I was so excited. And had so many questions.
“Why is purple light coming out of the photo? Because of the magic? And how come I’ve never seen any of the magical creatures? They do still come here, right? Where do you keep them? Are there some here now?”
Mom laughed. “Phew! OK, let’s see here. Yes, the photo glows because of the magic. Any time you photograph a magical creature, some of the magic stays in the photo. When a magical animal does need my help, I keep it in our barn. And finally, no, there aren’t any magical animals here right now. Sometimes no one needs my help for weeks at a time. This will all make more sense once I’ve shown you the barn. Come on.”
As Mom and I walked out to the barn together, I laughed to myself. I never played there because I thought it was super boring. Boy, was I wrong.
Mom led me around to the back door of the barn. “Before he left for the forest, Pip added a special doorbell to our barn’s back door. I thought I was the only one in the family who could see it. But I’m guessing you’ll be able to see it too.”
Sassafras interrupted my mom by meowing loudly.
Mom laughed. “Oh yes, I should add that clever animals like Sassafras can see it as well.”
I knelt down and looked all over the back wall of the barn. “But I don’t see anything.”
“Try lying down on your stomach. Now a little to the left. And down just a tiny bit. Do you see it?”
The grass tickled my neck as I lowered my head a little more. All of a sudden, I could see a round button. It looked like a regular doorbell, except this one shimmered in a wave of rainbow colors. I moved my head up a bit and it disappeared. Whoa. No wonder I’d never noticed this before.
Although now that I thought about it, I might have at least heard it before. Every once in a while the most beautiful tinkling sound would come from my mom’s office. She always told me it was an alarm on her phone reminding her to do something. I guess I never thought to ask what.
“That bell that rings in our house sometimes? Is that the barn doorbell?”
“Yes, that’s it. I never know when I’ll hear the bell, but whenever I’m home, I’m always listening.”
“What about when you’re gone? What happens then?”
“Well, all I can do is hope that I’m here when the bell rings and an animal needs me.”
I remembered my mom standing in the window, looking out at the barn. She must have been worried about what would happen while she was gone at this conference. Maybe . . . maybe I could help.
“You’re going to be gone for a week. That’s a long time. If an animal rings the bell while you’re gone, do you think maybe I could help them?” I looked down at my feet and poked the ground with my toe. “I mean, I know I’m just a kid. But I could try.”
My mom smiled. “I was hoping you’d suggest that. Are you sure? It might be a lot to handle. Though you could always call me if you needed help.”
I nodded and stood up a little straighter. Mom put her hands on my shoulders and kissed my forehead.
“Now I won’t have to worry while I’m gone. Thank you.”
My stomach did flips. On one hand I was super excited to meet a magical animal. On the other hand, I was worried that I wouldn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to mess up.
But my mom was my age when she helped Pip. A kid had done this alone before.
Which meant I could handle it.
Right?