the boy, the shells, and the pail

the old gentleman watched from afar as the little boy clutched onto his big blue pail, scowering the beach for sea shells.

"Oh!" the little boy would exclaim as he bent down to inspect the shells that caught his eye.

"you have such a pretty color! let me put you in my pail with all the other ones that i have picked up along the way."

and that is just what he did.

"Oh! you have such a unique shape! let me put you in my pail with all the other ones that i have picked up along the way."

and he did so.

as he picked up more and more shells, there was then less and less space in his pail. soon, he could no longer put any more shells in his pail.

"Oh! you make such a beautiful sound when i put you to my ear! let me put you in my pail with all the other ones that i have picked up along the way."

but the little boy could not because his pail was full.

the old gentleman looked on curiously, "what will he do, now that his pail is full, i wonder?"

and just as he had finished wondering, did he see the little boy tip his pail upside-down, letting all the shells he had picked up fall back onto the beach.

the little boy looked for a moment at all the shells that he had picked up, laying there on the beach.

then he looked at his big blue pail. he saw that it was empty, and could feel that it was lighter.

"such is the sadness of life," mused the old gentleman as he nodded to himself, "you spent all that time gathering beautiful shells, but you cannot keep them all in the end."

the little boy stood for a moment longer, looking at the shells as the waves began to wash them away.

he then looked at the shell that he was still holding, the one that made a beautiful sound when he placed it against his ear, and placed it down next to the ones that were beginning to be swept away.

"thank you, sea shells, for spending time in my big blue pail. he and i shall remember all the good times that we had together." said the little boy as he waved the sea shells 'goodbye'.

and the sea shells smiled. and the big blue pail smiled. and the boy smiled.

"my big blue pail is special because of you."

and the old gentleman smiled, because he knew that it was true.

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gargh... stories aren't as good when i think them up myself...