Elle felt a strange sensation in her fingers as she carefully washed the bone free from layers of caked-on mud and sludge to examine it closer. Her fingertips tingled as she turned it in her fingers. She felt a rush of excitement --had she actually discovered a fossil? All her life she had been dreaming of it. Literally dreaming of it! Flunking pop-quizzes while dreaming of it!!

She felt like she was dreaming now, the background noise of the burbling stream and whispering wind in the leaves from the Old Wood disappeared. For a moment, the bone became the epicenter of the universe.

Her logical side clambered to be heard above the excitement and told her that it was probably just the mortal remains from a bird or a small animal, which wouldn't be that unusual to find. The neighbor’s black tom-cat, Night, was notorious for stalking and preying on small creatures in these woods. Elle often had to chase him away from the young squirrels and birds that she fed. Over the last year alone, the population of creatures in the woods was dwindling at a steady pace. Elle hardly ever saw a bird or a squirrel in the yard anymore. And yet, now that she thought about it, she had never come across the remains of any animals before now.

As she looked at it more carefully, though, she realized that it was unique: not like a normal bone at all. It was incredibly light-weight and delicate, about an inch long and half as thin as a pencil. It seemed to flash when the sun hit it just right and, it might have been her imagination, but the bone also seemed slightly warm to the touch, even though it had been submerged in the frigid waters of the creek for who knows how long. The dream-like feeling intensified; she could sense things at the edge of her vision, like streaks of color that disappeared when she turned her head to look.

She sprinted up to the house and crashed through the back door and tripped over her boots in her dash to reach her grandmother’s shabby green reading chair by the fireplace. For a split second, she was excited to show her mother, who would love this sort of thing. She stopped abruptly, remembering with a crash of pain that her mother was gone.

Her grandpa looked up, startled by Elle’s loud entrance. He set his book in his lap and smiled at Elle.

“Grandpa!” Elle rushed towards him, “Look what I found in the creek! It’s a bone, and it looks super old! But don’t touch it! ” She grabbed a tissue and fished it out of her pocket.” The oils from our hands might destroy it!"

“Well, how exciting! Let’s take a look at it,” her grandpa said smiling, rubbing his gnarled hands together.

He carefully set his book on the arm of the chair and carefully pushed himself up using mostly his arms. His legs wobbled as he picked up his cane. He transferred his weight onto the cane and hobbled over to the corner desk piled high with old books and papers and slid the cover off a high-powered magnifying glass. Elle reverentially set the bone onto the desk and stood back.

“Hmmm….!” her grandpa said slowly after studying the small bone for a while in silence. “Where did you find this?” he asked.

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“In the creek,” Elle said eagerly, "By the large, smooth flat rock. Can you tell what animal it’s from?” She was making a real effort to not bounce up and down.

“I don’t believe it,” he said under his breath, studying the bone in detail.

“What is it?!!” Elle squealed, nearly bursting with anticipation.

“Absolutely no idea,” Grandpa said abruptly, stepping away from the magnifying glass and grabbing his cane. “Now, what diabolical concoction is Mindy brewing up for us to eat tonight?” He asked as he slowly navigated towards a bubbling pot on the stove and poked a spoon into it with his back to Elle.

Elle looked from the bone to her grandfather’s stooped back. Undeterred by the topic switch, she loped over to the stove, holding up the bone. “Grandpa! What is it? I know you know,” Elle demanded.

“You don’t want to know,” he said darkly, stirring the mixture on the stove.

“Yes, I do!”

“No. No, you don’t,” he shook his head emphatically.

“Grandpa…” Elle wheedled, totally exasperated.

“Oh, fine,” he sighed. “It’s probably chicken,” he said.

Elle sagged sadly. “Oh…I thought it was maybe…” she mumbled the last few words “…a dinosaur or something.”

“Goodness, no! That would be way too tough to eat,” her grandpa said.

Elle stared at her Grandpa for a second. “Eat?” Elle asked, confused.

“Yes. Mindy would never cook dinosaur for dinner--not that I haven’t asked.” Her grandpa said. He carefully lifted a spoonful of the boiling concoction to his mouth, blew on it and slurped it loudly. “Yup. Tastes like chicken. Well….chicken-ish,” he said, winking at her.

“Grandpa!” Elle exhaled, exasperated. “I’m talking about this bone!” Elle nearly stamped her boot, as she held the bone in front of his face. She had endured hours of Kat’s slow-burn snobbery and Mr. Schmuck’s gym shorts today, and she was in no mood for Grandpa’s strange brand of senile jokes.

“Ok, I know, I know. Sorry-I was just trying to lighten the mood,” her grandpa said and sighed, suddenly serious. “But in all honesty, I really don’t know, Elle…”

“You don’t know what it is?” Elle cut in, incredulously. This coming from the man that could identify a small solar-system in a night sky packed with stars? The man that could speciate birds based on their calls? The one who knew all seven types of poison ivy growing in the forest?

“Well, now, I didn’t say that,” her grandpa said defensively, setting down the spoon with a clatter. “Zoological forensics was never my specialty, but…” he broke off.

“But you know every animal in these woods, Grandpa!”

“Elle—I think you should forget about this bone,” he said simply, looking away.

“Why? Oh-I get it. You mean it’s just some old bone, and I shouldn’t waste my time on it, right? It’s O.K. you can tell me the truth. I’m not a little kid anymore, I won’t be disappointed,” Elle sighed, clearly disappointed. She was having a flashback to when she was six and her mother had to have a Santa Claus intervention for her.

“I’m right, aren’t I? It’s nothing special, right?” Elle said glumly.

“Well, I didn’t say that, either,” her grandpa said as he limped arthritically towards the shabby green chair and sank down again. “Come here,” he said seriously. “Come on. I need to have a word with you,” her grandpa’s blue eyes blazed as he looked at his granddaughter.

Elle slowly shuffled over a few steps to face her grandfather, feeling like a naughty child. He took her gently by the arm and said, “I think it is special, Elle. It’s special because you found it.” He enveloped her in a slightly smothering embrace. He smelled like the woods outside, old, mysterious and slightly musty.

“Ok, Grandpa,” Elle mumbled from the depths of his moth-eaten cardigan. She awkwardly disentangled herself and looked down at the small bone in her hand, avoiding the piercing blue gaze, trying not to let her face betray her emotions.

She had been so eager to have finally found something originally unique, something that wasn’t part of a daydream. Elle knew that her grandpa was proud of any piece of trash she brought home, and would treat it like it was the most amazing discovery ever. Like the summer when she was five years old, and she brought home what turned out to be a fossilized cat dropping. Her grandfather had gone on and on about her scientific prowess, as though the cat excrement was the next Rosetta Stone. She had been crushed when she found out the truth the next day at pre-school show-n-tell.

But luckily her mother had been there. She had scooped her up and tickled her until she was forced to stop crying and she had nearly exploded with laughter. Her mother had said that same thing—“it’s special because you found it.” To hear it now from her grandpa was almost too much. This was disappointment on top of disappointment. She knew the bone wasn’t special. And she knew she wasn’t special, either.