When I was in Mississauga a little while ago we were having coffee at a Chapters and imaginary friends came up. This story popped into my head a little while later. I never had an imaginary friend as a kid, but I always though I'd have liked to have a twin :P

After this: the Final Four!

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Wendy

1.

A woman stands in the grass watching children scramble around on the large play structure on Sherburn Street. She can easily pick out her little girl; she's wearing a pink zip-up hoodie of an expensive brand. The trees in the little park have mostly turned to their autumn colours: yellows and oranges, the occasional red. The ground is littered with brown and crumbling leaves. It's late in November and uncharacteristically warm, which is why her daughter had insisted she take her to the park today.

"Alison," she calls as her daughter climbs a ladder to a platform almost three metres off the ground, "try to be careful up there."

Alison waves to her mother. She's not wearing her mittens, but they're dangling out of her sleeves, connected by a string.

The play structure is dead in the centre of the park, in a section framed by painted logs and filled with sand. Most of the other parents sit on the logs as they watch their children; Alison's mother stands on the sidewalk sipping coffee from a paper cup. She didn't want to walk across the grass in her heels.

Alison is sitting on the edge of the platform, her feet dangling. She's talking; her mother can see her mouth moving. She pantomimes adjusting the toque of someone sitting beside her.

The woman rolls her eyes. She's been trying to disabuse Alison of talking to Wendy, her imaginary friend. Alison is in grade two now, and far too old for that kind of nonsense.

"Alison, it's time to go home. You've played long enough."

Alison leans over toward her imaginary friend and covers her mouth with her hand, whispering.

"Alison!"

She stands up, walks over to the ladder and climbs slowly down to the ground, taking care with each step. When she's on the ground she runs over to her mother, who's already walking down the sidewalk home.

When Alison catches up, she takes her mother's hand in hers.

"Wendy wanted me to stay and play more. We were going to swing for a while and she was going to teach me some songs."

"I wish you'd stop with that nonsense. If you're still talking to imaginary friends when you're older, they're going to lock you up. Send you to a school for special children and your father and I can't afford that."

Alison doesn't say anything. She has to almost jog to see up with her mother.

"You should spend more time talking to the other children."

"They're boring compared to Wendy. She knows how to fly airplanes."

"I'm sure she does. But she's also not real."

"Can Wendy come over for supper?"

"No."

She made the mistake of indulging Alison once, and set a place for Wendy. Alison had thrown a tantrum when after dinner her mother dumped the contents of Alison's plate into the trash.

2.

Wendy sits on the platform and waves until Alison disappears from view. She pulls the toque off and rubs her head. She had no idea toques were so itchy. But then again, it had never occurred to her to wear one until Alison had warned her that it was getting cold. And it was Alison also who warned her how itchy toques are.

"She's going to leave you."

Wendy turns to see Thomas standing on the other side of the platform. He's throwing imaginary rocks at imaginary squirrels, who scramble up trees and scold him.

"What are you talking about?"

"It happens to all of us," he says, a sneer on his face. "They get older and decide they like talking to real people better. You'll see. She'll stop coming around so often and start ignoring you when she does."

Wendy pulls the toque back on.

"Alison wouldn't do that. She loves me."

"For now."

"Alison would have invited me home for supper if her mother would have allowed it."

Thomas snorts. "You can't even eat food. You don't have a stomach. Even if you could pick it up with your imaginary hands and put it in your imaginary mouth, it would just fall straight through you."

"I like the smell of it." She closes her eyes and remembers the time Alison had her over for supper. "All of the meal sounds. Knives clattering on plates. The tinkle of ice in the jug of water."

"Enjoy it while it lasts, kid."

Wendy looks at Thomas.

"What happens when one of us gets abandoned?"

She doesn't believe it will happen to her, but Thomas has been around longer than she has and knows more.

"Nothing. You'll just hang out in this park. Eventually you'll turn into a ghost and start to haunt the place."

"Alison wouldn't do that to me."

"Suit yourself."

He throws another rock at the squirrels who continue chattering.

"Goddamn squirrels. I wish they'd leave me alone."

"Do you - were you abandoned, left behind, by your child?"

"We used to throw rocks at squirrels for hours. I used to go with his family to the beach in the summers and he taught me how to skip rocks."

Wendy shivers and crosses her arms over her chest.

"How long ago?"

"Dunno. Scotty never taught me to tell time."

"Alison is different. She made me."

"We were all made by someone."

3.

Alison and Wendy walk towards Alison's school holding holds.

"So what you do there?" Wendy asks.

"We learn things. Sometimes we play games."

"What kind of things?"

"Well, math for one thing. We're studying our times tables. It's like adding, but more."

They can see the school now and the playground beside it, but Alison doesn't go straight there. The two of them like to walk in a loop around the sidewalks of the streets that box the school.

When they finish their circuit, they stand watch the other kids. A group of them around Alison's age is chasing each other around.

"They're playing tag," Alison explains, "I'm good at it because I'm small and I can run faster than most of them."

Alison watches them, and Wendy watches her.

"Are you going to go play?"

"Maybe just a little before the bell rings. Mom wants me to play with the other kids more."

"I'll wait for you until after school and walk you home."

"Great!"

Alison starts to cross the street.

"Alison!"

"Yes?"

"We'll always be friends, right?"

"Of course. I'll see you after school."

Alison waves at Wendy and dashes over to the playground and joins the other kids.

Wendy stands there through the day. At recess she waves to Alison who waves back.

6 responses to "Week #39 - Wendy "

Anonymous Reader wrote: Tuesday, 07 Oct 2008 17:38 Aww, this was cute in a very forlorn kind of way. I liked it.

Sheeple wrote: Tuesday, 07 Oct 2008 18:48 I liked it. Although, I think you forget your imaginary friend.....

Kim wrote: Wednesday, 08 Oct 2008 18:31 I definitely liked the opportunity to read Wendy's perspective. It piqued my interest and kept me reading. Thomas was a great add-in. This one worked well.

Kim wrote: Wednesday, 08 Oct 2008 18:32 Where did my comment go???

Dana wrote: Wednesday, 08 Oct 2008 18:34 Hey Kim, I've been getting tons of spam comments on the site the past few months. Like, 500+ comments per day so the filter is set pretty aggressively. But your comments are back and tonight I'll implement a 'white list' so my friends' comments automatically get approved. Dana

Victoria wrote: Monday, 29 Dec 2008 21:13 I really like this one, Dana.

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I've been getting a lot of spam comments lately so my filter is pretty aggressive. If your comment doesn't show up, it's probably just been quarantined. I'll authorize it posthaste :)