The Toymaker
By: Richard Whitcombe

    Beautiful toys, lined up perfectly on freshly dusted shelves, were admired by all the people on the block. The Toymaker was a friendly jolly fellow, which nearly everyone loved. He laughed a lot, played with the children a lot, and worked on new creations a lot. He could spend hours working away to get a new toy just perfect. He often spent late nights in the back room thinking of new ideas, and possible layouts. Every Saturday morning, children would line outside his door- with pockets fresh full of allowance money. He would happily skip over to the door, and let them in. He was almost a Santa Clause, if you will. However, he wasn’t a fat man, and was actually rather young. Merrily, he watched people come in and out of his store.

“I had just moved in from a different town awhile back ago. A few of my friends had said something about him, but I didn’t go and see him myself till recently,” I said.
“Where did you come from?” she asked, and then added inquisitively, “and why did you move here?” 
    I replied, with slight remorse of the past, “I’m not going back there. I was short-changed and severed. I can’t go back… I just could not. Why am I here?”
“Well, you tell me that.” She pondered… almost a feeling that I had done something wrong filled the air. She asked, “Why did you go to the Toy Shop?”
“All my friends talked about how fun it was to go there, so many things to check out and admire the craftsmanship. I thought it would be the nice thing to do.”
“Nice thing to do?” sharply.
“Well, um… not the nice thing to do, but I didn’t want to be rude, since our town is so small, people just know who’s been there and who hasn’t.”
“Oh, okay… So tell me about your experience in the Toy Store.” 
    I reminisced for a second, and smiled for a moment, then said, “Walking up to the Toy Store, I saw all the great things that were within the windows, everything was so open, and I felt welcomed there, and then I saw him…”
“Him?” she asked. 
    Slapping myself on the inside for pausing when I did, knowing that she would inquire upon it, I answered, “The Toymaker.”
“What did he look like?”
“You’ve seen him,” I said slightly bitter.
“I know, but I want to know how you saw him.”
“Okay,” hesitantly, remembering how things were back then, “My first impression of him was rather different than most. I found him an odd man, so different then everyone else I’ve ever met. Almost like me… when I walked into the store he welcomed me, as well as my friend, and we browsed awhile.”
“But what did he look like?” with a very cut-to-the point voice.
“He was handsome.”
“Ah, is that all?”
“It really didn’t matter…” 
    Getting the feeling of avoidance, she then diverted the focus by crossing her legs and taking off her glasses. She asked, “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes, I love tea!” I replied. 
    She got up and moved into the kitchen, and I heard some noises most commonly heard when one is making tea. “So what did you do in the store?” She called, peeking around the corner so you could see her head.
“My friend had to go early, but I lingered awhile in the store… I loved it there. So warm and inviting… I didn’t ever want to leave. I was admiring the store, and he was in the back working on something or whatever. My fingers felt the edges of the dark mahogany shelves as I browsed around. I walked almost in a trance of awe around the store, and when I realized where I was, I had found myself in a dusty part of the store… It was almost no one had been there… at least not for a very long time. There was a chest to the side of the room, so I walked over and crouched down to see what was inside. The chest was covered in dust, so I wiped it all off, and slowly opened it. Surprisingly, the hinges didn’t creak. In this chest, I saw the most amazing toy I’ve ever seen. So I picked it up and just stared at it. Then…” 
    There was a small silence in the room, almost as she was giving me a chance to continue without her having to push.
She then said, after shaking her head like people do when they wake up, “Oh, sorry… I got to thinking of something else there… um, so… then what happened?” 
    “The Toymaker had come beside me without my knowing- probably because I was so enveloped by the toy. Then he said to me in a gentle, strong voice, “Take good care of that.” I was kinda confused… like what was he giving it to me or something? So I asked him, “Wait, what?” He smiled, stood back up, extended his hand to help me up, and then said, “It’s very important to me, but you may have it. I trust you.”
“Well that’s a sweet deal there,” she said, coming back from the kitchen with the tea. She handed me a mug with some nautical decorations, and I smiled sweetly. “Be careful, it’s hot.”
“Okay,” I said, “Thanks.”
“So that was really quite a steal. What happened after that?” she asked, caringly. 
    I was starting to feel like there was some sort of loss inside, but I kept smiling and said, “Oh, well he walked me back to the “busy” part of the store, where everyone was playing with the toys. Shortly after we walked into the room, the Toymaker had gone back to working in the back, and everyone was beamingly happy… almost like I had won a million bucks… or found some treasure. I found that kind of weird, but I was excited because of the new toy. I then exited the store, and starting making my way home. The world outside the toy store seemed so much less colorful, less warm. I started walking faster because I heard some thunder in the distance- but there were hardly any clouds in the sky. I made my way home safely, went upstairs, and put the toy in a very special place.”
“I’m glad you made it home safely,” she said, smiling. Then her face kind of grew long… and she asked, “So why have you come to me?”
“I asked you that.”
“Yes, but that is a question only you can answer.” 
    She was right. I was the one who came to her… finding myself wrong, I felt mildly rebuked. “Well, I said, I just don’t know what do now.”
“Why?” she asked, by now she was leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and her hands holding her tea.
“Well… I broke the toy.” 
    Startled, and sitting upright she almost demandingly asked, “How did you manage that?”
“…” 
    She then was set back… knowing she was going into hurt feeling territory, “What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“I’m sorry… I don’t.”
“Think harder…”
“I don’t want to…”
“Why not?”
“…” 
    She didn’t respond. I picked up the conversation again, “Okay… well the toy seemed a little to much for me at the time.”
“It’s just a toy”
“It was a special toy.”
“What made it so special?”
“The Toymaker entrusted me with something… he gave it to me for free… and it was so special to him- I saw it in his eyes… it became certainty special to me as well.”
“So how did you break it?”
“It was sitting there right beside me one night… and I felt a little smothered by it, so in a moment of weakness… I had to get some breathing room and I threw it across the room… It didn’t work right after that. And then something weird happened. The next day the toy store wasn’t open, and all the lights were off… so a friend tells me. Almost like the Toymaker knew I had broken the special toy.”
“Well if it’s broken, you should take it back to him and try to get it fixed.”
“I can’t do that.”
    I could tell she started growing impatient with my uncertainty. She asked, “Why not?”
“He closed his doors… probably because of me, and now that he’s opened them, I don’t think I can go in there again.”
“But you said he was so warm and inviting!”
“Yes…but I can’t just face him, not yet… I broke his toy!”
“That you did, but I think you both would want that toy fixed, and that way whatever tension you believe to exist, whether it is true or not, will be gone.” 
    I didn’t respond. I knew what I had to do… I think she knew it to… I just didn’t want to admit it to myself… not just yet anyway. I have too much to deal with… this is just one more thing not needed. She studied me as I sorted things out… she observed for a while… I couldn’t get my head on straight, I had been so torn on so many levels. She started to speak slowly, softly, “I don’t think the Toymaker will be angry, he just wants to fix what is broken. I don’t think he’s upset either, just disappointed you haven’t come to him to fix it yet. He isn’t going to come to you and ask you for it.”
“But I don’t know if he’ll keep the toy or not… I don’t know if I want to keep the toy or not… I’m so unsure of a lot of things right now.”
“I think the Toymaker will know how to fix it.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t need to.”
“I can’t just go to him and be like… I broke your special toy… can you fix it?”
“Yes you can, and he will.”
“Well, who’s gonna have it?”
“That’s for you two to talk about it.” 
    I had now realized her patience. Putting up with silly old me… and for that I applaud her. She refilled my tea cup, and we sat there in silence. I did not know what to say, and she wanted to just let me make the first move on continuing the conversation. “…, Okay… the store is probably closed, but I’m gonna call and leave a message telling him I’m coming in tomorrow morning,” I said. I pulled out my cell phone, and went down my list of contacts and found the store number. It rang once, and again, and again.
“Hello?” said a slightly tired voice.
“Uh… hi…. Is this the Toymaker?” I was slightly startled that he was actually there.
“Yea,” replied the Toymaker.
“I’m so sorry, but I broke your toy…”
“I know.”
“Can I come in and have it fixed tomorrow?”
“Stay where you are, I’m coming.”
:click:
    Stunned, I started to get into a small panic. He was coming. I had no time to prepare myself… physically and mentally. All my clothes were in the wash and I was wearing sweatpants and my favorite sweatshirt. My hair was all over the place… But that didn’t matter… How was I going to face him?
“Uh… he’s coming,” I said, turning towards her.
“Hm, well, I best then go out for a little walk then, eh?”
“Sure…”
“Oh, but before I leave, can I see this special toy?”
    Quietly, “Yes…” I pulled out the toy from my coat’s inner pocket, and I held it up for her to see. She didn’t gasp, but rather inhaled quickly…
    She stood still… and said, “That isn’t a toy… that’s a heart.”