[He doesn't want him to worry. That's what ultimately motivates him to speak. And it's not a secret, just...something people don't think to ask him.]
Most polio cases tapered off right when they did all the vaccines but there were still some cases in the sixties and seventies. Sometimes parents were afraid to vaccinate kids if their health wasn't great to start with. They worried about their constitutions.
Slink and I's first owner got sick with it and was sick for a long time. A long, long time. All the way into his teens. He recovered, but it was a long road getting there. [His face waxes over with similar fondness to the times he speaks about Andy but this is a little less fresh.] He always wanted me at his side, day or night. It didn't exactly make it easy for me to get some time to myself, but I never cared.
[The fond expression fades.]
But then he got better. He was getting older so most of his toys had been put in the attic. While he was sick, they tried to limit all his toys to ones that could be sterilized easily, ones they felt comfortable keeping.
Except for me and Slink. They worried about me being made of cloth and about Slink's ears. But they let him keep us because we were his favorites, the ones he kept with him even after everyone else in the room got put away.
Until he got better. Then even though it would've been fine if they just washed us, they were scared he'd get sick again. They wanted to be extra careful. So they started talking about us and the books and the bed linens and a bonfire.
[He continues on quickly.]
But before we even had time to get scared, he hid us, in the attic. He told us to go to sleep for a long, long time and - and for some reason that was enough to make us do it.
Until Mom took us down...but it wasn't the same Mom. And now he was Dad. I could tell it was him, he still had the glasses and he looked at us the same way, all those years later.
[He finally stops gazing into the middle distance and looks up at Buzz again.]
He was real sick and worried about - about what might come next. So he wanted his son to have something of his. His son who was in kindergarten now, the same age he'd been when he first got me. First thing his son did was get out a marker.
[He wiggles his foot at Buzz slightly, the one that had Bonnie's name, that had Andy's under the paint underneath it.]
no subject
Most polio cases tapered off right when they did all the vaccines but there were still some cases in the sixties and seventies. Sometimes parents were afraid to vaccinate kids if their health wasn't great to start with. They worried about their constitutions.
Slink and I's first owner got sick with it and was sick for a long time. A long, long time. All the way into his teens. He recovered, but it was a long road getting there. [His face waxes over with similar fondness to the times he speaks about Andy but this is a little less fresh.] He always wanted me at his side, day or night. It didn't exactly make it easy for me to get some time to myself, but I never cared.
[The fond expression fades.]
But then he got better. He was getting older so most of his toys had been put in the attic. While he was sick, they tried to limit all his toys to ones that could be sterilized easily, ones they felt comfortable keeping.
Except for me and Slink. They worried about me being made of cloth and about Slink's ears. But they let him keep us because we were his favorites, the ones he kept with him even after everyone else in the room got put away.
Until he got better. Then even though it would've been fine if they just washed us, they were scared he'd get sick again. They wanted to be extra careful. So they started talking about us and the books and the bed linens and a bonfire.
[He continues on quickly.]
But before we even had time to get scared, he hid us, in the attic. He told us to go to sleep for a long, long time and - and for some reason that was enough to make us do it.
Until Mom took us down...but it wasn't the same Mom. And now he was Dad. I could tell it was him, he still had the glasses and he looked at us the same way, all those years later.
[He finally stops gazing into the middle distance and looks up at Buzz again.]
He was real sick and worried about - about what might come next. So he wanted his son to have something of his. His son who was in kindergarten now, the same age he'd been when he first got me. First thing his son did was get out a marker.
[He wiggles his foot at Buzz slightly, the one that had Bonnie's name, that had Andy's under the paint underneath it.]