Chapter 12

Olive wobbled on the kitchen floor, gently touched the counter with the tips of her fingers for support, and gracefully performed a plié for Pato.  Well, at least she hoped it was graceful.  Pato smiled supportively and clapped, but she could tell she hadn’t performed well.

“keep your rear tucked under and your chest up.  Pretend that your ribs are a birdcage.  If you stick your bottom out too far or you lean too far back, you’ll let it go.  If you slouch, you’ll crush it.” Pato advised matter-of-factly.

Olive just stared at him.  He could be really creepy.

“What do you think my brother’s doing in there, Pato.” Olive gestured towards her brother’s bedroom door.

“Probably trying to invent some miracle potion that will bring Suri to life.”

“He’s so dumb.” Olive rolled her eyes and practiced another plié.

“Better!  Just keep looking forward.  When you look at your feet it throws you off balance!” Pato smiled.

“Do you think he can do it?” Olive asked tentatively.

“I don’t know.”  Pato shrugged his shoulders.  “I know it’s possible, but I don’t know if a chemist of his skill level will be able to do it.”

A clatter in Turner’s room made them both jump.

“We should just… go play tag.” Olive suggested inching her way towards to door.  “I don’t want to be in here when he burns the house down.”

Several hours later, the doorbell rang, and the contractors bustled through the door.

Turner let them in.  The men chuckled at Turner's singed appearance resulting from another failed attempt at discovering the potion that would bring Suri to life.  He clenched his jaw, and closed the door behind them.

After a quick shower, Turner hit the books looking for clues about making Suri real.  It seemed like the older she got, the weirder it was.  The two sat in silence while Turner studied.  He almost just wanted to tell her to go away.

“I’ll leave if you want me to,” Suri whimpered.  It was as if she’d read his mind.

He glanced up for a split second before turning back to his studies.  In frustration, he threw the book down.

“If I wanted you to leave would I be trying this hard?  Would I be spending all my spare time on logic when I really want to play guitar?” Turner yelled. 

Suri just stared at him blankly before returning to her toy form.  That was it.  Turner was done.  After grabbing some money from his mother’s

He was the youngest one in the bar, but he looked old enough to get in without question.  He pulled out the money he had taken from his mother and bought a group serving of onion rings.  The first plate was gone in seconds.  As he wiped the grease from his hands, he took a good look around.

He was having a really great time.  The people watching was spectacular, and the onion rings were delicious.  Turner cocked his head to the side.  Was that woman with glowing eyes staring at him?  He almost said something to her until she disappeared upstairs.

Back at the house, Olive was eating in their newly remodeled kitchen.  She could hear Pato consoling Suri in the other room, but since Suri wasn’t her imaginary friend, Olive had no idea what Suri was saying.  The leftover spaghetti was delicious, but she was lonely.  Olive had no idea where Turner had ran off too, and frankly, she was worried about him especially since Suri seemed so distressed.

Eventually, Pato entered the kitchen and sat opposite Olive.

“So, is Suri okay?” Olive licked the spaghetti sauce off of her fingers.

“She is as good as can be expected,” Pato shrugged.  “She thinks your brother is getting ready to tell her to go away.”

“So?” Olive replied.  She was really annoyed at all of the melodrama lately.

“Olive, you don’t get it.” Pato sighed. “As imaginary friends, our life cycles constantly restart until someone makes us real.  Suri is… in love with your brother.”

Olive stared blankly at Pato.  This was a lot of information to digest.

“So, how many children have you been friends with?”

“Hundreds… Can we go play outside?  I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Pato stood up and took Olive’s plate to the sink.

“Pato?”

“Yes, Olive?”

“She’s in love with Turner?”

“I’m afraid so.  It’s a terrible thing to happen especially since the odds of an imaginary friend becoming real are pretty close to one in a million.”

Olive grabbed Pato’s hand and dragged him to the seesaw.

The two laughed and giggled until it was too dark to be outside anymore.  When Olive fell asleep, Pato tucked her in before he turned into his toy form.

Meanwhile, at the Watering Hole, Turner confronted the lady with the glowing eyes.  To break the ice, he figured he’d offer her a serving of his onion rings.

“Excuse me, have we met?"

“I don't believe so," Hailey shrugged.

“Well, you can still have the onion rings,” Turner smiled sheepishly, “I don’t need anymore.”

“No thanks,” Hailey waved him off, and started to turn away from him, but then she changed her mind

“You wouldn’t happen be related to Gussie, would you?”

Turner nodded proudly, “that’s my dad!”

“Say, would you like me to buy you a drink?”

Turner nodded, and Hailey led him to the bar.