They walked over a small rise and found themselves amongst lines of shops along a street that looked like it was straight from the fairy tales. “Charming,” his mother would call it in her terrible imitation British accent she did sometimes. In front of the shops were gathered children of various ages, all dressed in very nice clothes from different periods and all smiling to the group. They waved to Spencer and the others in welcome.
“Come closer Perfect girls and boys,” Jack said to them. “Come and meet our guests!”
Jack introduced them one by one as they approached in a manner which Spencer couldn’t tell whether they were honest names or a sort of joke, that ever smiling face made it hard to read his expressions.
“This is Perfect Boy Johnny,” he said about the first. A blond headed boy of about twelve who had the tough but protective smile of someone you always wanted to be your older brother.
“And here’s Perfect Girl Jane,” he said introducing a freckled girl. She had her arm cocked on her hip, a tomboy waiting to play ball with the boys.
“Here’s Perfect Boy Joe, and Perfect Girl June, Perfect Boy Jake, and Perfect Girl Jen,” he went on, introducing nine in all.
The Perfect children took them on a tour of the shops, bells above the doors tinkling as they opened and closed them. In each shop the Perfects would take their place behind the counters and Spencer eventually realized to his amazement that the shops were run by the Perfects themselves. Candy shops and soda shops and toys and costumes. The contents of the latter two were all evidentially second hand, though again were so interesting and authentic so as not to matter. Some seemed old enough to have been played with by his grandparents when they were kids, others were handheld video games that seemed entirely new. Soon the whole of the street was filled with the sound of tinkling bells and running children, as they went from one shop to the next.
After changing into something more practical at an outfit store that seemed to have everyone’s sizes (a good thing since most of the kids were still in their pajamas), Spencer decided to check out a place called The Trick Shop. It had things like spring snakes in a can and garlic flavored bubble gum, and was run by a Perfect Girl with a peaches and cream complexion and wispy blond hair. She wore a sky blue dress that reminded Spencer of Alice in Wonderland. There were a couple magic tricks in the shop and when she saw Spencer looking at one she said he could have it.
“That’s how it works in Nowhere Blvd,” she said, responding to his questioning look. “You can have anything in any of the shops. Everything is for kids here.”
She was taller than Spencer and looked to be at least a year older. There was something about her that made it hard for him to talk, but Spencer wasn’t shy and talked anyway.
“I know a lot about magic,” Spencer said, surprising himself a little.
“I’m Perfect Girl Julie, what’s your name?”
“Spencer. Actually I like to be called Spence.”
She smiled and showed him some of the magic tricks in the shop. She didn’t seem nervous to talk to him at all, which made him feel all the more awkward for being a little nervous to talk to her. He showed her one of the magic tricks he knew with a deck of cards. She smiled again and he smiled back. Her teeth were white and straight but also a little tiny, which seemed to be the only thing that wasn’t perfect about her and somehow made her very likable. He wanted to make her smile some more and tried to think of everything he knew about magic just to keep talking to her some more.
Spencer thought more than ever that he must be in a dream. He often dreamed about making friends with a girl and going to magical places, something he almost never thought about while awake.
After a while of her showing him around the shop while other kids darted in and out, he heard Smiling Jack outside calling for everyone. He was content to ignore it, to stay there talking to her. For as a steady stream of punishments could attest to, Spencer Williams was not one who felt a natural need to do what he was told.
Perfect Girl Julie, however, practically snapped to attention.
“Come on,” she said grabbing his hand and pulling him outside.
Despite his more than obvious fun loving attitude, Spencer was beginning to suspect Smiling Jack of having the intentions of a day camp director, constantly keeping them on the move to keep them busy and out of trouble. Once outside he gathered them up (Spencer smiled when he caught Jack’s lips moving silently as he counted heads) and lead them off to the next activity. Spencer saw that the children around him mostly carried new toys and wore the costumes of spacemen and cowboys and the striped uniforms of prisoners. He was a bit surprised to find he was the only one who didn’t have a new toy, having spent all his time in the trick shop. The Perfect children marched along with them without having to be told. Perfect Girl Julie was next to him pointing off to the bungalows in the distance.
“That’s where I live, there,” she said, pointing at the second one in the line.
They walked vaguely in the direction of the amusement park, which is what Spencer thought they were heading too. Instead they ended up at a fun little park a short walk from the edge of the forest (which looked dead like Autumn despite the summer like atmosphere). There were objects moving in the park, odd things with sunlight glinting off the metal of them. Even as they got close enough for Spencer to feel like he should recognize them, he couldn’t quite.
Once he did make them out and was sure of what he saw, he still couldn’t believe it. Robots. Or at least something a lot like them. Brass and leather things that stood as tall as a man even though they moved about on all fours. They had necks that came out at an angle like that of a giraffe, or maybe like a preying mantis. Their heads darted here and there, looking about with huge shining eyes. Their thick tapering appendages had only one joint, high up, which bent out sideways like a spider. Each arm and leg ending in a pincer, sometimes stabbing sharply and sometimes separating into thirds to grab.
Of all the things he’d seen here, he thought this had to be the most amazing. Robots were even more amazing than a talking teddy bear.
Maybe robots, thought Spencer. Or maybe a person could fit inside all those leather wrappings and metal casings. A small one, like a circus acrobat. Or a kid…
The things moved slowly across the park, about six in all. The park itself looked like a good one, complete with baseball diamond and playground. No one rushed to play though, some of the littler children even hid behind the larger ones (Nanny Gurdy was nowhere to be seen, having left perhaps while Spencer was in the trick shop). They seemed apprehensive about approaching the things, a sentiment Spencer mirrored. There was something unnatural about the way they moved, like you didn’t exactly want them near you.
“These are my Hollow Men,” said Jack in a stage whisper as he pointed them out. “I built them to take care of alllllll my chores, so I could play all day. And that’s just what their doing!”
Spencer saw that Smiling Jack was right. They were using those pincers to clean up litter from the playground, both lost toys and candy wrappers. Jack seemed to have little patience for his creations though, his expression towards them turning a little sour despite his never faltering smile.
“Go away now, Hollow Men,” Jack yelled at them, hands cupped to his mouth. “Go away so we can play!”
The Hollow Men turned their heads as one to him, then began moving off in different directions. Their pincers making a tap tap, tap tap noise when they moved from grass to pavement.