rant Wishes, Too?
y Iron and Wine)
They wondered what was over there—“My pop says
it’s Europe”—inciting her to tell him tales of dragons
and princesses, strange animals and weird
food. He loved her stories.
One day Henry took Evelyn to a secret spot
he knew about. There was an old road in the woods
that wound up the side of a hill. At the bottom of
that hill there was a pond and an old rusty car
that was flipped in the muck. It had been there as
long as Henry could remember and it had always
looked old and forgotten, some car that had taken
the turn too quickly on the hilly road, and ended
up down here. He had searched the car before
and found nothing of interest other than pieces of
broken glass. Evelyn thought it was cool and they
played around the old dirty car, and near the pond.
A glint from the pond caught Henry’s eye; the sun
was illuminating something shiny in the water. He
waded into the weeds and reached down until he
felt something hard and circular. He pulled up a 25-
cent coin and his eyes lit up with excitement. “What
is it Henry? What have you found?” He showed it off
to her as one does a prized trophy. “Can I touch it?”
She held it in her small hands turning it over and
over, and then gave it back. “What will you do with
it?” He didn’t know. They stayed there until the sun
began touching the horizon. It dawned on Evelyn
how late it was; it was already getting dark. “Oh
no. I have to get home! My Da will be upset with
me.” And she quickly ran off. Henry stayed there
for a little bit longer, holding his coin up to the dusk
light and then shoving it deep into the pocket of his
jeans before heading back toward home.