Little Ted had been given a small wooden box.
“It’s a keepsake box” said his Granny “You use it to keep special things safe.”
“What sort of things?” Little Ted asked.
“Oh it can be anything, like a pebble from a beach you’ve visited or a ticket for the cinema. It’s something that reminds you of a particular occasion and triggers a memory. It doesn’t have to appear to be anything special, it’s what it means to you that’s important.”
Little Ted thought about this. What should he put inside? His favourite soft toy Fluffy was special to him but he wasn’t sure that’s what his Granny meant.
“Should I put Fluffy inside? I’m not sure he will fit. Plus then I wouldn’t be able to cuddle him.”
“In that case its probably best not to shut him away in your box, but you could draw a picture of Fluffy and put that inside instead.”
Little Ted decided that was a good idea and spent the rest of the afternoon creating a drawing of Fluffy complete with his name in big letters and a cotton wool tail. And he made sure it wasn’t too big so that it fitted inside the box without folding.
“What else can I put in it?” Little Ted asked again.
“Well you don’t need to fill it completely today. The idea is you have a safe place to keep things and you can add to it over time. But if you’re looking for ideas of things to put inside it, I suggest thinking about the favourite place you’ve been on holiday and if you have a souvenir of that place?”
Little Ted knew then exactly what he wanted to put in the box. Last summer they had stayed in a log cabin which was surrounded by tall trees. Little Ted had enjoyed playing with the pine cones that had fallen from the trees and had made up lots of games. He practiced throwing them into a bucket, which was harder than it looked, tried to juggle with them, which was much harder than it looked and he had wrapped them in yarn and painted them bright colours, then hung the pine cones from the cabin’s railings.
His Daddy had also explained how pine cones could help tell you what the weather it was going to be like – in dry weather the pinecones would open and in wet weather they closed up. At the end of the holiday he had brought home with him the decorated pine cone he liked the best. It was sitting upstairs on the chest of drawers in his bedroom so he went and got it, and put it carefully in the box.
Now there was just one final thing he wanted to put in his keepsafe box today.
“Granny” Little Ted said “Have you got anything I can have, that will remind me of you when you’re not here?”
“We could ask your Mummy to take a photo of the two of us and print it out. Then you can put that in your box” suggested his Granny.
“Well we could do that” Little Ted said “but when I think of you I always think of those minty sweets you like. Have you got any in your handbag? I could put one of them in the box, or maybe just the wrapper – that way I will look at it and think of you.”
“I’m sure there’s a packet in here somewhere” laughed his Granny as she rummaged in her handbag. “Here you go, take one for your box and one for yourself. I think I’m now going to be forever remembered as minty Granny.”
The End