StingRay’s left flipper is twisted behind her back and her nose is jammed up against a button.
“Sleepover! Sleepover!” whispers Plastic, joyfully, when the zipper is shut.
“What is it, anyhow?” Lumphy wants to know.
Plastic has no idea.
“A sleepover is when you build a loft,” says StingRay. “It’s way high in the air, up in a tree,
like a loft bed in a treetop,
with a tent.
You have blankets up there,
and there are birds that fly over to you with
baskets of cupcakes in their beaks.
You eat cupcakes and look down
over
the
forest, to the town below.
Then you make wishes on the stars you see,
because there are so many stars when you’re
up on top of the world,
and then you go to sleep.
You are up high,
over
the rest of everything,
and you’re
sleeping,
so it’s a sleepover.”
“Hooray!” says Plastic. “I can’t wait.”
“I wish we didn’t have to go in this backpack,” complains Lumphy. “It’s too small, too dark, and it smells like permanent marker.”
Just then, Honey unzips the backpack and takes StingRay out. “I forgot, you don’t like the backpack, do you?” she says, giving StingRay a kiss where StingRay’s cheeks would be if she had cheeks. “I’ll carry you in my arms.”
Specialness! Specialness forever and ever! StingRay can’t help smiling as Honey zips the backpack closed.
Lumphy and Plastic are in the dark. “How come she remembers that StingRay doesn’t like the backpack, but she doesn’t remember that
I
don’t like the backpack?” mutters Lumphy.
Plastic doesn’t know. She doesn’t like the backpack, either.
. . . . .
The sleepover is not like StingRay said it would be. It is at Honey’s friend Shay’s house, in Shay’s bedroom. Shay’s bedroom is not
over
anything. Actually, it is on the ground floor.
Honey is sleeping over
night
at Shay’s.
“Now I get it. This is the indoor over
night
kind of sleepover,” says StingRay while the girls are in the kitchen eating dinner. “You know, she didn’t say it was
that
kind. If she’d said it was
that
kind, I would have explained it to you.”
“That’s okay,” says Plastic. But she is disappointed.
The toys are sitting on a blow-up mattress on Shay’s floor. When the girls finish eating, they come in and play Clue until Shay discovers it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the lead pipe. Then they put glitter makeup on each other. Shay also puts glitter makeup on her stuffed duck while Honey tries on dress-up clothes.
StingRay would really like some glitter makeup.
Plastic would really like some glitter makeup, too.
Even Lumphy would not mind some glitter makeup, so long as he could wash it off, later.
But Honey isn’t playing with them, checking on them, or even talking about them. She is
pulling her Barbie box
out of a plastic shopping bag. She brought that stupid box and those silent Barbies along on the sleepover!
Honey and Shay dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and brush their hair,
and put their hair in ponytails,
and dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and wonder why one of them has teeth marks
on its leg,
and why the other one has teeth marks on its
hand,
and then forget about that
and dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and brush their hair,
and dress the Barbies again.
For a very long time.
Finally, they pack up and it seems as if maybe they’re going to do something with Lumphy, StingRay, and Plastic—but instead, they jump on the blow-up bed and perform a circus extravaganza for Shay’s mom, complete with capes, a clown wig, tumbling, and faux-tightrope walking.
Plastic likes the circus, because it’s very bouncy. She wishes she could perform in it—but she isn’t invited. Lumphy and StingRay can’t even see it. They have fallen off the bed, what with all the jumping, and are lying on the floor—upside down in a pile of dress-up clothes—and missing the entire extravaganza.
Frankly, the whole
“Sleepover! Sleepover!” whispers Plastic, joyfully, when the zipper is shut.
“What is it, anyhow?” Lumphy wants to know.
Plastic has no idea.
“A sleepover is when you build a loft,” says StingRay. “It’s way high in the air, up in a tree,
like a loft bed in a treetop,
with a tent.
You have blankets up there,
and there are birds that fly over to you with
baskets of cupcakes in their beaks.
You eat cupcakes and look down
over
the
forest, to the town below.
Then you make wishes on the stars you see,
because there are so many stars when you’re
up on top of the world,
and then you go to sleep.
You are up high,
over
the rest of everything,
and you’re
sleeping,
so it’s a sleepover.”
“Hooray!” says Plastic. “I can’t wait.”
“I wish we didn’t have to go in this backpack,” complains Lumphy. “It’s too small, too dark, and it smells like permanent marker.”
Just then, Honey unzips the backpack and takes StingRay out. “I forgot, you don’t like the backpack, do you?” she says, giving StingRay a kiss where StingRay’s cheeks would be if she had cheeks. “I’ll carry you in my arms.”
Specialness! Specialness forever and ever! StingRay can’t help smiling as Honey zips the backpack closed.
Lumphy and Plastic are in the dark. “How come she remembers that StingRay doesn’t like the backpack, but she doesn’t remember that
I
don’t like the backpack?” mutters Lumphy.
Plastic doesn’t know. She doesn’t like the backpack, either.
. . . . .
The sleepover is not like StingRay said it would be. It is at Honey’s friend Shay’s house, in Shay’s bedroom. Shay’s bedroom is not
over
anything. Actually, it is on the ground floor.
Honey is sleeping over
night
at Shay’s.
“Now I get it. This is the indoor over
night
kind of sleepover,” says StingRay while the girls are in the kitchen eating dinner. “You know, she didn’t say it was
that
kind. If she’d said it was
that
kind, I would have explained it to you.”
“That’s okay,” says Plastic. But she is disappointed.
The toys are sitting on a blow-up mattress on Shay’s floor. When the girls finish eating, they come in and play Clue until Shay discovers it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the lead pipe. Then they put glitter makeup on each other. Shay also puts glitter makeup on her stuffed duck while Honey tries on dress-up clothes.
StingRay would really like some glitter makeup.
Plastic would really like some glitter makeup, too.
Even Lumphy would not mind some glitter makeup, so long as he could wash it off, later.
But Honey isn’t playing with them, checking on them, or even talking about them. She is
pulling her Barbie box
out of a plastic shopping bag. She brought that stupid box and those silent Barbies along on the sleepover!
Honey and Shay dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and brush their hair,
and put their hair in ponytails,
and dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and wonder why one of them has teeth marks
on its leg,
and why the other one has teeth marks on its
hand,
and then forget about that
and dress the Barbies,
and undress the Barbies,
and brush their hair,
and dress the Barbies again.
For a very long time.
Finally, they pack up and it seems as if maybe they’re going to do something with Lumphy, StingRay, and Plastic—but instead, they jump on the blow-up bed and perform a circus extravaganza for Shay’s mom, complete with capes, a clown wig, tumbling, and faux-tightrope walking.
Plastic likes the circus, because it’s very bouncy. She wishes she could perform in it—but she isn’t invited. Lumphy and StingRay can’t even see it. They have fallen off the bed, what with all the jumping, and are lying on the floor—upside down in a pile of dress-up clothes—and missing the entire extravaganza.
Frankly, the whole
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