The boy and the stone. A story inspired by and dedicated to Jelena, a girl from Lucina.

Once upon a time there was a boy with a stone in his hand. The stone was an ordinary stone in the size of a large potato. The boy had been carrying the stone for a while, trying to figure out how it ended up in his hand and what he should use it. Then a car came rolling up. It was a nice car with lots of luxury hovering around it. As the car passed the boy by he thought of throwing it at the car, spoiling it's surface and exposing the emptiness lying beneath the shallow luxury.

But as the vehicle rolled by the boy held on to the stone and watched the car disappear behind a hill. The stone had such a smooth surface, almost as it was made to be a jewel, even though it still was just a stone. But the boy could not remember how it ended up in his hand. He looked up and saw a man with a rifle over his shoulder coming. As the man came closer the boy saw it was a soldier, a man of war. The soldier had medals, ribbons, patches and scars. To the boy it was obvious that the soldier had seen battle. As the soldier passed the boy by he thought of putting the stone in the soldiers satchel, making it heavier for the solder to carry. This would make the soldiers triumphant return very unpleasant, causing him discomfort through chafing, strain to his muscle so the cramp up and anger when he realizes he has been carrying a stone.

But the boy held his stone and let the soldier pass him by in peace. The boy turned his attention to the stone trying to figure out it's purpose. He held it closer to his face and saw that it had something inscribed in it. As he tried to make out what the inscription was a woman came walking. She was beautiful beyond anything the boy has seen before. She had clothes that was very flattering for her body and glittering jewelry hanging around her neck and rom her wrists and ears. Everything about her was radiant beauty. She looked amazing. The boy thought of dropping the stone on the woman's foot, bruising it, making it swell up so she must take her wonderful heels of so her feet would hurt and making her limp the rest of her way and stealing all the grace from her.

As the woman passed the boy clenched the stone hard in his hand but there it remained. The astonishing girl disappeared out of sight. The boy stood long and looked after her but he got the feeling of the inscription back in his hand from the stone. He took a close look at the stone an saw that it had a beautiful pattern engraved in it. It truly was beautiful, almost like a work of art, or a sculpture. It was almost good enough to be a gift even though it only was a simple stone. The boy started walking while he wondered how he got the stone. After a while the boy came to a shrine in the roadside. At the distance it just look like a pile of rubble. But as the boy came closer he saw that it was a headstone covered and surrounded by stones, some ordinary and some almost as beautiful as the stone the boy had in his hand.

A part of the headstone had an inscription but it was partly covered by al the stones. The boy carefully rearranged the stones so he’d be able to read what was written on the headstone. It said ”Here lies a childless father of thousands. A savior of abandoned souls. A founder of towns. Here lies _ _ _” Then the boy remembered how he got the stone. He heard his name being called by his mother. The boy turned and saw her ebony-black hair flow in the soft wind and saw into her loving hazel eyes. ”*Have you already forgotten what I send you to do?” the boy remembered his bad memory but now remembered how he made the stone to give to his mother in school. When he had come home and given it to her she thanked him but said that she knew who much more would love the stone.

”Do you remembered what he did for us?” she asked the boy who answered hesitantly ”I think so...” She smiled at him with her soft smile that could make anyone feel loved and cared for. ”Well let me refresh your memory then.” She tussled his sun bleached blond hair as she took in the innocence in his ice-blue eyes. ”This man who lies here was a very wealthy man. He worked hard and build up a large corporation that gave jobs to thousands of workers. One day he sold his part of the company and came to this very village. Here he spent all his money building and funding a orphanage who would have one single purpose, to give all unwanted and abandoned a decent life. Finding them new, loving parents or raise them within it’s own walls till they are ready to lead their own rich and safe lives.”

She looked at her son and saw that he did not grasp the full content of the story. Very patient with the boys condition she continued ”I was abandoned on the orphanages stairs when I was but a small child. They took such good care me and raised me better than any parent could. One day I found my place in the world, got myself a job I loved, met your father and we built ourself a home. When the day came there was no doubt in my mind how we were going to get a child. When I arrived back at our old home the caretakers there greeted us like long lost children of their own. After they had shed their share of tears of happiness and gratitude the caretakers said they had a perfect child for us. When they came out with you in a tight bun I knew you were ours. Our own son. When you first looked up at us it was magic like no other. It was the most happy we had ever felt.” The boy, full with wonder and amazement look up at his beloved mother and saw a little pearl of a tear role down her cheek. ”That is why we are up here. All the stones you see...” She said and pointed at the shrine while her other hand rested on her sons shoulder. ”... the stones are all from other abandoned children that have been given a good life because of this mans generosity. He lived here till the end of his days, making sure that his orphanage would work as he wanted and have the foundation it needed to do so long after he was gone”

She took the boys hand that held the stone and said gently to him, almost whispering ”That is why I think you should lay you stone here, to show him how happy we are for what he did. How happy we are for having you, our son. Without him we would never have had our family, and that is something to be very thankful for.” The boy nodded and took his stone and put it at the center on the top of the headstone. He lay it there very careful so he wouldn’t disturb the other stones for there were so many. The boy thought of the care who had past him earlier. It belonged to a mechanic who had worked on it for many years. Now it was ready and he was giving it to the orphanage to do whatever they wanted with it for he was a abandoned child. The soldier was an actor famous for his work with humanitarian organizations. He was returning from a movie about the horrors of war and was going to the orphanage. There he was giving many, many interviews to magazines from all over the world and spreading the word about the orphanage, the caretakers and the founder and all the work they had done for him and so many others. The beautiful woman was a bride going to her wedding. She had been a abandoned girl picked up by horrible people who done horrible things to her. As a young girl she’d been saved by the caretakers and now she had found a man who loved her so much he asked for her hand.

They had all been to the shrine and put stones on the headstone to show their enormous gratitude to the founder and the lives he’d given them. If the boy had thrown the stone at the car, it would have been folly as a gift for the mechanic and all the hard work would have been in vain. If the boy had put the stone on the soldier he wouldn’t have made it to the interviews and the story about the good of the orphanage would never have been told to the world. If the bride would have gotten her toes broken by the stones she wouldn’t just have missed her own wedding. All the emotional scars from her horrid past would have open up to her again and maybe she wouldn’t have dared to give herself to the loving man. You see a stone can be used as a tool of destruction, a tool of torture and a weapon. It can also be used to build roads, houses and orphanages. But it can also be used as the finest gift of all, a gift of appreciation for all you have, a thankful gift for your entire life.

The End.