on his boot. "So what made him your favorite?"
"He's rare and special. Something tells me he'll never give up on you. Or maybe because he's so ordinary. He'll always be my favorite." Amy answered, a bit of a sad melody entering her voice. "Don't give him much attention anymore but he's always there when I had bad dreams since I was a kid and just couldn't ever remove him."
"Aye, don't feel bad," Hannah said softly. "I still sleep with some of my old dolls."
With the exception of Hannah, Stinky Pete fortunately never saw those girls again. Thank God. Amy still hung out with Hannah and called her plenty of times.
But one thing that changed about Amy was her interest in art at heart. She'd taken classes in school. While she was a smart kid, she had an interest at a young age to explore her wish in art.
It was for that reason that Stinky Pete wasn't surprised when, at the age of 17, after her high school graduation, she had gone for an art major.
Summer went by in a breeze.
She'd started loading up more of her old toys in their crates and the accessories that she had in the basement. Any day now, Pete was expecting to go in the dark. There weren't many people he could interact with, so he'd naturally go on the Internet when she was at school and search up the peaks of interest. He loved reading, and he learned how to clean the history, so Amy remained none the wiser.
"Amy, are you sure?" Her father asked one day, shortly after graduation.
The graduate rolled her brown eyes. "Yes, dad, I'm 17, not 7."
"I know, I know," he let out a small chuckle. "But I can't just believe my little girl is all grown up."
"Me neither," her mother joined in.
That brought back the bitter feeling of... oh, what was that one word? Nostalgia. While Stinky Pete couldn't interact with her for obvious reasons, seeing her as a child, teenager, and lastly, soon to be an adult, it made him felt like his little girl was soon leaving home. He was lucky that his eyes have been opened too, due to Amy.
"Don't get all mushy on me, dad," she commented with fake snideness. "I'll be here one more summer."
And Stinky Pete enjoyed every moment in that summer. Amy did as well. He'd wanted nothing more than her just staying here, but Stinky Pete was loyal to his owner, and he'd wanted to go places. Every day, Pete reminded himself to focus on the present.
But Amy wasn't taking a gap year, despite her parents insistence, and wanted to get going. He'd watched as the Derryberrys started getting more emotional over the fact that their daughter was a grown woman now. It felt like it was with him, too.
College was on the way.
One day, after the rest of her room was empty and boxes were loaded in the basement or her car, Amy approached the toy sitting alone on the now empty pillow sheet. The computer and all were removed. Her iPod was in her pocket, her pink headphones around her neck, though they were currently lowered, music still playing.
"Well, Stinky Pete, I don't know what to do with you," Amy snarked, a smile in her voice as she impersonated being curious. "I can't leave you here all alone. I don't trust Jacob not touching my things. Hmm, how does college sound?"
She pulled his pull string. Stinky Pete knew how to manipulate his voice box to tell her exactly what she'd needed to hear: "There's Gold in them 'ther Hills!"
"Wonderful!" Amy laughed. "Knew that you would like that idea."
Amy wasn't very observant, but if she had looked closely enough, she would see his smile growing brighter. He'd tried to reassure himself that Amy wouldn't ever break him or throw him in the trash. He couldn't recall, on the top of his mind, her even throwing out even broken Barbies. The silent fear he would always be the exception was gone now, complete with the excitement.
Her parents was standing next to her green SUV. The woman was clad in a yellow shirt and brown pants. The man was wearing a creamy shirt and blond pants.
"Jacob! Son! Come here!" Her father called out.
She loaded Stinky Pete into the passenger seat, fairly quickly, and placed a seatbelt around him.
"So this is it?" Her mom asked with a bitter smile.
"Yes, I'll... make sure to call as much as I can," Amy responded, her face falling all of the sudden.
"You'd better," her father answered in a fake threatening tone.
"Yeah, yeah, take care of yourself, sis," her little brother, 11-year-old Jacob Derryberry, a big Superman fan, as evident by the superhero being on the middle of his blue shirt, removing his yellow lollipop from his mouth. "I don't want dad to go all protective more."
"You're going to forget me too, bro?" Amy taunted.
"You're kidding? I'm getting your room, and finally, don't need your creepy girl friends here." Jacob responded snidely. "Mom's letting me."
"We never said that," the older woman spoke, frowning.
"Oh, let the baby have his bottle," Amy laughed, before wrapping her arms around them. "I'm going to miss you all."
The hug lasted nearly a minute. The family of four dropped their composed behavior. But finally, Amy had pulled away.
"I'll call you guys, promise."
As Amy got in the driver's seat, she finally began to drive off. While the normal pop, rap, and rock star songs came on, every once in a while there was a Disney song.
'Amy has never forgotten where she came from.'
The first day was full of sadness and trepidation for Amy. However, she'd been able to load all her supplies up in her room, including the Prospector. To his surprise, she'd begun working on him again with modern art supplies only six days after. College required much attention, and he was the perfect art project for her to work on in place of the real one. He'd missed her when she went to classes, but he knew that he couldn't have all her attention like back in the late 90s and early 2000s.
The end of classes came for the first year, allowing her to go back home. In that time, Amy decided to take up a babysitter job. A few calls and babysitting trips led to one of the least unexpected encounters that the Prospector would never forget.
Surprisingly, unlike the other trips, Amy removed the Prospector from the car and brought him inside. "Hey, Bonnie, this is my old toy, Stinky Pete, or else, as you know, the Prospector. You may play with him for a while. Be gentle with him. He means a lot to me."
"Yes, I will be! Come on, Woody, say hello to Stinky Pete!"
She grabbed the pull string and pulled, earning a "This town ain't big enough for the two of us" from the voicebox.
Bonnie gasped, admonishing, "Woody, be nice!"
And she pulled Stinky Pete's voice box.
"Oh Boy!... Beans for Dinner."
'Uhh, right, he might still think I am like... that. I didn't want to kill them, but how could I explain that to him?'
And when the Prospector looked, he'd seen one small toy clutched in the girl's arms and two others next to her. They were not just any toys but toys that he was familiar with: a Space Ranger, a cowboy doll, and a cowgirl. But he just couldn't tell if it was the same one. But it had to be. But...
Bonnie was gentle with her toys as well. She'd been careful with the Prospector and was different than the art that Amy used to do with him.
"Hey, Bonnie!" Amy's head appeared into the room. "I'd prepared lunch!"
"Yes, Ms. Amy. Coming!" Bonnie exclaimed, leaving the room at once.
They remained still for a few seconds before a shout came from the cowgirl, "Prospector!"
"Jessie," he responded, surprised by the happiness and numb, aching guilt that accompanied him. "Woody and... Space Ranger, I..."
"Oh, you came back for more, did you?!" The male potato extended his two arms in Pete's direction, the rest of the toys from a long time ago dangerously coming at him, while the rest lingered back, surprised.
"Guys!" Both Woody and a small doll called out. "Guys!" Woody tried again. "Calm down! Maybe Stinky Pete learned his lesson!"
They all looked at him, some with anger, others with confusion, and others with a mixture of both, clearly prepared to join in. It was quite clear that they made themselves a home.
Pete was thinking about how to start this off. "I wish to apologize for my previous actions. I was wrong about children. While some may destroy their toys, Amy taught me that some kids love their toys, and I should have never manipulated you both." He looked at Woody and Jessie before his eyes landed on the cowboy sheriff squarely. "And I should have never tried to separate you from Andy. I know now what it's like to fear losing an owner."
To his surprise, Jessie engulfed him in a big hug. "I always thought somewhere in you had cared about me."
"Of course, I did," Stinky Pete admitted, as much as he tried to hide it. The cowgirl doll was someone he'd missed from time to time, and it was a good thing that they had owners who loved them.
Bullseye was the next to approach, head nudging against his side, licking him on the hand eagerly. Oh, he'd missed that horse.
"Bullseye, I'm glad to see you're okay," Stinky Pete said, instantly swelled by emotion.
"Come on, guys, I know we were wrong about the rest back in Sunnyside, but remember Lotso..." Potato Head pointed out.
"Cowboy, what is going on?" The small doll asked.
"I will explain it all to you later, Dolly."
"You're forgetting the part where he'd punched Buzz off of a ramp and caused him to fall off and ripped your arm!" Mr. Potato Head accused.
"Now, hold up," Buzz announced, "while his actions against me are unforgettable, I believe that it is unfair to judge him for actions that happened over a decade ago." He raised his hands placatingly. "With respect to my friend, Woody caused me to be push out of Andy's window by accident..."
"You what?!" Jessie snapped at the cowboy doll in particular.
"I was a different toy at the time," Woody confessed sheepishly.
"Conscience demands we should give the Prospector a chance," Buzz mentioned, pointedly trying to turn the subject away.
"Yeah, toys change all the time," the sprinkling dog added, nodding at once.
"Greetings. I am Buzz Lightyear. It is a pleasure to meet you..." Buzz's lips turned up into a smirk as they shook hands, "Under more pleasant terms. Try not to punch me like that again."
Pete could agree. "I will remember that."
The rest of the toys introduced themselves. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Hamm, Slinky, Rex, Mr. Pricklepants, Buttercup, Dolly, Trixie, Totoro, Peas-in-a-Pod, Chuckles the Clown, Old Timer, Chairol Burnett, Melephant Brooks, Bitey White, Carl Reineroceros, and Mr. Spell.
A summary from Woody explained it all. While most of them were clearly unhappy, Woody, Dolly, Buzz, and Jessie were successfully able to calm the toys down.
"So what's been happening with you, Prospector?" Jessie asked.
"Well, you see, after the bookbag incident, Amy took me home and started playing with me. She used to do a lot of makeup on me, and I don't know how, but I became her favorite toy somehow." The Prospector explained. "Throughout the years, she'd started loading up Barbies in her basement or selling them off at yard sales. She never got rid of me, and now, she takes me everywhere with her."
Everybody was silent, surprised.
"So what about you? What happened to the kid named Andy?" He looked at Woody in curiosity. He didn't seem to be damaged, but it was best to not assume that his condition meant tip-top shape. After all, they were not with Andy now and were with a girl named Bonnie.
Woody started explaining what transpired between the events of over a decade ago and now. While Andy sold most of his toys off at yard sales, the toys with them now were kept. Like Amy, Andy refused to throw his toys. A misunderstanding led to the toys being mistaken for trash and tossed out by Andy's mom. Stinky Pete was surprised when the events at Sunnyside Daycare were explained to him. Whatever these toys were, they were quite adaptive and capable of surviving any threat. They'd survived an incinerator after all from a cruel bear who wished to hurt others due to a lack of a good kid. They were given to Bonnie from Andy, due to Woody, and taken home.
"I'm sorry," Stinky Pete said honestly, lowering his head. "That must have been traumatizing, and I can't even imagine losing Amy."
"I once thought that way about Andy," Woody confessed. "But Prospector, trust me, your kid growing up doesn't mean that they're replacing you if you end up in the hands of another owner. Sometimes, they have to move on without you, and sometimes, you're needed somewhere else. While I miss Andy, I love being with Bonnie and the gang. I know one day Bonnie's going to grow up, but we're living in the now."
Stinky Pete nodded. "Amy was the first kid to ever have me, Woody. I couldn't ever..."
"Andy's father died when he was young, and I was passed down to him. Maybe, one day, Amy might have kids of her own and pass you down to them." Woody shrugged. "It's always a possibility."
The Prospector could imagine it. "She has grown into a beautiful woman." Silence passed for a moment. "While I do regret my past actions, I thank you all for this opportunity you have given me. I wasn't able to know the love of having a kid until you put me into Amy's bookbag. Now, I know all kids are not that bad, and life only means a lot being loved by a kid in one way or another."
"In all technicalities, you won," Buzz quipped. "Now, you have an owner who loves you enough to take you to college."
"Gee, Buzz, when you put it that way, I should have gone with Andy," Woody joked.
"The old man was able to become a true college boy, long before you, Sheriff," Buttercup snickered.
Dolly smiled teasingly. "You guys have the weirdest experiences that I don't even want to know."
They'd heard footsteps, and everyone hastily went back to their positions before the little girl came in and continued her playtime. It proceeded for the rest of the day until Bonnie's parents came home. Amy gently grabbed Stinky Pete from his position on the ground. The little girl started pouting slightly.
"I'm going to miss him," Bonnie said sadly.
"I'll make sure that I'll babysit you more often so you can play with him more," Amy promised with a small wink to the girl. "Deal?"
"Deal!" Bonnie exclaimed, wrapping her arms tightly around the Prospector. "Bye, Stinky Pete! Bye, Ms. Amy!"
Stinky Pete was hefted over Amy's shoulders, spotting the forms of Woody, Buzz, and Jessie waving at him. He managed to do so as well, while Amy got her paycheck and led him out to her car. With his new friends and making up for past wrongs, Stinky Pete just couldn't be any happier.
Life was good.