After the short but sweet reunion with his imaginary best friend, Toby had devoured three pancakes before running out of the house again. However, this time he was not alone.
Yesterday, Toby had promised Casimir to go visit the address where he had last seen Henry all those years ago, to see if he could find any leads that would help him figure out where the boy, well, where the man was. He still had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that the Henry he had learned so much about over the last few days, would not be the 13-year-old boy everybody remembered him as, but rather a grown, 33-year-old man.
“What am I even going to tell him if I do find him?” Toby wondered. “Why would he possibly want to listen to a 13-year-old boy that wants to tell him about ghosts and imaginary friends?”
“We will figure that out once we find him, so calm down,” Eleanor said, which made Toby feel much better.
An hour and a half of public transport and walking later, Toby stood in front of the address Casimir had given him. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door three times. “Okay, nobody’s there, let’s go home,” he said to Eleanor after his fingers had barely left the wood a few seconds ago.
“Tobias Maximo” – Eleanor gave Toby a strict look – “you are a lot of things, but a coward has never been one of them.” Just as she had spoken those words, the door in front of them opened slowly, and loud noises escaped outside. A blonde woman stood there, however, with her back turned towards them, as she tried to stop a dog from squeezing through her legs. She finally managed to close the door behind her and stepped outside.
“I’m so sorry, Ron is crazy sometimes. The dog, Ron’s the dog.” she said, laughing. “Anyway, how can I help you sweetheart? Are you a friend of Amelia’s?” she asked Toby.
He took one last, deep breath and then responded, “No, actually I am looking for someone named Henry Moore. Does he still live here?”
“He does not live here anymore,” the woman responded, and Toby’s chest tightened. “He does work here though.”
An hour later, Toby and Henry sat on a bench in the park, silent. Eleanor was there, too, of course, but Henry didn’t know that yet. “This might be a bit awkward,” Toby started the conversation. “But does the name Casimir mean anything to you?” he asked the bearded man next to him.
“It does,” Henry replied, eying Toby suspiciously, “Why are you asking me that? Who are you?”
“It is kind of a long story,” Toby said, and proceeded to fill Henry in on the events of the past 48 hours. About halfway through the story, tears started to fall down Henry’s face and it was at that moment that he started to notice Eleanor.
After Toby finished filling Henry in on the reason for his visit, the three of them set off for Willowcreek.
© Marie-Christine Castelazo Hidalgo 2022-08-31