Counseling: Adventure the Penguin

"You bought a new one!" Hizashi pointed to a small penguin puppet hanging from the plastic chain on the side of her stuffed toy display. 

Elly smiled with less embarrassment than she had originally felt when she started her collection, but he noticed she was still extremely shy. He was very careful not to touch any of her new plushies as well until she said it was okay. Knowing the story behind a few of them had taught him a great deal about her and he was grateful to her for sharing.

"What's this one's name?"

"Adventure," she told him hesitantly, blushing harder. 

"Cool. I assume there's a story behind that, like the others?"

Elly relaxed visibly and hugged him about his waist. "Yeah. Want to hear it?"

"Yeah." He smiled down at her. "But! Not before I get us some drinks. Something tells me this is gonna segue into somethin' big."

"Smart man," she murmured.

Once he had cracked open a beer for himself and gotten her one of those alcoholic seltzers she liked, they settled comfortably on the couch. "Mmmn. So, a puppet, huh?"

"Yeah. It was from a vacation. My family was pretty poor, but by scrimping and saving for a long time and going to stay with a relative instead of at a motel, we went to Florida."

"Ooooh, Disney!"

"Nope," she giggled at his enthusiasm. "I didn't like Disney stuff, and it was really expensive. So we went to Sea World."

"Ooohhh." Hizashi knew she loved sea life. That made far more sense. "Was it fun? At least that part? I know you love them fishies."

Elly laughed at his deliberate choice of silly words to make her feel better. She sipped her drink, wrinkling her nose as the fizz tickled it, and continued. "I did have some fun, yes! But the problem was the relative we went to stay with. It was my stepfather's mother."

He groaned loudly. "That doesn't sound good. He's not the type that woulda' had a nurturing mother."

"Exactly. She's the meanest woman I know in that family. I mean, you know my stepfather is abusive as shit, so it had to stem from something!"

"I'm scared for little you."

"It wasn't that bad. She did, well, ruin everything by insisting to come with us everywhere. And try to influence our every freaking step. So naturally as a kid, I don't like her because she's mean and she keeps dictating what we do and how we fucking do it..."

He raised an eyebrow. Swearing meant she was really angry.

"And we get to go, by ourselves, finally! Just my mother and I, into this shop. I picked a puppet up - this penguin -- and checked the price..."

"You were cost conscious as a kid?!"

"Well, yeah. I hadn't been allowed to get any of the ones I had really wanted because they were too expensive. But he wasn't too bad. Mom bought him for me, and I vowed, once again, like the puppy plush, that I would protect him. This time from the horrible, scary, pushy woman."

He cringed, his beer can crinkling as he inadvertently crushed it in his hand.

"Mom asked me what his name was. I said 'Adventure', because, hell, the word just came to me. She started laughing with everyone else. '<i>This is an adventure to you?!'</i> You know, mocking me. I was upset that what should have be a happy moment was ruined. 

"And then, the harpy woman reaches over and <i>grabs</i> him by the throat, squeezing and screeching, '<i>does he squeak</i>?!' I pulled him away and said, I don't know, something along the lines of 'you're hurting him'."

"Yeah, that's uh... screwed up. You would hafta realize choking a kid's stuffed toy would scare them, right?"

"Not this witch. She gave me this furious <i>look</i> like I was evil incarnate. I'll never forget it, or how it made me feel. You would've thought I called her a piece of shit or something. I mean... I was suddenly a Bad Child, and that was it!" She took a long drink from the can she held and burped absently. "I had embarrassed my mother by not being silent and letting her walk all over me so now I was treated like I had been the worst kid ever. I cried that night, in her stupid condo, holding my penguin and whispering to him that I was so sorry she had hurt him."

"Geez, babe."

"Yeah... and that's not even the worst tale with her in it. You want one of my better ones, it's from the first time I met this puece of human filth that they made me call 'grandma' and hug for photos."

"Ah. But now, tell me how you really feel about her."

"Ha!"