Mr. Gordo, Where Are You?
(Chapter 2)
DATE: 7/03
SUMMARY: Sunnydale is at the bottom of a huge crater. Where is Mr.
Gordo?
RATING: PG
SPOILERS: Chosen
A/N: Download the Scooby Doo font
The two rivals stopped punching each other upon seeing Buffy’s cherished childhood toy soar out the window.
“Uh oh.” They looked down three floors to the freshly manicured lawn. Nothing. Not even a hoof peeked out from behind the bushes.
Riley and Angel slowly turned their heads to stare at each other. After a moment of silence, Angel spoke. “Buffy’s gonna kill you.”
Riley opened his eyes wide in astonishment. “Me? Me?! You’re the one who broke in to steal her pig.” He punctuated his words by poking his adversary’s chest. Angel looked down at the offending finger, then back up at Riley’s face.
From deep within a prickly bush lay a very upset SA, who listened to a quickly escalating fistfight three floors up.
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The poor Mr. Gordo lay in that very bush for many sunrises and sunsets. To pass the time, he counted footsteps that padded toward him and then inevitably away again. He may be just a stuffed pig, but he could still sense the change in temperature that accompanied each new day. Soon, the white cotton would fall and cover his ears and snout. Then, certainly, Girl would never find him again. He had given up all hope of ever seeing his beloved Girl again.
So, for now, he had to make do with playing little mental games and trying to fight off the various birds who inexorably tried to pluck out his black, plastic eyes.
4,325. 4,326. 4,327. More footsteps approached. Gordo had long ago ceased calling out for help. The Big Ones never seemed to hear him. He sighed as he continued to count. 4,328. 4,329. 4,330. And then they mysteriously stopped right outside his leafy prison.
“Hello out there! Could you possibly help a poor pig? I need to find my Girl.” There was no answer. “Yoooo, hooooo! Hey you, up there! Big One!”
The person responded by kneeling down before Gordo. He was so pleased that he snorted. “Oh, you can hear me. Thank goodness!” The pig watched with enthusiasm as the branches in front of him parted to reveal an older looking Big One, perhaps the same age as the one with shiny face decorations. And it spoke.
“Well, what do we have here?”
“My name is Mr. Gordo, sir. I seem to have lost my Girl and would be ever so thankful if you would help me find her.”
The man reached in and gently grasped the pig, pulling him free from the bush. Gordo breathed a sigh of relief as he took in the shape and form of his savior. “Hello, kind sir. Thank you so much for rescuing me. Can we find my Girl now?” But he did not seem to hear.
“My, my. What were you doing in there, little one?”
“There was a terrible fight. Dark Fur was there. And so was Fishy One. It’s all kind of a blur, actually.”
The man brushed off some dirt and leaves from the toy and looked at it appraisingly. “I don’t know why, but I sense something special about you.”
“Yes, yes! I am a very special pig to my Girl . Will you help me find her? Please?”
“Oh, well. I’ll figure it out eventually. Meanwhile, you’ll do nicely at the ring toss.”
‘Ring toss? What’s a ring toss?’ Gordo wondered to himself. ‘I hope that’s not like tossing cookies. That always ends up a smelly and messy affair.’
The mysterious stranger placed him in the back seat of a moving world with walls and they started toward their destination.
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By now, Harten had leaned toward Phillips, as the rest had done, and rested his elbows on the desk, with his head on his hands. “So, who is the man, Peter?”
Never in the history of time itself had Mr. Harten called an employee by his/her first name. It would have shook up the frail Mr. Phillips if not for the fact that he was very much into the telling of his tale.
“I will be getting to that, sir.”
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They drove for quite a long while, stopping only for quick breaks at Rest Stops. Gordo wondered why this man rested for such short amounts of time, when all the Big Ones in his world rested for a full third of a day. He shrugged his shoulders – or would have if he had them – and continued to watch the large world without walls pass by outside.
He must have dozed off, for when he opened his beady eyes, the moving world had stopped and the Older One had snatched him from his seat and was carrying him outside. What he saw before him was truly awe-inspiring. Large worlds of red, yellow, blue, green, purple, and pink. Real animals of every shape and size. Some of them reminded him of very large Miss Kitty Fantasticos. Some had long, grey noses and horns. ‘Are those demons animals?’ Gordo wondered.
He smelled yummy smells from the pink cotton and yellow Popped Korn, and yucky smells from the chocolate lumps on the ground. “What is this place, mister?”
“This is your new home, little guy.” Older One looked down at him with a strange smile on his face.
They walked quickly through the hustle and bustle until they reached a big box that seemed to be missing a wall. Inside, he could see many stuffed animals hanging from the ceiling, looking dejected. Underneath them rested several bottles, some with rings around them. Gordo looked up at the SAs and happily greeted them. “Hello, up there! My name is Mr. Gordo, but you can call me…well, Mr. Gordo.” He giggled to himself. “I won’t be here long, though. We’re off to find my Girl.”
A large, blue SA bear laughed wickedly. “Oh, I doubt that very much.”
Gordo looked at him questioningly. “No, you see, I have a Girl. She will be missing me about now. Me and the Older One will be finding her any day now.”
The SAs had a good laugh at this naïve pig’s expense. “You belong to the Rayne Ring Toss game now, Pig." The way Blue Bear said ‘pig’ sent chills up Gordo’s spine.
“But, my Girl!”
At that, Ethan tied a wire around him and strung him up next to a green dawg. “Sorry, fella. You’re stuck here now.”
A tear escaped the pig’s eye and he sniffled. “Girl will be so upset if I do not return to her.”
“Poor guy. Don’t cry.” The voice that came from his left belonged to a brown bear with long hairs over her eyes. “You may be able to find another Girl. Or even a Boy!”
Green Dawg scoffed. “No SA ever leaves the Rayne Ring Toss. Don’t you know it’s fixed?”
The pig looked back and forth between the two SAs, trying to understand. ‘Fixed? You mean it’s not broken?”
“No, fixed. You know…” Green Dawg turned to face Gordo a bit better. “According to the Rools, if a Boy or Girl can throw a ring to land over one of those bottles, then he or she can pick an SA to take home.
Gordo smiled. “But it’s never happened.” His smile fell quickly. “The bottles are too big. You can never get a ring around them. Ethan is a cheater.”
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Mr. Gordo slept fitfully that night, tossing and turning against his metal harness. The Dawg’s words echoed in his ears and he feared he might never make it home.
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Several days passed, each one yielding the same results. Boys and Girls approached excitedly, all pointing to the SA of their choice. Then, the Big One with them would give Mr. Ethan a slip of green paper, and he would, in turn, hand them a set of colorful rings. The children always threw and missed. This made Gordo terribly sad. Green Dawg was right. He had begun to lose all hope again, until one day, a little yellow furred Boy stepped up to the box. His brown eyes sparkled as he grinned and pointed a little finger at Mr. Gordo. Boy’s and Gordo’s eyes met. There was something special about this one. Something…well, Gordo didn’t know what exactly. The Big One gave a smiling Mr. Ethan the paper and the Boy impatiently snatched three blue rings.
He over enthusiastically threw the first ring and it landed behind Mr. Ethan. Boy grimaced, but did not give up. The second ring kissed the lip of the third bottle from the left, second row, but promptly fell off and hit the floor. Boy rubbed the last ring and touched it with his mouth. He squinted his eyes, then deftly launched his final ring. The blue item seemed to fly through the air in slow motion as Gordo keenly watched its progress. The toss was flawed, causing the ring to twist and turn during flight. However, as it neared it target, it became quite possible that the throw could succeed. A blue ring landed on a clear bottle, begging to be accepted. Gordo held his breath. It was, it was…falling to the floor, the resulting ‘klink’ echoing through the game box as a mockery to the Boy’s failure.
Boy’s face fell and he turned away, looking at the ground. He kicked a rock and watched it dance across the dirt.
No one to this day knows what make him do it - not even Mr. Ethan himself. “Hold up there, lad. Fancy another try? It’s on the house.” The shifty man held up a pink ring, then extended it to the Boy. His little face lit up and he grabbed it. Gordo expected the silly rubbing ritual again, but instead, Boy haphazardly threw the pink ring of plastic into the box. Suddenly, every single eye became dry at the same time, and they all – Swindler, Boy, Mother, Pig, Bear, Dawg – blinked. When their eyes opened again, the pink ring sat neatly around the glass bottle, dead center. Immediately, Boy rejoiced, while Gordo and the rest looked on in disbelief.
Ten minutes later, Gordo found himself snuggled deeply in a new set of arms as he, his new Boy, and Boy’s Muther headed home in their moving world with walls.
Gordo took in a big sniff, trying to memorize the smell of his Boy, and savior. As the happy hog fell asleep listening to a quick little heartbeat, he recalled how reluctantly Mr. Ethan had taken him down from the ceiling. He was so happy to leave the Rayne Ring Toss behind. Yes. It was a good day. A very good day.
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