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bear. The other toys waved and twirled, stopping long enough so people could read the signs they carried.
She leaned a little closer to the window. The only word she could make out on the signs was Wind-Up . Most of the inventors had at least one toy dance past their booths. Xabier appeared at one end of the convention floor, dashed straight across the main aisle, and disappeared through the exit doors.
The music stopped. A recorded Darth Vader-ish voice boomed so loud she could hear it clearly, “Welcome to Inventors Expo.” Confetti and balloons fell from nets attached to the ceiling. The toys cheered, clapped, and jumped up and down, looking toward the glass elevator. The music from 2001: A Space Odyssey played.
The elevator did not move. The last of the balloons drifted to the floor. The toys’ leaping and clapping subsided. The elevator remained immobile. The Velveteen Rabbit gave a final hopeful hop. One of the toy soldiers kicked a balloon.
The inventors returned to their conversations, some with glances back up to the elevator. No Dustin. There must have been a change in plans.
Ginger scanned the floor again but couldn’t see Earl.
She touched her palm to her chest. She’d have to search for Phoebe later. Right now she needed to be down on that convention floor with the man who just found out his well-planned dream was not going so hot.

“The convention floor closes in less than half an hour, and you don’t have a badge.” The man with SECURITY written across his chest in white letters pointed a thick finger at Ginger’s chest where her badge should have been.
She curled her toes over the edges of her flip-flops, the only shoes she could stand to wear with feet hurting like they did. “Please, I have to get in there.” She stood on tiptoe to see above the sitting security guards flat hairdo. Activity on the convention floor didn’t show any sign of slowing down. A toy soldier sauntered by, holding the hand of a troll doll. A man demonstrated his invention by placing a cabbage on top of a device and pushing a button. The cabbage shook violently and then was sucked into the device.
“I have to find my husband.” She angled her head to one side to get a better view.
The guard rose from his stool and stepped into her field of vision. “Rules are rules.” He crossed his arms over his chest, which made it look like he was wearing a plain black T-shirt. SECURITY disappeared.
“Please, by the time I find someone who can issue me a badge, the floor will be closed. I saw my husband from the window of my room. He looked upset, and it’s my fault. I didn’t think he would get here this fast. I just need to talk to him. Please.”
Except for a bulge in one eyebrow, the mans square face showed no reaction. “Look, lady, I was told not to let anybody in without a badge. Those people paid a fee to be in there.”
“I paid that fee.” Ginger tapped her lobster red toes. No matter how long she stood here pleading, this guy wasn’t going to budge. She slammed her fist on her hip. Budge, smudge. There had to be another way in. She glanced around and considered options. “I don’t suppose you saw him leave. He was wearing a straw cowboy hat with a peacock feather in it.”
The elevator doors opened and a small man in a bathrobe stepped out.
“Lots of oddly dressed people come and go in this place. I can’t say that I remember him,” the security guard said.
The short man in the bathrobe made a beeline toward them. He brushed past Ginger.
Water dripped from his fuzzy hair. He wrung his hands while he talked. “Someone has taken my Binky.”
The security guard cleared his throat and added the extra measure of massaging his Adam’s apple, as if trying to force the words out. “Your … umm … umm, pacifier?”
Under normal circumstances, such comments would have confused Ginger as much as it had the security guard. These were not normal circumstances. “You mean the water-skiing squirrel, right?”
“Yes, my