CHAPTER 7 –SARGE

The next two chapters are dedicated to R. Lee. Ermey (03/24/1944 – 04/15/2018) , who not only voiced the role of 'Sarge' in the first three Toy Story movies but also had several other memorable roles, including the sadistic drill sergeant in 'Full Metal Jacket' and Gregory House's father in 'House, M.D.' R.I.P. Gunny, these chapters are a small homage to you.

And to Tiny, who left a review: Thank you for commenting! :) I haven't seen 4 yet but I've read enough about it to know I'm going to have mixed feelings as well once I finally do. You're the second person to mention Andy's roommates and I'm not quite sure how I'll work them into this, but I'll try. Thanks again!

"The war's over folks; me and the boys are moving on. It has been an honor serving with you. Good luck, folks"

Sarge looked down from the ledge of Andy's bedroom window at the toys on the floor below. He had tried to put as much meaning and sincerity into those last three words and his final salute as he was capable of; but in the end, even after all they'd been through together, the missions downstairs to spy during birthdays and Christmas mornings to report back through walkie-talkie what presents Andy had received, it was all coming to an end now. Buzz and Woody and the other toys were looking up at him incredulously, not believing that Sarge and the other toy soldiers were going AWOL in front of their very eyes.

Operation Toybox had been a complete failure, even though the two teams Sarge had sent out had performed their missions flawlessly. Team Bravo had secured the handset of the Davis's cordless phone without incident, and Team Alpha, even after encountering an unexpected setback from Buster the dog, had succeeded in their mission to bring Andy's cell phone back as well, dragging it inside of a sock through Andy's bedroom door. Everything had gone according to plan until both phones were inside the toybox and Woody had placed his call.

Sarge stopped thinking about it after that and focused on the mission ahead of him. His men had performed their duties perfectly, and yet they had failed...because of Andy, who simply didn't want them any more. He had released his troops from their duties, and now it was everyone for themselves.

The soldier behind Sarge grabbed onto him, and they leaped out of the window together, clinging to each other as the other soldier's parachute deployed.

The plan was for them to stay together until they fell to earth, hoping to be picked up by someone, hopefully a child who would take in a couple of new toys and keep them alive. Sarge knew if their mission failed, they would end up on the ground, to be buried by the endless cycle of winter and summer and tall grass and lawnmowers.

Their plan went wrong the moment a violent gust of wind caught them and slammed them into the side of Andy's house and ripped the parachute from the back of the soldier clinging to Sarge. One of the strings from the parachute wrapped itself around Sarge's throat and he managed to grab onto it before it could strangle him. The other soldier found himself losing his grip on Sarge's legs.

"I'm sorry, Sarge!" the other soldier shouted, and Sarge had just enough time to reply "It's all right, son!" before the wind tore them apart; Sarge watched the other soldier plummet to the ground as the breeze caught the parachute and lifted him high into the air. Sarge clung desperately to the few strings of the parachute he could still reach as he spun wildly and looked down at the crazy checkerboard of houses and backyards below.

Another gust of wind caught him, and Sarge found himself tangled up in the parachute, plummeting to the ground into the hedges behind the house across the street from Andy's.

He missed most of the branches on his way down, what was left of the parachute settling over him. He reached out to pull the parachute free from his face, giving him a clear view of the backyard.

A boy of about 7 had seen his fall from the sky and stood up alongside the rusty swingset behind his house, forgetting about the Lego tank (complete with working treads and a functional LED cannon, batteries not included) he had been trying to finish putting together for months.

Sarge watched the boy run toward him, amazed that it had been this easy to have been found by another child this quickly, and making sure he stayed perfectly still as the boy picked him up along with the parachute he was tangled up in.

"Oh, cool…" Darren whispered, carrying his unexpected find into his house. Sarge looked up at his new surroundings as the kid carried him through a kitchen and up a flight of stairs into what was obviously his bedroom. He saw quite a few toy soldiers scattered across the floor, along with plastic race cars and stuffed animals. Sarge hoped this boy was good to his toys, and that those soldiers had at least some semblance of discipline and order.

He didn't expect what happened next. Darren untangled the parachute strings from around Sarge's neck and body and held the limp piece of cloth aloft in triumph. He turned toward his closet, and after a moment tossed Sarge carelessly into it.

Sarge found himself dumped unceremoniously into a pile of clothes that needed washing, along with several toy cars and several plastic soldiers, all at least twice as large as him and sporting actual colors on their uniforms in contrast to his own dull olive drab green.

He watched Darren carry the parachute over to his desk, sit down and push a pile of what was probably homework to the side, and begin attaching the parachute to a GI Joe action figure at least twenty times bigger than Sarge.

"That'll never work," Sarge heard a gruff voice whisper beside him. He looked and saw another soldier four times his size, wearing the uniform of no less than an admiral, who had somehow crawled up beside him without his noticing. Protocol would normally require Sarge to salute, but with a human nearby that was impossible.

"Admiral," Sarge said with a respectful nod instead. "I was just thinking the same thing."

They watched Darren sort out the tangled strings of the parachute and tie them, one by one, around the GI Joe.

"He'll figure it out the first couple times he throws him in the air," the Admiral whispered. "Or tries to drop him out his window. Joe is way too heavy for that parachute."

"What's he like, sir?" Sarge replied. "That boy, I mean. Is he...good to his toys? And…" He looked at the stripes and medals on the Admiral's uniform, as well as the battle-weary look on the old soldier's face. "What are your men like, sir?"

The Admiral grimaced. "Well, first of all...they aren't my men. I'm barely even a figurehead around here anymore. They're an unruly bunch." He turned to look at the other soldiers scattered across the floor. "I probably should have retired and been put out to pasture a long time ago."

"The way you were able to sneak up on me just now, sir...I'm not so sure I agree."

The admiral seemed taken aback. "Well...I guess I still remember some of my training." He smiled sadly. "But these men are completely undisciplined, they have no structure or plan..."

"I may have to do something about that, sir."

The Admiral nodded. "I'd like to see you try, son." They both ducked their heads and froze as Darren turned around for a moment to survey his room before returning to his work. "In fact," he went on, quieter. "I think you could actually do it."

He turned to look toward the boy at the desk again. "And Darren? He's a good kid; he's not deliberately cruel with his toys...not like that awful Sid was who used to live across the street." Sarge closed his eyes, remembering. "But he isn't happy. He hasn't been in about three years now, ever since he stopped being the youngest kid in the family."

Sarge nodded. At least Andy hadn't had that problem with Molly, who had taken to the role of older brother immediately.

"Debbie was born the day before his fourth birthday," The Admiral went on. "And he feels like he's been getting short-changed on birthday parties ever since." His eyes widened. "Get down!"

Darren had stood up from his desk holding the GI Joe in one hand and the parachute in the other. Sarge froze and watched as he opened his bedroom window, held the GI Joe out of it and let go.

"Oh...darn," the boy whispered, and turned away from the window and ran out the door, his footsteps fading as he ran down the hallway.

"Wow...I bet nobody saw that coming," one of the soldiers on the floor said sarcastically once they were alone, and several of the others laughed.

"Like I told you," the Admiral whispered to Sarge. "No discipline whatsoever."

"Not even an attempt to organize a rescue mission either," Sarge replied, disgusted by what he was witnessing.

"That's how it is around here," The Admiral replied. "If you think you can organize these sad sacks of worthlessness, have at it."

"No one is worthless," Sarge replied, and he and the Admiral hunkered down as the shadows grew longer. It was one of the soldiers on the ground who finally said "Time for bed everyone!" a few moments before Darren reappeared in the door. He was carrying the unfinished Lego tank he'd been playing with when Sarge had landed in his back yard.

"Duck!" The Admiral whispered and tossed a sock over Sarge's shoulders to hide him. Sarge burrowed deeper beneath the pile of laundry, keeping his head free so he could watch the other toys freeze where they were as Darren came into the room and set the tank next to his bed.

Sarge hunkered down for the night in the pile of laundry alongside The Admiral and watched as Darren seemed to reorganize the homework on his desk he had pushed aside earlier and worked on it for awhile before turning off the desk lamp and going to bed.

xx

Late that night when everyone else was asleep, Sarge heard a noise and raised his head. The unfinished Lego tank was slowly making its way toward the bedroom door, out into the hall. Sarge quietly followed him while the other toys and Darren slept, admiring the amount of discipline it took for the tank to move as stealthily as he did.

Sarge followed him down the hall and hid behind a door frame as the tank went into another room (a guest room, Sarge realized when he saw the empty bed in the middle of it) stopped, and raised his gun turret toward the window.

Sarge winced and looked away as the toy tank began flashing the light at the end of its turret. The glare after the darkness in the rest of the house was blinding and Sarge quickly retreated from it, back toward Darren's room. He recognized Morse Code from the short and long bursts of light coming from the tank, even though he couldn't decipher it. All he knew was that this toy was in communication with someone from across the street, and he wondered if it was someone in Andy's house or in one of the houses nearby.

Sarge made his way back to the laundry pile and lay down beside The Admiral again, thinking about what he had just witnessed. For the first time, he began to question his place among these toys and wondered if he would be able to get them organized into any sort of disciplined platoon. On the other hand, whatever the tank had been doing, it was obvious he wanted to keep it a secret.

These toys had been having a life here in this room for years before Sarge arrived, and he realized he was a stranger in their midst. They might not respond to his attempts at getting them to work together as a team.

Sarge was almost asleep when he heard the tank returning and watched as it rolled itself almost silently back to the place where Darren had left him beside his bed.

Sarge realized one thing at that moment: Despite being unfinished and his gun turret sitting atop him crookedly, this tank was Darren's favorite toy, judging by the way they had been playing together when Sarge first landed in the backyard and how Darren had set him next to his bed before going to sleep. That probably placed him pretty high up on whatever hierarchy existed among this sad lot of soldiers; working with him could be the key to establishing order in this group.