Robbie Forgotten

2

Sitting high and mighty on the seesaw Stingy flapped his hand at Trixie, trying to shoo her off of the opposite end down on the ground.

"It's mine, Trixie," he said. "Go away."

"It takes two to teeter-totter, Stingy," Trixie tried to explain it to the fancy boy for what must have been the hundredth time and her patience was wearing thin.

"No," Stingy said, placing his hand on his chest, "it's mine, ALL mine."

"Okay," Trixie said and got up from the seesaw, "if you insist." She planted one foot firmly on the vacated seat to keep Stingy elevated up in the air. That got the boy to squirm and tighten his grip on the handle bars and Trixie snickered at his discomfort.

"Wait," Stingy said, "I've changed my mind. You can get back on!"

"Hey guys!" Stephanie called as she ran through the playground towards the other kids.

"Hey, Stephanie," Trixie said, still keeping the teeter-totter off its kilter, "want to play with us?"

"Not just me," Stephanie said, shrugging her pink purse off her shoulder and waving behind her, "look!"

Just arriving to the playground came Pixel and Sportacus. They all waved and greeted each other with their usual enthusiasm. But bringing up the rear there was one more. Approaching a little less confidently on long and lanky legs was—

"Robbie Rotten!" Trixie and Stingy both exclaimed. The purple suited man stopped, keeping a respectable distance between himself and the others. His nose twitched and his mouth twisted on the verge of an uncertain frown.

"Why does everyone have to shout at me?" he asked. "It doesn't sound very nice when you say it like that."

"You're one to talk about nice!" Trixie started to snap back at the man but Stephanie waved her arms around to interrupt her.

"Just a second," Stephanie said, and hotfooted it over to the teeter-totter.

Trixie finally let Stingy get down so that they could have a whispered discussion with the pink girl. The kids peered up several times to look at Robbie before ducking their heads back down to continue the conference. A few giggles came out that were quickly shushed.

They broke out of their circle and turned back to the others. The way that Stingy and Trixie looked at Robbie now made him shift his feet.

"So you really don't remember me?" Stingy asked, and Robbie shook his head. The boy turned up his nose with a snort. "Is that so? Humph!"

"No problem," Trixie drawled. "We'll just remind you about yourself. Are you ready?"

"All right," Robbie said, putting on a brave face. "What do I have to do?"

"It's easy," Trixie said, and cast her hand around them at the playground. "We play!"

"Play?" Robbie looked at all the playground equipment and didn't make a move for anything. He glanced towards Sportacus, seeking a second opinion. "I'm not sure I can."

"Anyone can play," Sportacus encouraged him with a nod, "go on."

"Yeah, Robbie," Trixie said. "You play with us ALL the time. Why, you love to skip rope!"

"I do?" Robbie looked doubtfully towards the jump rope lying in a pile on the ground. He went over and bent down to pick up the toy but his back creaked. He struggled to straighten back up again with a grimace, quickly giving up the notion.

"And you love to play ball!" Stingy said, turning Robbie's attention towards the dodge ball resting against the brick wall.

"You always jump around," Pixel offered, pulling Robbie's gaze back the other way.