I steered over to the electronics section and picked out a pair of earbuds for Mark’s dad’s birthday gift. We had dinner at Mark’s parents that night. Next, I headed toward the toys. I figured as long as I was there, I would buy a birthday present for a party that Emily had been invited to by a classmate, for which I had been instructed by her to purchase LOL Surprise dolls. I stood in front of the display of shockingly overpriced small dolls with huge heads and tiny bodies, wondering if the LOL Surprise doll or the regular one was the better choice.

I was about to grab the one hidden in a giant egg when the store went dark. One moment, I had a hand extended toward the toy box, and the next, blackness. There were a few sounds of muffled confusion, and I heard a child shriek two aisles over.

I looked at the shelf of LOL dolls, eyes narrowed as my vision tried to adjust. All I could see was the whites of their eyes as they stared at me, a tiny toy army. And then, one of the dolls moved. The two huge round circles on the doll’s face blinked.

I shrank back, a strangled cry escaping my lips. Then, it blinked again.

My feet felt heavy, unable to follow directions. My hand was still outstretched as I leaned forward slightly and looked at the doll. It stared back and then cocked its head, studying me.

The lights flooded on, and the sounds of the store increased in volume. The doll was motionless once again. With a shaking hand, I carefully turned the box around so it was facing the other way and then rushed out of the aisle, my vision still spotty.

Calm down. It was just your imagination. A trick of the lighting.

Despite every rational excuse, though, I knew what I’d seen.

I had reached the end of the aisle when I heard: “Hey, Amy! How’s your summer been?”

Fifteen minutes later, I was armed with the newfound knowledge of which private gymnastics gym had the best summer classes and not much else. Julie Sommers had turned me down flat when I asked if she would run one of the games, although she did offer to take a shift handing out ice cream, so the ask wasn’t a total bust.

I had kept my face pleasant when she offered, even as I realized I hadn’t asked the ice-cream vendor if they would donate again.

After she left, I pulled out my phone and typed a quick email to Oberweis, the local ice-cream company, asking if they would do an in-kind gift of ice-cream bars for the event. After I sent it off, I was about to put my phone away when a new email popped up in bold type.