On January 20^th, the sheep laid out all different types of cheese on their outdoor tables. There were soft cheeses like Brie, ricotta, cream cheese, and even cottage cheese. There were hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and Swiss. Each of the cheeses was labeled with its name and had a small plate of crackers next to it.

As each of the toys stopped by that day, they tried different types of cheeses, and the sheep told them about each one.

“Brie is from France. It tastes great on crackers or even on sandwiches,” Baa told Teddy when he stopped by.

“Cheddar cheese comes from England and is white there. Here, in the United States, it’s yellow,” said Black Sheep.

“I bet you can’t guess where Swiss cheese comes from,” said Baaa to Sylver when he took a nibble of the holey cheese. “Umm…Switzerland?” answered Sylver. “You’re right!” the three sheep yelled, making Sylver jump and almost drop his cheese. He scrambled and managed to catch it before popping it into his mouth.

He was about to head back to the ocean life cubby when he noticed a tv set up next to the tables. “What’s this?” he asked. “Oh that…that’s something that we thought the toys might enjoy. It’s a game called Cheese Game.”

Sylver walked closer to the screen and noticed that controllers had been hooked up. “Can I try it out?”

“Of course you can. That’s why we set it up!” said Baa while his brothers walked back to the tables to put out new pieces of cheese. “It’s one player or I’d play with you. Try it out and if you would like a snack, come back over for some more cheese. Perhaps some cheddar this time or cream cheese.” Baa smiled and walked away.

Sylver picked up a controller and hit start. He chuckled when he saw that he was playing as a piece of cheese that looked a lot like the piece that he had just eaten. The game started easily enough. He was a piece of cheese that had to avoid everything because everything wanted to eat him. He beat a few levels and when he paused for a moment, he noticed that he had drawn quite the crowd around him. Quite a few of his friends were there supporting him and cheering him on.

He took a deep breath and unpaused the game. It was time for the final level. With his friends watching, he dodged left, and he dodged right. There were rocks falling from the sky and a miner trying to catch him. He kept dodging and running. The rocks were falling faster now and the more intense the game got, the quieter his friends got. There were only thirty seconds left. Could he beat the game?

He dodged to the left again. A rock barely missed him, and his friends held their breath. He was so close. Another dodge to the right and around a pair of rocks that came raining down. The miner was right there, but he managed to veer around him. Ten seconds left. Suddenly the rocks were coming down faster, but with each rock that rained down, he dodged around it. Five seconds left and the miner was right on this tail. He flipped around and ran around the miner. Time was up and he won! He let out the breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and grinning, turned around to hug his cheering friends.

“You did it! On your first try you beat that game!”

“Oh my gosh, that was awesome!”

“Thanks, guys! We should celebrate with some cheese!”

About once a month, Rhino got something in the mail. It might be a letter or a postcard, but he always got something, and they always came from the same place. Grandpa Rhino used to live in the toy store but had been adopted by a young boy when Rhino was quite young. They loved each other though and to keep in touch, they would write letters to each other.

One day, Sam saw Rhino writing a letter to his grandpa and asked him about it. “Why do you write him letters, Rhino?” he asked.

“It’s a fun way to keep in touch. I can tell him about everything that happens here. I just wrote about the big spaghetti party that Mario threw for us. If I didn’t tell him, he’d never know, and I think that he would miss it. Plus, he always writes me back and I get to hear about the adventures that he goes on with his boy.”

“That’s pretty cool. I think that I would like to write a letter too, but who would I write it too?” asked Sam.

“You could write to me,” answered Rhino. “You have all kinds of adventures, and I would love to read about them. I’ll even write you back!”

“Awesome! I’ll go back to my cubby and work on it right now.”

Sam waved and headed back to his cubby where he got a pencil and some paper and write Rhino a long letter, telling him all about his adventures with Melanie and his other friends. At the end of the letter, he invited Rhino to go on an adventure with him. Then, he put it into an envelope and put it in the toy store mailbox.

As he was walking to the mailbox, Asbestos came up to him and asked what he was doing. Sam explained all about letter writing and how he had written Rhino a letter. Asbestos loved the idea and ran back to his cave to write his own letter.

Before much time had passed, there was a line at the mailbox of toys waiting to drop their letters in. All week long, they had been writing to each other. Now, some of them were writing back and others were mailing out their first letter.

Some of the toys wrote long letters. Others wrote just a little bit on the back of a postcard. They all had one thing in common though. They loved writing to each other. Rhino got so excited about how everyone was writing letters that he wrote a second one to Grandpa Rhino telling him all about it. Grandpa Rhino wrote back telling him that the toys where he lived would love to get letters and postcards.

Rhino couldn’t wait to share this idea with all of his friends. He hurried over to Horace and told him all about what his grandpa had said in his letter. Horace thought it was a great idea so he decided to call all of the toys together to tell them all about it.

Soon, all of the toys were collected together in the reading area. Some had letters in their hands and others were carrying their paper and pencils. Some of the younger toys had crayons. “Hey, everyone, I have something that I want to tell you about!”

Everyone settled down and got quiet so that they could hear Horace.

“I was just talking to Rhino about how great all this letter writing is and he told me that he had gotten a new letter from Grandpa Rhino. As you know, Grandpa Rhino lives across town now with a wonderful boy and his family. It’s because of his letter writing that all of you started writing letters. Now, he has a suggestion!”

The toys whispered among themselves, wondering what the suggestion might be.

“He would love it if you wrote letters to his friends that he lives with! They don’t get letters or postcards now and he knows that they would love them. What do you all think? Can we bring some smiles to other toys? You never know, you might make some new friends!”

The toys all cheered and clapped to show their support. Then, they hurried up to Rhino who had his grandpa’s letter with him. In it, Grandpa Rhino had given a list of toys who would love to receive letters. After everyone had gotten the name of a toy, Rhino went back to his cubby to write his grandpa to tell him that lots of letters should be coming to their playroom very soon.

Across town, Grandpa Rhino smiled as he read his grandson’s letter again. It was good knowing that he was happy, healthy, and surrounded by toys who all took care of each other. He hoped that they would be sending lots of letters their way, but even if they didn’t, he knew that each week there would be one from his grandson, Rhino.

…And that’s how the toy store pen pal program came to be.