Perception

Say this takes place after 'Tooms'

'Middle School' Middle School

Cleveland, Ohio

"Is your name Thomas Chestnut?" Nod. "And what is this about teasing?" Shrug. "Answer me, young man." With a reluctant sigh, the student began. "I said Calvin was an underdeveloped Neanderthal throwback. I mean, come on…that kid's in first grade and he still carries his stuffed toy around with him." Pause. "Mr. Chestnut, for one who claims to be so very intelligent surely you must know that some children develop at different rates. Calvin may not be emotionally ready to abandon his toy yet." The principal explained. "It's more than that, sir…he thinks the thing's real for crying out loud." The principal shrugged. "We all have different perceptions of reality, Mr. Chestnut. Calvin's may be different from yours." Pause. "Are you saying you believe him?" The stunned Tommy almost shouted. "I'm not saying it either way." With a look of utter disbelief on his face, Tommy tore out the office, slamming the door behind him. The principal had gone insane. The whole world had gone insane. He stormed down the hall.

Cue creepy music. Blair witch camera technique.

Maybe the old man could entertain Calvin's fantasy but he couldn't. There was no way that thing was real. I mean, look at it. It was just an ordinary stuffed Tiger. Nothing more. Hmm… He read somewhere it wasn't healthy to indulge these fantasies. It would help Calvin to show him the truth. But how?

Zoom in. Music.

That's it. He would rip the thing apart and when Calvin saw what was really inside it, cotton stuffing, he wouldn't be able to claim the thing was real anymore. It wasn't cruel- He was only trying to help. He turned around, resolute. Stopped. Screamed.

Cue X-Files introduction. The words 'the truth is out there' have been replaced with 'I want to believe'.

Basement, J. Edgar Hoover Building

Washington D.C

"It seems simple enough to me. Look, I can explain everything. The Cleveland zoo lost a tiger a few years back. It's been living in the woods, eating rabbits, deer, whatever tigers eat. Commercial expansion forced it into the open, it started preying on humans."

"Really? I mean you think it's that simple?"

"Absolutely."

Pause. "I'll take the case, but I suspect nothing remotely paranormal." He said as if it were routine. "You might feel differently after reading the report." Skinner noted, leaving hastily. A silence settled in the dusty office, falling like a sheet over its occupant, who sat motionless in his chair. "I'm sure I will." He replied to the faceless walls. Slowly, almost reluctantly he turned and picked up the manila folder. Of course there was more too this. But he wasn't about to let Skinner know that. A boy 'messily devoured in the halls of a middle school in circumstances exactly resembling a tiger attack. So many possibilities came to mind. A shapeshifter, a 'weretiger'. A mutant, possibly a hybrid. A tiger transported somehow into the school, possibly through alien technology, possibly through witchcraft. The possibilities were endless. There was one detail that seemed important. A student of that school, a one Calvin Monroe proudly attributed the incident to his stuffed tiger. Two instincts struggled for prevalence in his mind. The stronger won. Theory: The tiger might be the conduit for some powerful psychic force possessed by the boy. Maybe. Possibly. It was likely the answer would be a million times more unlikely than his theory.

Middle School basement

"All right, Calvin. This is a very simple test, similar to a polygraph. It measures brainwave activity. Just sit still for a few minutes and I'll be back." The six-year-old glared at him from under the brim of a cartoonishly bulbous helmet. "A likely story." He hissed through gritted teeth. "What do you want from me, Zarkon inquisitor?" Mulder paused for a minute. It might be best to play along. "The names of every U.S President. Comply or be terminated." Calvin paused, evidently unprepared for such a response. "Well, umm…there's…Washington…Adams…Lincoln…Carter…Adams…did I say that already?" He began nervously. Mulder gazed down at the chart spewing out of the machine. The results were exceptional but nothing really alarming. "Enough!" He thundered in his best 'authority' voice. "Recite the secret identities of Captain Napalm's league of justice!" The expression on the boy's face reversed immediately. It was confident, determined. He began spewing out information so fast that Mulder couldn't keep track of it. The machine convulsed, the reading shot up. Still not above recorded levels, although…given his age, it was nothing short of staggering. "Very good, Calvin." Mulder said suddenly. "You may go." Eyeing him suspiciously, unsure what to think, Calvin padded out. Mulder collapsed into his chair with a sigh. Something was very wrong here.

I'm too lazy to finish it, but I liked the concept. Anyway, my theory on Hobbes's reality-

He is, of course a real tiger, escaped, as I theorized, from the Cleveland zoo (even though, too my knowledge, there isn't one). Calvin, being an impressionable child saw no reason that Hobbes a) wasn't real and b) was dangerous. His parents, however, could never accept the fact that a bipedal talking tiger was in their house so their brains rationalized the experience by perceiving Hobbes as a stuffed Tiger. The same goes for everyone else, even the students whose minds have been influenced by their parents. Calvin is the only one open-minded enough to see Hobbes as he really is. Only in cases where rationalization is impossible (as with Tommy chestnut) do others see a real tiger there. I like to think this theory still preserves some of the strip's mystique.