Title: The Return of Brenda and John: Plushie Revenge
Six months of peace. Six beautiful, uneventful months. I almost believed they’d finally given up. No surprise visits. No unsolicited plushies on my porch. No cryptic notes written in glitter pen. It was as if Brenda and John Price had vanished into the void.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Brenda, it’s that she never really goes away.
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon when the first sign of trouble arrived. I was watching TV, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation, when I heard the unmistakable thud of something heavy hitting my front porch.
I opened the door cautiously. There, sitting in the middle of my welcome mat, was a massive box wrapped in pink paper and tied with an oversized bow. The tag read:
“We missed you. Love, Brenda and John.”
I stared at the box, debating whether to call the bomb squad or just set it on fire. Against my better judgment, I dragged it inside and opened it.
Inside was a plushie so enormous it defied logic. It was a life-sized plushie of a hockey goalie, complete with pads, a mask, and a tiny plushie stick. A note was tucked into its glove:
“Meet Stanley, the goalie of your heart. Hope he blocks all your loneliness!”
I slammed the lid back on the box and shoved it into the corner. “Nope,” I muttered to myself. “Not today, Brenda.”
But this was just the opening salvo.
The next day, I came home to find a giant banner hanging across my garage that read:
"Forgive us, or Waddles will cry forever!"
Waddles—the plush penguin I’d rejected during their last visit—was perched on my front steps, looking especially forlorn. Its beady little eyes seemed to say, You brought this on yourself.
I ripped the banner down and tossed it into the trash. That’s when my phone buzzed.
It was a text from an unknown number:
Brenda: We’re not going anywhere, sweetie. Let’s talk this out like family.
Family? I nearly threw my phone across the room.
By the end of the week, they’d escalated.
One morning, I woke up to the sound of music blaring outside my window. I peeked through the blinds to find Brenda and John standing in my driveway with a karaoke machine. Brenda was belting out “I Will Always Love You,” while John awkwardly swayed back and forth, holding a giant plushie shaped like a heart.
A crowd of neighbors had gathered, filming the spectacle on their phones.
I stormed outside. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Brenda stopped mid-verse and gave me a wide smile. “We’re here to win you back, honey!”
“I don’t even know you!” I shouted.
John stepped forward, cradling the heart plushie like it was a newborn. “You’ve hurt Mom’s feelings. That’s unacceptable.”
“Oh, and this isn’t unacceptable?” I gestured wildly at the karaoke setup.
Brenda clapped her hands. “We made lasagna! It’s in the cooler. Let’s have lunch and talk this out.”
I was about to tell them where they could shove their lasagna when John interrupted.
“Also,” he added, narrowing his eyes, “we’ve been training.”
“Training for what?” I asked, dreading the answer.
“Wrestling,” John said, cracking his knuckles. “You humiliated me last time, but I’ve been working out.”
I glanced at him. He didn’t look any smaller, but his T-shirt now read “Plushie Powerlifting Club” and his arms were visibly thicker.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” I muttered, turning to go back inside.
But John wasn’t having it. He dropped the plushie and charged.
What followed was the most absurd battle of my life.
John tackled me into my flower bed, crushing my azaleas. I managed to wriggle free and grabbed a garden gnome to defend myself. Brenda cheered from the sidelines, filming the whole thing on her phone.
“Go, Johnny! Show him the strength of a collector!”
John swung wildly, but I ducked and retaliated with a perfectly aimed gnome throw. It hit him square in the chest, sending him stumbling backward into the karaoke machine, which erupted in a burst of static and Whitney Houston’s high notes.
Brenda screamed, “Not the karaoke machine!”
Fueled by adrenaline and rage, I managed to wrestle John into a headlock. “Say you’ll leave me alone!” I shouted.
“Never!” he gasped, trying to squirm free.
Brenda came to his rescue, wielding a frying pan from the cooler like a weapon. I let go of John just in time to dodge her swing, which sent lasagna flying everywhere.
It was chaos. Plushies, food, and broken garden decorations littered the yard as the neighbors watched in stunned silence.
Finally, I grabbed Waddles off the porch and held him up. “ENOUGH! If I take Waddles back, will you leave me alone?!”
Brenda and John froze.
“You mean it?” Brenda asked, her eyes welling up with tears.
“Yes!” I shouted. “I’ll keep Waddles. Just GO!”
John picked himself up, brushing lasagna off his shirt. He gave me a solemn nod. “Take good care of him. He’s special.”
Brenda sniffled. “We knew you’d come around eventually.”
And just like that, they packed up their karaoke machine and cooler, leaving my yard a disaster zone.
It’s been two weeks since the battle, and so far, they’ve kept their word. Waddles now sits on my couch, a permanent reminder of the insanity I endured.
But every time I look at him, I can’t shake the feeling that Brenda and John are out there, planning their next move.
And I’m not sure my azaleas—or my sanity—can survive another visit.