I wondered if the vest was some kind of alien protective gear, like a space suit that helped it process our air and water. Or maybe the truth is hard to see.” It pulled some dirt out of its pocket and tossed it into its mouth like trail mix. “Time, being as it is less forward than humans take it to be, means distance is less far than humans take it to be.” “In a way, in a way.” Its arms rippled down its sides. I could not have evolved from a bi-pedal, warm-blooded article such as yourself.” It sniffed and took a scrap of cloth out of a pocket and blotted at what I thought might be its nose. It blinked several of the eyes on the ends of the tendrils. “You’re a time traveler? That is so cool! Wait, are you what humans will look like in the future?” “You think that about time as well, no doubt.” Distance moves through space.” I knew that at least. Far in space, right around the corner in distance.” Three of the balloon-shaped sections in its middle filled up and then expelled air. “Exactly!” it said, the way you say, ‘who’s a good boy?’ to a puppy. “How can that be? That’s like opposites at the same time.” “There wasn’t hay here then and anyway, I’m not eating it. When I was…” it held up some of the hands in its middle section to indicate how tall it had been. I liked the idea of putting myself in a pocket, but that wasn’t the important thing. I figured it meant ‘dresses’ but didn’t bother to correct it. “Yeeksi! Last time I visited, girls put themselves into big pockets with the bottoms cut out.” “How can you fix it? You’ve, like, trompled paths all over half an acre. I wasn’t all that surprised when it spoke since it was wearing the vest thing, and animals in clothes usually talk in books. We had a little staring contest while the sun beat down between us and some crows scolded us for being in their territory.įinally, it started talking from a mouth on the top of its head. It reared back, hands patting its pockets as if it thought I was going to steal from it. But it didn’t spit acid at me or make any threatening movements, so I decided to try to negotiate, which I figured is what a big kid might do. It squeaked out, “Yeeksi day!” and slapped a couple of its hands on its chest like my great Aunt Jane faking a heart attack. Tendrils sticking out the top zeroed in on my location. It whipped what might have been its head around. I’d guess it was an escapee from a book somebody wrote a long time ago, but that would be crazy. I didn’t see a zipper or an antenna or anything that might explain it. I circled it to see if it was maybe a kid in a costume or some kind of robotic toy. Like when I find a giant caterpillar thing in the hay. I probably should have gone to get dad, but he’s been going on lately about how I “am old enough now to do more work around the farm,” so I can’t go running to him every time anything happens. The caterpillar thing was humming to itself as it worked, kind of a nasal whizzing. Pieces of hay, stones, tiny three-fingered fistfuls of dirt, a bottle cap were whizzing up into, or out of, the pockets. Or putting things in. I couldn’t quite tell because its hands moved super-fast. It was sticking all its different hands into the different pockets and pulling things out. It was a little bigger than me and looked sort of like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland, if the caterpillar wore a velvet vest trimmed with sparkly pockets all down the front. My dad had sent me out to check our upper field for whatever was beating paths in the hay along the border. I know it is completely ridiculous, but right now, I don’t care. My folks can’t afford new frames, or better yet, contacts, so I have to take this chance. But now I’m eleven and they are not even remotely awesome. I’ve been wearing them since I was eight and thought the bright pink frames were awesome. That’s all it’s going to take for me to be able to see without glasses. I am super nearsighted and have to wear these really thick glasses that I hate. A bagful of popcorn kernels, three ripe tomatoes, three wire coat hangers, and six marbles.
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