You sit in the town square,
talking to your friends.
I approach
and stand at a distance
with my hands in my pockets.
You look up, see me
and smile.
Then you gesture for me
to come over.
“What brings you here today, Claire?”
you ask, smiling.

I hold out my hand which is tiny
as I am only a child.
In it are two pebbles.
One of them is purple,
the other turquoise.
Both are rounded and smooth.
They are tiny, but beautiful.
You examine them
in my hand.
“These look beautiful,” you say,
“special, even. Tell me about them.”

“These are the things
that I can do,” I reply.
“The blue one
is the way that I can sing.
The purple one
is the way that I can write.
I only found out recently
that I can do these things.
I didn’t know before.”
I shrug my shoulders
and look down at the ground,
embarrassed.

“Isn’t that a great discovery!”
you exclaim.
“You’ve found your talents!”
You pause for a moment
and then you say,
“Have you decided
what you are going to do with them?”

“I want to give them to you,”
I reply.
I hold out my hand
and you carefully pick up
the two stones
“Let me think about this,” you say,
and you close your eyes
for a few minutes.

When you open them you say,
“Claire, I’m delighted
that you have finally discovered the talents
that my Daddy gave to you
and I love the way
that you are prepared
to give them to me.
I would love to use your talents.
But I want to ask you something.
Will you look after them for me?
Will you hold onto them for now
and when I need to use them
I’ll come to you
and I’ll let you know?

I nod.
I lift the two pebbles
back out of your hand
and return them to my pocket.
Then we sit side by side,
contentedly in the sun.

© Claire Murray