Nico's mama said they were going to see a doctor for his eyes.
"What's wrong with my eyes?" Nico asked.
"Nothing," Mama said. "We just want to check."
Nico touched both his eyes to make sure they were still there. They were.
The waiting room had tiny chairs and big chairs. Nico sat in a big chair. His feet didn't touch the floor. Not even close.
A fish tank hummed in the corner. One orange fish kept opening its mouth like it was trying to say something very important, but no sound came out.
"Same," Nico whispered to the fish.
Then a woman with red glasses and a big smile opened a door. "Nico?" she said.
He took Mama's hand and followed the woman down a short hallway into a room that was very, very dark.
In the middle of the dark room sat the biggest chair Nico had ever seen. It looked like a throne. It looked like a spaceship seat. It had arms and levers and a little footrest that went up and down.
"Hop on," the woman said.
Nico climbed up. She pressed something and the chair rose. Up, up, up. Nico grabbed the armrests.
"Too high?" she asked.
"Higher," said Nico.
She laughed and stopped the chair. Nico could see the top of Mama's head. He had never seen the top of Mama's head before. She had a tiny swirl there, like a cinnamon roll.
On the wall across the room hung a glowing chart. It had letters, big and small. The top letter was enormous. The bottom letters were the size of ants.
"Can you read the big letter?" the woman asked.
"E," said Nico. Easy.
"Now the next line."
"F… P." Still easy.
"And the next?"
Nico squinted. He leaned forward. He leaned so far forward he almost slid right off the big chair.
"T… O… Z," he said. Then he added, "I think the Z is hiding."
The woman smiled.
Then the woman pulled a huge machine down from somewhere above him. It swung right in front of his face on a long metal arm. It had two circles for him to look through, like a robot mask. Like a deep-sea diving helmet. Like the face of a very friendly owl.
"Look through here," she said.
Nico looked. He could see the chart again, but now it was blurry. Then she clicked something.
Click.
Sharp.
Click.
Blurry.
Click.
Sharp!
Click.
Blurry!
"Which is better," she asked, "one… or two?"
"One," said Nico.
Click. Click.
"One… or two?"
"Two!"
Click. Click.
"One… or two?"
Nico bit his lip. He looked through one. He looked through the other. He looked through the first one again.
"They're the same," he said.
The woman smiled. "Good answer."
She swung the big machine away. Nico missed it a little.
"All done," she said. "Your eyes are working beautifully."
Nico blinked. That was it?
The woman pressed the lever and the chair sank back down. Nico's feet touched the floor. The room felt normal-sized again.
Mama was standing by the door. Nico looked at her face. He looked at her really carefully, the way you look at something when someone has just told you your eyes are working beautifully.
She had brown eyes with tiny gold bits in them.
Huh. He had never noticed that before.
On the way out, Nico stopped at the fish tank. The orange fish was still opening and closing its mouth.
"You should get your eyes checked," Nico told the fish. "It's not even scary. There's a big chair. You'd love it."
The fish opened its mouth.
Then closed it.
Nico patted the glass, took Mama's hand, and walked out into the bright, bright sun, blinking.
