When Dexter opened his eyes, he spotted a bag laying near the gravel path. He got on one knee to take a look. The bag looked new and contained a square box the size of a softball — it was wrapped in yellow gift paper. Dexter bounced the box in one hand, testing the weight, Heavy... maybe expensive! Then it hit him: “I don’t need to buy Kate a gift now... this is perfect!” But, something weighed heavily in Dexter’s stomach, making him whisper, “Somebody lost this.”

Just then, Malvin came walking down the path. He was Dexter’s classmate, too. But Dexter didn’t like him because he talked back to teachers,

“What are you mumbling about?”.
Dexter held the bag open, “I found this laying beside the path.”

Malvin peeked in and twisted his mouth, “What do you think it is?”

Dexter shrugged, “Dunno... feels heavy, though.”

“Probably expensive.”

Dexter nodded.

Malvin lowered an eyebrow, “What you gonna do with it?”

“I should probably find the owner... I guess.”

“Don’t be a sissy! You need a gift for Kate’s party, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but...”

“But nothing! ‘Finders Keepers,’ right?”

Dexter didn’t want to admit it, but Malvin had told him exactly what he wanted to hear. Dexter nodded, “Sure... why not.”

Malvin curled his lip and snarled, “My mom told me to get something for Kate, too. But that’s okay.”

Dexter tilted his head, “Why’s that?”

“Cause she gave me the money to buy it with!” Malvin laughed. He started running down the path toward the store, leaving Dexter to stand alone.

Dexter looked at the yellow gift then up and down the path. He tried, without success, to shrug the lump in his stomach away. But the choice was made — he walked toward home, feeling the weight of his found gift as he went.

Dexter lived in a small house with his mother. His father died in a fishing accident five years earlier. When people asked Dexter “How are you doing,” he borrowed his mother’s words: “We manage.” His mother was folding laundry when Dexter walked through the back door, “I’m home!”

She looked at the wall clock, “You better get going... train’s leaving soon.”

“Pretty cool about Kate’s party, huh?”

“About having it on the train? Yeah, that was nice of her parents to arrange that.” She looked at the bag dangling by her son’s side, “I hope you bought her something nice.”

Dexter looked out the window at an imaginary seagull, “Yeah... and, uh... what’s that thing you’re going to?”

Dexter’s mother grunted a basketful of laundry to her hip, following her son’s eyes out the window, “You mean the mayor’s special dinner?”

“That’s it.”

“He’s been our mayor for ten years this month, so some of us are giving him a little ‘Thank-you.’”

Dexter reached for a jacket with his free hand, “Too bad you can’t come on the train ride.”

“Oh well... make sure you say ‘Hi’ to Kate’s folks for me.”

Dexter tugged on the back door, shooting his words through as it closed,

“Okay, see you tonight!”

He heard his mother ask “What did you buy Kate...” as he clicked the door shut, but pretended not to hear.

The train station was make of red brick. It was home to The Express: the only thing on wheels that went to Cuddleberry Cove. The conductor’s name was Orville. He was older, and covered his bald head with a blue-striped cap. A snake of steam hissed from a brass pipe atop the engine — Dexter liked the way the white mist curled around nearby branches.

Kate and her parents were standing beside the steel steps that lead to the dining car. Dexter rolled the loose bag tight around his gift and tucked it under his jacket, “Hi, Kate.” He nodded to her parents. They smiled back.

Kate looked around the station, “Hi, Dexter. You seen the others?”

“Saw Malvin earlier.”

Kate lowered an eyebrow and whispered into Dexter’s ear, “His parents and my parents are friends... you know.”

Dexter shot a glance to Kate’s parents and nodded slightly. “So... where we going, anyway?”

Kate shrugged, “Dad told Orville to ‘surprise us,’ whatever that means.”

Dexter looked around at the others that were gathering, then to Kate, “I guess we can climb aboard.”

Kate smiled when she saw Dexter hiding his gift behind his back, Only Dexter would pretend not to bring a gift to a birthday party! She looked over to her parents who were climbing the steel steps, “Yup. Let’s go.”

As Dexter stood in the dining car, he looked out a window. A lady was searching the same spot on the path where he found the yellow gift. Dexter gulped. His heart told him to run to the lady, but his feet turned to steel, just like the slowly-turning train wheels.

Kate’s mother was standing at a table at the far end of the dining car. One hand balanced a shiny knife over a colorful cake (with ten candles) while the other gripped a window ledge for balance, “Everyone please find a seat until we get going.”

Dexter took his seat beside Birthday Girl — she saved it for him. Everyone else at the party placed their gifts under the cake table, but Dexter slid his gift under his chair. Kate’s party took up a quarter of the dining car: mostly Kate’s classmates, with two tables-full of parents.

The vibration from the train engine grew stronger; Dexter could tell that Orville the conductor was building speed for the big hill. Kate’s mother sat down in her chair and announced to her guests, “I’ll wait until after the climb before passing out drinks.”

Everyone looked at one another, nodding.

Kate and Dexter had made that trip often; they knew exactly when to lean and when to grab something solid. From the crest of the hill, Kate turned to Dexter, “I love how small the town looks from up here.”

Dexter had a comment all ready-to-go. It went something like, Cuddleberry Cove is so small, It’s amazing you can see anything at all. But he touched the yellow gift with his foot — remembering the gift drained all the funny from Dexter’s brain.

Malvin sat on the table across the aisle from Dexter. His smirking classmate kept darting his eyes toward Dexter’s gift. Kate looked at Malvin, then to Dexter “What’s he looking at?”

Dexter squirmed in his chair, “Who knows? You know how hyper he gets sometimes.”

When the hill was behind them, everyone released their grips and leaned back in their seats. Kate’s mother passed out the drinks, then carried the birthday cake to Kate’s table (she blew the candles out in one go). When the cake was eaten, Kate’s father lead a few party games. Then came the time that made Dexter sweat: time for Kate to open her gifts.


Kate’s mother stacked gifts in front of her suddenly-ten-year-old daughter. The mood in the dining car became electric. A fresh wave of smiles rolled across the sea of faces each time Kate opened a new gift — some were pure fun, but most were practical. What they had in common was their limited dollar value. All gifts were opened except Dexter’s.

Kate cleared her throat and glanced toward Dexter’s feet, “Well?”

Dexter bent down and grabbed the soft, smooth bag; he lowered it to the table with a clunk. All heads turned to face Kate. Everyone watched, waiting for her to open her last gift — especially Malvin.

Kate reached into the bag and pulled out the yellow box, “Oohh, this is heavy!”

Two kids at the next table looked at each other and whispered, “Probably expensive.”

Malvin rubbed his hands together, smirking.

Kate tugged the last scrap of wrapping from the box. She caught a cardboard flap with one fingernail, “This is sooo exciting!”

Dexter looked behind him, to the door that led from the dining car. He wondered for a moment if anyone would notice him hiding in the bathroom.

Kate burrowed into a nest of thin, white paper — her fingers found smooth, solid metal. Her puzzled gaze changed into stunned amazement when she pulled out a heavy brass clock.

Everyone gasped, even Malvin.

Kate turned the clock around to see all sides, her eyes widened, “This must have cost you a fortune!”

Dexter studied the ceiling.

Kate’s mother pointed to the glimmering gift, “There’s something engraved on there...”

Dexter shot his eyes to the clock.

“...It says, ‘For Ten Great Years.’”

Kate’s eyes turned round like the clock-face, “Oh, Dexter! This is such a wonderful gift!”

Malvin’s parents and Kate’s parents shared a table; Malvin’s mother raised her finger in the air, “I’ve seen that clock before... and it belongs to Mrs Krandle.”

The clatter of tracks was the only sound in the dining car. But the piercing eyeballs made Dexter squirm in his chair.

Kate removed her hands from the clock as if it had suddenly turned radioactive, “Dexter... what’s going on?”

One of Dexter’s classmates spoke up, “Yeah, she’s my aunt. She bought that clock for the mayor.”

Kate crossed her arms and lowered her eyebrows, “Dexter?”

He decided it was too late for the run-to-the-bathroom option — it was way past that. Dexter’s feet, which once felt like steel, turned to wet concrete. The image of the lady searching the gravel path popped into his brain, So that’s Mrs Krandle. He shook his head, wondering how that thought got in there. Dexter choked past the dry straw feeling in his throat, “Well... I... kinda found it.”

A cowardly comment drifted from the corner of the dining car, “Yeah, he found it at Mrs Krandle’s house.”

“No,” answered Dexter, wiggling taller in his chair, “It was beside the path near the General Store.”

Kate tilted her head, “But that doesn’t make any sense... why didn’t you try to find the owner?”

“Well, you know ‘Finder’s keepers,’ right?” Dexter looked over to Malvin for support, but he was too busy destroying a foam cup and looking over to his parents.

Kate put her elbows on the table, cradling her head with her hands, “This isn’t some muddy quarter, Dexter!”

“Yeah... but...”

“And now Mrs Krandle is probably losing her mind looking for this thing.”

Dexter chased cake crumbs around the table with a plastic fork, “It was so perfect. I needed a gift, and there one was laying on the path, and...”

“And you didn’t have to spend any of your chore money.”

Dexter hated how Kate saw through his lame excuses, especially when she was right. He looked over to Malvin again, but his eyes were like opposite magnets: avoiding contact. To Dexter’s great relief, everyone at the party had started chatting again.

The train was pulling back into the station, signaling the end of Kate’s party. Malvin watched his parents leave the dining car; he slid over and sat across from Kate, “Dexter found that thing fair and square. Why should he return it?”

Dexter shrugged.

Kate put her hands out, “What if everybody did that... you know, kept things that other people lost?”

Malvin twisted his mouth into a sneer, “So?”

Dexter’s eyes darted between Kate and Malvin.

Kate suddenly pointed a finger to Malvin’s chest, “Remember that time you left your bike at the library?”

Malvin twitched his eyes from side to side, frowning, “And?”

Dexter sprung to life, sitting bolt upright in his chair, “Oh yeah... and I rode it to your house!” Once he’d spoken those words, Dexter knew he’d just let the air out of his ‘finder’s keepers’ argument.

Kate’s pointing hand fanned open to form an open palm, “You see?”

Dexter’s brain was swept into a vivid daydream, What would Cuddleberry Cove be like if people kept things that didn’t belong to them? He found himself trying to ride his bicycle. But it was so weighed-down with locks and chains, that peddling down that gravel path was nearly impossible. The farther he peddled, the more thick chains and bulky locks grew along the handlebars. The chains and locks turned into a tangle of vines, wrapping themselves around Dexter’s hands, arms, feet, and legs...

Kate wondered why her friend looked so spaced-out. Then it occurred to her, Dexter’s off on one of his daydreams again. She snapped her fingers in front of his nose, “Back to Earth, Dream-boy.”

Dexter jolted back and blinked his eyes.

Malvin grumbled and huffed.

Kate looked out the window and saw her mother; she answered Kate’s gaze, pointing to her wristwatch. Kate looked at Dexter, “We better get going.” She lifted the brass clock and guided it into the plastic bag, “I’d better hang onto this thing... at least until we get it back to Mrs Krandle.”

Malvin pushed away from the table and stomped out of the dining car. Dexter watched him jump to the platform and run to his parents (who were chatting beside the train station). Dexter followed Kate down the steel ladder and onto the concrete station platform.

Dexter reached into his pocket and felt his crumpled money — something was different. Touching chore money used to make his head spin with possibilities. But at that moment, Dexter only recalled the sag in his good friend’s face when she discovered the gift wasn’t hers. He wished with all his might that he could trade his wad of money for one of Kate’s smiles.

Dexter followed Kate to the huddle of chatting parents, he kicked a pebble along the concrete walkway. Kate and Dexter overheard them talking about “catching the last of the mayor’s party.”

Kate’s eyes twinkled as she held up the gift, “Wanna go?”

Dexter nodded, feeling the lump in his stomach shrink a little.

* * *

The mayor’s party was held at the Cuddleberry Cafe. It had a special room in the back that everyone in town used for parties. Dexter’s mother was gathering dishes from a table when they entered the room. The mayor was sitting at the longest table, surround by a cluster of gifts. Kate spotted Mrs Krandle walking toward the door, fastening a button on her checkered overcoat.

Kate walked in front of her blocking her way. Mrs Krandle looked down to Kate and lowered an eyebrow. Kate held the bag out and removed the clock.

Mrs Krandle’s face shone with a 200 watt smile, “You found my clock!”

Kate looked over to Dexter, who was trying his best to melt into the wallpaper, “Dexter did, actually.”

Mrs Krandle wasted no time in walking to the mayor’s table. She stood upright across from the mayor, holding the clock toward him with straight arms, “It is my great honor to present you with this clock... a small token of my gratitude.”

The mayor’s eyes widened, his mouth gaped. He formed a cradle with his hands; Mrs Krandle lowered in the heavy brass gift. The mayor felt the weight of the clock, “Thank you very much! This must’ve been very expensive.”

Mrs Krandle lowered her eyes, “I was so worried that I’d never see it again.”

The mayor placed the clock on the table and rubbed his chin, “Where did it go?”

“I was pushing my little cart along on my way back from the train station. I must’ve hit a bump or something.”

“So, Kate found it?”

“Dexter did.”

Dexter pleaded to Kate with his eyes; they said, Please don’t tell them what I did with the clock!

Kate paused, wondering to herself how long she should let Dexter squirm. Dexter stepped from foot to foot, twisting his jacket into a tight wad.

Kate smiled to the mayor, “That’s right... good ol’ Dexter!”

Mrs Krandle reached into her purse and pulled out a leather wallet, “Now see here, Dexter. You deserve a nice reward for finding my gift.”

Dexter shot his hand up, face white, “No! Don’t you da... I mean, no thanks, Mrs Krandle.”

The mayor looked at Mrs Krandle, they both shrugged their shoulders.

Kate looked at Dexter and smirked, “Thanks for offering, Mrs Krandle. But Dexter has a small appointment to keep at the General Store.”

All of the energy from Dexter’s shaky nerves shot to his feet — he grabbed Kate by her coat-sleeve and bolted for the door.

When they slowed to a walk, Dexter turned to his friend, “Thanks for... you know.”

Kate shrugged, “Does that mean that you’re all done with that ‘finders keepers’ stuff?”

Dexter reached into his pocket and pulled out his wad of money, extending his hand.

Kate lifted Dexter’s hand and examined the paper bills, “Oohh, that’s a-lot!”

“I’m not sure it’s enough.”

Kate tilted her head, “Enough for what?”

“For one of your smiles.”

The end.

©Brian Rodda 2008

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