Tyler and the researchers

Moving right along with the story.

***

Liam Devereux maneuvered his car along the unfamiliar streets of Toronto, with Eva acting as navigator. They parked on a side street near the Sick Kids Hospital, and went inside to meet with Tyler Dann. They gaped at the huge open foyer extending up for several stories, its glass walls allowing plenty of sunlight in. The fountains and trees made it seem almost like a park rather than the inside of one of the world’s best hospitals for children.

“This is incredible,” said Eva. Liam nodded as he searched for a map or someone to point them in the right direction. He spied what he was looking for and they made their way to an information centre where the helpful person behind the desk directed them to the correct elevator and gave them a map of the hospital.

Tyler’s parents had given consent for Liam and Eva to talk to their son about his experience and Nurse Belenchuk had agreed to be there to act as chaperone in case the questions caused Tyler too much distress. She met them at the nursing station.

“Nice to meet you,” she said when they had introduced themselves. “You’re researching the creatures that Tyler saw? What are they?” “We’re not sure yet,” said Liam. “We have some information and pictures from a rancher in Australia and we want to be sure they’re the same animals. If they are, that opens a whole new set of questions, since Canada and Australia don’t exactly share the same species.”

Eva spoke up. “We’re hoping that Tyler can confirm or deny that the creatures in our pictures are the same ones he saw in Nova Scotia.”

“And here,” said Nurse Belenchuk. Liam and Eva exchanged a puzzled glance. “What? Here? Where?”

The nurse smiled briefly. “I’ll let Tyler tell you all about it. We almost had to move him to a different room to keep him away from the window, but he was insistent that if they were out there in the streets, he wanted to know about it.” She led them to Tyler’s room.

Tyler looked up from a hand-held video game when the door opened. Nurse Belenchuk introduced Liam and Eva to the boy, and asked him to tell them about the day he had seen the homeless woman on the street. He recounted the story.

“Would you mind looking at some pictures? We’d like you to tell us if these are the same animals.” Liam opened his briefcase and drew out a large manila envelope.

***

As always, I will return.