The leaf had kept him company from the center of town almost as far as his home.
At first he had noticed, with the corner of his eye, a slight movement somewhere to his right, on the ground. He thought it might be a mouse or, God forbid, a rat, so he turned to look quickly and with a bit of fear in his chest.
When he saw it was a leaf jumping and twirling in the wind he was amused. It was very pretty and quite funny the way it moved.
‘Autumn is here…’ he told himself and walked on.
After just a few steps, he noticed the leaf had joined his walk and accompanied him, bouncing and floating on the slight breeze.
‘Aren’t you pretty!’, and quickly followed it by: ‘I am going mad, talking to a leaf …’, he shook his head in disapproval and moved on.
As he was walking, something in him kept wanting to check what the leaf was doing. Was it still there? Was it still walking on the wind?
He stopped to do up his laces, although after a quick check, they were just fine. He did spot the leaf though, advancing slowly, so he sat on a low, stone boundary wall to catch his breath.
He was surprisingly pleased when the leaf caught up with him. His companion was a bit slow, but it was there, and that was what mattered.
Together they made their way forward, enjoying the autumn breeze and the spectacular colors. He kept tabs on the leaf and encouraged it when needed. He waited for it and spoke to it under his breath so the other passersby didn’t think he was totally mad.
He had to make a hard choice when he was forced to turn the corner to his house. Go on and forget about his buddy or something else.
He went on, but something in him was sad. After a few steps, he stopped short and turned back, walking quickly to where he had seen the leaf last. He found it! Thank God!
He picked it up gently and held it with extreme care until he got home, where he put it in the kitchen behind the glass pane of a cupboard.
He was pleased he had picked up the leaf and it made him smile every time he saw it there in the cupboard. Soon, though, the leaf started curling and drying out and he knew it would soon become brittle and most likely disintegrate.
He could not let that happen so he did some research on how to best preserve it. It did not take him long until he had everything he needed to preserve it in resin.
When it was done, the leaf looked amazing in its protective resin case, and he could not help but share it online. It was the first time he had actually done something like that, and he felt a strange feeling of accomplishment and contentment.
One of his co-workers asked if they could have one also. He had lots of resin left so he agreed. He went out and hunted for some fallen, good-looking leaves, his colleague chose the one they wanted and that was that.
Soon, he found that he also wanted to preserve flowers and fallen cones. He learned more and experimented more. Soon, he had a pretty nice collection, and at the suggestion of one of his colleagues, he took photos of them and put them online for sale.
Some would sell, some not. He did not become extremely rich, but he did gain a lot in peace of mind and self-worth. Plus, he was surprised to find out there was a club of people with this pastime, and sometimes he would pass the time with them work-shopping on zoom.
All this because he had made friends with a leaf.