#startrekcriticism

Marty Pelham junior didn’t like his new neighbour very much.  He was a little kid and didn’t know how to play a lot of the games Marty liked to play.  He also carried a little toy giraffe around with him everywhere like a security blanket.  Sure Marty still had his favourite teddy bear that hugged him during storms and glowed in the dark when his night light went out, but it sat on his bed where no one else would see.

Mom said they had to be nice though so the kid, Victor was his name, came with them on the first weekend of December, when the snow was thick and heavy, and they took turns riding down a hill on Marty’s sled.

***

The following weekend Marty was heading outside to make a snowman when he saw Victor sitting on his front steps.  Marty sighed, he didn’t really to hang out with him, but he was supposed to be being nice.

He walked across the short distance between their two snow covered lawns.

“Hey, Victor, I was gonna make a snowman, you want to help me?”

Victor shook his head no and sniffled.  Marty frowned Victor looked like he’d been crying 

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Marty was ready to give up figuring he had done enough being nice, but then he noticed that Victor’s hands were empty.

“Hey, where’s your giraffe?” he asked, glancing around in case he had dropped it.

“They took it.  Said it was for babies and I wasn’t a baby.”

“Who took it?”

“Two boys like you down there.” Victor pointed to the end of the block.

Marty’s eyes narrowed.  You didn’t hurt a little kid even if you only kinda liked them.

“Come on you show me where they are.”

Marty took Victor by the hand and Victor led him to the abandoned lot at the end of the street.  There they found two boys sitting outside a fort made from scraps of wood and plastic.  Marty recognized them from school.

They glared at him and one stood up.   

“What do you want, Pelham?”

“I want that toy back.  It’s Victor’s.”

“Yeah?  Why do you care he’s just a stupid kid.”

“It’s his give it back.”

The other boy stood up too, holding the giraffe close to Victor, and yanked it out of his reach when he tried to grab it.

“Stop it!”

“You gonna make me, Pelham?  Act like some hero like your dad and get blown to bits too?”

That crossed a line.  Marty grabbed the boy’s jacket and punched him hard.  He dropped to the ground and Marty fell on top of him.  The giraffe fell into the snow and both Victor and the other boy went for it.  Victor kicked him hard in the knee and grabbed his toy.

“Got’em!”

He and Marty quickly ran back to Marty’s place, the little giraffe held high like a victory trophy.

Their mother’s give each of them a stern lecture on not solving problems with violence and going to an adult for help, but after that Victor thanked Marty and spent the next week telling anyone who would listen that Marty was a hero just like a real cop.

Marty liked thinking of himself like a hero just like his dad.  So, from then on Marty liked Victor too.

***

Marty liked John Kennex a lot. John told him stories about his dad, he told him all the cool things he saw as a cop, and he could stick a knife in his leg!  Yeah John was cool.  Right now they were at the mall doing Christmas shopping.  They had picked out a box of Christmas cards for Marty to hand out in class.

“Hey, John, can we get one of those?”

Marty pointed to a row of toy bots on display in the store across from them.

“I don’t know, Marty, it’s almost Christmas.”

“Not for me, for my friend.   I brought my allowance.”

He pulled out a bitcoin in the shape of the space station.

“Well, all right.”

John chipped in and they bought the lion pack that came with two adults and three cubs.

***

Victor and his mom came over to Marty’s house for Christmas dinner and Marty got to give Victor his gift and he had even wrapped himself.

Victor loved it and watched as the cubs wrestled with each other, while the two adults chased the toy giraffe around the floor in circles. 

“I’ll take good care of them,” Victor said as he put all the toy bots carefully on the coffee table.

“I know.”

They had just started going through the backpack Victor had brought over to play with more toys when the doorbell rang.  Marty’s mom answered it.

“John, I’m so glad you could make it.”

“Well thanks for inviting me.”

“Marty, come say hi to John.”

Marty raced to the front door, Victor close behind him.

“Hi, John, this is my friend Victor.  He loves the toy we got him.”

John’s eyes went wide.

“Uh well that’s great I…umm hi, V-Victor.”

Victor smiled. “I’m taking really good care of all of them just like I promised.”

John just stood there and stared at them.

Marty shook his head and he and Victor went back into the living room.  John was weird like that sometimes.

“You wanna play race cars? “ Victor asked.  “I got a new one and you can play with it first.”

Marty smiled. “Yeah.”