Walter

BELIEVE IT, I CAN SEE

Walter had remained silent, enthralled at the story being told.

"So your mom couldn't see Erle?"

"No, she couldn't. No matter how many times I told her that he was real, she would just say, 'You have such a wild imagination, my little Ben.' After a while, I just stopped trying to prove to her that he was real."

Walter sat quietly, staring at the spot where Erle supposedly sat.

"I see..." Walter tentatively said. "But why could you see Erle, and not your mom?"

The fire had grown somewhat low in the barrel, Ben picked up a piece of wood and threw it in. "Well, the way Erle explained it to me, it's quite simple. Because she didn't believe he existed, she couldn't see him."

"She didn't believe."

"She just didn't believe," replied Ben.

"When I was playing hide and seek, I believed that I would find him, so I did. My mother looked and only saw an empty chair. Not everything can be seen with one's eyes. I saw Erle because my heart truly believed he was there and what my heart knew was true, my eyes saw as well."

An almost inaudible whisper escaped Walters lips, "...believe with my heart."

Ben had heard the whisper. "Yes, ya have to believe with yur heart, truly believe. Because yur eyes don't always show you the truth, at least the whole truth. That's why ya have to look with your heart."

"So if I believe with my heart, my eyes will see what's true?"

"Ya, pretty much."

Walter pondered this thought for a brief time as he watched the barrel and the flickers of light that escaped its wide mouth. "So if I believed Erle was real, would I be able to see him too? Or are you the only one who can see him?"

Ben leaned towards Erle and asked him. "Can he?"

"Do you really have to ask me that?" replied Erle as he sat down and slowly started to shake his head at his friend. "Don't you remember, Tommy?"

Ben looked at his friend as if trying to unravel a ball of memories from his mind. One memory seemed to stand out in his mind, like a loose piece of string poking out of a large ball of yarn that was his mind. He reached in and grabbed hold of this piece of string and pulled on it until the words 'Tommy' could be seen written across it.

"THAT'S RIGHT!" he exclaimed. "I'd almost forgotten."

Walter had watched, as Ben had leaned over and then remained silent. The sudden shout from Ben had startled him and he had almost jumped off his seat. After letting his heart return to its normal pace, he asked, "Almost forgotten what?"

"It must have been when I was around ten years old..."