It had been marked on Andy's calendar for months: the weekend of the boy-
scouting trip. In the past he and his troop had always stayed behind, but
now that he was a Weeblo 1, they were allowed to join the big boys!
Buzz got up from where he'd been tossed on the floor. Woody joined him, holding his head from the rough playtime. "Ow." He had just been declared the loser of a wrestling match with Jessie.
"Too much for you, Cowboy?" Buzz grinned, and slapped his friend on the back. "Just think! An entire weekend to ourselves!"
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking!" Woody gave a glance towards Jessie who was looking for her hat.
"And you're not?"
Jessie found her prize, jammed it on her head, and took off a missile towards her space ranger boyfriend.
She scooped him up in her strong arms and gave him a bear hug. "Yee-ha! Just you and me, Dumpling!"
Woody guffawed. "Dumpling?"
Buzz was struggling for oxygen. "Jessie, if you don't give me air, it's just going to be you!" He gasped.
"Sorry." She apologized and dropped him.
Bo walked up holding a magazine. "Hi." She greeted her three friends.
"Hey, Bo." Jessie nodded. "Whatcha got there?"
"Just an article I found interesting." Bo opened the magazine. "Listen to this: 'According to recent studies, the stereotype of women being the weaker gender is rapidly vanishing. A single woman in Arkansas saved a runaway bus while all the men onboard were panicking. In Georgia, during a bank robbery, a dangerous criminal took the bank's security guards (all male) hostage. They most certainly would have met their deaths, had not a brave woman stepped forward, and taken the criminal head on, while a teller called the police. According to witnesses, the one hundred and fifteen pound preschool teacher, 'kicked his butt.' The once popular image of damsels in distress is disappearing and Girl Power is taking its place. Quite possibly in the next five years, we could have a new weaker sex.'" Bo finished.
"I could have told you that." Jessie said.
"Oh please!" Woody rolled his eyes. "What makes you think girls are better than boys? We're just as capable as taking care of ourselves as you!"
"I can prove that girls are stronger!"
"How?" Woody wanted to know. Without warning, Jessie grabbed his arm and gave it a sharp twist. Woody let out a loud holler. Jessie dropped it and gave a "I-told-you-so" grin.
"Ok, Cowgirl! I think we need to settle this once and for all!" Woody declared, rubbing his shoulder.
"If you're think of a competition, I'm definitely in!" Jessie smiled fiercely.
"Oh no. You had to get them started, didn't you?" Buzz scowled at Bo.
"Fine! You and Bo against Buzz and me!" Woody pointed to the toys he was naming.
"Who said I'm in?" Buzz and Bo chorused.
"What's the game, and the rules?" Jessie wanted to know. It was then that Woody's eye caught the calendar. Circled in red letters was "BIG BS CAMPOUT!"
"Camping!" Woody decided. "We'll go camping and the team who can last the longest is the winner!"
"Camping?" Buzz gaped.
"I am not sleeping on the ground!" Bo shook her head.
"Yes you are! Come on, we have to get ready!" Jessie grabbed her arm and dragged her towards Molly's room. "Don't worry. The guys will crack under pressure and we'll win."
"Don't worry, Buzz! There's no possible way they can win!" Woody reassured his friend. "I've been camping before at Cowboy Camp!"
"Yeah, but I thought you slept in cabins." Buzz replied.
"So? I still have more experience!" Woody spread out his arms. "We got this thing won already."
In Molly's room, Jessie began grabbing things. "We need this, and this, and that, and this…"
"Jessie, how could you just assume I wanted to go camping? I didn't!" Bo protested.
"It'll be good for you."
"Our show's on tonight! We were supposed to sneak out and watch it!" She reminded her. Jessie straightened up.
"Sweet Potato Pie, I totally forgot! Well, it's too late now." She went back to what she was doing.
"Too late!" Bo huffed.
"We can't back out! We'll see it on reruns, ok?" Bo was irritated, but being the calm, complaisant toy she was, she didn't want to argue with Jessie. So she didn't.
At exactly eleven thirty, the four toys sneaked out of the house, carrying loads in their arms.
Near the fence, they began to set up. For tents, they had borrowed several of Molly's baby blankets.
"Wouldn't it be easier to sleep in Buster's doghouse?" Asked Bo.
"Nah. It smells." Was Jessie's reply.
Using some sticks, Woody constructed a crude looking frame. Buzz draped a blanket over it. "See, easy!" Woody rubbed his hands on his pants.
"Oh boys!" Jessie sang. She and Bo had already fixed their tent. Woody scowled. Jessie laughed and crawled inside. It collapsed.
Woody burst out laughing. "Need help?" Jessie crawled out from the blanket.
"No, we do not need help! We're fine!" She seethed. Bo got some stronger looking sticks and began to rebuild the frame. In two minutes, she had a better looking and sturdier frame than any of them.
"This blanket is too heavy! It'll break the sticks!" Bo grabbed a spare from the pile and put it over the frame. "It should be light weight."
The four friends sat around in the yard, telling stories and jokes for two hours. Finally, Buzz stood up. "It's after midnight, you guys. We should try to get some sleep." Jessie nodded.
Woody followed Bo to her tent. "Hold your horses, Cowboy! Where are you going?" She asked.
"I figured I'd sleep in the same tent as you, and Jessie would be with Buzz!" Woody shrugged.
"Sorry, Buddy, but it's not coed." Jessie shook her head.
"Excuse me?" Woody demanded.
"We're not spending the night together?" Buzz's face fell. He had looking forward to a night alone with Jessie, whispering secrets in each other's ear, and sharing passionate smooches under the stars, just the two of them…
"Jessie and I are tent mates!" Bo interrupted his thoughts. Jessie turned to her friend and grinned.
"Yeah, we can have a sleepover, just as if we were teenagers!"
"We'll share secrets…"
"And girl stories…"
"And eat cookies! I got some Chocolate Oreo's from the kitchen!"
"So, where the heck are we supposed to sleep?" Woody demanded.
"You keep to your side of the tent, Lightyear, and I'll keep to mine." Woody growled at his friend.
"You think I enjoy being ditched?" Buzz snapped, sitting up. The glow of the girls' flashlight could be seen, and every once in a while, laughter could be heard. "I can't believe this." Buzz flopped down.
"Yeah, Bo smells better." Woody snorted.
Buzz stuck his tongue out. "Big fat whoop." Woody chuckled. "What?" Buzz asked.
"She's going to kill me for saying this." Woody laughed. "But Bo snores."
"So do you." Buzz laughed with him.
"I do not!"
"Sure you do! Remember at Sid's house?"
"How could I forget?"
"You kept me awake all night in that backpack. I thought you would wake up the Mutant Toys, and they'd attack us."
"I do not snore!" Woody insisted.
"Yes you do!"
Woody reply was drowned out by thunder.
"Oh no! It's going to rain!" Buzz groaned.
"Don't worry! We're safe inside this tent and nothing…" The rain started to pour in buckets. Water leaked through the blanket. "Aw crud."
Shrieks were heard from the other tent. "Let me out!"
"I'm getting wet, darn it!"
Bo grabbed the blanket from the frame and used it as a shield to protect her and Jessie. Woody took the hint and did the same. They met in the center of the yard.
"Look, can't we just go in?" Buzz asked. "Some of us, well everyone but Bo, can't get wet, remember?"
"We are not going in! We're in a contest, and we're going to spend the entire night out here whether you like it or not!" Woody snapped.
"So, where are we going to sleep?" Bo narrowed her eyes.
The rain beat against the doghouse roof. The four toys were crammed together tightly from left to right, Woody, Bo, Jessie, and Buzz. They had the blankets from the tents and the spares covering them. The roof began to leak, drip, drip, drip on Woody's head. He threw the blanket over his face.
"You're right Jessie, it does smell." Bo moaned. "Especially when wet."
"Am I ever wrong?" Jessie was using her hat as a pillow.
"Yes." Woody said from underneath.
"So," Jessie turned over, ignoring him. "Who's the winner now, since we're all in the same situation."
"I guess it's a tie." Woody pulled his head out.
"Maybe it's symbolic about equality between men and women." Bo suggested. "No one's better than the other, and eventually, we all end up in the same boat…or doghouse…"
"Maybe it's symbolic that I am never letting you talk me into this again." Buzz growled at Woody. "Whose idea was this?"
"Theirs." Bo gestured toward Woody and Jessie.
"Well, look at it this way: Someday we'll all look back at this and laugh!" Woody said brightly.
"Woody, can I see your hat?" Bo asked.
Woody started to reach for it, then stopped. "No, you'll hit me with it!"
"I won't! I promise!" Woody hesitated, then handed it to her. Bo handed the hat to Jessie, who leaned over and swatted him. Buzz burst out laughing.
"I should have seen that coming!" Woody sighed.
"Well, I'm exhausted. Good night guys." Jessie lay down and closed her eyes.
All was quiet for a few minutes, then from Woody, "Ew! Buzz, did you do that?"
"No I did not!"
"It reeks in here now! You are gross!" Woody complained.
"For the last time it wasn't me!" Buzz insisted.
"How can you smell anything over the dog stench?" Bo asked.
"I said GOOD NIGHT, guys." Jessie repeated loudly. "Go to sleep!" Not another word was spoken.
Andy came home on Sunday evening. By then, his toys were inside, dryer and more definitely more comfortable.
"What a lousy weekend." Andy grumbled as he flopped on the bed. "It rained and our tents collapsed on us." He eyed his Woody doll. "At least you had it easy." It was all Woody could do to keep a straight face in front of his owner, but luckily for him, he had had many years' experience.
Buzz got up from where he'd been tossed on the floor. Woody joined him, holding his head from the rough playtime. "Ow." He had just been declared the loser of a wrestling match with Jessie.
"Too much for you, Cowboy?" Buzz grinned, and slapped his friend on the back. "Just think! An entire weekend to ourselves!"
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking!" Woody gave a glance towards Jessie who was looking for her hat.
"And you're not?"
Jessie found her prize, jammed it on her head, and took off a missile towards her space ranger boyfriend.
She scooped him up in her strong arms and gave him a bear hug. "Yee-ha! Just you and me, Dumpling!"
Woody guffawed. "Dumpling?"
Buzz was struggling for oxygen. "Jessie, if you don't give me air, it's just going to be you!" He gasped.
"Sorry." She apologized and dropped him.
Bo walked up holding a magazine. "Hi." She greeted her three friends.
"Hey, Bo." Jessie nodded. "Whatcha got there?"
"Just an article I found interesting." Bo opened the magazine. "Listen to this: 'According to recent studies, the stereotype of women being the weaker gender is rapidly vanishing. A single woman in Arkansas saved a runaway bus while all the men onboard were panicking. In Georgia, during a bank robbery, a dangerous criminal took the bank's security guards (all male) hostage. They most certainly would have met their deaths, had not a brave woman stepped forward, and taken the criminal head on, while a teller called the police. According to witnesses, the one hundred and fifteen pound preschool teacher, 'kicked his butt.' The once popular image of damsels in distress is disappearing and Girl Power is taking its place. Quite possibly in the next five years, we could have a new weaker sex.'" Bo finished.
"I could have told you that." Jessie said.
"Oh please!" Woody rolled his eyes. "What makes you think girls are better than boys? We're just as capable as taking care of ourselves as you!"
"I can prove that girls are stronger!"
"How?" Woody wanted to know. Without warning, Jessie grabbed his arm and gave it a sharp twist. Woody let out a loud holler. Jessie dropped it and gave a "I-told-you-so" grin.
"Ok, Cowgirl! I think we need to settle this once and for all!" Woody declared, rubbing his shoulder.
"If you're think of a competition, I'm definitely in!" Jessie smiled fiercely.
"Oh no. You had to get them started, didn't you?" Buzz scowled at Bo.
"Fine! You and Bo against Buzz and me!" Woody pointed to the toys he was naming.
"Who said I'm in?" Buzz and Bo chorused.
"What's the game, and the rules?" Jessie wanted to know. It was then that Woody's eye caught the calendar. Circled in red letters was "BIG BS CAMPOUT!"
"Camping!" Woody decided. "We'll go camping and the team who can last the longest is the winner!"
"Camping?" Buzz gaped.
"I am not sleeping on the ground!" Bo shook her head.
"Yes you are! Come on, we have to get ready!" Jessie grabbed her arm and dragged her towards Molly's room. "Don't worry. The guys will crack under pressure and we'll win."
"Don't worry, Buzz! There's no possible way they can win!" Woody reassured his friend. "I've been camping before at Cowboy Camp!"
"Yeah, but I thought you slept in cabins." Buzz replied.
"So? I still have more experience!" Woody spread out his arms. "We got this thing won already."
In Molly's room, Jessie began grabbing things. "We need this, and this, and that, and this…"
"Jessie, how could you just assume I wanted to go camping? I didn't!" Bo protested.
"It'll be good for you."
"Our show's on tonight! We were supposed to sneak out and watch it!" She reminded her. Jessie straightened up.
"Sweet Potato Pie, I totally forgot! Well, it's too late now." She went back to what she was doing.
"Too late!" Bo huffed.
"We can't back out! We'll see it on reruns, ok?" Bo was irritated, but being the calm, complaisant toy she was, she didn't want to argue with Jessie. So she didn't.
At exactly eleven thirty, the four toys sneaked out of the house, carrying loads in their arms.
Near the fence, they began to set up. For tents, they had borrowed several of Molly's baby blankets.
"Wouldn't it be easier to sleep in Buster's doghouse?" Asked Bo.
"Nah. It smells." Was Jessie's reply.
Using some sticks, Woody constructed a crude looking frame. Buzz draped a blanket over it. "See, easy!" Woody rubbed his hands on his pants.
"Oh boys!" Jessie sang. She and Bo had already fixed their tent. Woody scowled. Jessie laughed and crawled inside. It collapsed.
Woody burst out laughing. "Need help?" Jessie crawled out from the blanket.
"No, we do not need help! We're fine!" She seethed. Bo got some stronger looking sticks and began to rebuild the frame. In two minutes, she had a better looking and sturdier frame than any of them.
"This blanket is too heavy! It'll break the sticks!" Bo grabbed a spare from the pile and put it over the frame. "It should be light weight."
The four friends sat around in the yard, telling stories and jokes for two hours. Finally, Buzz stood up. "It's after midnight, you guys. We should try to get some sleep." Jessie nodded.
Woody followed Bo to her tent. "Hold your horses, Cowboy! Where are you going?" She asked.
"I figured I'd sleep in the same tent as you, and Jessie would be with Buzz!" Woody shrugged.
"Sorry, Buddy, but it's not coed." Jessie shook her head.
"Excuse me?" Woody demanded.
"We're not spending the night together?" Buzz's face fell. He had looking forward to a night alone with Jessie, whispering secrets in each other's ear, and sharing passionate smooches under the stars, just the two of them…
"Jessie and I are tent mates!" Bo interrupted his thoughts. Jessie turned to her friend and grinned.
"Yeah, we can have a sleepover, just as if we were teenagers!"
"We'll share secrets…"
"And girl stories…"
"And eat cookies! I got some Chocolate Oreo's from the kitchen!"
"So, where the heck are we supposed to sleep?" Woody demanded.
"You keep to your side of the tent, Lightyear, and I'll keep to mine." Woody growled at his friend.
"You think I enjoy being ditched?" Buzz snapped, sitting up. The glow of the girls' flashlight could be seen, and every once in a while, laughter could be heard. "I can't believe this." Buzz flopped down.
"Yeah, Bo smells better." Woody snorted.
Buzz stuck his tongue out. "Big fat whoop." Woody chuckled. "What?" Buzz asked.
"She's going to kill me for saying this." Woody laughed. "But Bo snores."
"So do you." Buzz laughed with him.
"I do not!"
"Sure you do! Remember at Sid's house?"
"How could I forget?"
"You kept me awake all night in that backpack. I thought you would wake up the Mutant Toys, and they'd attack us."
"I do not snore!" Woody insisted.
"Yes you do!"
Woody reply was drowned out by thunder.
"Oh no! It's going to rain!" Buzz groaned.
"Don't worry! We're safe inside this tent and nothing…" The rain started to pour in buckets. Water leaked through the blanket. "Aw crud."
Shrieks were heard from the other tent. "Let me out!"
"I'm getting wet, darn it!"
Bo grabbed the blanket from the frame and used it as a shield to protect her and Jessie. Woody took the hint and did the same. They met in the center of the yard.
"Look, can't we just go in?" Buzz asked. "Some of us, well everyone but Bo, can't get wet, remember?"
"We are not going in! We're in a contest, and we're going to spend the entire night out here whether you like it or not!" Woody snapped.
"So, where are we going to sleep?" Bo narrowed her eyes.
The rain beat against the doghouse roof. The four toys were crammed together tightly from left to right, Woody, Bo, Jessie, and Buzz. They had the blankets from the tents and the spares covering them. The roof began to leak, drip, drip, drip on Woody's head. He threw the blanket over his face.
"You're right Jessie, it does smell." Bo moaned. "Especially when wet."
"Am I ever wrong?" Jessie was using her hat as a pillow.
"Yes." Woody said from underneath.
"So," Jessie turned over, ignoring him. "Who's the winner now, since we're all in the same situation."
"I guess it's a tie." Woody pulled his head out.
"Maybe it's symbolic about equality between men and women." Bo suggested. "No one's better than the other, and eventually, we all end up in the same boat…or doghouse…"
"Maybe it's symbolic that I am never letting you talk me into this again." Buzz growled at Woody. "Whose idea was this?"
"Theirs." Bo gestured toward Woody and Jessie.
"Well, look at it this way: Someday we'll all look back at this and laugh!" Woody said brightly.
"Woody, can I see your hat?" Bo asked.
Woody started to reach for it, then stopped. "No, you'll hit me with it!"
"I won't! I promise!" Woody hesitated, then handed it to her. Bo handed the hat to Jessie, who leaned over and swatted him. Buzz burst out laughing.
"I should have seen that coming!" Woody sighed.
"Well, I'm exhausted. Good night guys." Jessie lay down and closed her eyes.
All was quiet for a few minutes, then from Woody, "Ew! Buzz, did you do that?"
"No I did not!"
"It reeks in here now! You are gross!" Woody complained.
"For the last time it wasn't me!" Buzz insisted.
"How can you smell anything over the dog stench?" Bo asked.
"I said GOOD NIGHT, guys." Jessie repeated loudly. "Go to sleep!" Not another word was spoken.
Andy came home on Sunday evening. By then, his toys were inside, dryer and more definitely more comfortable.
"What a lousy weekend." Andy grumbled as he flopped on the bed. "It rained and our tents collapsed on us." He eyed his Woody doll. "At least you had it easy." It was all Woody could do to keep a straight face in front of his owner, but luckily for him, he had had many years' experience.