Hobbes was just an ordinary toy. He could not speak, or move, or have any idea what was happening around him. He was on display at a dollar store. Calvin's parents bought him for Calvin's first birthday.
He never did anything, and Calvin loved him just the way he was.
But five years later, Calvin had completely forgotten about the stuffed toy. It had been sitting in a box in the attic for almost a year. Calvin was too old to play with it anymore.
Then, one day, Calvin made a tiger trap. He had seen a bear trap on TV and wanted to make one for a tiger. He used a tuna sandwich as bait. Calvin's dad got Hobbes out of the attic and put him in the trap to make Calvin happy. Calvin's dad ate the sandwich himself. Now that Calvin wasn't four years old anymore, his imagination was much more active and he no longer saw Hobbes as a stuffed toy but as a living creature. He befriended Hobbes for real that day.
Hobbes wasn't afraid of humans, but he did seem to think he was superior to them. Calvin knew plenty of people who didn't see Hobbes the way he did— they saw him as simply a stuffed toy. Calvin didn't seem to be aware of how others saw Hobbes, and neither did Hobbes. And others didn't seem to be aware of how Calvin saw Hobbes. Only the most imaginative little boy on earth could look at Hobbes and see only Hobbes, exactly how he is.
Then one day, Calvin saw a shooting star. He closed his eyes and made a wish— he wished that he wouldn't grow up for a long, long time.