Julie has been partial to Buddy since the first day Tim brought him into Happy Kids. It was obvious from the start that Buddy was one hundred percent heart. She watches him interact with his screen, the epicenter of his world. He was more connected than was apparent, the screen was the buffer zone and the comfort zone.

Since Buddy’s first day at Happy Kids, his first official day away from his dad, he had been partial to Julie. It wasn’t that Buddy refused to communicate. He just had his own way of doing it.

With Buddy, it was about allowing himself to be seen. In fact many of the other children at Happy Kids knew this about Buddy. Therefore they often shunned him. This did not concern Buddy in the least.

The Frog

Once, Julie had asked two of the children, close in age with Buddy to play with Buddy. They told her that Buddy told them he was not playing with anyone that day. She had balked knowing that Buddy never spoke to anyone. However the children had been adamant with their story. They insisted that Buddy had shouted his declaration to all the kids.

She would have dismissed this as the imaginings of children, except for later that same day she had asked another child, Amanda, if she thought Buddy would like to have a friend to play with instead of sitting alone.

Amanda was the oldest of the children at Happy Kids. She had replied to Julie that Buddy made it clear to all the other kids that he did not want to play.

Furthermore, she said that Buddy was not unhappy when he had told the other children he didn’t want to play. Amanda believed Buddy was hiding. Julie had been speechless. This had been the last thing she had expected.

She still hadn’t spoken with Buddy’s dad, Tim, about her discoveries. She knew their situation was not the best and had wanted to be sure of her thoughts before mentioning it to Tim. In fact, that had been her plan this morning. She had been confident that today was a good day to begin. And then she saw the lady, and she had bolted from the daycare center.

The Wolf

She cuts off the thought there. She refuses to believe that she had seen anything this morning. An involuntary shudder makes its way up her spine, as their breakfast entrees arrive. Buddy is obviously excited for the eggs and he begins eating his before their server even releases the plate. Tim smiles at Buddy’s eagerness.

He is relieved that Julie is more relaxed now and he is glad. He begins his own breakfast not realizing how hungry he had become. For a few moments all is quiet while they enjoy a good meal. Buddy has almost finished his eggs and happily takes the last bite. As Julie eases away from the table and stands.

Julie says she is going to the restroom to freshen up. Buddy looks at Julie with a look of pure devotion and says, “the see through lady is waiting in the restroom for Julie”, then goes back to his plate.

^{The turtle, the wolf and the frog}