Alexandra Vaillancourt

Dateline Boston — This week I decided to finish a writing prompt that was given to me as part of a writing group I’m in. The prompt was, “If I were a rock…” I gave myself 6 minutes to write.

If I were a rock, I would be a small rock, small enough to be put into a child’s pocket. I would be gray, with a white stripe running through me.

The child would be walking along in the woods, on a hike. Not a climbing hike, more of a walk, but to a 4-year-old, a walk in the woods is called a hike.

The child, a girl, would be looking down at the ground, at the pine needles, and mushrooms and rocks, and notice me, because of my stripe. She would pick me up. She would say to her mother, “Mommy, look! I found a rock with a stripe in it!” And her mother would see it and make a big deal—“Ooh, that’s a keeper!”

The girl would tuck me into the pocket of her fleece jacket and check often to make sure I was still there.

Later, at home, the girl would rinse me off in the bathroom sink, dry me with her towel, and put me on the small table next to her bed. I would be the first of many striped rocks she would collect in the years to come.

Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com