Barnaby Barkwell has searched the spirit world for hundreds of years, collecting toys that lonely children once treasured but somehow lost. Wooden trains, patchwork rabbits, squeaky balls and faded teddy bears all find their way into his invisible satchel.
Every full moon he quietly returns them.
Sometimes the toy appears beneath a bed.
Sometimes in an old attic.
Sometimes on a shelf where nobody remembers putting it.
Barnaby never takes the credit.
He simply leaves with a wag of his tail.
But recently he's noticed something strange.
Whenever he reaches a house before dawn...
One missing toy has already been returned.
Always carefully placed.
Always perfectly clean.
No muddy paw prints.
Just tiny neat footprints that vanish across the windowsill.
Barnaby smiles.
"I suppose my mysterious helper has been here again."
He has never seen who it is.
Only the evidence they leave behind.
One day, he hopes to say thank you.