An Excellent Rock — Oversized Tee

You brought a rock home. This becomes apparent when someone helps you empty the bag and holds it up with the cautious expression people use around an object that may have an explanation. It does. The explanation concerns an afternoon, a long pause beside the water, and the way this particular rock looked when you turned it over. You begin with the afternoon. They had only asked whether it belonged in the kitchen.

It is an excellent rock. Smooth in one place, a little crooked in another, neither large enough to be impressive nor small enough to disappear discreetly into a drawer. You put it beside the books, where it immediately looks as though it has had a more interesting life than the expensive thing next to it. Your visitor suggests a paperweight. You have no papers requiring its attention. It is allowed to be here without finding employment.

A big blue tee and old trousers suit the sort of day that produces this attachment: plenty of room to wander, enough presence to feel properly dressed when wandering becomes lunch. You remember what you were wearing. You remember who was there. The stone, unhelpfully, remembers none of it and is still taking most of the credit.

Months later somebody moves it while dusting. You notice from the doorway. An impressive performance from a person who has spent the morning looking for their glasses.

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