Submission (#3905) Approved

Boxes tumbled and slid across the carpeted flooring with muffled thumps and fabric whispers.
“Ooh! My old toys!” exclaimed the little Binky, as she dove into a new cardboard box.
“Wait. No no, I’m CLEANING I need to sort THROUGH things!” Binky spoke to herself as she immediately dragged herself back out of the box, patting off the dust and grime from her blue fur. Binky’s large ears twitched and her even larger tail flicked back and forth as she began to spy all the things left in her giant closet. Well, regular closet, but when you’re only 3 feet, everything becomes humongous. Satisfied she had grabbed everything out of there, Binky began to turn away, but paused, as something caught her eye. In the back corner of a shelf that stretched farther into the wall than she realized, lay a book blanketed in shadow. If she hadn’t been so small, or been so close to the closet itself, she might not have seen it. Tenderly, she reached with her tiny paws into the crevice, and lifted the large, dust covered book out. Even some of the older relics she had unearthed hadn’t been this dusty; Binky couldn’t make out what was on the front cover! Using her giant tail to clean the cover, she was mildly disappointed and even more confused with the cloth-covered front bore no imagery or writing, except a tiny, single word written in impressively neat, inked cursive: ‘Memories.’
Binky gently opened the mysterious book to a front cover that only had a few dates written in it, but her sporadic mind paid it no attention as she quickly flipped to the first true page, a wholly undecorated white page that had 3 photos carefully stuck on. Binky’s tail quickly began whipping side to side, bumping and shifting boxes behind her. Images she had never seen before, but easily remembered. The first, a tiny baby Binky stood, being her tallest, against a large tree that towered over her. Binky adored that tree when she was younger, and in her tiny mind, thought that always, some day, she may grow just as tall. The second image, just the tiny tips of her ears stood over the tall grass, but otherwise keeping her entirely hidden. Binky remembered all the sunny days she spent playing and prancing in those fields, running free and playing hide and seek.
In Binky’s pure excitement and desire to see more, she skipped the third image on that page, and just began rapidly flipping through the book. Memories upon memories flooded her mind and filled her senses as she remembered the feelings, the tastes, and the smells from all those years ago. Memories she thought she lost to the passage of time, but were actually, mysteriously, tucked away in her own home for who knows how long.
Finally, Binky reached the last page. Another stark-white blank page, but it was accompanied by a single photograph, and a tiny hand-written note underneath, done in the same neat cursive the dates were written in, and seemingly the only other words written in the entire book, except for the cover. The image was yet another young Binky, but this time, opening a present that revealed the giant collar she has always worn. Binky unconsciously reached towards it, gently patting the little star charm that hung off of it as she read the note.

“My Binky, my little one. One day you will grow up and remember this all. And I’ll be there to find you again.
Weaver.”