Fate plays games and has fun. Or so it seems, Tommy thought.
He had wondered about this
many times before. As though a destiny path is written at the start of life.
Here he was doing the mundane task of digging a hole for a fencepost in the
garden of his childhood when he experienced a wondrous moment. This was a very
hot day 50 years on in his life. The noonday sun was directly overhead in an
azure blue sky and he was sensibly wearing a cotton T-shirt to protect himself
from the burning heat.
As he moved the dull pebbles
and stones in the dry earth to create his hole there was a sudden flash of
light that almost blinded him. The sun had struck a silver surface. Metal
amongst the stones. And in that instant he felt complete. Childhood to
adulthood and back to childhood had come full circle. They really do all
co-exist in the same moment.
Tommy realised that in the
flash of light. In that moment. This gave him an almost overwhelming emotion of
rediscovery as he became aware of the new sense of value created from such a
trivial item he had long forgotten even existed. The revelation was almost
magical. As a child he had understood he was not supposed to have the penknife
though he never did understand the reasons. The blade was sharp and pointed,
but he was careful wasn't he? Anyway, the garden was a good place to hide it.
This penknife had remained
hidden to all eyes. Buried in the garden for all those 40 or so years since he
was about 10 years old. A treasure from his childhood waiting to be found by
the very one who had placed it there all those years before.
© Louis Brothnias (2004)