Raggedy Andy and the Christmas Time Challenge
Happy Holidays, @strawberryxfieldz ! I hope you enjoy you Andy-stuffed treat! Sorry if it's a tad late...
Synopsis: It's time for Marcella's toys to plan for their Christmas meal! But when Andy wants to take control, time literally stands in his way.
Fandom: Raggedy Ann/Rag Dolly
Character: Raggedy Andy, Raggedy Ann, Teddy, Camel, Baby, Marcella mention, Poppa mention, General D mention
Dynamics: Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy and Teddy, Raggedy Andy and Camel
Rating: General
“It’s time to plan for Christmas dinner, everyone!” Raggedy Ann proclaimed, a ruler in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other.
Marcella’s five toys all clapped and hollered at the idea, even Andy, who usually hated planning. It brought out everything he didn’t like about the other toys. Teddy was overattentive and used long words, The Camel with the Wrinkled Knees moped if no one liked his ideas, and Baby would come up with a silly fashion stuffed dance like in the movies (and also moped if no one liked her ideas.) Besides, he was always “spur of the moment”, a firecracker, a whizz kid, and anything else that sounded amazing. He wasn’t for dinner planning, even if presents came after.
“First order of business,” Ann said as she pulled in the kid sized chalkboard, “is who’s gonna plan it. I did the Fourth of July, Teddy did Columbus Day, and Baby did Thanksgiving. This time it will be Andy!”
“Pass,” Andy said, closed his eyes and leaned back. “Toss it over to Teddy. He loves overthinking.”
Teddy grimaced at the remark. “While it’s true I do like to ‘overthink’ on projects, I propose it’s fair to pass it on to Camel, since he hasn’t had the chance to plan a holiday dinner yet.”
Camel’s droopy eyes grew wide. “Me?! Oh thank you so much, friend!” He reached his floppy legs across the table to shake Teddy’s hand. Andy, sitting between them, could see why the wrinkled knees were in the name. Andy folded his arms and closed his eyes with a huff. All he had to do for the next hour was half-listen for the chance to make some wise jokes and jabs.
“First off, we need a brilliant, delicious, green bean casserole!”
Andy’s eyes popped back open.
“Green bean?!” he yelled at the humpbacked horsey. “GREEN BEANS?!?”
“Andy, hush!” Ann demanded, pointing her ruler in his face. Andy pulled it from her hand and pointed it back at her.
“No, YOU listen! I hate these boring planning sessions for holidays I could spend doing a million other things than cooking, cleaning, or singing, and now…GREEN BEANS?!!?”
“Well, you chose not to plan this dinner, so that’s on you.”
“Well,” Andy said, “I change my mind. I SHOULD plan Christmas dinner. I’m a million times more qualified.”
Ann sat down in her chair. “Okay, then. How are you more qualified?”
“I–” Andy started before realizing he didn’t know. He thought back to all the little lessons Marcella’s old man would always give her to see if there was anything. Then he remembered her at his sewing table showing how to tell time.
“I can tell time!”
Andy gave the surest smile imaginable with a squishy (but tough!) pair of crossed arms to boot.
The other dolls weren’t convinced. Teddy raised a questioning eyebrow and pulled out a polished, gold painted watch. They opened it and showed the inside to Andy.
“Can you tell me the time on this watch?”
Andy leaned in and squinted. There was a circle of small dashes with squiggles placed around it. What did any of that have to do with time?
“Take your time,” Teddy said with a wink. “I’ll give you thirty seconds.”
Andy could’ve given up, but he didn’t want to look stupid in front of everyone. And he certainly didn’t want green beans.
“Oooooone…” he strained. He looked back at the others. Baby’s head was coked to the side, Camel was biting his teeth, Ann already covered her mouth to hold back a huge laugh, and Teddy stared like General D’s less dreary child.
“Forty-five seconds,” the bear said.
Andy looked over the face for clues. He spotted a line with a tiny diagonal on the top and a little line on the bottom. That must be a “one”.
Then, he remembered something the old man told Marcella.
“This one is also a five.”
The one is a five? How is that possible? Still, a clue was a clue! Andy scanned the clock’s face for some other hint. He looked at the big and little lines coming from the center. Maybe they pointed at numbers?
“Poppa, do the big hand point at the hours?” Marcella asked her dad in that same conversation.
“No, chick, that’s the little hand’s job!”
“That’s dumb,” Marcella told him.
Andy agreed. But wait…the little line was pointing at the one! He was halfway right! Now the minutes. The big line was pointing at a triangle with a long line, three spots down from the one. Was it four minutes?
“You have fifteen seconds, Andy,” Teddy said, his glass eyes and everyone else’s eyes on him.
The four…four…five…the one is five. Five minutes?
“Yes, chick! The one is five minutes, the two is ten, and on and on.”
Two is ten, Three is fifteen, and four is…
“Twenty!! The time is one twentyyyy!!!”
Andy turned to Teddy so fast, it was a surprise his stitches didn’t rip. Teddy gave the small mouthed look they gave when Poppa was around. They looked down at the watch, then back at Andy.
“That’s correct!”
“YES!!!” Andy yelled as he jumped off the table and ran across the room, his legs propelling him over the bed and table and around the chalkboard. He jumped with the sounds of fireworks. “Boom! Boom!” Baby clapped with her porcelain arms and Camel with his felt covered hooves. Andy landed on top of the table and bowed.
“Now, back to business! The appetizer will be a giant, chocolate–”
“BWAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!” Ann laughed with an almost stitch ripping smile.
“What’s so funny, sis?” Andy asked with his hands on his hips.
Ann wiped a tear from her eye.
“It’s just…wait, one second…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!” she laughed again, falling over.
“What is it, huh?”
“T–Teddy’s…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“Spit it out!!!”
“THEIR WATCH IS BROKEN!!!!”
Ann went right back to laughing. Andy wouldn’t believe it.
“Gimme that!” he yelled at the nervously smiling bear and yanked the watch back from them. He put the watch by his ear. No ticking. He looked at the face again. The lines and numbers were right there, but the hands weren’t moving.
“Why did you make me read the wrong time?” Andy demanded.
“Well,” Teddy started, then shrugged, “I didn’t ask for the current time. I wanted to see if you could.”
Ann stopped laughing.
“So…he won?”
“Yeah…I WON!!!”
Once he finished his second celebration, Andy spent the night giving lists of chocolate coated desserts and crunchy salted snacks. However, he couldn’t help but notice Camel seemed a little sadder than usual. Maybe the wrinkled old livestock really did want to plan this dinner.
Daylight peeped through the windows and Poppa could be heard making coffee. He’d be in any minute.
“Close it up, Andy. Poppa’s gonna come soon,” Camel said surprisingly sadder than usual.
Andy looked over from the chalkboard and noticed Camel looking down with a huge frown. Maybe the wrinkled old livestock really did want to plan this dinner. He looked back at his sweets covered board.
He wrote down one last dish.
“How’s this dish?”
The toys gasped. Camel slowly looked up, then smiled as he read “Two pounds of green bean casserole.”
“But I’m not eating a single bean,” Andy stated, just so he didn’t look too soft.
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