Scottie’s Everything Box

by Lorle K. Harris

Scottie’s Everything Box was special! Inside were many exciting things—useful things, pretty things, things Scottie found all around the neighborhood.

One morning as Scottie skipped down the sidewalk, he saw something sparkle by the edge of the road. He stooped over and picked up a bottle opener! Scottie didn’t have a bottle opener in his Everything Box. This one was only a little bit rusty, so he put it in his pocket.

Just as Scottie started skipping down the sidewalk again, a gust of wind blew some dry leaves across his path.

What’s that tumbling in the leaves, he wondered. It’s not red and yellow like the other leaves.

He bent down to catch whatever it was in his cupped hands. It was a blue feather. Scottie stroked his cheek with the feather. It felt soft and even tickled a little!

Scottie didn’t have a feather in his Everything Box, so he carefully put it in his pocket.

As Scottie skipped on down the sidewalk, he smiled as he thought of the bottle opener and feather he could add to his Everything Box.

The wind blew a pine cone off a tree. Scottie picked up the cone and smelled it. It reminded him of Christmas. He liked the prickly way the cone felt against his upper lip.

Scottie didn’t have a pine cone in his Everything Box, so he carefully put it in his pocket.

Scottie began to skip a little faster down the walk, wondering what he’d find next.

Soon he saw Mr. Anderson walking toward him. Just then the wind blew Mr. Anderson’s hat right off his head. It rolled along on its rim like a wheel. Scottie hurried to catch it.

“Here’s your hat, Mr. Anderson,” he said.

“Thank you, Scottie. And where are you going on this windy day?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“I’m looking for things to put in my Everything Box,” Scottie answered.

“I’ve never heard of an Everything Box before. Tell me about it,” said Mr. Anderson.

“Well, it’s a box of things I collect,” Scottie answered. “My dad collects stamps and I collect things.”

Mr. Anderson smiled. He reached in his pocket and took out a ballpoint pen.

“How would you like this pen?” he asked. “Let me show you how it works.”

Mr. Anderson turned the screw at the bottom of the pen and a black tip came out. He turned the screw again. The black tip disappeared and a green tip came out. When he turned it a third time, a red tip appeared.

“Wow!” Scottie exclaimed. “Three colors in one pen. Thanks a lot.”

Scottie had never seen a pen like that before. He slipped it into his pocket and started home.

The wind was getting colder and it was beginning to snow. The flakes quickly disappeared as they touched his tongue.

Scottie laughed. Here was something he couldn’t put in his pocket and take home for his Everything Box.

“Hi, Mom,” he called as he ran in the house. “Guess what I found today—a bottle opener, a feather, and a pine cone. And Mr. Anderson gave me a very special ball-point pen.”

Scottie stopped to catch his breath. He had been lucky to find so many new treasures for his Everything Box.

Scottie thought about the fun he’d had collecting things for his own very special Everything Box, but it was even more exciting to think about snowflakes and all the other things the world had in its Everything Box—wonderful things just waiting for Scottie to discover.