One by one the toys stopped moving. Battalions of soldiers turned to face Teefr, raised their arms to salute, then froze in position. Platoons of infantry shouldered their rifles and stood silently at attention.

       Old MacDonald and his farm animals came to rest on the carpet, as did Noah and the two-by-two occupants of the ark. Mr. Potato Head flopped to the floor next to G.I. Joe and a ballet dancer. A rag clown leaned against the leg of a chair, his bright red smile shining up at Teefr.

       Gradually, the activity in the room subsided. Planes circled slowly, gliding lower and lower, and finally landed in various places across the carpet. Miniature cars and tanks screeched to a halt. Cowboys and Indians sat peacefully in every corner of the living room.

       Dunkey knelt down, then collapsed gently against a heavy, wooden chair. Teddy sat down next to him, and Dunkey wrapped a floppy gray ear around Teddy's shoulder. They both gazed up at Teefr, then they were very, very still.

       When Teefr opened his eyes, he found himself looking down a vast patchwork of brightly colored toys that covered the entire room like a quilt. Beyond the silent toys sat the three children.

       Although they were only a dozen feet away, the distance across the sunny living room seemed like miles. It was a distance of both inches and time. It was the span of centuries and eras, the separation of cultures of today's world and of peoples long gone.

       Somehow Teefr's form seemed small, compared even to the toys. He stood quietly in his shattered, scorched armor, totally out of place, strange in this suburban living room filled with furniture, electric lights and television sets.

       "Children…." Teefr began, "…thank you…for being here to help. I have been alone too often. Remember… the time that we are together - you with me and you with each other - is all too short. And the time we are apart is all too long. Stay close while you can. There is little else to need."

       Teefr lowered his left hand and let the chain of the amulet slip from his fingers. The amulet fell onto the carpet without a sound. Teefr looked over at the children and smiled gently.

       He raised his hand and touched his lips. Then he turned his open palm toward the children in a movement that seemed first like a wave good-bye and then like a salute.

       Without even a second's pause, Teefr turned and stepped toward the bright sunlight flooding through the window. His armor glowed in the light. Teefr's eyes and every inch of his body began to sparkle. The sunshine wrapped around him as though welcoming back a part of itself that had been missing for a long, long time. Points of light whirled near Teefr as his steps floated him closer and closer to the window panes.

       With a sigh like the closing of a billion butterfly wings, Teefr's entire form dissolved into wave after wave of rainbow colors. The colors danced through the room like the light from thousands of spinning prisms. They twirled out the window and higher and higher into the sky until they lit the early morning clouds.

       Ginger walked shakily over to the amulet. For some reason her eyes weren't focusing. It was only when she bent down slowly to pick it up, that she realized her eyes were filled with tears.. She placed it around her neck, stuffed it under her sweatshirt and quickly wiped the tears away.

       Fred ran over to Teddy and Dunkey and stopped a few feet away from where the toy animals were sprawled against the chair leg.

       "Teddy!" Fred called out happily.

       There was no answer.

       "Teddy?"

       There was no movement.

       Teddy's brown class eyes stared straight ahead toward the sun-filled windows. His fuzzy cotton body leaned awkwardly on Dunkey's rumpled gray shoulder. The two toys were still as the grains of sand in an hourglass that had run out.

       "Teddy?" But Fred knew there would be no answer. He gazed at Teddy longingly, not daring to move.

       Tony watched Fred carefully. He had the impulse to say something or comfort him, but decided against it. Tony remained quiet for what seemed like a long time, thinking about what Teefr had said.

       Suddenly, an explosion of sound shook the room. The children swung around, shocked by the clicking of a key in the front door. With a creak, the door swung open, and Tony's mother and father each took one astonished step into the front hall.

       They stood, dumbfounded by the catastrophic clutter in the living room.

       "What's going on in here?" Douglas Calder blurted out when he regained a fraction of his composure. "Who was in here?"

       "Are you all right?" Julia Calder asked, her eyes darting about. "We saw a person standing in the middle of the room when we drove up the driveway."

       "Nobody, Mom," Tony said softly. "There's nobody else here except us."

       "Why are you here, anyway? I thought the house was on fire!" Tony's father continued at the same high pitch of emotion. "There was so much light pouring out of the window! The bushes and the trees were glowing! And all my soldiers all over the…! Who…?"

       Julia laid her hand gently on her husband's arm to stop the flow of his outburst.

       "We…uh, we…were…the plane was grounded and… " Tony began.

       "We…we… came back to wait for…." Ginger tried to finish the sentence.

       "The frog…." Tony added quietly.

       "And there were more…earthquakes…." Ginger went on. She glanced uneasily around her, realizing for the first time the size of the mess in this once sparkling, clean living room.

       A  long silence followed. No one knew quite what to say.

       "Do your parents know that you're here?" Julia finally asked Ginger.

       "Uh huh." Ginger replied, looking down.

       "We'll clean up!" Fred volunteered, finally taking his tear-filled eyes off of Teddy. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up one small, Napoleonic soldier that had fallen onto its side next to the table leg. He set the soldier upright in the center of the table. For a moment the soldier stood, balanced, smartly at attention. But then it toppled over with a loud clank.

       Douglas Calder started to smile. The disorder was so complete that he was beyond anger. He saw that Julia was smiling back at him. He looked over at Tony. "I'm glad you're okay, all of you."

       "Oh, Dad…." Tony didn't finish the sentence. He dropped Samantha to the floor, ran over and hugged his father.

       As though on cue, Ginger followed him. Douglas and Julia put their arms around both children.

       Only Fred had not joined them. He stood and watched the others then turned back toward Teddy. Fred's chest ached with an unfamiliar emptiness. He longed to pick Teddy up to stop the pain. A warm tear slid down his cheek. It stopped on the corner of his mouth. Fred licked away the tear. He wanted to say good-bye to Teddy. Fred started to speak, but instead, he turned and ran across the room.

       Tony and Ginger put their arms around him. The five people from two families, plus one hungry cat, stood in a tight circle, pressed as close together as they could be.

       Julia Calder relaxed her arms for a moment. "What did happen here?" she asked softly.

       "Mowp!" Samantha said, looking up.

       But no one else answered.

       The children only drew closer to Julia and her husband. And standing in the warm morning sunshine with everyone that she loved holding her, she realized that she already had the only answer that she would ever need.