Island of Misfit Toys - OPEN to anyone who is sick of being an adult

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Joe barely had time to register what he had been told before he felt his elbow hit into his ribs as he fell to the ground. Just as he tried to get back up, bottom lip already trembling, he felt the tiny grains beneath his body come into contact with the skin of his face. The black haired child went to scream at precisely the wrong moment, a cloud of sand entering his mouth. He coughed and spluttered, trying to get rid of it, his face starting to burn red with the effort.

His eyes started to sting and he started to cry, still coughing until the back of his throat started to burn. His eyes hurt too, and his nose, and he knew he was making an awful lot of noise but he couldn't help it. His mouth was dry, his tonge starting to take on a similar level of dehydration to that of a desert, and he continued to make the weak choking noises.

"Mummy," the boy whimpered, hardly able to let the word escape from his lips. His eyes were clenched shut, trying to get rid of the stinging, and after a few minutes he felt a hand on his shoulder, his mother's voice soothing him. "Mummy... A *cough* nasty b-boy... *cough*" he spluttered, still crying. "I d-didn't *cough* do nuffink to him..."

When Azalea said she'll be learning how to dance, Mary smiled. She liked pretty girls that knew how to dance, and dancing with them was one of her favorite things. "I don't have to go to dance class, Auntie Emma shows me dances when I visit. I could ask her to teach you, as well?" she asked both Azalea and Jake. Boys had to know how to dance too, that's what Mary's Mommy always said. Though she also said Daddy doesn't know how to dance well and smiled at him, so Mary was a little confused on that part.

"We can dance in the mud..." she said, thinking about how much fun that would be. She liked dancing in puddles after it rained, so dancing in the mud must be fun too.

"He works at the Ministwy. He's... a Please Man."

Mary's eyes widened and she grinned excitedly. She knew all about Please-Men, they were at her pre-school just last month! "Does he wear a blue uniforum? The Please-Men that came to my school all wore them and they said they protect the city. Like Mommies and Daddies protect us, they protect everyone." Mary nodded, happy that she knew all that.

"My Mommy works a lot too, like your Daddy. Daddy says she's im...im-pour-tent, but she plays with me, too." she told her new friends proudly. "Is Clara your Nanny?" Mary asked Azalea. Her friend Tommy had a Nanny and she was very nice and read him bed-time stories every night.

Angelo shrugged, the movement causing an involuntary flutter of his wings. "I don't know. A lot of the other kids' parents are away in a place called Heaven, so maybe mine are too. I don't know how to get to Heaven, though, so I can't go visit them and Signora Varetti always tells Tonio that his parents can't visit him from Heaven. People who go to Heaven don't get to come back, but she says it's really nice there and that we'll go there one day too, if we're good." Angelo's eyes widened and he grinned when she revealed that her parents were magic. "Oh, good. Then you can know that the women who run my orphanage are witches."

A soft smile lit up Angelo's face. "Most people don't like them," he admitted to her softly. "They say they're scary or weird or a- a- abnormal." He didn't know what it meant, but the lady who'd said it had wrinkled her nose up, like Angel when he'd put frogs in her bed, so he figured it was bad.

Angelo giggled. "Ma-ta-more-fa-gusses sound cool," he told Brooke. "I wish I was a ma-ta-more-fa-guss instead of having these lousy wings."

"What's a Nan-Nee?" Azalea asked, confused. "I don't think so, Clara says she's a sye-kick. She says she can see the foocher - but not all the time."

"It's a lady that spends time with you when your Mommy and Daddy are busy." Mary recited what Tommy told her about his Nanny. "That's so cool! Did she tell you your foo-cher?" It all sounded very exciting and the little brunette wished she could meet Clara. Not because she wanted to know her foocher but because Cčara sounded very cool.

She wanted to meet Jake's Daddy, as well, but she was afraid he'd scold her for not saying please and thank you. Mary didn't like to be scolded, so she promised herself she'll always say please and thank you and be polite.

"Do you want to swing and then jump off and see who jumps farth- most far?" She asked her new friends and grinned. "Mr. Cacti can watch, so he doesn't get hurt."

"Daddy and mummy say I am special. I am a ma-ta-more-fa-guss," she said, pronouncing each syllable slowly. It was a very big word and she had just learnt it, and she was proud she had been able to say it. "It means I can change my looks when I want. But I can't do that yet. Daddy says I need time before I can do that."

Espe looked at her,
"Wow! You have magic too? Mi mama es the Head-Missy-tress of a school for magic! La escuala es bonita! The school is so pretty! I get to see all the students there. They showed me how to do this!"
Espe picked up a flower and concentrated really hard, and the flower moved a bit, then a few blobs of orange covered the light pink.
"oh," Espe said, "It was supposed to be blue and cover the whole flower..."

"Ma-ta-more-fa-gusses sound cool," he told Brooke. "I wish I was a ma-ta-more-fa-guss instead of having these lousy wings."

"No, chico! Your wings are so pretty! And they look so soft..." Espe looked longingly at how Brooke could touch them. But her mama had taught her not to touch other peoples things.