"Dere Mom and Dad.
Today is Saturday.
On Tuesday you said we can go to McDonald's on Saturday.
Love,
Adif"
So said the note on the fridge.
His parents looked at each other as they finished off the light breakfast. Adif obediently polished off his bowl of cereal.
Oats, who in the world like oats? He wondered with a vengeance.
But his Happy Meal is waiting for him, he thought, and he can be obedient when the situation called for it.
"Alright, alright. But you better keep your toys where they should be kept after you've finished playing, deal?" his dad said.
With a nod, a quick bath and a run down the stairs in record time, they were off.
The family opted for drive-through instead of dine-in. Things can get out of hand when Adif finds a play area.
The Happy Meal came with porridge, not that it matters. What matters, the only thing that matters, to Adif at least, is the toy.
And boy oh boy did he struck gold that afternoon!
The toy inside his Happy Meal was a robot. It looked like something out of Transformers but with a Ben10 twist. It was about four inches tall, equipped with wings and blasters and its face so handsome Adif knew right away that the bot was a boy robot.
"I'm calling him Kristroyer. See his left arm? There's a thing there that looks like a kris. Bet he can destroy many enemies with just that," said Adif to his mom.
His mom peered at the toy in his hand. True enough, a tiny piece of 'weapon' was fitted to the robot's arm, and it had curves, looking just like the kris they watched in an old P. Ramlee movie.
It was late evening by the time the family returned home. They had gone to the park to play, and Adif was tired.
After a refreshing shower they all went to bed.
It must have been just under an hour when Adif felt a tiny piece of metal tapping him on his chin.
"Chief, wake up. Wake up! Aw, c'mon, I can see you moving your eyes there," a voice as deep as Jungle Book's Bageera woke him.
"Huh? Wha..?" Adif groggily replied.
"Down here chief, here!" said the voice and Adif felt another tap to his chin.
It was his robot! "Kristroyer! Wha.. How.. You can talk?" Adif reacted.
"Well, yes, see Chief, I got a favor to ask. I've just received intel that my uh, compatriot is nearby. I need your approval to go seek her!" the robot said.
Adif had to ask. "What is compatriot?"
The robot explained undeterred. "Compatriots are people who fights with you against enemies during wars. You must let me seek her. She could be hurt!"
"Your compatriot is a girl robot?" Adif said, excited.
"Uh, yeah, well. You see, Chief, she, uh yeah," the robot recently named Kristroyer stuttered.
"I want to go see her too! Can she talk like you?" asked Adif crawling out of his bed with Kristroyer on his tail.
"Wait, Chief! Hold your horses!" said the robot as he tried to pull Adif's pants.
"Why? You said she could be hurt. We mustn't let her wait," hissed Adif, suddenly remembering that his parents were in the next room asleep.
The robot stopped in his tracks. "Uh, Chief. Sorry, that was just me thinking of the worst. She should be alright out there. Got her blasters and kit and such.."
Adif turned. "What is it?" he asked, sensing that there is something Kristroyer is not telling.
"Chief, you've been such a nice boss to me. I supposed I should just be honest." The robot seemed bashful all of a sudden.
"Honesty is the best police!" agreed Adif in a somewhat patronizing tone. (Adif was just mimicking his mom.)
The robot cringed without subtlety. "Honesty is the best policy, right you are, Chief," he noted.
"So, go on," pressured Adif. He wanted to see the other robot. Two robots. Two talking robots, imagine that!
"Thing is Chief, I was hoping this would be a solo mission," he said.
"But what if you need a sidekick? I'm an awesome sidekick. Once Dad wanted to rescue mom who got her foot stuck in the mud at this river and I helped. He told me I am the best sidekick in the whole of Rapat Setia," Adif boasted.
"I can tell! That's why I've been calling you 'Chief', Chief. But here's the deal. That robot I've been meaning to see, she's a.. Uh.. She's.." the metallic toy stuttered.
"She's what? Dangerous?"
"Dangerous? Well, dangerously in love with me, if you get my drift.." the bashfulness in him suddenly disappeared.
"What does that mean? Is she dangerous or not? We better be prepared if she is!" Adif was beyond excited.
"Stand down, Chief. OK here's the deal. So me and the lady robot, we're kinda a pair when we were manufactured at the plant. My right hand and her left hand were a piece of metal that got broken only when the packaging guys came in to the scene," he told the boy.
Adif listened hard. "She's your girlfriend?" he ventured.
"Ha. Ha. Haha. That's one way of putting it. Yeah,"Kristroyer admitted.
Adif looked at the little toy with dismay. "You want to find her so that you can go live with her?!" he accused.
The robot was quick to deny. "No way Chief. I'm yours. You bought me fair and square with your Happy Meal deal. But my heart is hers, and hers only. You understand?"
"So you go see her, then what? You don't even know for sure where she is," Adif said.
"But I got my locator chip and she has hers. We can home on each other. Like magnet, see? And I do know where she is. She is in your classmate's home down the road. We're practically neighbours!" said the toy excitedly.
He tugged Adif's pants and they both bounded down the stairs. Near the French window, Kristroyer stopped and he looked at Adif.
"I will come back for you Chief. Just let me out tonight. You'll find me waiting for you right outside this window first thing in the morning," the little robot promised, solemnly too.
"Hooboy, I'll be in big trouble when mom finds you out here. She'd think I didn't keep my word to keep all of my toys in my box as promised.." said Adif. Yet he marched decisively to the window and opened the latch.
An opening small enough to let the toy out was right in front of Kristroyer. He stepped out with one foot.
"You took a bullet for me tonight, Chief. You're such a good friend, already, and we barely got to know each other. I promise that I will be the best toy you'll ever have!" the robot said.
Adif nodded, understanding most of the toy's words. "Go see your girlfriend. Then come back OK. You promised!"
"I will!" and off he went, flying into the dark.
The next morning, mom found the robot right outside the French window while she was cleaning.
"Adif!!!"
YOU ARE READING
That McDonald's Toy
Short Story[COMPLETE] Six-year-old Adif insisted on Happy Meal. He got a toy. But the toy is in love! Will Adif let him go long enough so that he can find his old flame? (To moms reading this, please don't get mad when your kids don't stash their toys as they'...
