The Goth, the Puppeteer, and the Bootleg

The Toys R Us was hustling and bustling today, much to the cashiers’ dread. Hundreds of parents were hunting for the best deals on merchandise much like a lion stalks its prey, glaring at the price tags as if the numbers would rearrange themselves out of sheer terror. Kids put their hands on absolutely everything: the pool noodles, the plushies, the Pokémon cards, anything their little mits could reach. One cashier was grilled as he meekly told a customer twice his size that no, the coupon expired yesterday, and it wouldn’t have applied to his 21 boxes of Barbie dolls, anyhow.

In spite of the crowds and children running around in the aisles, there was one who didn’t immediately go through the shiniest, prettiest ones and went straight to the Clearance section. Forget Legos and Transformers, Pokémon and even Barbies; cheap, cheap deals were where it’s at. She got some funny looks from some people staring at her gothic lolita clothing and her big, black, long pigtails, but she paid them no mind as she grabbed a bag of patchysaurs with a glee matched only by a kid getting an N64 for Christmas, grinning from ear to ear.  She snagged herself some cheap Crayola Airbrushes and a plush flamingo as she shuffled down Clearance lane, hardly containing her excitement.

And then, her eyes met the one.

At first glance, the girl blurted out, “IS THAT SARAH?!” After all, it did have the traditional white mage robe and side braids! But a long, hard look showed that no, it wasn’t Sarah. The trim around the robe was green, and her hair was a muddy brown rather than a bright, angelic blonde. There was no “Licensed by Sintendo” seal anywhere on the box. In fact, what it DID say was “SARA SIBLING: JOSELYN”.

Upon seeing the 3 dollar tag upon the box, the girl snagged it up and ran to the register with her goodies, giggling like she was five again, more than eager to get home and unbox this beauty of a bootleg.

Biking around Burlington, Vermont was a breeze. Everybody was more than happy to watch where they’re going, and the girl was more than happy to use hand signals and give a hearty heads up. Sure, biking in a dress was asking for trouble, but there was nothing better than feeling the breeze against her face, her haul of toys sitting in a basket next to several chocolates and lollipops. She hummed the whole way through, up until she reached a bright yellow house, complete with a shaded porch and garage. In no time at all, she hopped off and rolled her bike over to the garage, opening the door on her own and setting her bike to the side. Not even a minute later, and the girl was at the front door, swinging it open with a grin on her face.

“IIIIII’M HOME!” she said happily, stretching out her arms as far as she could.

“About time you got your butt over!” a voice replied. The girl turned towards the source: a tiny red devil marionette, holding a pitchfork in one hand while strings moved him about. “Any longer and we would have been watchin’ that dumb ‘FINDING BIGFOOT’ show for the hundredth time!” The puppet stomped his little foot as he yelled, “They ain’t even found him yet! You get nukes landin’ in Florida, oversized worms in Vegas, and a freakin’ Hydra commanding several jackasses in New York, but you can’t find one goddamn Sasquatch?! My GRANDMA could hunt ‘em down better than they can!”

As the Devil threw his tantrum, the gotho-loli was more than happy to step into the kitchen and set down her goods, freeing Joselyn from her cardboard prison. “They’ll find him eventually!” the girl said as she headed towards the living room. “It won’t be too long, now! I heard that some people found the Jersey Devil hanging out in the mountains here, so maybe if they look around here, they’ll-“

 “Ellie, Ellie, Ellie, come ON!” snapped the Devil. “You know damn well they won’t come to a dump like this! Oh, suuure, we have the Mountains and the Trees and yadda, yadda, yadda, but NO! It’s also full of freak shows like us, and no sane person wants to be around us! Let me tell you the truth: They don’t want to deal with no real Sasquatch, they wanna keep chasin’ these rumors and bullshit and make people THINK they’re going to find it. They don’t even have the balls to even FIGHT o-“

 In a moment, the chocolate from the kitchen flew into Ellie’s hands and formed themselves into a small hammer. She grabbed it and gently thunked the puppet on the head. She set it aside and picked him up, walking right into the living room. There were a few paintings of nature set on the white walls, with a 40’’ HDTV mounted on the wall.

Sitting on a green couch, with the puppet strings leading to him, was a boy with dirty blonde hair, strings tied around his fingers, most of his body hidden under a grimy brown coat much bigger than he was. His focus was entirely on the TV, paying no heed to the girl as she placed the Devil on his shoulder.

“You’re getting too mad over it, Devil,” she said as the little puppet unleashed a torrent of swears. “Let them do what they want! After all, it’s their show! We’ll just handle the really crazy stuff in the state, like giant grill monsters and smog-powered beasties!"

The Devil nodded his head, although he added with a grumble, "As long as we're not the ones saving those wannabe sashquatch hunters from a buncha Bigfeet and Green Giants. Not like they'll find 'em anytime soon, those show-offs."

Ellie opened her mouth to contest, but closed her mouth and instead  urned towards the boy and smiled. Taking a seat beside him, she said,  “Oh, almost forgot: Hi there, Alan! You doing okay? How’s the family?! You want any chocolate?!?”

Alan could feel the excitement emanating from her, eyes wide as she held her new doll close. He could hardly keep eye contact when he replied quietly, “I’m okay… didn’t speak to them… and no, but thank you.”

“Like they’d let us speak to them, with how stupid busy they are!” the Devil butted in, mouth a-clacking. “There’s four jobs between the two of ‘em, and they can’t even keep us fed! What kind of parents even-“

Another gentle doink of the chocolate hammer. “They’re having a hard time, aren’t they?” Ellie said sternly, shooting a glare at the puppet. “And my family volunteered to take care of you guys, so don’t say that they abandoned you! It’s just hard, since…” She furrowed her brow and put a hand on her chin. “Last I remember, they never went to college, right?”

Alan sunk further into his coat, a turtle retreating into his shell. “Y-yeah… so they don’t really make much money. And the apartment’s kind of…” He trailed off, unable to look Ellie in the eye. She could have sworn he muttered a “Sorry” under his breath.

An awkward silence fell between the three of them, although the TV still played softly in the background. Knowing full well she shouldn’t talk about Alan’s family any longer, she held Joselyn to his face and said cheerfully, “Guess who I fooound~!”

Devil glanced over at the doll. “Isn’t that that whale of a medic? Bet she weighs enough to make an earthquake!”

“Yes and no!” Ellie happily waggled the doll’s arms as she said, “She’s actually a bootleg of her! They got a lot of details wrong but she’s still SUPER cute! Her hair’s soft and she’s pretty cuddly!”

 The puppeteer peeked out from his coat, strings detaching from this devil marionette as he reached out and held the doll in his hands. Ellie watched as he examined it thoroughly, feeling every inch of cloth and fabric on the doll’s person. After a very long examination, he said, “Good quality… eyes are kind of off… actually kind of skinnier than a Sarah doll should be… Overall, pretty good for a bootleg.”

“I thought the same thing! Do you want it, or should I keep it? I know I have a collection of bootlegs up in my room but I wanted to ask you first because you’re SO into dolls and it’s not very often you get any and oh my god-“

Ellie spoke a mile a minute, the rest of her words turning into a jumble of excitement. Alan looked down at the doll one more time, then allowed the strings that controlled the Devil to attach themselves to the Joselyn doll. As he manipulated the doll’s movements, Ellie took that as a sign that he definitely wanted it for his collection.

“Ta-daaaa! A new friend for a good friend! I hope you guys get along really well!” The gotho-loli stood up, spun in place, and posed with a smile. “Another job well done for Ellen Fields! But now, I have a new mission!” Another pose. “To make LUNCH! MACARONI AND CHEESE, HEEERE WE GOOOOO!”

The rest of the day flew. She could hardly remember anything past that, aside from her parents making a chocolate lava cake Alan and even the Devil enjoyed (although he hardly liked the bath that followed). All Ellie knew was that today was a good day for everyone… and that the next would be just as good, if not better!