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“The Toy Aisle” by SoFox
Today’s story is “The Toy Aisle” by Sofox, a Cheetah-Fox from Ireland. You can find this story, and others, in the Happy Howlidays anthology from Thurston Howl Publications.
Read for you by Rob MacWolf — werewolf hitchhiker.
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Transcript
You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:This is Rob MacWolf,
Speaker:your fellow traveler,
Speaker:and Today’s story is
Speaker:“The Toy Aisle” by Sofox,
Speaker:a Cheetah-Fox from Ireland.
Speaker:You can find this story, and others,
Speaker:in the Happy Howlidays anthology
Speaker:from Thurston Howl Publications.
Speaker:“The Toy Aisle” by Sofox, Night settled on the toy aisle.
Speaker:The overhead fluorescent lights had long since turned off.
Speaker:Aside from some scattered exit signs, the scene was lit only
Speaker:by moonlight streaming down from the skylight,
Speaker:touching the rows of toys and their packaging.
Speaker:In the semi-darkness, a lone stuffed rabbit sat upright on a demo table,
Speaker:its tag and label still attached to its ear.
Speaker:“Oh, I hope,” said the toy rabbit,
Speaker:“I hope someone special buys me.
Speaker:That some nice child buys me, and I make them happy.
Speaker:happy.” “Of course,” a painted wooden duck on wooden wheels
Speaker:wheeled up to the rabbit.
Speaker:“Don’t worry, soft one; someone will buy you.
Speaker:Just have faith.” “But what if they don’t?
Speaker:What if Christmas comes and goes and nobody buys me?”
Speaker:the rabbit nervously pulled at its plush ears.
Speaker:“Then you’ll be picked up in the after-Christmas sales.
Speaker:You will find someone who values you.”
Speaker:“But what if I’m not?
Speaker:What if…” “Oh, give it a rest, both of you!”
Speaker:With that, the GameStation GXPπ jumped off its shelf onto the table,
Speaker:landing beside them with a heavy thud.
Speaker:“You do this every night!”
Speaker:The rabbit whipped around, its ears briefly slapping itself in the face.
Speaker:“Well, who asked you?
Speaker:You’re just a gaming console!”
Speaker:“What! So just because I’m electronic, I can’t get involved in ‘toy stuff’?” “Well,
Speaker:I’m just saying, toys like us were around long before people started making circuits.”
Speaker:Red lights started blinking on the black plastic obelisk.
Speaker:“Well, what makes you so special?
Speaker:Different parts of me were designed and assembled all over the world.
Speaker:I’m a paragon of technological achievement of the entire human race.”
Speaker:“Doesn’t make you a toy!
Speaker:Do you see Christmas specials about
Speaker:gaming consoles? Do you see them being made in Santa’s Workshop?
Speaker:You’re just a mass-produced distraction.
Speaker:You don’t have the love and care put into your making like I do. Hmph!”
Speaker:The rabbit turned and flicked its tail.
Speaker:The duck tried to wheel between them.
Speaker:“Now look, you both have—”
Speaker:“Oh, really?” The console jerked towards another shelf.
Speaker:“Hey, Carl? Come down here for a sec.”
Speaker:“Huh? Oh boy, I haven’t done this before;
Speaker:okay, just a sec… whaaaaaa!”
Speaker:A thin, rigid plastic case dropped straight down,
Speaker:slapping onto the table with a whack.
Speaker:“I’m okay… okay…” the case awkwardly pulled itself upright, showing its cover.
Speaker:It was a game for the GameStation GXPπ (RRP 59.99),
Speaker:with vibrant cover art and branding details, but what drew attention
Speaker:was the character on the cover.
Speaker:A rabbit. “…what?” The stuffed rabbit padded up and
Speaker:looked at the cover like it was looking into a mirror,
Speaker:for in a way, it was.
Speaker:The image of the rabbit reflected the stuffed one perfectly.
Speaker:“Yeah,” the cover rabbit spoke,
Speaker:“I’m the video game adaption of the series
Speaker:you’re a part of.” “But…
Speaker:I thought I was—” “Special?
Speaker:Unique? Handmade? Pha!” the GameStation GXPπ could have spat
Speaker:but instead just tried to eject a non- existent disc with a whirl and click.
Speaker:“Nothing is handmade anymore;
Speaker:we’re all mass-produced.”
Speaker:“But…” the rabbit turned to the duck and leaned forward in an earnest plea for support.
Speaker:“Sorry,” said the duck,
Speaker:“But even I’m part of a brand that specialises in making wooden toys as a selling point.
Speaker:Nostalgia, throwback,
Speaker:tactile toys, that sort of thing.”
Speaker:“Face it!” the game console spoke,
Speaker:“You’re dreaming up a period that barely exists.
Speaker:Toys have been made in factories for well over a hundred years!
Speaker:At one stage, metal toys were all the rage, and at
Speaker:another time it was plastic toys.
Speaker:And, of course, stuffed toys have been
Speaker:made in factories
Speaker:for pretty much as long as they’ve existed – unless you want to count rag dolls.
Speaker:You’re not more of a ‘real’ toy because of what you’re made of.”
Speaker:“How do you know all this?”
Speaker:asked the duck. “I’m internet enabled,
Speaker:Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11ax.” “But…” the bunny tried to speak,
Speaker:“there must be some handmade stuff
Speaker:out there, some uniqueness!”
Speaker:“Yeah, probably, it’s always existed in one form or another…”
Speaker:the console turned,
Speaker:“but you’re not one of them!”
Speaker:The rabbit was stunned.
Speaker:It sat heavily down on the wooden tabletop painted with streets and buildings,
Speaker:its stuffing pushing its body out.
Speaker:If it could cry, it would have.
Speaker:It lowered its head,
Speaker:its shiny plastic eyes seemed to glisten.
Speaker:“I just wanted to be special.
Speaker:To give some child
Speaker:some joy.” Except for its cooling fans, the GameStation
Speaker:GXPπ was silent,
Speaker:sensing it may have gone too far.
Speaker:Carl (the video game)
Speaker:calmly moved back towards its position on the shelf,
Speaker:feeling it had played its role.
Speaker:Only the wooden duck approached, wheeling up,
Speaker:and rotated its head toward the rabbit.
Speaker:“It’s… it’s okay. Being part of a larger series…
Speaker:just means that a lot of kids will want you more. They’ll know who you are.”
Speaker:“They’ll know what my
Speaker:‘image’ is, but they won’t know me!
Speaker:I thought I was unique. I’m not; there are
Speaker:countless others just like me.
Speaker:I’m not special. There’s no way I can stand out.”
Speaker:Silence permeated the dimly lit aisle.
Speaker:And then, with a chime, the GameStation GXPπ spoke up again.
Speaker:“Look, erm, I may have been made in a factory,
Speaker:but once I’m bought and brought home, goodness knows what will happen.
Speaker:Maybe I’ll be loaded up with
Speaker:fighting, sports, or action/adventure games. Maybe I’ll be in someone’s bedroom and played only by them,
Speaker:or maybe I’ll be under the living room TV and
Speaker:played by the whole family. My 1.4 TB hard drive will be filled with unique save-games,
Speaker:screenshots, and video clips from all the games played on me. And that’s
Speaker:nothing compared to the experiences the people who play them have.
Speaker:Even people playing the same game will have different experiences.”
Speaker:The stuffed rabbit seemed to look away.
Speaker:The console made a desperate attempt to regain its attention. “Look,
Speaker:my point is we might start out all the same, but the moment we go out into that world,
Speaker:all our experiences
Speaker:diverge. Even right now,
Speaker:you think every other GameStation GXPπ is talking with every other stuffed rabbit and wooden toy
Speaker:have this exact conversation?”
Speaker:The duck picked up the slack.
Speaker:“What I think it’s trying to say is that
Speaker:when some child finally buys you,
Speaker:the experience you both have will be yours
Speaker:and uniquely yours. You’ll
Speaker:travel your own paths, have your own times, good and bad,
Speaker:and understand each other as individuals,
Speaker:regardless of how many out there may be
Speaker:superficially similar to you.”
Speaker:“I… guess…” the rabbit pulled up a prop plush carrot and pretended to nibble on it.
Speaker:It felt calming somehow.
Speaker:“It’s just… this is a lot to take in.
Speaker:I… appreciate what you’re saying. It’s just…
Speaker:can I have some quiet
Speaker:time?” “Of course!”
Speaker:The duck wheeled back out of sight,
Speaker:and with a quick full-body nod,
Speaker:the console gradually returned to its previous position.
Speaker:Lying back, the rabbit looked up at the moon through the skylight.
Speaker:The aisle once again settled into silence.
Speaker:The rabbit had started the night unsure
Speaker:and now was even more uncertain.
Speaker:Thoughts swirled in its little
Speaker:polyester-filled head.
Speaker:After a while it sat up.
Speaker:“I may not be what I thought I was,
Speaker:and I’m not sure I’ll be what people want me to be…
Speaker:I suppose all I can do is hope and
Speaker:see where the next step takes me.”
Speaker:Tilting its head, it looked up at the gaming shelf and caught
Speaker:a glimpse of a game box.
Speaker:“So, there’s a game out there with me in it… I wonder what it’s like.
Speaker:like...” This was “The Toy
Speaker:Aisle” by “Sofox,”, read for you by Rob Macwolf, Werewolf Hitchhiker. You can find more stories on the web at thevoice.dog,
Speaker:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Happy Holidays, and thank you for listening
Speaker:to The Voice of Dog
