Teddie was struck by a sudden inspiration.
Ignoring the little voice inside his head that was screaming at him to take a moment to stop and think,
Teddie let his feelings guide him and was whisked away on the raging rapids of spiteful revenge.
Since Sally was already dressed for a ballet,
and since Teddie himself was so often an unwilling participant,
it occurred to him that maybe he should practice some of those more advanced ballet moves that usually were denied and escaped him.
His teacher would always tell him that he was far too young and weak to execute some of the more difficult carries,
throws, and catches.
Imagine!
Him!
Too Weak!
Well, he would show her.
He would show them all.
And Sally would be his esteemed partner for a private ballet.
Teddie style.
Teddie tossed the porcelain ballerina into the air and then,
after catching her,
twirled her around in circles all the way across the room to the stereo.
He popped in one of his favorite CDs and waited for a second in the middle of the room.
After only a second or so,
he was blasted by a deluge of white noise and rock and roll.
Teddie instantly broke into his best rendition of a rock star shrieking and gyrating before a million screaming fans,
using Sally as a microphone,
pretend guitar, and backup dancer all at the same time.
Before long,
he was lost in the music as it surged through his heart,
head and blood.
Sally flipped, spun, and twirled magically to the beat.
Teddie was strength.
He was power.
He was a pure sex symbol for the masses.
In reality, however, Teddie was nothing but toast.
Teddie planned for a terrific toss, spin, and catch maneuver at the end of his favorite song.
There was a part where the music suddenly stops with a final, hard, resonating guitar chord, and Teddie intended to toss Sally up in the air, spin around once, drop to one knee, and catch her at the very last possible moment when the music ended.
Unfortunately for Teddie,
two minor miscalculations multiplied into big trouble.
For starters, Teddie didn’t time the music correctly and was in the middle of his toss-spin when the song ended.
Secondly, he was distracted by the sudden crypt-like silence and the distinct sound of a car door slamming.
His eyes were involuntarily drawn to the digital clock on the stereo.
It read 2:45 pm.
His heart leaped into his throat and constricted his already ragged breathing.
His Mom was home!
For the next few seconds, everything seemed to happen in slow motion, all at once.
Too late Teddie remembered the falling Sally doll.
He looked back up just in time to have his forehead meet Sally’s on her descent back to earth.
The hard porcelain sent instant pain through his skull and made his eyes water.
Teddie tried to scramble to his feet to make a run for the stereo before his mom could hear the glass shattering sound of his music.
He knew if she did, it would mean that she would take away his stereo privileges for life.
At the same time, he tried to catch Sally as she careened off his head.
Unfortunately for Teddie, his luck wasn’t as good as usual.
He did manage to reach the stereo remote control power button before the next song came on,
but in the process,
he knocked over a standing lamp.
Also, his juggling of Sally proved to be fruitless as she bounced off the fingertips of his right hand for the third time,
and the falling lamp brushed past his outreached left hand.
The end result was that Teddie was left standing in the middle of the living room floor,
dripping with sweat,
both arms outstretched,
chest heaving and gasping for breath,
as the porcelain doll and ceramic lamp met identical fates on opposite sides of him.