Emma

Emma's Tea Party

Emma is now 7, and with that age comes an active imagination, quite unlike anything her parents would be able to understand.  With that imagination comes new unexpected invisible friends, long conversations with stuffed animals, and pretending that the dog is interested in fashion thus allowing you to dress it up.  So in this chapter, join Emma's Tea Party.

Emma had been told that her first grade would be easy, and after preschool and kindergarten she believed it.  But when she got to first grade, she started to take in the atmosphere, with bigger classes, and more noise in each hallway and classroom.  It was so much bigger than she thought, but none of the kids that talked to her in preschool wanted to talk to her anymore.  It seemed that growing up wasn't all it was really cracked up to be.

She kept positive though, she continued to do what any normal 7 year old would do.  She would go out in the playground and try to make friends every day.  She sat patiently on the swing-set, hoping for someone to come by push her or maybe she just wanted someone to have adventures with.  She wanted someone like her dog to come along, someone who was funny, loyal, and good at doing whatever she wanted to do.

If she wanted to play basketball later, she hoped that this new friend would suck at it so she could win.  If this new friend was interested in drawing on the blacktop, this friend should at least draw something less stunning.  She hoped she could find that kind of friend someday.  The sort of friend that was right there and always made her life easier.  However, today was not that day.  Today was the day to rock back and forth on the swing, eyeing her toes with fury.

She wanted to bring Buddy to school.  Other people had been showing their pets around in school, some people brought their cats in to say hi, and show off.  As Emma sat patiently thinking about the random events of day to day school life, a little boy about her height showed up and sat down next to her on the swing.  He didn't say anything, and he didn't even kick around to get moving, he just sat there for a little while.  

Emma reached out her hand, born with the confidence of her father she introduced herself as a friend, "Hi, I'm Emma."

He didn't say anything.  He got up and walked off.  It seemed like another day without gaining any new friends.  She didn't have friends to begin with.  After recess they went inside and it was reading day in Ms. Poe's class.  Emma sat in the back of the room as always, reading a book in the corner.  This time she couldn't find a really interesting new book, so she picked up an old favorite.  

As she sat there, she heard a faint voice next to her; a boy's voice.  It started reading the pages as Emma did, and when they got to reading together it was spectacular.  She asked if he had a name, and he said he didn't.  Emma thought to herself, 'that's so weird'.  She concluded that he must have been sent to be her friend.  

"Well I'm gonna call you Teddy!"  Emma exclaimed as they merrily walked out the door at the end of the day.

Emma waited outside the school patiently, talking to Teddy for what seemed like hours before her mom and dad came to pick her up.  Marie charged for her baby girl and picked her up.  Marie held Emma in her arms for a bit and started carrying her to the car over her shoulder, "Well, it's time to pack you up."

Emma flopped around and repeatedly tapped Marie in the back with her small fists.  "Put me down!  Put me down!"

Marie set her down on her own two feet, and Emma put on a face of authority once she made it to a safe landing.  She pointed behind her and said, "Can my friend come over to play?"  

Marie looked behind Emma, and there was nobody there.  For a minute Marie was dumbfounded.  She had never seen such a display of insanity come from someone of that age.  She turned to look for this friend and politely replied, "Sweetie did your friend run off?"

Emma turned around and pointed at the same space again, "No!  He's right here!"

Carter watched Marie from the car, and heard every word his daughter was spouting.  Marie was trying to make sense of it and Carter already had.  He walked over to Emma and replied, "Sure Emma, he can stay the night two if he wants, we'll just have to call his parents."

Emma did laps around the sidewalk tile for a few seconds before hugging Carter and yelling, "You're the best daddy ever!"

She reached out into thin air and grabbed her friend by the hand.  When they got in the car they shut the door.  Marie and Carter waited outside having a short talk.

"Does she realize there's nobody there?"  Marie asked.

"She probably doesn't, but I wouldn't worry too much about it," Carter continued, "I think everyone had imaginary friends once.  You write comic books and all kinds of stuff, so in a way you still have imaginary friends two."

Marie watched her daughter in the car, she was so busy carrying on a conversation with someone that wasn't there, that she didn't even notice the talk her parents were having outside of the car. 

When they got home later, Emma ran outside and proclaimed to Teddy, "This is my dog, his name is Buddy.  He's an adventurer!"  She ran over to the sandbox and proudly announced, "This is the windy Sahara!  I've walked miles across them!"

She ran inside the house and ran back to her room.  Marie and Carter were almost started with dinner when she came running into the kitchen.  She grabbed both of her parents by the hand and yelled, "Come on!  Snuggles, Teddy, Ms. Blossom and Buddy are at my tea party, and you're keeping them waiting!"

Marie sat down at the first available pink chair, and Carter sat down at his.  Emma had already gathered her tea set and her special custom table.  She had dressed Buddy in a tiara, and a bright pink boa.  While he laid down on the floor, she gave him water in a tea cup and gave her parents Hawaiian Punch in their glasses.  

She started conversations with her stuffed bear and conversations with an empty chair that was clearly reserved for Teddy.  Once the tea party got started, she talked with every single doll and asked her parents to speak to them two.  Marie would laugh and carry on conversations with Emma and her imaginary friend Teddy for hours and hours, until 9 o'clock at night.

Emma had fallen asleep by then, and Marie walked out into the living room to do some late night drawing.  Carter had decided to sit next to his wife to see what she was drawing.  When he looked over her shoulder, he saw a frustrated little girl posing with her arms across her chest, her brown hair in pigtails, and her blue eyes narrowed as if she were being fussy.  She had a blue mini-hoodie, a black shirt, a blue skirt, and rainbow leggings to go with her sparkly black shoes.  

"What're you drawing now?"  Carter asked.

Marie began to map out the sidewalk outside the house, the mailbox, the cat, the dog, and her impression of Emma's best friend Teddy.  Marie laughed as she drew these things, thinking to herself, my little girl is just like me.  She carefully drew out the next few pages, and closed the book for the night.  She titled the drawings 'The Adventures of Emma'.  The first little book was Emma's Tea Party.  

Marie figured it would be a good bedtime story for Emma in the future.  If Emma grew up, it would always be in photographs, and definitely in this book, that she was a little kid once with a bright and active imagination.

Emma has an imaginary friend, and please it's not Schizophrenia or PTSD, or any mental disorder (I hear a lot of arguments on this, sorry).  It's just a good old imaginary friend.  Someone to pick you up if you need it, someone to tell you you're amazing if nobody else will, someone to tell you what to do and what not to do if you needed help, and someone who will never leave your side and is always there when you ask.  Emma's not gonna live in a fairy tale for long . . . pretty soon she'll have real friends and real adventures.  

So let's go on forth and see them.