"Hmmm... AHA! Wait! - Nope."
"Toby? What are you doing up there?
"Uuuuuh..playing video games?"
"Oh. Okay!"
Toby was so not playing video games. He was rummaging through his sister's things while she was downstairs doing college homework. And what was he looking for? He didn't know yet, but a few days ago he saw her hide something suspicious in her room, in here...but what? All he knew was that the mysterious object was red and possibly square.
After another few minutes of careful rummaging, he sat on his heels and pouted; it was a natural thing to do since he was only eight years old. Something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. It was a red something.
Toby crawled over to Sarah's makeup table and pulled the red thing out of its position, then studied it very closely. Was this it? He thought so, but why would she hide a book? He pushed himself up and walked into his own room, opening the book and flipping through the yellowed pages to see if there was any handwriting in it, and there was, inside the back cover. It said, as far as he could tell, "To my dearest Sarah, from a close friend." Hm. Toby didn't think Sarah had any close friends.
The little boy turned to a random page and read a few lines. One stood out to him in particular: "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. Right now." Where had he heard that before?
He read the next few paragraphs about the king of the goblins appearing and and the child vanishing. The description of the king and his armies sounded kind of cool to Toby, so he decided he would hide the book under his bed until he learned a little more about how to read. Without really thinking, he whispered, "I wish I could see the goblin king. Then we could play war and Sarah could bring us snacks." Little did the boy know that he had just summoned an excessively peculiar guest.
"Toby! Do you want to come to the store with me?" Sarah called from downstairs.
Toby whipped the book under his bed and sprung up to get his jacket. "I'm coming!" he replied.
Sarah said it would be better for them to walk to the store since it wasn't that far away; it would save her some gas money to go towards her last payment of college tuition. Toby didn't mind walking although it was a little colder outside than usual.
"Looks like it's going to rain," Sarah said, both her and her little brother looking at the ominous sky, which was now covered with thick grey clouds. "Oh, well. I think we'll have at least a few more hours until it starts." They moved in silence again, Toby gripping his sister's hand tighter than before.
He skimmed the worn sidewalk as he went, purposely avoiding cracks with his feet and stopping to pick up empty walnut shells that the squirrels had dropped.
Sarah smiled. How could she ever think he was annoying? It wasn't his fault. Babies cry and younger brothers naturally mess with their older siblings. She had only been too naive herself to realize it.
Finally, the two of them approached the entrance to the grocery store and went in, Sarah quickly grabbing a newspaper from the rack next to the transparent double-doors. They walked down aisle after aisle in search of items requested by Karen and something suitable to eat for dinner.
Toby got tired of watching Sarah exam everything she picked up with great determination and turned to look at the other people in the dry-goods section. They always smiled at him as they pushed their carts past, and he smiled back, but that was only because he was pretending they had facial-hair. Once, he giggled out loud and Sarah gave him a suspicious look.
At the checkout while Sarah was placing all the items on the conveyor, Toby looked longingly at the candy shelves next to them and mumbled, "I wish I could have a Snickers."
Sarah turned around and asked him, "Do you want some candy?"
That caught Toby off gaurd, but he still nodded his head vigorously and snatched the candy bar off the shelf, then handed it to his sister who smiled and put it on top of the Macaroni and Cheese boxes.
On the way back, Sarah carried the four heavier bags of groceries, and Toby carried two.
The clouds were somewhat darker than they had previously been, and a slight breeze arose and rustled the plastic grocery bags.
Toby was sure there was something beating its wings right in his ears, but whenever he turned to see, there was nothing there. "Sarah, do birds fly around right before it rains?"
"I don't think so, unless they're heading for cover."
"Oh. Okay."
"Why?" she said, holding out an arm to remind her younger brother to stop and look both ways before crossing the street.
"It sounds like something is flapping in my ears."
She glanced at him for a moment and concluded, "It's probably just your hair. That reminds me, I should take you in to get a haircut."
He sighed. "If I knew that was where this conversation was going, I wouldn't have said anything."
She laughed.
Some minutes later, the two of them were nearing the house. Again, Toby heard the flapping. He shifted towards it just quick enough to catch sight of a white owl land in the leafy tree in the front yard. He stood still and watched a moment before he was snapped awake by Sarah.
"Toby! Come on!"
The eight-year-old staggered across the street with his load. When they got inside, he dropped his groceries on the welcome mat and she set hers down on the island in the kitchen.
"Sarah, can we play catch?"
Sarah came back into the entry way with an expression of astonishment on her face. "Right now?"
"Please?" He did his best to make convincing puppy-dog eyes.
She smirked. "I will if you share half your candy bar with me."
"Deal!" he shouted. But his intention wasn't aimed towards a game of catch, however. All he wanted to do was get a glimpse of that owl one more time.