A Very Merry Toy Store Page #4

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- Yes.

He loved me, and you,

and Randy, and TJ,

and that store.

That was his world.

- Pretty great world.

- You want to tell me

what's going on?

- Oh, nothing, Mom.

It's just...

I have this friend.

She lost her dad

four years ago,

and her husband

a year later.

And now she's close

to losing her business.

So she gets to wondering,

what does luck have in store

for me next year?

- Well, Connie,

you tell your friend

that luck can change.

Especially if you make

your own.

- Did you get that

from a fortune cookie?

- Doesn't mean

it's not true.

- I love you, Mom.

I'll be home soon.

- I love you too,

sweetheart.

[phone rings]

- Hello?

- DiNova?

I'm in.

- Yes!

Oh, by the way,

I'm Bugs

in this scenario, okay?

You're Daffy.

[laughs]

I'm just kidding.

You can be Bugs

if you want to.

Hello?

You've already hung up,

haven't you?

All right, then. I...yeah,

I'm going to hang up too.

You might be wondering

what it is I'm doing here,

and what it is

you're doing here,

employees of Forrester Toys

and DiNova Toys.

Well, as of today,

we few, we happy few,

we band of brothers...

- And sisters.

- And sisters...

are co-workers.

Each of our stores

is remaining open,

but we're going to be pooling

our profits, our inventory,

and our marketing plan.

- Which means we're going

to ask all of you to put aside

that burning feeling

of disgust and resentment

that's been haunting

your thoughts

and fueling

your nightmares

for the last several years,

and see if you can work

together as a team.

Do you think

you can do that?

- Yeah. No problem. Easy.

- Sure.

- You can?

- We already get along great.

- You do?

- Connie, I think you might

be projecting here.

I mean, all of us

really like each other.

- We actually hang out

after work.

- Maureen and I have been going

out for almost a year now.

- And Kenny and I are thinking

of eloping next month.

- Oh.

- Congratulations.

- Well, that was awkward.

- If you laugh,

I'll kill you.

[piano being played]

- Okay.

That was, um...

that sounded...

you have been practicing

two hours a day, right?

- Yes, I've been practicing

two hours a day.

Sometimes

three hours a day.

- Oh. Hmm.

- Let me ask you

a question.

I've been looking at this

photograph for weeks now.

One of those guys up there,

he was your husband, wasn't he?

- Yeah. That's Alex

on the right there.

- Ah. A fine-looking man.

- Hmm.

- Grand opening. Nice.

Who's the other fellas?

- Oh, that's Roger DiNova.

- They were partners?

- Yeah, didn't you know?

- I only hit town

a couple of years ago.

What happened?

- Well, Alex and Roger

were best friends in college.

And about five years

after they graduated,

they decided to open

a toy store.

- It was all Dad's idea.

- Connie, do you mind?

I'm giving a piano lesson.

- Actually, you're giving

a history lesson,

and I'd like for it

to be accurate.

- Anyway, since Alex

was the primary investor,

he felt that it should be

his name on the front window.

- Dad sunk every last nickel

he had into that place.

- Roger was okay with that

at first,

but as time went by

and he was working

every bit as hard

as Alex was--

- Ha!

- He decided that his name

should be there too.

- And Alex refused.

- They fell out over it.

And then Roger took out a loan

and opened his own toy store

one block down the road,

mainly out of spite.

- Mainly?

- Connie, do you want to finish

telling the story?

- Oh, I wouldn't dream

of it, Mom.

I love science fiction.

- And they never

made up, huh?

- Funny you should ask, Joe.

Hi, Pam.

TJ let me in.

Uh, sorry.

Probably should have

called first.

For what it's worth, Pam,

my uncle wanted

to visit Alex

every day he was in

the hospital.

But he refused.

- I know.

I'm sorry, Will.

- Okay, let me just say this

for the record.

I hate this story.

- Yeah, me too.

- So, what brings you by,

DiNova?

- Joe, actually.

Francine said

you might be here.

Pancake recipe for tomorrow.

The best you ever tasted.

- It's yours?

- The ex-wife's.

I'm sure she's whipping up a

batch every morning these days

- for Carl.

- Carl?

- The ex-friend.

- I hate all these stories.

- TJ, did you remember

to close the garage?

- No.

- I saw a bobsled

in there.

That yours, TJ?

- Yeah.

- Nice.

Getting ready for the big race

next weekend?

- Oh, you mean the one

I'm going to lose?

- He's been reading

The Power

of Positive Thinking.

- You know, I was supposed to

lose to Mark and Frankie's sled

back in 1987,

but I didn't.

I actually took

first prize.

Maybe later I could

show you how.

- Cool.

- Grand opening.

This isn't even a good opening.

In two hours I've sold exactly

one Mr. Potato Head

and one game of Monopoly.

- Actually, the Mr. Potato Head

just got returned, Roy.

But they took

store credit.

- Where is everybody?

- You're not going

to believe it.

- Oh.

- The princess will be here

Tuesday, Mel.

Hey, I am so sorry.

We are out of the Chase & Go

ball popper,

but I bet DiNova's

up the street will have one.

If I were you

I'd hurry.

Reverend,

how's it going?

- Connie, if I served these

at church, we'd fill every pew.

That heavenly, huh?

[laughs]

Ben, looks like you could use

some more coffee.

- Oh, thank you, Connie.

Hey, you know why

they call coffee "mud"?

- Uh, because it was ground

a few minutes ago?

Old joke, Ben.

- I'm not that old.

- Hey, Eleanor,

you having fun?

- Sorry. I know I'm always

playing with this toy.

- Oh, what do I look like,

the FAA?

Knock yourself out.

- I really wish we could

afford to buy it.

My dad says there's no money

for extras right now.

- Yeah, a lot of that

going around.

- Not bad. Not bad.

- Yeah, I counted 85

just now.

- Yeah, it was almost 70

over at my place.

Well, you were right.

Americans will do

just about anything

for free pancakes.

- I think this guy's

ready to propose.

- Oh.

[laughs]

- What is he doing here?

- So, this is where

all my customers got to.

I wondered.

Connie Forrester, right?

- That's me.

- Roy Barnes.

My associate, Miss Halifax.

Nice to meet you finally.

And nice little shop

you've got here.

- Be it ever so humble.

- We were just in DiNova Toys.

Wall to wall.

Tell him congratulations.

Pancake breakfast.

Hat's off, guys.

Very inspired.

- Mr. Barnes--

- Roy, please.

- Roy.

I have to say, you're being

surprisingly gracious

considering, well...

- I'm the competition?

Why the heck not?

I mean, you two seem

to get along okay, right?

- Peas in a pod.

- See what I mean?

I just figured that's how

things are done around here.

It's kind of refreshing,

right, Miss Halifax?

- Like a mug

of hot cocoa.

- Or a stack of buttermilk

pancakes.

Speaking of which,

do you mind if we...?

- Yeah, follow me.

- The Eliminator?

So tell me, what's

the Eliminator, exactly?

- Sled.

- Bobsled, Mr. H.

Best one in the county.

Tell him how fast

it goes, Boots.

- 42.

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