شبی با عروسک زنده فصل 02

Night of the Living Dummy - Chapter 2

A child?

Kris uttered a silent gasp, staring in horror as Lindy lifted him out of the trash Dumpster.

She could see his face, frozen in a wide-eyed stare. His brown hair stood stiffly on top of his head. He seemed to be wearing some sort of gray suit.

His arms and legs dangled lifelessly.

“Lindy!” Kris called, her throat tight with fear. “Is it—is he… alive?”

Her heart pounding, Kris started to run to her sister. Lindy was cradling the poor thing in her arms.

“Is he alive?” Kris repeated breathlessly.

She stopped short when her sister started to laugh.

“No. Not alive!” Lindy called gleefully.

And then Kris realized that it wasn’t a child after all. “A dummy!” she shrieked.

Lindy held it up. “A ventriloquist’s dummy,” she said. “Someone threw him out. Do you believe it? He’s in perfect shape.” It took Lindy a while to notice that Kris was breathing hard, her face bright red. “Kris, what’s your problem? Oh, wow. Did you think he was a real kid?” Lindy laughed scornfully.

“No. Of course not,” Kris insisted.

Lindy held the dummy up and examined his back, looking for the string to pull to make his mouth move. “I am a real kid!” Lindy made him say. She was speaking in a high-pitched voice through gritted teeth, trying not to move her lips.

“Dumb,” Kris said, rolling her eyes.

“I am not dumb. You’re dumb!” Lindy made the dummy say in a high, squeaky voice. When she pulled the string in his back, the wooden lips moved up and down, clicking as they moved. She moved her hand up his back and found the control to make his painted eyes shift from side to side.

“He’s probably filled with bugs,” Kris said, making a disgusted face. “Throw him back, Lindy.” “No way,” Lindy insisted, rubbing her hand tenderly over the dummy’s wooden hair. “I’m keeping him.” “She’s keeping me,” she made the dummy say.

Kris stared suspiciously at the dummy. His brown hair was painted on his head. His blue eyes moved only from side to side and couldn’t blink. He had bright red painted lips, curved up into an eerie smile. The lower lip had a chip on one side so that it didn’t quite match the upper lip.

The dummy wore a gray, double-breasted suit over a white shirt collar. The collar wasn’t attached to a shirt. Instead, the dummy’s wooden chest was painted white. Big brown leather shoes were attached to the ends of his thin, dangling legs.

“My name is Slappy,” Lindy made the dummy say, moving his grinning mouth up and down.

“Dumb,” Kris repeated, shaking her head. “Why Slappy?”

“Come over here and I’ll slap you!” Lindy made him say, trying not to move her lips.

Kris groaned. “Are we going to ride our bikes to the playground or not, Lindy?”

“Afraid poor Robby misses you?” Lindy made Slappy ask.

“Put that ugly thing down,” Kris replied impatiently.

“I’m not ugly,” Slappy said in Lindy’s squeaky voice, sliding his eyes from side to side. “You’re ugly!” “Your lips are moving,” Kris told Lindy. “You’re a lousy ventriloquist.”

“I’ll get better,” Lindy insisted.

“You mean you’re really keeping it?” Kris cried.

“I like Slappy. He’s cute,” Lindy said, cuddling the dummy against the front of her T-shirt.

“I’m cute,” she made him say. “And you’re ugly.”

“Shut up,” Kris snapped to the dummy.

“You shut up!” Slappy replied in Lindy’s tight, high-pitched voice.

“What do you want to keep him for?” Kris asked, following her sister toward the street.

“I always liked puppets,” Lindy recalled. “Remember those marionettes I used to have? I played with them for hours at a time. I made up long plays with them.” “I always played with the marionettes, too,” Kris remembered.

“You got the strings all tangled up,” Lindy said, frowning. “You weren’t any good at it.” “But what are you going to do with this dummy?” Kris demanded.

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll work up an act,” Lindy said thoughtfully, shifting Slappy to her other arm. “I’ll bet I could earn some money with him. You know. Appear at kids’ birthday parties. Put on shows.” “Happy birthday!” she made Slappy declare. “Hand over some money!”

Kris didn’t laugh.

The two girls walked along the street in front of their house. Lindy cradled Slappy in her arms, one hand up his back.

“I think he’s creepy,” Kris said, kicking a large pebble across the street. “You should put him back in the Dumpster.” “No way,” Lindy insisted.

“No way,” she made Slappy say, shaking his head, his glassy blue eyes moving from side to side. “I’ll put you in the Dumpster!” “Slappy sure is mean,” Kris remarked, frowning at Lindy.

Lindy laughed. “Don’t look at me,” she teased. “Complain to Slappy.”

Kris scowled.

“You’re jealous,” Lindy said. “Because I found him and you didn’t.”

Kris started to protest, but they both heard voices. Kris looked up to see the two Marshall kids from down the block running toward them. They were cute, red-headed kids that Lindy and Kris sometimes baby-sat for.

“What’s that?” Amy Marshall asked, pointing at Slappy.

“Does he talk?” her younger brother, Ben, asked, staying several feet away, an uncertain expression on his freckled face.

“Hi, I’m Slappy!” Lindy made the dummy call out. She cradled Slappy in one arm, making him sit up straight, his arms dangling at his sides.

“Where’d you get him?” Amy asked.

“Do his eyes move?” Ben asked, still hanging back.

“Do your eyes move?” Slappy asked Ben.

Both Marshall kids laughed. Ben forgot his reluctance. He stepped up and grabbed Slappy’s hand.

“Ouch! Not so hard!” Slappy cried.

Ben dropped the hand with a gasp. Then he and Amy collapsed in gleeful laughter.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Lindy made Slappy laugh, tilting his head back and opening his mouth wide.

The two kids thought that was a riot. They laughed even harder.

Pleased by the response she was getting, Lindy glanced at her sister. Kris was sitting on the curb, cradling her head in her hands, a dejected look on her face.

She’s jealous, Lindy realized. Kris sees that the kids really like Slappy and that I’m getting all the attention. And she’s totally jealous.

I’m definitely keeping Slappy! Lindy told herself, secretly pleased at her little triumph.

She stared into the dummy’s bright blue painted eyes. To her surprise, the dummy seemed to be staring back at her, a twinkle of sunlight in his eyes, his grin wide and knowing.