childhood days

I had a special cigar box.... well, many special cigar boxes, but come the Fall one was always lined in cotton (the kind that comes rolled in blue tissue paper); maybe a small piece of fabric, too. Walking to school, or maybe walking the dog, I'd come upon the leaves and small rocks; an acorn, a yellow bead from someone's bracelet. Unattached to tree or boulder or the wrist of a girl... cold, and even lonely.At home I'd tuck them on a cotton bed, and cover them with cloth.