The Toy Tinker: The Baker's Pair

            It's a scary thing to lose something lucky. The loss of that rabbit's foot or shiny penny can mean a tilt in the universe and if the universe tilts a little to far, you may slide right off. On one particular morning, in the very particular place of the house on Tick Tock Hill, a girl named Jay was hoping that her lucky wristbands were simply misplaced and that her universe hadn't yet begun to tilt.
            "Gidget! Where did I put them?"
            Jay had employed her robot chinchilla, Gidget to help her. He emerged from the pantry, fork-paws empty.
            They'd been looking for over an hour now. Jay blew stubborn wire strands of hair out of her face and began to tighten her pigtails.
            Plop            A striped wristband hit the floor.
            "It can't be that easy," Jay muttered to herself. She raked her fingers through the rest of her hair. Upon getting to  the band holding her left pigtail, she plucked at cottony lump with her finger and thumb.
            A second wristband.
She slid both of her misplaced lucky bands over her wrists.
Jay was especially relieved to have her bands where she could see them now, because for the first time ever, she had been invited to play a game away from Tick Tock Hill--something the baker's daughters called "Double Dutch." When you are unfamiliar with a game, she knew, it was always good to have a lucky something with you.
Gidget, like any well-trained robot chinchilla would do, buzzed over to his owner with her scarf and hat.

Baker Joe's daughters were supposedly twins, but they looked absolutely nothing alike. Ginger was short, broad-shouldered and rather hog-like in the face. Meringue was quite a bit taller than her sister, with stick limbs that flailed at random. Both of the girls had temperaments that were much like the taste of brownies with no sugar. Of course, Jay had no idea about this. It was her habit to only venture beyond Tick Tock Hill when she needed groceries. The suggestion by Baker Joe that Jay play with his girls seemed sweet enough. It couldn't hurt to explore options that didn't include scavenging in the junkyard behind her house. So she picked her way down the hill towards town, her face pink with optimism.

The twins had arranged to meet Jay in the schoolyard, now soggy from the persistent fall rain. They stood next to the rusted swing set. Meringue had her wire arms crossed against her middle, one hip swung out. Ginger was busy staring at the mud. In one hand she held a tattered rope.
"Hello. I'm Jay."
"We know." Meringue growled. "And you know who we are, so let's get on with it."
Jay tried her best to find Ginger's face behind the red cloud of hair. Alas, she seemed content to keep it turned to the ground.
"How do you play Double Dutch?" Jay asked, still smiling hopefully in Ginger's direction.
Meringue's right arm jolted to life and snatched the rope from her sister's thick hand. This prompted Ginger look up, revealing an upturned snout and a flurry of brown freckles.
"It's jumping rope with two ropes.You have to keep up with both of them if you don't want to eat any dirt, "said Meringue.
Jay wasn't certain anymore if a game of Double Dutch was something she needed.
Before she could further contemplate returning to Tick Tock, Meringue's bony hand was thrusting the frayed rope against Jay's chest. Jay noticed the girl's fingernails were crusted in black dirt. Hopefully, Baker Joe never let his daughter knead bread dough with him.
"Come on, dollface. Grab the ends. Ginger'll jump first."
"But I don't wan--"
Meringue's mouth dropped open long and lopsided:
"YOU'RE JUMPING FIRST, MEATHEAD!!"

It was clear that Ginger was accustomed to following her sister's needle-shrill commands without much debate. She walked slumped and limp (in true doormat form) to the open center of the playground.

Jay took an end of each rope in her hands while Meringue took up her own ends, wobbling backward so that Ginger stood between them.