The eye showed through the planks of wood and disappeared again. She saw it several times in the half hour she was out there. Whenever she caught the eye in hers, it would leave and she would smile. And so it was.
The next day was quite the same. She laid out her blanket and set out her cookies and lemonade. She passed them out to the unseen friends surrounding her and then she waited. The sun was very bright that morning and the ants were just coming up from their hills to see what was for breakfast. Callie had told her she should invite the eye to join them for cookies but the little girl waved the suggestion away. Callie was always telling her what to do. She instead looked to Cory, who always supported her thoughts and had a positive outlook on everything. He said that if the eye wanted to come it would come and that she wasn’t being unkind by not inviting something that had never even given its name. She agreed and it was with a head held high that she poured the lemonade and discussed not so quietly with her friends what they should do that day. Conner stole Cory’s cookie when his head was turned and then nodded eagerly to the idea of going on a safari. Conner loved animals, especially the mean ones.
And there it was. She had begun to watch the fence very carefully after the first five minutes. The little eye did not disappoint. It looked straight into hers and then vanished once again. Maybe it was the sugar cookies her mother had made from scratch, or perhaps that Callie was being especially pushy, but she felt a distinct feeling that she should approach the eye today.
She stood up and her friends stopped talking. They stared as she quietly began the walk towards the fence. She wondered what the eye’s name was and if it was friendly. She could almost feel Callie’s reassuring gaze on her back and also hear Cory’s shaking head. She hoped the eye’s owner was nice. It was almost as if she knew it just a bit, like a person she had met many times but only in passing; not having an opportunity to converse just yet. She stepped over the remnants of the campfire from the day before and dodged the tent that was fighting to stand against the subtle breeze.
And finally she made it. The hole was very small and only big enough for an eye to peek through. She stood a few feet away wondering whether she should ask the eye to come out or if looking through it herself would be rude. While her brain struggled with this decision the eye appeared again except this time it left almost instantly.
“Mr. Eye?” she whispered.
A rustling from behind the fence told her the eye had not left but was merely hiding. She tiptoed up to the crack in the panels and slowly brought her face to the fence.
“Mr. Eye, it’s okay. My name’s Casey,” her eye blinked and focused on the world beyond the fence. There was no grass, just pavement and a little bicycle in the far corner. She did not immediately see the eye’s owner but after some difficulty, she looked down and saw a patch of curly brown hair practically hugging the fence.
“There you are!” Casey exclaimed.
The hair jumped and fell back revealing the person beneath; a little boy with big blue eyes.
Casey smiled and made to move towards the boy then painfully remembered the wood between them. “What’s your name?” she asked, massaging her forehead and still trying to keep her eye to the hole.
The boy stared unblinkingly at Casey’s eye. A moment passed before he said quietly, “Theo.”
“That’s a cool name. I’ve never met a Theo before. Do you like your name?”
The boy named Theo finally blinked but didn’t seem to know what else to say. Casey noticed a roly poly beginning to climb his hand.
“I was about to go on a safari if you want to come,” she offered. The fact that he wasn’t speaking only intrigued her more and she wondered how he might be when confronted with a lion.
Theo took a wild look at the door that led into his house and then back again at Casey. A smile crept over his face and he nodded.
“Great!” Casey jumped back from the fence and began eagerly searching for a way for Theo to come over. There was a loose board that the two of them were able to manipulate enough for him to get through. He squeezed between the planks and fell into the grass. He sat for a moment, taking in the new surroundings. Casey held out her hand to hoist him up. Theo stared at the hand for a small second before grabbing it. Casey pulled him to his feet and then wasted no time in telling of the journey that lay before them.
“There will be lions!” she exclaimed, watching his face for any sign of fear. Instead, the boy’s eyes crinkled as his face broke into a smile.
“I like lions,” he said bravely.
“Good! Don’t forget your ‘noculers and your ray gun, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
The morning had faded into noon and a sharp voice was ringing over the jungle, calling for the Adventurer Theo to return home.
“I gotta go,” he said to Casey, handing her the slingshot that had defeated the polar bear. “See you later!” And he dashed off to the fence with the hole in the one board.
Casey sat down in the grass, staring at where her new friend had disappeared. A rumble from her stomach reminded her of the cookies she had left at her picnic. She hoped her friends hadn’t eaten them while she was gone. But the cookies were there all by themselves, it was her friends that had gone.
She gathered the cookies and decided to go in for more lemonade. Not a thought was spent on when they would return. She was already dreaming up the next adventure for her and her new friend, Theo the Eye.
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