T.E.A. with Benny and Napoleon

Despite our absence for almost a month now, no, the blog is not dead.
As Elsa will probably mention in her Halloween post (due to come out in early November), October is a busy month in my family. And now that I'm a college kid, midterms were stacked onto that already-congested schedule. Well, I guess saying "kid" is a stretch now, since I had my birthday this month, and the number is big enough to tell me otherwise. And while Elsa, Moana, or Loki, could have used this time to write, what was there to write about? Life was pretty simple for them when I was always away from home. I figured I could reach a happy medium between my active life and their boring on the day of Halloween, when I decided to pull Benny and Napoleon aside to carve pumpkins with them.
Welcome to T.E.A. with She and the nutcracker brothers!

***

Benny and Napoleon were strange characters on the blog.

Elsa had written their stories back in Christmas of 2014, and ever since then, they seemed contented with remaining the extras in the movie of their own lives. Hadn't their stories continued on? Why was nobody including them? Perhaps they were, but as I was reading the posts past to present, neither Benny nor Napoleon interacted much with the other dolls. I get enjoying solitude, but it had to get lonely after a while. I would know, so that made me the perfect person to pull me into the fun of life.

I found the brothers in what the dolls had dubbed "the library". In reality, it was my parent's bedroom, with the computer room connected, where my dad had bookcases full of hundreds upon hundreds of books. I'm a poet, probably, so I had little interest in the books he bought. Biographies, state attraction guides, and survival manuals, and of course, American history books. I had no doubt that Napoleon loved these, and Benny was just tagging along to help his brother learn to read.

"No, look here. It says providence. The capital of Providence in Rhode Island." Benny explained, pointing to a book that was stood open in front of Napoleon.

"Not residence?" The other nutcracker asked.

"No."

Napoleon straightened his collar. "At least I got the second part right."

"You guys doing okay?" I asked tentatively, passing through the doorway to the library and trying to keep my footsteps as loud as possible as not to surprise them.

"Yes, we're alright," Benny sighed. "A little frustrated, I suppose. Napoleon has been needing a refresher course after losing most of his American history knowledge to amnesia that one time."

"Things were a lot easier back in the gift shop. All they would have to do is play videos. Documentaries every day on repeat. A much easier way to consume knowledge." Napoleon huffed.

"I remember." I said. When I was, God, I should say... maybe five years old? Older or younger... I'm not sure... my grandpap took me to a national park up north somewhere. The park to me didn't matter, as I didn't have much appreciation for nature when I had seen a shiny Christmas nutcracker in the gift shop when we had went in to pay for tickets to the incline. That nutcracker all I could think about. I must have annoyed my grandpap enough during the incline ride and the hike around the park, so he went back into the gift shop and bought it for me. The trick was, I had to wait until Christmas. I agreed, even though Christmas was six months away. It's amazing what lengths kids will go to whenever they want something bad enough. 

And now there he was, standing before me, alive as anyone you'd run into on the street. It was a weird world I lived in, yet certainly a less lonesome one now.

"I'm glad you can remember." Said Napoleon bitterly.

"I'm sorry. Poor choice of words. Can I make it up to you?"

"How?"

"Well, if you guys are willing to take a break... I got some mini pumpkins that need carving, and I've got a couple hours to spare before class..." I stopped talking, as they could see where this was going. They made no argument against putting their book down for another day and helping me set up the bedroom for a pumpkin carving session, complete with tools, buckets, and old mail laid out to protect the floor.

"Is this a Christmas catalog?" Benny asked, his whiskers prickling with intrigue as he flipped through the pages.

"Yeah, I guess. They've sent us those magazines for years, but we never buy anything. They're just fun to look at."

"I'd imagine you'd get some good ideas from it." Napoleon mentioned. 

"As a matter of fact, I might be," Benny said. "Do you have any more white pumpkins?"

"Downstairs." I said vaguely, concentrating more on cutting a perfect circle around the stem of my pumpkin than the mischievous nutcracker who had just run out of the room.

"What do you think he's up to?" Napoleon asked.
"Trouble."
"That much is obvious."
Napoleon stared at his pumpkin for a while, a squat orange one, before realizing that he hadn't yet hollowed out the middle.
"Stumped on the design?"
"Not terribly. I just realized this is my first time ever pumpkin-carving. I never thought I'd be able to. Every year I smell pumpkin like this right before Halloween, but I always thought it was someone baking a pie, or a cake, or something tasty."
"No," I laughed in agreement. "I would not eat pumpkin guts."
"I wouldn't, either, even if I could," Napoleon winced. He reached into the hole at the top and came out with armfuls of stringy, odorous slime. "This is stickier than I would have thought."
The door burst open, though probably not intentionally, as another small white pumpkin, similar to the one that was already at Benny's carving station, rolled through. Benny came in with a stumble in his step, holding a third white pumpkin that covered his entire line of view.

"Benny, that pumpkin probably weighs more than you!" I exclaimed, taking the pumpkin from his arms and setting it down. "Just what are you going to do with it?"
Benny brushed himself off. "Thank you. I'm going to build a snowman."
"A snowman."
"Yes, that's what I said."
"With pumpkins?"
Benny shrugged. "Why not?"
"Fine, but I'm not helping you if it involves more pumpkin guts." Napoleon said, sloughing another scoop into the bowl beside him.
"No pumpkin guts." Benny stated.
"Count me in."
Napoleon dropped his work immediately to assist his brother with stacking pumpkins and placing pins to hold them together. They tied scarves and stabbed sticks in the same ways you would a regular snowman.
As I watched them work together, I couldn't help but smile. I thought about the brotherly bond they had, despite not being actual brothers. Sure, I knew that no one in the doll world was related by blood, as there was no blood between plastic, but I wondered if they knew that they weren't always this way. Napoleon was one of my first dolls, ever, which made him special enough to leave out all year 'round, even when it wasn't Christmas. Benny came a little later, but they probably didn't realize the time difference after Benny was being put in the attic year after year. Benny had not come from the same shop as Napoleon had. In fact, it was far from that. Benny was a dollar store nutcracker, a nutcracker people buy one year and toss out the next. They weren't practical by any means of cracking nuts, and only a few of them were "pretty". Something about Benny was different. I think he was one of the first things I'd bought on my very own. I was seven years old when I began receiving an allowance from my parents. It wasn't much, so the dollar store was the place to go for impulse buys at that age. Benny had been an impulse buy, too, but the difference was, I couldn't let him go. The fad never faded with him. How could I have one brother and not the other, after all?

"What do you think of our snowman, She?" Napoleon asked.
I set down my knife and looked over my shoulder at their creation. It was a snowman... I think. I titled my head to match it's tower-of-Pisa lean.
"Um... it's interesting." I said, as nicely as I could.
"Oh, we know it's ugly," Benny replied. "Admittedly, pumpkin carving is more difficult than we thought."
"And we didn't even carve it!" Napoleon added.
"What do you think of mine?" I grinned and rotated my pumpkin their way. It was a ghoulish thing, with narrowed eyes and a large, hungry mouth, with teeth marked in the orange flesh. It was pretty ugly, too, but intentionally so. Save the beauty for Christmas, right?
"I like it, but I feel like it's missing something." I explained.
"Hm... I think I know what it might be."
"What is it?"
Napoleon went back over to his own pumpkin and finally started carving. "You'll see. It'll be horrifying. David Pumpkins will be proud."
"He had better be," Benny sniffed. "We suffered long enough for these pumpkins."
Napoleon laughed. "You suffered? You haven't got a spot of guts on you!" He picked up a string of the innards that was lying limp on the catalog and tossed it at his brother. It wrapped immediately around Benny's shoulder. Benny squealed like a small rodent and threw it onto the ceiling.
And... it stuck there.
"Uh oh."
"It's okay," I said, not caring one bit. "Let's see how long it lasts up there. What's your bet? Wait until Thanksgiving or see if my parents notice before then?"
"What's the reward?"

"More pumpkin guts." I giggled, throwing another handful of the strings around.
Benny dodged it, squealing again. "Why are they so cold and wet? This is disgusting! I am never carving pumpkins again!"
"Aw, but I thought we were having fun," I paused. "Weren't you guys having fun?"
"It was nice until it became a food fight." Benny crossed his arms.
"Okay, okay, food fight over. But seriously. Why don't you guys participate more in the others' adventures? You know, the ones that are written on the blog?"
Benny and Napoleon looked at each-other awkwardly, looking for an answer.
"Well, it's not that we weren't invited. It wasn't a matter of invitation." Benny eventually spoke.
"We do other fun things," Napoleon said. "Whenever Elsa uses her powers to create a snow day, we'll do that, or whenever there's an air hockey tournament in the basement, we'll play a game or two."
"We're old souls, She. We've done everything there is to do."
"You haven't carved pumpkins."
"What Napoleon and I are trying to say is... we find entertainment in other things. Right now we're trying to gain as much wisdom as we can. When Elphaba's not using the iPad, we watch nonfiction movies. We spend a lot of time in your library. Sometimes we go outside and Westley tells us what leaves are from which trees, and what time of year you'll see certain birds... and well, maybe you don't understand at your age, but for us... that is fun."
"I just don't want anyone to feel left out. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up. Probably because I was obsessed with dolls," I managed a small smile, but it still hurt. "I feel responsible for you guys. Whenever something goes wrong, I want to be there. Whenever something good happens, I want to be a part of it. You're like my second family."
The nutcracker brothers fixed me like a sympathetic gaze. They looked truly appreciated.
"Don't worry about us, She," Benny said. "We're just two old men enjoying our lives as we see fit. But humans... humans can do so much more than we can. We're not jealous. We're not sad. We want to see you live your life in the best way you can. If that's spending time with dolls, that's fine. But don't forget what you are." Benny placed his little wooden hand upon mine. Both were alive, but only one of them was living.

Napoleon coughed. "Elphaba talks about dating apps. Do they have one for finding friends? Human friends?"
I laughed. "I dunno, probably. I'll look into it later. Or maybe I'll just stop being a coward and start talking to people."
"That's the spirit. 'Down with the cowardice!' That's what president Roosevelt always said."
"Did he really?"
"No, I just made that up," Napoleon chuckled, believing that to be the funniest joke in the world. He bent and lifted the miniature pumpkin which he had now finished carving. "Anyways, here's the pumpkin I made you."
"You made me a pumpkin?" I gasped, feeling suddenly like a mother feigning shocked over her toddler's arts project. It was a simple pumpkin, but it was a very good one. Sad, expressive eyes with an equally sad mouth, downturned into a frightened sob.
"I thought you might want to put it in your pumpkin's mouth."
"Like a cannibal?"
"Yes... actually, there was a cannibalistic event in America in the 1850s..."
"Stop, stop, okay, I've heard enough! Cannibal pumpkins are all I can handle." I wedged Napoleon's pumpkin in my own pumpkin's mouth. It was a perfect fit, both physically and metaphorically.
"Just wait until your family sees this nonsense." Said Benny.
"Oh, don't worry, they love creepy stuff," I said, taking the pumpkin into my arms. "Shall we put these by the fireplace?"
"Have you got any tealight candles? They'll look better in the dark."
"But of course," I replied. "Benny, let me help you with that snowman."

I placed them by the fireplace downstairs with the rest of the indoor Halloween decorations, including the pumpkin my sister had carved and our tiny army of gourds.
"There, all ready for Halloween," I stated proudly, stepping back to admire them. Yep, my parents were going to think I was seriously messed up after they got home and saw this. Whatever, I thought. It was fun. "Should I make some tea now?"
The nutcrackers decided yes. Our tea of choice was blackberry cinnamon and candy corn was our snack.

"It's nice to relax like this," Napoleon said. "Especially after what happened yesterday."
"Mm-hm," I agreed, taking a sip of my tea so I didn't have to talk. On the 30th, the dolls had their Halloween celebration, it was certainly a day they would not soon forget. But it wasn't my job to talk about it. It was my job to stand outside and give candy to the trick-or-treaters. Don't worry, a blog post is coming soon, and I think you'll like it.

See you when it's time for T.E.A.,

She