The Thinking Rock

The Thinking Rock

Teresa was a kind little girl. She never fought with her brother or sister. She was the oldest and had responsibilities with that position in her family. She tried to help her mother whenever she could, but sometimes she would get lost in her own little world of make believe and wander away from the yard. Teresa's family moved to North Dakota over a year ago from Ohio. Dad had needed to move for his job. They were all settling in pretty well by now. Teresa had made some friends, but her best friend Beth lived just down the street from her. Behind Teresa's house was a stream and she a Beth would explore the stream for miles it seemed, on the days she wasn't needed by her mother.
On this particular day Teresa was given the all clear to spend the day with Beth and whatever little girls did when they were together.
"Just stay close to the house and don't wander too far away today Teresa," Mom said.
"Okay Mom, we'll stay within earshot. I'm going over to get Beth," Teresa yelled as she left out the door.
It only took Teresa a few minutes to reach Beth's house. She skipped up the sidewalk and knocked on the door.
"Hi Mrs. Andrews, can Beth come out to play today?" Teresa asked Beth's mom when she answered the door.
"I'm sorry Teresa. Beth went out with her father today. They won't be home until dinner time," Mrs. Andrews then invited Teresa in for some cookies.
"No thanks. I'm going to enjoy the stream before it starts to get cold." Teresa answered and turned away to cross back to her house.
As she walked home she was wondering what to do. She could go inside and surprise Mom and help her with you sister. Tara was only 2 years old and could be a handful at times. But it was naptime and Tara would be sleeping for a few hours. Todd and Dad were busy washing the cars. Todd was 7 and loved working with Dad. Teresa was 10 and she liked being the oldest. She got to stay up later than her brother and sister. Mom let her "help" more too. She had responsibilities and she got a larger allowance than Todd.
She decided she would enjoy the stream like she had told Mrs. Andrews. It was turning chilly at night but today was warm enough not to wear a jacket or sweater. She went in the backyard and down to the stream. She sat on her thinking rock for quite awhile. Teresa loved her thinking rock. The stream was frozen a large part of the year, but not today. Teresa did all her best thinking sitting on this rock. Today, the stream was pretty full after the rain they had the past few days. She sat on her rock wondering what she should do for the rest of the day.
As she sat there thinking she looked up and saw a beautiful purple little flower connected to a branch that hung over the stream. Funny, she thought to herself, I don't ever remember seeing flowers like that down here before.
She got off her big thinking rock and walked over to the branch. She had to reach a little bit, but there was a large branch to hold onto to support her. After two reaches, she was able to grab the flower. She immediately brought it to her nose to smell its scent. It reminded her of spring and it made her kind of sad to think the autumn was just around the corner.
As she climbed up on her rock again, she slipped since her shoes had gotten a little wet when she was reaching for the flower. The flower fell into the water and started to float down the stream. Teresa quickly jumped straight into the shallow part of the stream and started to follow it. This was the greatest idea! She would follow the flower and then write in her notebook tonight all the adventures of the day so she could share this with Beth.
She wondered down the stream paying close attention to staying in the shallow part. Sometimes there was enough land on the sides that she didn't need to be in the water at all. Teresa didn't want to get into trouble if her shoes and socks got completely wet. Up ahead there was a part in the stream where you could either go left or right. Beth said it was called a fork in the stream. Teresa and Beth agreed that it didn't look anything like a fork. They just called it the Great Y. There were other Y's in the stream depending on which way you went. Teresa and Beth never followed the stream past Mr. McNickels farm. That was the furthest they could go and still hear one of their mom's calling for them.
They spent many days in the stream behind Mr. McNickels farm. Sometimes the animals came right up to the fence and the girls would stop and pet them. Mr. McNickels had a lot of animals. He had cows, chickens, horses, hens and a lot of dogs. Rogers the dog was Teresa's favorite. He was a big, black hairy dog and he loved to kiss Teresa on the face. It tickled quite a bit. Teresa never had a pet, but if she could ever have one, she wanted one just like Rogers. Mr. McNickels teased the girls sometimes telling them he was going to start naming them and using them like his hunting dogs since they both spent so much time behind the farm.
"It's nice to see I have two pet fish today." Mr. McNickels said to the girls one day when they were playing in the stream.
The girls giggled and splashed him and he left them alone and went back to work.
Today, the animals looked quite content lying in the sun. The cows were out in another pasture grazing on the hill. As soon as Rogers saw Teresa, he came running up the fence wagging his tail and jumping up on the fence.
"Hello Rogers," Teresa yelled, "can't stop to play today ‘ol boy, I'm on a mission. I'm following this flower and writing about it so Beth won't miss out on the day. I'll stop and play with you on the way home."
Mr. McNickels was just around the bend digging a hole and he heard Teresa talking to Rogers. "Don't follow it too far little one, wouldn't want you to go too far alone."
"I won't go far Mr. McNickels, I'm just going to follow it a little while." Teresa didn't even look up to see him. She kept her eyes glued to the little purple flower.
Mr. McNickels wiped his forehead with his handkerchief and got back to his digging. "She'll be ok Rogers, she's a big girl." He was trying to console the whining dog.
Teresa never realized how far Mr. McNickels farm went. She kept following the pretty flower trying to remember which way she was going. There were a lot of Y's in the stream. Right, right, left, right, left. She kept saying it over and over in her head.
She noticed the way the flower would never go completely under the water. She really was amazed how far it had gone so far. She kept following the stream and the little flower. After a while she started to notice a familiar smell. As she followed the stream to the right at the next Y, the smell got even stronger. When Teresa walked just around the bend, she looked up and saw the most beautiful area she had ever seen. The stream opened up and everywhere she looked Teresa saw the purple flowers. There were bushes and bushes of the flowers. She couldn't believe what a special spot she had found. There was even a large rock right across the stream on the other side, for her to sit on and think. Her very own thinking rock right here in this beautiful place!
She crossed the stream over the rocks that were sticking up and quickly climbed up on her new thinking rock. She had long forgotten the flower she had been following. This was far more important for her to remember. The little flower had done its job by leading her to this great place. Now all she had to do was sit and enjoy her new discovery.
She pretended she was a princess in her own fairytale. She loved fairytales. When Daddy read her bedtime stories, she always asked for one about princesses that fell in love. She decided to make a necklace out of the flowers and quickly started walking around collecting great branches to wind around each other. After she made one, she decided to make one for Beth. She hoped they would be nice to wear to school on Monday. After the necklaces were made, she climbed back on the thinking rock and began to imagine a life of royalty. She wondered what her horse would look like, and what the prince would look like when she married him. She knew she was too young, but it was fun to pretend. She didn't realize just how tired she was getting and she laid her head down on the thinking rock and closed her eyes.
Meanwhile at home, Mom was calling for Teresa. It was getting late and would be dinnertime soon and she couldn't understand why Teresa wasn't answering her. She waited a few minutes and called out for her again. There was still no answer. She went inside and called Beth's house.
"Hello Marie, is Teresa over there with Beth?" She asked, trying not to sound too concerned so she wouldn't scare her friend.
"No Susan, she came by earlier but I told her Beth was with Tom today. She mentioned that she was going to go down by the stream. That was the last time I saw her." Mrs. Andrews answered.
"Ok, thanks Marie. I'll have Jeff go search for her down by the stream. I'll call you when we find her so you won't worry." Susan thanked her friend and hung up.
She found her husband Jeff and Todd playing ball outside. "Jeff, Teresa isn't answering my call and I'm starting to get worried about her. Could you and Todd go down the stream to Mr. McNickels and see if you could find her?"
"Sure honey, we'd be happy to. Keep the dinner going; we'll be home with her soon. Don't worry, she's probably down there playing with ‘ol Rogers." Teresa's dad gave his wife a hug and headed down to the stream with his son.
When they reached Mr. McNickels farm the dog that Teresa favored came running up to the fence to greet them. "Hello Rogers, have you seen Teresa?" Todd asked the dog.
"Come on son, let me lift you over the fence and we'll go ask Mr. McNickels if he saw your sister at all today." Jeff lifted his son over the fence and climbed over it himself. Immediately the dog started to jump on Todd and lick him. He was the friendliest dog Todd had ever seen.
They walked up the hill to Mr. McNickels barn and found him taking care of some of his horses. "Hey Mike, sorry to bother you, but we were wondering if you saw Teresa at all today?"
Mike McNickels looked up and saw Teresa's father and brother standing in the doorway to the barn. He had quite a concerned look on his face. "You mean she hasn't come home yet? Yes, I saw her following a flower down the stream, but that was about 3 hours ago Jeff. She told me she wouldn't go far. Let's take Rogers with us and go search for her before it gets dark."
They quickly made their way down to the stream. Todd was starting to really get worried about his sister. She never did anything like this. She always obeyed Mom and Dad. Rogers seemed to know what he was doing because he quickly started to sniff for Teresa and run down the stream. They all tried to keep pace with the dog, but Todd just couldn't run that fast.
When they came to a major Y is the stream, Rogers seemed to know it was the right side Teresa had chosen. They all followed him praying that the dog was choosing the right direction. They were constantly calling her name.
Teresa woke up in her new spot and was completely confused. Where was she? It was pretty dark and she couldn't make sense of her surroundings around her. It wasn't until she touched the necklace that she realized she was in her new spot. She couldn't wait to tell Beth all about it, but that quickly left her mind when she realized it was dark and she didn't know how to get home. Fear set in and she started to cry.
"Please God, help me remember my way home." She said a little prayer, hoping it would comfort her.
She realized that as long as she walked against the flow of the stream she would eventually find her way home. Tears fell on her cheeks and she had to admit she was truly scared. Mr. McNickels farm was nowhere in sight. There were no houses anywhere in sight. She started to panic. She stopped walking and sat down near the stream. She didn't know what else to do.
Rogers had kept up a really good pace and Mike McNickels had a hard time keeping up with him. Jeff and Todd decided a while back to go home so Todd could stay safely at home and Jeff could come back out with flashlights and a blanket. Teresa would be cold when they found her.
When Jeff returned home with Todd alone, his wife really started to panic. "Don't worry honey, we're going to find her. Mike is out with Rogers looking for her and I'm going back out." They said a quick prayer to God to keep their little girl safe and Jeff grabbed what he needed and left.
Teresa was sitting and silently crying. She was tired, hungry and she had no idea what to do next. She had such a wonderful day, how could it end this way? She thought she heard a dog barking in the distance. She could even faintly hear someone's voice. She started to yell for help.
A few minutes later Teresa saw the most wonderful sight! It was Rogers!! He came bounding up to her and ran right over and started licking her all over her face. "Oh Rogers! I'm so glad you found me boy! I don't know how to get home!" Teresa put her arms around the loving dog and hugged him close to her.
Not too long after that Mr. McNickels came up on the dog and frightened little girl. He scooped her up in his arms and gave her a big hug. "Teresa, we were so worried about you little one. Didn't I tell you not to go far by yourself today?"
She knew she would be in trouble for that, but it felt nice to be safe and warm in Mr. McNickels arms.
"I'm sorry Mr. McNickels. I found the most wonderful spot today. It was so pretty and I lost the time. I fell asleep on my new thinking rock and when I woke up it was dark and I was scared." She said this as she buried her head into his chest. "Thank you for coming to look for me."
Your father isn't far behind us. Come on child, let me get you home before your mother worries any longer." Mike called the dog to him and then Rogers lead the way up the stream toward the farm.
Teresa fell asleep in Mr. McNickels arms and woke up when she heard her father's voice.
"Daddy!" She cried. "I'm so sorry Daddy! I won't ever go down the stream again. I found a beautiful spot that I would love to share with Beth. I couldn't remember my way home."
Jeff put his arms around his daughter and wrapped her in a blanket he brought from home. He wanted to scold her but he was so thankful God brought her home safely. "Come on little girl, let's get you home and you can tell us all about it while we put you in bed."
He thanked Mike and Rogers for finding her and they promised to come and check on her in the morning. "Rogers is the best dog in the world Mr. McNickels. I think I'll bring him a bone tomorrow." Teresa said.
"You just go home and give your mom a hug. When you are feeling adventurous you can come visit us and play with Rogers soon. Good night little one." Mr. McNickels gave her a kiss on the forehead and headed home with Rogers.

Mom was really happy to see me when we returned. Todd even gave me a hug. I had the best time and the most frightening time today. I know God helped me return home safely. Dad says he will take Beth and me exploring next weekend so we can try to find the special spot and I promised Dad I would never go there alone. I can't wait to tell Beth all about my day.

Teresa closed her notebook and went fast to sleep.