Day 7 of the challenge. Today's prompt is to write about a discovery.
It’s Not An Egg
By Sonja McGiboney
“Barry look!”
Joe was pointing at something below the tree. “What is it?”
Barry walked up and knelt before the brown nest. “I don’t know!”
Barry reached for it, but before he could move too close Joe knocked his hand out of the way. “Don’t touch it!”
“Shut up Joe, it’s just a rock.”
Barry reached again for the small, round gray and black rock. It was nestled in a bird’s nest among the thick gnarly roots of the tree. He wondered if a bird thought it was her egg.
“It might be an egg.” Said Joe.
“Joe I know you are only in first grade, but does this look like an egg to you?”
“No, I guess not.”
Barry lifted it from the nest. It was too big to be any marble he’d ever played with, but smaller than a ping pong ball. It was smooth, like bowling balls after they come out of that machine.
“Can we keep it?” asked Joe.
Barry didn’t answer. He palmed the rock, closing his fingers around it. It was warm and growing warmer. He closed his eyes and felt giddiness, like jumping on a bed, eating ice cream or even getting a hug from his mom.
The thought of his mom brought him out of the trance. Or was it the voice of his little brother which was growing louder in his ears.
“Barry, Barry, wake up!”
“Huh? What happened?”
“I think you fainted or something.”
Barry noticed the rock was still in his hand. He gently placed it back in the next. “That was weird. We should get home.”
“But what about the rock, can we keep it?”
“I don’t think we should. Someone could have put it here for a reason and we wouldn’t want to take someone else’s things, would we?”
“I guess not. I’ll race you home!”
“Last one home is a rotten egg!”
The boys took off running, Barry purposefully going slower than his little brother.
Back at the nest, among the gnarly branches, a beautiful fairy crawled from behind the tree. She was only four inches tall with long black hair. Her wings were still growing as she was not yet fully ready for the world.
She climbed into the nest, touched the rock and disappeared.