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It’s all very fuzzy in his mind. The world’s noises and sights and sounds wash over him with an aura of silliness as he settles down for the evening under pillows and blankets. Home creaked around him, trying to communicate and ask questions. Wally wasn’t ignoring him, but he wasn’t really present minded, too busy thinking about his toys and who he wanted to play with. There was his ever adorable and fluffy Mr. Carrots. The cute white rabbit had been stained a multitude of colors over the years because of Wally’s paintings, but Wally loved him being so colorful. Then there was his large plush Apple, the one nearly twice his size. He loved to sit and admire its cute, unmoving expressions. The rosy red delicious has been sitting in the corner of his room for months, just sitting and being admired. He had Sunny of course, his blue bird that was just a delight to have soar in the sky (with a helping hand from Wally). And of course, there was his little Barnaby plush.
Of course, plush Barnaby couldn’t hold a candle to the real deal! Wally never thought so. Still, the plush had his benefits. For one, it couldn’t judge him for acting so childish. Oh sure, all the neighbors acted childish, but not the way Wally was right now as he babbled incoherently to his Barnaby plushy. He could still form words if he really needed to, but it was difficult, like tying his shoes. He knew how, but he didn’t have the skills to accomplish the task well right now.
So he sat, and babbled as Home talked to him. He liked hearing Home creak. The creeks and bangs were loud though, and very distracting. Wally didn’t have the energy to open their connection in his mind to understand. He simply tried to tune out the slovers of words that slipped through.
Someone… Door…
What was Home even talking about? It was probably as nonsensical as Wally’s words were right now, so Wally paid it no mind. If Wally was in any danger, Home knew how to get him to ‘grow up’ so to speak. Since there were no tentacles forcing him around and trying to get his attention, Wally didn’t care. He was talking to Barnaby (the plush), and holding a lovely conversation. The topic? Pssshhhh. Who needs a conversation topic? The cute babbles speak for themselves (and plush Barnaby told him so).
Still, Home was persistent in talking to… someone. He heard another voice muffled through Home’s walls, towards the front of the large house. It must not be talking to him then. But… Who was home chit chatting with if not Wally?
Curious as a cat, Wally stood up from his spot on the floor and made his way down the hall and down the stairs. He looked out through Home’s eye, where the pupil wasn’t currently. Blue and fuzzy, colorful spots..
“Barnby!” Wally exclaimed with a smile! He missed him! He hadn’t seen the blue pup all day! They still had their hotdog run to go on, and Wally would let Barnaby eat his hotdog too! He never ate in front of anyone after all.
Wally knocked on the door, silent telling Home to let Barnaby in, and forgetting all about the fact that he was little. He missed his blue companion! He wanted to see him! Home on the other hand was not as excited. He tried to talk to Wally, but the squeaks and creaks flew right over Wally’s head.
“Don’t understand Home. Wanna see Barnby!” Home looked exacerbated, looking in and then out of himself to try and look at both Wally and Barnaby. He seemed to be evaluating the dangers.
“C’mon. Open up. I just wanna get a hotdog with ‘em Home. No biggie. We walk to Howdy’s all the time. It’s not like we’re traveling the world or somethin’.”
Wally wouldn’t mind traveling the world on Barnaby’s shoulders. He could see up above the trees! He could touch the stars! Not Sally since she had already fallen into their quaint neighborhood, but all of her old family and friends perhaps. He could be Wally the little astronaut!
Wally began knocking on the door. “Open sesame! Open sesame!” he insisted, to which Home ignored in favor of listening to Barnaby’s rambles. Wally was beginning to be frustrated. “Wanna see Barnby!” he said, knock some more on the wood.
Home creaked and whined. Wally didn’t understand! Why was Home keeping him inside? Did he do something wrong? Is he in trouble?
“Home? Wanna play. Outside. With Barnby…” Little whimpers followed after Wally’s plea, his lip quivering. He may not be able to frown, but Wally can do his best to express his emotions in other ways. Home had such a difficult denying Wally anything when he acted like this. he hated to see the smaller one cry. Really, the only time he ignored a request like that is if it was dangerous. But... Barnaby wasn't dangerous.
Home let out a groan, but slowly opened the door for Wally to peak out. Wally looked at the opening with wide and curious eyes. He looked out to see Barnaby looking annoyed with Home. A stern finger pointed at one of Home’s windows, who was looking rather nervous under the dog’s scrutiny. Wally didn’t care though. He pushed open the door and rushed over to Barnaby with more energy than ever before. “Barnby!” he exclaims, raising his arms in the air.
Barnaby stopped mid-sentence to see his little buddy clinging to his leg, the only part Wally could reach with his short height. “Hey there. Uh… Man you’re actin’ strange buddy. Something happen?”
Strange? But this is just how Wally behaves when he’s… small. Little. This isn’t how his adult neighbors behave. He’s still small, and outside. Oh. That’s why Home was so nervous to let him out, why Home had kept the door locked until his lip quivered. Home was trying to keep Wally from… showing he was little to Barnaby.
“Hey. Buddy? Can you hear me? Oh! Good! There you are. You spaced out. Is everything okay?”
Wally took a step back, wrapping his arms around himself, as if cowering away would prevent Barnaby from knowing his secret. He needed help explaining himself. He didn’t have the words. This was his best friend and he needed help explaining what was happening. Wally had to take a moment, sing a little song in his head to try and calm down. Beautiful Dreamer was always a good one. Maybe by the time he finished singing he would have a plan in place. Yeah! That's a good idea!
Barnaby stood patiently as Wally swayed side to side, humming the song out of tune and with more babbles than actual lyrics. The dog did look confused, turning to Home who was still looking away from Barnaby. “Is he alright, Home? Is he sick?”
Home merely tousled his curtains up, as if to shrug. Wally had never expressed a desire to share this secret with anyone before, except Home. Sure, Wally talked to the plush Barnaby in his room, calling the small thing his ‘bubba’, but he never said he wanted to tell the real Barnaby. Home didn’t want Wally to get hurt because he didnt think through his actions. Still, the house did not intervene after Wally had steadied himself.
“Gotta show you.” Wally says, holding out his little hand for Barnaby to hold onto. Wally looked at Barnaby expectantly, wide and cheerful eyes looking suddenly so determined. Barnaby looked to Home who did nothing but look between the two puppets. With a gentle sigh, Barnaby took Wally’s hand. “Alright. Lead the way buddy.”
Wally did. He led Barnaby into the kitchen where he went on a mini scavenger hunt in the utility drawer to find his poorly written cards. The small note card sized pieces of paper sat in a small stack, a rubber band holding them all together. Wally removed the band and tossed it to the counter as he looked through the cards with a concentration unmatched. Wally wasn’t very good at reading, or writing compared to his other neighbors, but they always managed to discern what he wrote in the end. Wally was noticing his ability to read not returning despite his concentration. He sighed and picked the prettiest looking card in the stack, handing it to Barnaby. Barnaby looked at the card that Wally had set on the table, sitting on one of the very small seats to get comfortable. The pup looked more confused.
“This is a recipe for peach cobbler. Do you wanna bake?”
Wally looked at the card again with confusion. No, he didn’t want to bake. Not right now anyway. He wanted to show Barnaby why he couldn’t talk well!
He looked through the cards again and picked another pretty one, cute stickers of needles and thread stuck to the pages.
“How to make a ladder stitch… Do you need help sewing something? I’m afraid I’m not good at that, but maybe Poppy could, oh another card.” Wally didn’t know which one it was! He kept setting cards down, having Barnaby read the title aloud before sifting through his stack for the next prettiest card. It was frustrating. None of them were what he needed! It made him unbelievably annoyed. Why couldn’t he just read them? He knew how to read! Still, everytime he looked at a new card, the red crayon looked like scribbles to him. It was as incoherent as his babbling.
“Cards. Cards. Cards.” Wally kept repeating as he sifted through them. He didn’t remember how he had decorated the card, and setting them down one by one wasn’t helping. It was too much, and even his special song wasn’t helping calm down. He was too frustrated. Instead of trying to speak he pushed the remaining cards into Barnaby’s patient paws. “Er, do you want me to read them?” Wally nodded, tears breaching his eyes. He needed help understanding them. He couldn't remember what he wrote on each one!
“Shopping list. Milk, vegan burger patties-” Wally shook his head. “No? Uhhh How about this one?”
“Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the- No?”
Barnaby flips through to the next card. “Guide to… Little Space.” Wally nods happily, his head spinning around after he shook it too hard. He grabbed his head to steady it before looking back at his friend.
“Read! Read!” Wally insisted. Barnaby examined the card and its decorations. Teddy bear stickers and smiley faces were littered on the card around the barely legible crayon handwriting. The beagle read the words under his breath, stumbling a handful of times no thanks to Wally’s atrocious lettering. Still, Baraby read it, and took a moment to think it over.
“Flip!” Wally said, turning the card over for his blue friend to read the other side. More letters and more stickers.
“Oh… Huh. Wally this is all very interesting ‘n all, but I don’t understand what you want from me on this one. I need a little help.”
Wally thought, long and hard. He put all the important stuff on the card, right? He put how he was still the same person, just that he felt younger. He wrote down his favorite foods and games. He put down his comfort items in a not-so-neat list. How did Barnaby not understand?”
“Bubba?”Wally asked, pointing to Barnaby. “Barnby my bubba?”
Barnaby just stared. Home let out a groan, startling both the puppets inside. A book fell off from a bookshelf in the living room. Wally dutifully wandered over and picked it up. “No mess!” he scolded Home. Wally's eyes scanned the bookshelf to try and find where the poor hardcover had fallen from. He tried to put the book back up on the top shelf where an empty space sat, but he was much too short. Barnaby wandered in after him. Wally turned and looked at Barnaby with pleading eyes. “Help.”
Barnaby followed Wally’s gaze to the tippy top shelf. Wally handed the hardback to Barnaby and pointed upwards as far as his little arm could stretch. Barnaby didn’t put it away immediately. He read the cover. “Caretaking the little ones. A book on parenting.”
Barnaby looked at Home's pupil. “What do I do with this?” Home rolled his eye.
This was all very puzzling for the beagle. “Okay, okay. So. You’re in little space, right Wally?” If he wanted to understand this, he needed to go over the established information.
Wally nodded. “Yeah! Small!”
“Right. Small. And… And this is a regular occurrence?” Barnaby's head looked to Home's window. Home creaked an affirmative. “Is Home not doing it right? Why do you need me to step in?”
Wally looked at Home, who looked a tad annoyed. Wally giggled. “Home is good! But… I want Barnby!” It’s the most he’s spoken consecutively this whole time.
“Great. Okay. So… So am I like… Your dad in this situation?”
“Noooo! Bubba!” Was it really that hard a concept for Barnaby to grasp? Goodness! This is hard to talk about when your vernacular consists of a kindergartener’s vocabulary at best. “Barnby my bubba!”
“Okay. Your brother.”
“Bubba!” Wally corrected, huffing and pushing his arms to his sides.
“Right. Bubba.” Barnaby replied patiently. “If you wanted me to do this, why did you wait so long to tell me? Or not tell me sooner?”
Wally’s eyes drifted downward in shame, hands wringing together nervously as he tried to think of the right words to say. Speaking is hard, but the fact that Barnaby was being so gentle and patient with him helped him feel better. This must be difficult for Barnaby to understand, and he must be frustrated as much as Wally. Still, his best friend never raised his voice or told him it was stupid. He really was the perfect candidate for Wally's caretaker. How is Wally supposed to tell Barnaby all that?
“Was scared, bubba. Scared.”
“Why were you scared buddy?” Barnaby asked gently, kneeling down so he wasn’t as looming.
“Bubba be mad… Bubba… Bubba calls me… dumb…”
“Oh Wally, no. I would never call you names like that. I may not fully understand, but this is important to you. And it’s clearly important to you that I understand it too. I’m not going to be mad at you for that. I may not understand, but I want to. And maybe when you aren’t er… as small?” Wally giggled and nodded. “Maybe then you can explain it better. Now how about we both take a deep breath-”
Barnaby interrupted himself to guide Wally through the breathing exercise. Wally followed along carefully, closing his eyes as he took in as much air as he could manage in his tiny body.
“-And let it out nice and slow. Good!” Wally smiled at Barnaby before carefully approaching him. He hauled the book off of the floor where Barnaby had set it down and handed it back to the dog.
“Clean up! Clean up!” Wally sang off key. Barnaby didn’t care that the notes were inconsistent as he put away the single book. The clean up song finished with an awkward twirl from Wally. “Yay!
Barnaby smiled. "Alright little one. What should we do first?"
"Bubba play!"
The rest of the day was bliss for Wally. He showed Barnaby around the inside of Home despite the dog having been over several times for sleepovers. Wally showed Baranby the little plush version of him that Wally had made. “Why did you make that, little one?”
“In case bubba said no!” Barnaby's glad he agreed. he couldn't imagine Wally running to the tiny unmoving plush for comfort. It sounded sad even in his head.
Then Wally and Barnaby played games for hours, completely skipping over their daily hotdog run. Barnaby didn’t mind the change in schedule, just this once. Neither did Wally who quickly fell asleep at promptly seven on the dot. Barnaby didn’t want to leave the poor thing alone. Well, without Barnaby. With Home around, Wally was never truly alone. Still, Barnaby didn’t know if Wally would wake up in little space or not (is that even possible? He would have to ask later). So just in case, Barnaby stayed, so Wally wouldn’t wake up without his Bubba.
"Goodnight little one. I love you."