It seemed an odd place to leave an
egg. Out here, in the middle of nowhere. How many people had come this
way, I could not tell. There was not path, not even the wayward trails
left behind by animals. The river was far enough away that it would
attract more people than this little alcove of pine trees. The sunlight
was filtered out almost completely. I had expected nothing but solitude
and yet, there, hidden among the stones at the base of the largest pine
tree, was a colored plastic egg. Purple with pink stripes. The
discovery had stopped me dead in my tracks. Now, I inched forward, my
eyes scanning the world for some signs of something. A voyeur with a
video camera. perhaps? A child at play? Nope. Nothing. I kicked at the
plastic item gingerly with my boot, as if expecting the egg to explode.
It moved, shifted and then did a wiggling roll off the rocks and
stopped near my foot. I reached down and picked it up. The egg was not
empty. I shook it. Something was inside. Again, I looked around to see
if I were being played for the fool. No. I was alone. The egg twisted
slowly in my hands, and the halves released their grip. Inside was a
plastic baggie. My first thought was that I had uncovered a drug run of
some sort. A cache of cocaine or pot. Walking away would be the wisest
thing to do. Yet, I had come this far and could not resist my
curiosity. The bag opened up and a note dropped to the ground. I bent
down and saw the thin outline of faded handwriting. I unfolded the
paper and read: "Congratulations! You are a winner!" and that was it.
Nothing about what I won or why I was winning or what to do to claim my
prize. I carefully put the paper into the bag, and then the bag into
the egg, and then twisted the egg closed. Holding the object in my
fist, I scrambled east for about a quarter of a mile, deeper in the
woods than ever before, and there, I found a hollow tree. I left the
egg there and made my way home, a winner.
