Chapter Twenty-Five

Malcolm Landgraab IV sat in his cushy mansion overlooking Bluewater Village, going over his books. From his office window he could see the entire neighborhood, including the Tinker house, which rose from prime land right across the way. He was flabbergasted that Wanda Tinker had the gall to refuse his generous buyout offer for Tinker Toys. And it hadn't taken him long to figure out why -- Melody, her oldest daughter.
It had become clear to Malcolm that Melody was now in charge at the Tinker house. Her angry tirade at the village Christmas party was fresh on his mind, but he'd laughed it off and dismissed it as a temper tantrum from a spoiled little brat. He remembered the girl, too. On occasion she wandered into his electronics shop to buy a new video game or to check out the latest gadgetry. She would even ask questions about how some of the machinery worked, to which he'd respond, "Like hell I know how they work? I just sell 'em."
Now, though, she was all grown up. And she was getting in his way. He had to do something to get rid of her. But what?
Malcolm got on the telephone and made several phone calls to his various contacts in different areas of Sim City society -- including the seedier aspects like organized crime. "I need you to find out anything you can on Melody Tinker," he shouted to anyone who would listen. "I don't care if she puts her panties on backwards. I want to know about it!"
Meanwhile, Melody and the boys were spending their days between the backyard toy shop and Inner Child Toys and Gifts, rearranging and redesigning the decor, building a website, arranging mail-order service, and going over the accounts. She realized the boys were at her disposal, willing to do anything and everything to please her. And she was learning to like it.
Marla, meanwhile, had chosen to stay back at the house, helping Wanda with Harmony and listening to Wanda tell childhood stories about Melody. "I signed up to live in the dorms so I could try to meet new people," Marla began. "I was happy, though, when I got assigned to Aldrich, but dreaded finding out who my suite mate was going to be. When I learned her name -- Melody Tinker -- I got all kinds of mental images, constantly wondering what she'd be like. But she's been one surprise after another so far."
Then Wanda reminisced, "We took Melody to the pediatrician one time, she was running a fever. While he was examining her, she peppered him with all kinds of questions. 'How does this work?' 'How does that work?' 'What does this do?' He laughed and told us he'd never had a child like her, and he finally relented and gave her this book to read. Well, she'd finished the book by the time we got home."
"I figured she was like that," Marla said. "When we're at school, she usually has her nose in a book, and it's usually something with physics or math. She keeps a stack of books by her bed."
"We didn't need a maid. There were times when we wondered if we were raising a daughter or a drill sergeant." Wanda laughed, and so did Marla. "Her bed was so neatly made up every morning you could bounce a ball on it!"
"I don't worry too much about cleaning in our suite," Marla said, "not with her around. She pretty much keeps everything spotless."
"We didn't need an alarm clock, either. We knew she would be up at 6 in the morning, every morning, because we could hear the clanging of the weightlifting machine in the exercise room. There was no way we could keep up with her pace. If we stayed up past nine at night we were good. She stayed up all night stargazing and still managed to wake up at 6 am."
"I don't know how she does it either," Marla confessed. "I get tired very easily. The other day she made me go along with her for one of her runs, I got tired before we turned the first corner."
"And we definitely didn't need a mechanic. She took apart everything that had a plug. Clocks, radios, telephones. Even the brand new computer my husband bought for her. Yep, it got taken apart too. I can't tell you how many times I'd come in her room and find her with a screwdriver in her hands. Stephen often complained of his tools 'mysteriously disappearing.'"
Marla laughed. "If something breaks in the dorm we usually call her to fix it. And when she and those boys get together -- I don't understand what they're talking about half of the time, they speak a language I don't recognize.
"You mean those two shaggy-haired boys with the glasses?"
"That's them. Edwin Sharpe and Chester Gieke. Techno heads both. They know all about the latest gadgets."
That evening Melody walked in, with Chester and Edwin following like puppy dogs behind her. Wanda, handing Marla Harmony, walked up to Melody and confronted her, her hands on her hips, glaring purposefully. "What's the big idea?" she asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Mom," replied Melody, flabbergasted. She really thought she and her mother had made a breakthrough, but it looked as though they were back to square one again.
"I saw the lights on in the workshop last night," Wanda replied, dangling the keys in her fingers. "What's going on? I have a right to know. All these years, you've never set foot in the place. Now, all of a sudden, you're interested. Would you care to enlighten me?"
Her questions were fired like bullets, staggering Melody from all angles. "Mom, please, let me explain."
"Explain what? Why are you so interested all of a sudden?" Wanda was trying to make sense of her daughter's perplexing behavior.
Melody took a deep breath. "Can we sit down?" she said, pointing to the chair. "We really need to talk."
Wanda was unconvinced, but sat down anyway.
"I couldn't sleep last night," Melody began, "all I could think about was the workshop..." Her voice trailed off.
Wanda opened her mouth, but Melody raised her hand to silence her.
"I know," she continued, "it's weird, really. I've never given it a single thought....until now. So I decided to take a look around. It was while I was looking at a few blueprints and marvelling at how clever Stephen was -- that I found this."
Handing Wanda a folded sheet of paper, Melody said, "It's Stephen's last will and testament. I think you'd better take a look at it."
While reading, Wanda's eyes fell on a clause near the bottom of the first page. "So he left the toy shop to you after all," she said in disbelief.
"Yeah," Melody thought. "I was stunned. This has come as a complete shock to me too."
"Stephen and I talked about this," Wanda said to no one in particular, "I tried to talk him out of it, and I wasn't sure if he was going to go through with it. Apparently he did."
"I would never have expected him to leave it to me, only to you."
"What are you going to do?" Wanda realized that whatever Melody had decided to do, she had already decided to do it, and it was utterly pointless to stop her from doing it.
Melody hesitated. "I'm not sure yet. I don't exactly have a head for business, Mom."
"You could start by sifting through everything first before you take the plunge. Stephen was always the organized type, so everything should be there at your disposal."
"The boys and I have been down at Inner Child the last couple of days cleaning up and applying fresh coats of paint."
"That's a start." Wanda sighed. "I'm not forcing anything onto you at all, Melody. I learned that a long time ago."
"I know that," Melody smiled. Then, turning serious, she vowed, "I'm not letting Malcolm Landgraab get a single piece of my father's company."
Melody brought in the account book and a lengthy list of back-ordered items, orders that hadn't been filled since Stephen died. She and her friends went in what used to be her bedroom to discuss them. "Here's the deal," Melody announced. "People have ordered handcrafted toys and they haven't gotten them."
"Like I said before," Chester said, "Edwin and I can make the toy bricks, those are pretty easy. Maybe you could get your mom to make some of the other things."
Melody shook her head. "She hasn't set foot in the shop since Stephen died either."
"She'd have to help at some point, I would think," suggested Edwin. "After all, she's more experienced in this stuff than anyone here."
Marla added, "The kids would be so disappointed that they didn't get their stuff. We have to find some kind of way to get them their things."
After their meeting, the group split up. Marla went downstairs to help Wanda out with Harmony while Melody and the boys went out back to the workshop to fill the back orders.
The Tinkers celebrated a quiet Christmas with the laughter and good cheer that had been missing from the household for far too long. Wanda and Marla got together to cook a fabulous holiday feast rivaling that served by Lisa Ramirez and Denise Jacquet at the village Christmas party, and everyone else exchanged gifts. Wanda even got to work her pipes again while Melody played Christmas carols on the piano, which she hadn't touched in awhile. And when everyone else sang Christmas carols, Melody joined right in instead of balking at it like she had when she was younger.
"Oh, my God, it's snowing!" Marla cried, rushing to the window to look. The rest of the gang followed, even Melody. She'd secretly prayed for snow as a girl -- growing up, Christmases had always been warm enough to wear shorts. Not this year.
"Let's wait for the snow to pile up, we can go out and build snowmen," suggested Chester.
Edwin was reticent. "I -- I don't know. It is kind of cold out there."
"Relax, it'll be fun!" Marla replied, muffling his stringy blond hair.
Sure enough, the snow piled up, and the four of them scurried outside to build snowmen. The snow felt cold on their hands, but as Melody had never seen snow except on television, even frostbitten hands was well worth it.
On the day after Christmas Edwin came up with a suggestion. "Remember that website I helped you make for tracking paranormal activity?"
Melody frowned. "Which reminds me, I've been so busy with the toy store, I've got to check my email for that site. That'll probably be another all-nighter."
"No, I mean a website for Tinker Toys. Does the company have a website?"
Melody shook her head. "I -- I don't think so. Edwin, that's a splendid idea! I don't know why I didn't think of it."
Edwin grinned. "You can't think of everything, Mel." Just like that the pair of them went into her parents' bedroom, spending hours on developing a website for Tinker Toys. "You're going to need to purchase a domain name, too. And maybe do something like a statement from the owner or CEO or something. Gonna need a good professional looking pic."
Melody made a face. "Where am I going to find a camera?" she asked him.
"Well, don't you guys keep an old camera around somewhere?" asked Edwin.
Meanwhile, Chester and Wanda were down in the shop furiously making toys to try to fill some of those last-minute orders. Chester read the daunting list aloud. "Forty clown-in-the-boxes, twenty water wigglers, sixty Little Heroes fire trucks --"
"And that's just for Tower Toys here in Bluewater. The shop downtown is asking for even more items."
"Maybe -- perhaps -- we could hire temporary staff to help out?"
"Wouldn't we have to put out an advertisement?"
"An advertisement would be a great idea. It would show everyone that Tinker Toys is serious about coming back."
The rest of the holiday was filled with trips to Inner Child and assorted delivery runs in the Tinkers' rented van, fulfilling backorders, and general good humor in the household. The boys took turns tossing Harmony in the air, to Wanda's horror. "She'll puke!" the Tinker widow screeched.
Chester laughed. "Harmony likes it. Look, she's laughing!"
Marla kept the house clean and minded Harmony while Wanda found it in her heart to set foot in the shop again, interviewing potential staff members and even, picking up a hammer to carve out a few items. "Let's see if I've forgotten how to do this," she thought to herself.
Melody was right, Wanda mused. Stephen's spirit is all over this place. Wanda stepped to the bench and proceeded to make a twirl, spin, and wobble. After hammering together the handles, she took some tempera paints and lovingly handpainted the ladybug design on it.
Just then Melody joined Wanda in the toy shop, setting foot in the place in Wanda's presence for the first time. "What have you decided to do?" Wanda asked.
"I think we can give this a go, while I'm here," Melody replied.
Wanda unleashed a broad smile. "What are you saying, child -- that you want to reopen the shop?"
Melody smiled nervously. "I -- I think so, while I'm still here on break," she said, bobbing her head yes. "Besides, it's what Daddy would have wanted."
At the Landgraab mansion, Malcolm was 'entertaining' a female companion in his hot tub. She was quite tall, with luscious lips, blond hair, and blue eyes. After entertaining her with good conversation, he plied her with alcohol and they disappeared underneath the bubbling water.
After they emerged, Malcolm said, "You're pretty good -- Barbara."
"It's Brenda," replied the woman. "Brenda Rodiek. But thanks, anyway. You know, I had a pretty good teacher."
"Really?" Malcolm decided to change the subject. "You mentioned your daughter was at Hanover Academy."
"Yes, she's about to graduate. She's talking about trying to get into Academie Le Tour."
"Academie Le Tour, eh?" Malcolm scratched his chin, a devilish train of thought crossing his mind.
"Academie Le Tour. That's where her friend went. Melody Tinker. I think that's why she's trying to get there."
"Melody Tinker eh? So how does your daughter know Melody?"
Brenda wondered about Malcolm's leading questions, but she continued to talk glibly. "She met her at school when they were assigned as roommates. They grew quite close from there."
"How close?"
"Sarah came home to me crying. I asked her why she was crying, and she said it was because she liked this girl Melody at school and Melody refused her affections."
Malcolm was bemused. "So your daughter and Melody Tinker had a thing going on there, eh?"
At six the next morning Melody arose, again before everyone else in the household, and went for a jog around the neighborhood. Then, when no one was looking, she took a cab to the Bluewater post office to pick up packages of toys and supplies she'd ordered from the internet, and walked straight to the workshop to assemble and set them up.
Chester arose awhile later. He spotted the light on in the workshop and woke up Edwin. Rubbing his eyes, Edwin shook his head in disbelief. "Dang," he muttered to himself. He knew full well what that light meant. Melody was fiddling around in there.
Hastily putting on his jeans and hoodie, Edwin ran as fast as he could to the toy shed, and Chester followed him. There, they saw Melody trying to unpack boxes and assemble items, but trying to hide the fact that she was frozen in fear. "You need any help with anything?" Edwin asked.
Melody said nothing, but pointed to several more boxes that needed unpacking.
Chester chuckled. "Yes, boss," he teased as he tore open one of the boxes, and Edwin did so likewise.
At eight in the morning, the Tinkers reopened the doors to the backyard workshop of Tinker Toys for the first time since Stephen's death. And the timing could not have been better for some of its most loyal customers. Melody shuddered a bit when she recognized a couple of raven-haired girls in Hanover uniforms. Even though she didn't know these girls individually, she knew she was glad to be away from there.
The customers wasted little time in arriving, and they gazed in awe at some of the new toys. In addition to the bricks and fire trucks, the old standbys, there were new items, such as rag dolls (courtesy of Marla) and toddler televisions (courtesy of Chester). They'd certainly pulled out all the stops on this one, just in time to complete nearly every back order.
While Chester took to the bench making bricks, Melody went to the register. At first, because there was no one in line, she was fine, she could stand up and intake the scene. But once customers lined up, and she had to look at them and collect money from them, that was when she got nervous. After taking a break and taking stock of things, she returned to the register. But that wasn't to say the rest of the day was easy for her.
It cost Melody a fortune in taxi fares, delivering completed orders to houses, but it was worth it just to see her customers' faces. It made her heart jolt with unexpected pride when they all complimented her on the 'personal touch.'
She took note of this and decided to add home deliveries to the new look agenda.
While checking out the store's annual budget, she noted how carefully Stephen had accounted everything, from the blocks of wood right down to the smallest tacks. Everything had been carefully costed out and there was no room for any mistakes at all. It was going to be tight, but Melody vowed that once she passed her driving test, she would purchase a small van and begin the delivery service. It always had been the little things that mattered with Tinker Toys.
It was while she was traveling back home in the taxi that she came up with the perfect new slogan that defined Tinker Toys' new approach to business -- Bringing Toymaking Into the 21st Century.
As she drifted off to sleep that night, Melody realized how easily she'd slipped into Stephen's shoes as owner/manager of the toy shop. The only thing holding her back was her paralyzing fear of the toys themselves.
When the crew finally packed up to return to Academie Le Tour, Marla discovered, tucked away in the back of a closet, a badly chipped wooden brick. Melody recognized it straight away -- it was Maddy. Her paint was faded, her lips missing and she was well beyond repair. Memories rushed back as she recalled the many nights she cupped Maddy in her hands as she slept.
Now Maddy was a toy she wasn't afraid of at all. So why was she scared out of her wits by the others -- even other toy bricks? Surely it wasn't just that horrible clown-in-a-box that had caused it.
She remembered how Maddy had slipped into her possession, too. It was among many toy bricks in a shipment Stephen had made for one of the big toy stores downtown, and somehow it had fallen from the rest of the pack. For some unknown reason, Melody formed an attachment to it, and even though Stephen wanted to take the brick from her, he hadn't had the heart to.
"I can't have my daughter locking herself in her room talking to a toy brick!" Wanda had shouted.
"Wanda, you of all people should know -- you can't take a toy from a child! That's like taking milk from a baby! Let her have her brick, if she feels comfortable with it."
At any rate, Melody, meanwhile, was upstairs in her room, rocking back and forth, clutching Maddy in her hands. Somehow, Maddy had become more than a toy to her. She would confide in Maddy all of her fears and frustrations. It had even gotten to the point where Maddy fit snugly in a special pocket in Melody's school bag.
One day, when Melody was in school, she'd somehow left the bag unattended as she sat underneath her favorite tree, reading a book. Some mean kids had found the special pocket where Melody had kept Maddy. "Put it back!" Melody cried, mostly in vain as one of the kids dangled the brick in front of her and threatened to throw it away.
The girl ran as fast as she could, as far away from Melody as she could. Melody did not return home with the brick, and she had difficulty sleeping that night and several subsequent nights. She had given up hope that she would ever see Maddy again.
Days later, in gym class, Melody wandered into the bleachers and discovered her precious Maddy had been thrown near the top. Reunited with her beloved, she locked herself in the girls' bathroom and promised she would never leave her alone again. That day, Melody decided to lock Maddy away in a safe place and only take her out whenever she felt comfortable -- which was usually in the relative safety of her bedroom.
Just as Melody was preparing to leave, Wanda walked in the toy shop and found her in there, staring once more at the blueprints. For a few seconds, she stood there watching, marveling at the woman her daughter was becoming. Despite her childlike nature, she had a muscular sense of responsibility, drummed in her by her success-oriented parents. "You gotta do what you gotta do," she said finally as Melody, hearing her voice, turned around.
"Yeah. But what about the shop?"
"I can handle the shop." For the first time, Wanda sounded confident and had seemingly developed a belief in herself and her abilities.
But Melody wasn't completely convinced. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yeah, dear. I can handle it." Wanda grabbed Melody's face. "I can't hold on to you much longer, love, as much as I'd like to. You've got your whole new life now. I've got to let you sprout your wings and fly."
The hardest thing for a parent -- is letting their child go.