The Shell

A few months back I was driving with Theo down to the Science Museum. We were on our way to the Collector's Corner. This is a fabulous little spot in the museum where kids can bring in any kind of natural artifact that they find. The more they tell the attendent about the item, the more points they score. They can use those points to trade for different items in the collections. We often go in with some mangy old bone found out in the woods and come home with a polished agate or shell. I love this place! So we're driving down there and Theo has in his hands a shell that his Uncle Tim had given him. He is sitting alone in the back seat with the shell up to his ear and he says, “The shell just whispered to me the story of the last days of its life”. I said something like, "Oh, it’s telling you the story of its life?" And he says, “Oh mom, it would take many of your lifetimes for it to tell you the story of its whole life!” He also told me that he could smell the sand, and that he was listening to the shell’s story with his “eyes that are for listening to sounds” which are his ears…. It was all quite lovely. He then quietly retold this story to the Collector's Corner attendant. I think she teared up, and then awarded him thousands and thousands of points.