Wee!

I thought as my girl twirled me around, I was her Teddy, and she was my kid, we did everything together. Right now we were on a picnic with her family, and afterward, we would likely just be laying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and remembering the day. Just as I was remembering it, my girl decided to sit down and eat an apple, putting me beside her. We sat there for a while, until her mom called her. She quickly ran over, leaving me behind

She’ll be back

the words drifted through my mind, while smiling to myself, or at least so I thought, but a couple minutes later I heard something.

It was the car, and my kid was in it, driving away with the windows down.

The sound faded.

First the engine.

Then the voices.

Then even the laughter.

Until there was only the wind.

I waited.

She’d forgotten me before. Once she’d left me in the living room while she brushed her teeth. Another time I’d spent almost an hour under the couch before she found me.

She always came back.

So I waited.

The sun climbed higher. Ants marched past my paw like they had important places to be. A butterfly landed on the blanket beside me before floating away again.

She’ll remember.

I looked toward the road every time a car passed.

None of them stopped.

The shadows grew longer.

A breeze tugged at one of my ears.

She must be looking everywhere by now.

I imagined her opening her bedroom door.

“Teddy?”

Checking under the blankets.

Looking in the toy box even though she knew I wasn’t there.

Running downstairs.

“Mama, where’s Teddy?”

I smiled to myself.

She’d find me.

She always did.

Hours passed.

The park slowly emptied.

Families folded blankets. Children carried sticky hands and sleepy smiles back to their cars.

One little boy noticed me.

“Oh! A bear!”

He ran toward me.

For one wonderful second, I thought—

There you are!

—but a woman caught his hand before he reached me.

“Leave it, sweetheart,” she said gently. “It belongs to someone.”

They walked away.

She was right.

I did belong to someone.

The sky turned orange.

Then pink.

Then deep blue.

The picnic field, so full of voices that morning, became quiet.

Very quiet.

I had never been outside at night before.

The crickets were loud.

The wind felt colder.

Everything looked different in the dark.

I wished my girl were holding me.

She always held me when she was scared.

I wondered…

…was she scared now?

A tiny thought crept into my stuffing.

What if…

No.

She promised we’d spend today together.

Promises don’t just disappear.

So I waited.

When the stars came out, I picked the brightest one.

If she can see it too,

then we’re looking at the same thing.

That made me feel a little less alone.

Somewhere, I knew, my girl was looking for me.

She had to be.

She loved me.

…Didn’t she?