The Night We Met Ted

“Lily, are you sleeping?” my younger sister Iris whispered anxiously. I pulled my blanket over my head, trying to ignore her because I just wanted to sleep, but she started throwing her teddy bears at my bed. “Lily?” she called, her voice more urgent.

“What now?” I snapped, turning around to face her, expecting some of her ridiculous questions again, such as how to tell if a fish cries, whether a venomous snake can poison itself by biting its tongue, or how mermaids use a bathroom. She asked me all of that earlier today.

Even though it was in the middle of the night, I could see her curled up in bed, hiding under her blanket and shaking a little.

“Have you heard that sound?” She looked out from under her blanket, scanning the room nervously.

“What sound?” I asked, a little confused, because I hadn’t heard anything suspicious at all.

“Like something scratched its nails on the wood.” She scratched the bed frame to mimic the sound. “Like this.”

“It’s probably nothing. Just go back to sleep,” I reassured her, but she just shook her head.

“I think something is in the closet.” She pointed at the closet in the corner of our room, refusing to let this go that easily.

“Fine,” I sighed, setting my blanket aside and turning on my bedside lamp. “I’ll check the closet, and you’ll go back to sleep. Deal?”

Iris nodded and sat on her bed, watching me carefully as I walked toward the closet.

I was reaching for the handle, but then I paused and knocked on the closet first.

“Hello, who’s there?” I asked, amused, but Iris didn’t seem to appreciate the joke because she was frowning at me.

I sighed and dramatically flung open the closet. To my surprise, something fell out of the closet right in front of my feet. Iris squealed a little, putting the blanket over her head again.

I looked at the weird thing in front of me. It looked like a big orange ball, but it was covered in long fur. I was about to pick it up when it moved. I took a few steps back and watched it curiously.

“Ouch, that hurt.” Two legs and two arms popped out of the ball, and the ball stood up. It looked at me with its three eyes, two normal eyes and one in the middle of its forehead. A small antenna was above this eye. Its two noses, currently slightly scraped, caught my attention.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said apologetically. “But who are you?”

“My name is Ted,” he said plainly, watching me suspiciously.

“I’m Lily, nice to meet you.” I reached for his hand to give him a handshake, but he took a few steps back.

“And the scaredy-cat over there is my younger sister, Iris.” I pointed at Iris, who peeked out from her blanket.

“I’m not a scaredy-cat!” She set her blanket aside and moved to the edge of the bed to watch Ted more closely.

“You look like one of the monsters from Monsters, Inc. Are you here to scare us?” she asked curiously.

“No, why would I do that?” He shook his head. “I’m looking for my baby brother, Sam. We were on our way to visit our aunt when he disappeared. He does that all the time; he’s easily distracted and curious about everything.” He sighed sadly.

“He was definitely here, in your room; I could sense it with my antenna, so I sneaked through the open window.” He pointed at the window, then continued, “But then I found out you weren’t asleep, so I hid in the closet so I wouldn't run into you. I don’t like people very much,” he explained, shrugging.

“Why don’t you like people?” I asked, a little confused.

“Because I lost my parents because of them, and they are usually pretty mean.” He looked at me side-eye, rubbing his two scraped noses.

“That’s so sad,” Iris said with compassion. Then she hopped off the bed. “We’ll help you find your brother.”

“Will we?” I looked at her in disbelief because all I wanted was just to go back to sleep.

“I don’t need your help. I’ll find him myself,” Ted refused. Iris walked toward him, then shook her head.

“We’ll help.” She grabbed his hand enthusiastically. Ted was probably surprised by the sudden movement, so he didn’t pull away, letting her hold his hand. He just frowned at her.

“If you want, you can take my sister instead of your brother. It would be nice to have a room just for myself. No one would ask me silly questions, and I could sleep whenever I wanted,” I offered, but both looked at me, horrified by my words.

“That’s mean.” Iris turned her back on me, offended.

“Fine, we can help him,” I said with a sigh. Iris smiled broadly and ran toward the door.

“Not by the door!” I stopped her and turned her to face the window. “This way. And quietly. We don’t want to wake Mom and Dad.”

Iris nodded, and she made a gesture to zip her mouth.

Sneaking out first was a good decision because I could easily catch Iris, who tripped on the window frame.

“You’re probably too young to sneak up from the window,” I whispered to her, smiling in amusement.

“I’m only eight years younger than you; it’s not a big difference!” she whispered back as I helped her to her feet. Ted jumped through the window with ease, landing gracefully beside us. He scanned the surroundings, moving his antenna in different directions.

“This way.” He pointed to the right toward the kids' playground and started walking. We followed him quietly to the playground, but it looked completely empty.

“Maybe he’s hiding in one of the playhouses,” she suggested, pointing to the big jungle gym with playhouses and a slide. “We should check it!” She grabbed Ted by the arm and ran toward the jungle gym. Ted frowned but didn’t protest, letting her drag him across the playground.

Iris and Ted climbed up and started searching the playhouses. I stayed on the ground, watching partly the surroundings and partly looking for Iris to make sure she didn't get hurt. She probably spent more time playing than actually searching, and she made Ted play with her. To my surprise, I heard Ted laugh several times.

“Sam’s not here,” Iris called to me as she slid down the slide, Ted right behind her.

When they were both on the ground, Iris turned to Ted with an intriguing smile. “Why do you have two noses?” she asked, and I felt relieved that I wasn’t the only one being asked silly questions.

Ted didn’t look confused by the question; he simply shrugged. “Why do you have only one?” he asked, and they both burst into giggles without saying anything more.

I was searching the nearby bushes when I noticed strange footprints in the muddy puddle behind one of them. From that puddle, I saw a trail of muddy footprints leading across the street. 

“I think he went there,” I called to Iris and Ted, pointing at the footprints. They ran toward me, and we began following Sam’s footprints.

The footprints slowly faded, then stopped completely in front of a toy shop. Iris stopped and put both hands on the shop’s window, watching the toys in amazement. Ted and I looked around, but we couldn't find Sam anywhere.

“He was definitely here too,” I said with a laugh, pointing at the two small, oddly shaped handprints right next to Iris’s hands.

“Can we buy the plush unicorn over there?” Iris asked enthusiastically, still glued to the shop window.

“Of course not; it’s closed,” I said, moving her away from the window. She was about to protest, but then she noticed Ted moving his antenna to find the right direction.

“I want this antenna, too. Playing hide-and-seek would be amazing with it.” She put her arm on her head and mimicked the antenna’s movements, giggling.

“That would be cheating, and you would look weird,” I said, but she didn’t listen, searching for the right direction with Ted.

“This way.” Ted led us through the small park and past more shops, then suddenly stopped, unsure of where to go next.

“He is probably somewhere around here,” he said, scanning the surroundings. Iris and I started looking around too, but the street was completely empty.

“He’s over there,” Iris called, pointing to the bakery’s shop window. We looked in that direction and found him curled up near the half-eaten cake, sleeping peacefully. He was so tiny compared with Ted.

“How did he get there?” I asked, confused, looking for a way in. Iris pointed to an ajar door. “They probably forgot to lock it.”

Ted sighed and walked in. He dug into his long fur and pulled out some money. He set it on the shop counter, then carefully took his sleeping brother in one arm and the half-eaten cake in the other.

“You can have the rest of the cake,” he said when he returned to us, offering it to us. We thanked him and started eating it.

“We have to go now; our aunt must be worried about us.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “Thank you for your help; you people aren’t that bad after all.” He smiled at us, then extended his arm toward me, as if to shake my hand. I smiled back and took his hand. Then he reached out toward Iris, but she hugged him instead.

“Will you visit us again?” she asked, and he nodded. “We can play on the playground together; Sam would love that, too.”

We said our goodbyes, and then Ted walked away.

“We should go home, too,” I said to Iris, and she nodded, yawning. Seeing how tired she was, I took her into my arms and started walking home.

“If you had two noses, how would you blow them?” Iris asked, concerned, but then fell asleep before I could answer. I just started laughing.