Lakeview Elementary School and Mill Creek Middle School had been built at the same time, sharing the same large plot of land. And so, it was not uncommon for 4th or 5th graders to run around the chain link fence that divided the two, and join some of the impromptu games being played on the middle school's baseball diamond or basketball court. And while Mikey Gibson wasn't the most gifted athlete at Lakeview Elementary, his favorite movie was The Sandlot.
So when Mikey's bus arrived, as always, an hour before his class started, and as he could see the middle schoolers beginning to form up teams, he ran across the bus drop-off loop, around the chain link fence, and, breathing heavily, declared "I'm playing!"
And that is where Mikey Gibson's story ends, for now. Because in his haste, he dropped the show-and-tell rock that he'd taken from his brother's room onto the grass, just in front of the door that opened up from the middle school gym and lead out to the field. He wouldn't realize his mistake until later in the day, during Show and Tell, when he would quickly improvise a toy car with an eraser and four thumbtacks to avoid a failing grade.
But what of the stone, itself?
