Pineapple on Canvas: The Odd Adventures of a Toy in the City

The One Where Papple Gets Out of Bad Bag

Poor little Pineapple was finding himself in quite the predicament. He knew, even before he saw her that he needed to meet Ella. He couldn't quite explain it, it was a feeling in his heart, a thumpty-thump each time he heard her voice or smelled her scent, a rosemary-lavender smell, that made it undeniable to him.

"Maher, shall we start?" asked Ella, interrupting Pineapple's thoughts.

Pineapple recognized Ella's voice immediately and scrambled up from his seated position. He couldn't believe that he had missed her entrance, but attributed it to the deep slump he'd been in lately. Just hearing her voice put the little roly-poly plush toy into a good mood again.

"Do we really have to?" asked Maher.

"Yes, we do! Your younger brother is coming to visit you in a few weeks and we really should clean up the place," replied Ella.

"Okay, okay," Maher grumbled, then added sullenly, "William's a twenty five year old grad student, I'm sure his standards of cleanliness are pretty low."

Pineapple could tell Maher wasn't particularly enthused by the task he was being asked to do. Although it appeared that Maher was not very happy with Ella at the moment, Pineapple had noticed that Maher's attitude had changed significantly since Ella started to come over. Not that there hadn't been many other girls visiting in the past, there had been quite a few, but none of them ever lasted for very long before it seemed that Maher got bored of them.

But Ella was different--they laughed a lot together and Maher often played the guitar and sang to her, something Pineapple didn't even know Maher could do all those years it had been just him and Maher. Well, him in Bad Bag (the name he dubbed his paper bag jail) and Maher outside Bad Bag. He had heard Maher pick up the guitar here and there and pluck at a few chords, but never much more than that.

Pineapple loved it when Maher sang, not just because Pineapple was a captive audience, but because the songs made him feel something. Maher's renditions, which included a lot of the Beatles, Neil Young and Eric Clapton, were Pineapple's first introduction to those artists and for the longest time Pineapple actually thought that Maher had written those songs and they were still his favorite versions.

Pineapple snapped out of his reverie as the room was suddenly filled with the scent of eucalyptus, a scent he associated with Maher, and then the floor beneath his feet began to shift, like he was caught in an earthquake. Pineapple felt a rush as Bad Bag was yanked up several feet into the air, and before he knew it, he felt Maher's hand grab the leaves on the top of his head and yank him out into the sunlight. The quickness of the action stunned Pineapple into complete and immobile silence and shock. The moment he had been patiently waiting for had finally arrived!

"Oh shoot! Ella, you'll never believe what I found," Maher shouted across the apartment.

"What is it?"

"Come over and see."

Pineapple, still in shock and unable to make a sound heard a pattering of feet and, for the first time in his life, caught a glance at Ella and it was love at first sight.

"What shall I do, Ella? This little guy was supposed to be a gift for my nephew, but I totally forgot all about him. I must have had him in this bag for about two years now." This "three years" versus "two years" in Bad Bag would soon become an ongoing point of contention between the pineapple and Maher, but that's a story for another time.

Ella saw the round little ball of plush in Maher's hand, an obnoxious bright yellow, with a shock of leafage, green like a Mountain Dew can, with a silly grin and sewn-on bright pink cheeks. "He's adorable! I could keep him," exclaimed Ella, and then, rather reluctantly, added, "I mean, why can't you still give him to Carter?"