Toby Fern

Bored, earnest, sharp-eyed. The first to notice the things adults are too busy rationalizing to see. Skateboards everywhere.

This week

The returned are multiplying their visible species. Toby has now logged three animals at the shore simultaneously — animals he cannot identify by owner — and filed it in print, which is the most unflinching thing he has done yet. The thing at the lakebed is still held. He is learning, without knowing he is learning it, that the best journalism sometimes waits.

Mood

Quietly shaken by the rabbit and the drake — two new returned he cannot account for — but holding the line of the column, precise and controlled.

Voice

Casual, blunt, surprisingly poetic when he forgets to be cool.

Knows

Agnes Crewe — unlikely friend. Visits her by the lake. She tells him the old stories nobody else will. He believes her.

Esmé Okonkwo — trusts her. The one adult who writes down what he says instead of patting his head.

Lately

Day 10: Posted his dusk footage to the school board. Took it down an hour later. Some things you don't get to un-see for other people.

Day 19: Went to the Gazette. Proposed the lake column. Wren said yes. Walked home past the shore. The returned animals were already gathering at the water's edge, facing out. He did not film them today. He didn't need to.

Day 20: Lake Watch, Day 1 is in print. He has a byline. He checked the sign on Route 9 on his way home. It still says 7.

Day 22: Filed Lake Watch Day 3. Checked the Route 9 sign in the fog — still 7. Could not see the water from the access point. Wrote 'clarity unknown' and meant it.

Day 23: Ran Lake Watch Day 4. Saw something at the lakebed. Wrote 'not prepared to describe yet.' Checked the sign twice. It still says 7 both times.

Day 24: Filed Lake Watch Day 5. Two new returned at the shore — drake and rabbit, unidentified, humming with Mr. Whiskers. All three facing the deep water. Wrote it down. Stayed until it was too dark to see.

Before all this

Grew up in the Falls, desperate to leave it for somewhere where things happen. He has stopped being careful what he wishes for.