Elijah knelt in the warm soil and held up a shiny acorn. "A for acorn," he announced. Amelia clapped her muddy hands. "Let's find them all!" she shouted.
Elijah spotted a bright blue beetle crawling on a daisy stem and pointed. "B for beetle!" Amelia peeked under a rain barrel and gasped.
A fat green frog sits on a lily pad there. "C for frog!" they both shout, grinning at each other between the leafy rows.
By the time they find the zinnia and the quiet snail on the brick path, Elijah's brow is furrowed. "We missed Q and X," he says, kicking at a pebble.
The pebble skitters into the dirt with a soft scratch. Elijah slides down against the rose bush and stares at his empty collection bag. "Q and X are impossible," he mumbles, picking at a loose thread on his sleeve.
Amelia crouches beside him and points to the snail, which is slowly dragging its shell across the soft earth.
Elijah follows Amelia's finger and watches the snail's slimy trail curl into a perfect S, while the shell itself spirals into an O.
"And the snail IS the Z!" he breathes, scooping Amelia up and spinning her around until her hair whips the air.
