1.
When Jonny was about eight years old, he discovered pushpins.
Brightly colored and sharp
Small enough to fit into a pocket
Or on a chair.
Jonny never felt like he really had a home.
(His parents were divorced, about to be divorced, or should have been divorced. He didn’t know which)
Jonny took walks in the fields near his home, pushing his pins, searching, for what he did not know. Once in a while his parents would ask him, “Where have you been?” Jonny would always reply, “No wheres important.”
2.
Jonny didn’t have any real friends. The other boys just couldn’t understand the magic of pushing a pin. Which could, and in Jonny’s hands did go anywhere. Jonny spent his time wandering around pushing his pins. He began to think of it as marking his territory, or saving a spot he really liked.
This became his obsession
It was very important to him to have something of his own.
This continued for about a year.
Jonny was now an expert he could evaluate a place instantly, by just a feeling. Touching the soft grass. The smell of the air. It had to feel right.
Jonny pushed many pins in his own room, but it was never enough to make it definitely his.
On just one more ordinary day it happened. (As important things always do.)
He was struck
He was baffled
Even a little fearful
There
Fairly close to one of his favorite spots was another pin,
A safety pin.
For more please consider buying the book.
