The Hour of Cute

The Mission

As the light emitting through the sparse, barred windows dimmed to a warm orange, hundreds of mini Smiling Critters returned to the lobby of Cube Bee's Toys. The little plush animals scurried forth in their specific lines and with their group of partnered critters until they reached the entryway of the warehouse.

Sitting by the front entrance were five of the leading critters. In the center of the little row, DogDay fronted all his kin, putting his front left limb way up.

"Now, does every critter have the correct time on their watch and the alarm set for tomorrow at noon?"     

All the toys rambled positively while holding up limbs that were strapped with the rainbow band.

Great!" barked DogDay, doing a little bounce.

Next to him, Bubba Bubbaphant tapped his timepiece with his trunk.

"And to be sure everyone is alerted precisely, make sure your watch is synchronized."

All the critters, including his friends beside him, were glancing at each other, to and fro. Deadpanning, Bubba felt a familiar tapping over his wither. And before his pink pal uttered her question, he gestured to a nearby hung clock.

"Synchronize means everyone's watch has the correct and exact time."

Picky Piggy beamed. "As always, thanks, Bub!" And she attended to her watch as did the others.  

As the leaders turned and craned their little round heads at the broad, double-locked metallic door before them, CraftyCorn and Bobby BearHug sprinted and galloped to them, sharing dismayed frowns.

"We're sorry... DogDay," huffed the plush ursine. "We... couldn't find any keys."

Her friends silently gasped. DogDay scanned the awaiting critters, making certain they had not heard of this disheartening news. Fortunately, the toys were too busy sparring with one another; practicing adorable and intimidation techniques of enlarged eyes and tongue-bleps, followed by small roars and air swiping.  

"Really? Not even one?" the little dog asked quietly.   

"Not even one," Crafty repeated sorrowfully. "Me and Bee checked everything and everywhere in the office."

Pondering for a moment, the plush canine discerned the keyhole in the center of the doorknob.

"Maybe our CatNap can lock-pick like he's done with the other doors."

He and his friends looked around themselves. No visual of the elusive little cat anywhere.

Bubba rubbed under his jaw as he squinted his sights at the steel latch.

"This door's mechanism appears much stronger than the rest of the doors. I'm uncertain that tiny claws would have any positive results."

Hoppy Hopscotch stared at the foot of the locked entrance. "What if we try gnawing our way out like we did on the bottom of our old shipping crate?"   

"But chew on metal?" Picky questioned with a disdained snort. "I don't care how much iron that'd be... No, thank you!"

KickinChicken reared his face at the narrow knob. "Well... what if the door's unlocked?"

Slowly, Bubba moved his head from side to side. "Apologies, Kickin, but I highly doubt it would be unlocked. Management made sure to always secure the entrance and exit of this warehouse."

DogDay hummed in thought. "It's worth a try, Bubba." With a returned smile, he nodded at the grinning plush bunny. "Hoppy, do your thing."

"Ya don't need to ask me twice!" she remarked, rubbing eager little paws together.