Mystery Solved

Today was the Tumbleweed's 4th day of school (counting the first day when the parents stayed). After the last two school days, the Tumbleweed was proud to repot that she played with her "New Best Friend, Emma". Apparently they both like the slides. Now this sounds great - but there is no Emma in her class. Puzzled, I tried to figure out if another child's name might sound like Emma. I tried asking the Tumbleweed what "her best friend" looked like. And after that didn't work, I asked the teacher if there was an Emma that she could have playing with. When she answered, "No, there isn't an Emma in class", I told her that I suspected that she might have created an imaginary friend.

To put my theory to the test, I asked the Tumbleweed when I arrived to pick her up where Emma was. "Over there" she said pointing in the direction of all of the kids. "In the pink?" I asked, choosing a child at random. "No, silly" she says, as I see eyes start to peek over a bookcase, "that's her" and the little girl came around the corner smiling from ear to ear and they went off playing. So I turned to the teacher, and asked "who is the little girl in the flower shirt?" "That's Abby." Mystery solved - the Tumbleweed's "New Best Friend" (which says quite proudly each time) is a real girl named Abby.