Everybody needs a rock

We went to Gramma's house yesterday for a shmorgasborg of holidays. It was my mom's birthday but we also celebrated "grandpa" Cary's birthday and Christmas. We were all there... Adam, Aunt Erin, Audrey, Clive, Uncle Jacob, Gramma and Cary were all there. We had a fantastic time and the girls were just plain cute.

But the highlight of the day, for me, was Cary. I love that he is back in our lives now and I love that he knows his Niffer so well. He got us the most perfect book (actually three books, but one is absolutely PERFECT). It's so perfect, in fact, that I have to share it with you!

But before I do, a little bit of background. I used to have a rock. His name was Bob. No, not Bob. Bob. It's all in the pronunciation. Bob was an excellent rock. I met him on the coast of Washington State and brought him home with me. Bob spent almost 6 years with me. If he wasn't in my pocket, he was in my hand. He was a good rock but sadly one day I lost him. I was crushed.

And now you know a little more about Niffer. A part of Niffer that Cary already knows so well. And so, without further ado, here is the most perfect Niffer book...

"Everybody Needs a Rock"
by Byrd Baylor with pictures by Peter Parnall.

Everybody needs a rock.
I'm sorry for kids who don't have a rock for a friend.
I'm sorry for kids who only have
TRICYCLES BICYCLES HORSES ELEPHANTS GOLDFISH THREE-ROOM PLAYHOUSES FIRE ENGINES WIND-UP DRAGONS AND THINGS LIKE THAT -
if they don't have a rock for a friend.

That's why I'm giving them my own TEN RULES for finding a rock...
Not just any rock.
I mean a special rock that you find yourself and keep as long as you can -
maybe forever.

If somebody says, "What's so special about that rock?"
don't even tell them.
I don't.
Nobody is supposed to know what's special about another person's rock.
All right.
Here are the rules:

RULE NUMBER 1:
If you can, go to a mountain made of nothing but a hundred million small shiny beautiful roundish rocks.
But if you can't, any place will do.
Even an alley.
Even a sandy road.

RULE NUMBER 2:
When you are looking at rocks don't let mothers or fathers or sisters or brothers or even best friends talk to you.
You should choose a rock when everything is quiet.
Don't let dogs bark at you or bees buzz at you.
But if they do, DON'T WORRY.
(The worst thing you can do is go rock hunting when you are worried.)

RULE NUMBER 3:
Bend over.
More.
Even more.
You may have to sit on the ground with your head almost touching the earth.
You have to look a rock right in the eye.
Otherwise, don't blame me if you can't find a good one.

RULE NUMBER 4:
Don't get a rock that is too big.
You'll always be sorry.
It won't fit your hand right and it won't fit your pocket.
A rock as big as an apple is too big.
A rock as big as a horse is MUCH too big.

RULE NUMBER 5:
Don't choose a rock that is too small.
It will only be easy to lose or a mouse might eat it,
thinking that it is a seed.
(Believe me, that happened to a boy in the state of Arizona.)

RULE NUMBER 6:
The size must be perfect.
It has to feel easy in your hand when you close your fingers over it.
It has to feel jumpy in your pocket when you run.
Some people touch a rock a thousand times a day.
There aren't many things that feel as good as a rock -
if the rock is perfect.

RULE NUMBER 7:
Look for the perfect color.
That could be a sort of pinkish gray with bits of silvery shine in it.
Some rocks that look brown are really other colors,
but you only see them when you squint and when the sun is right.
Another way to see colors is to dip your rock in a clear mountain stream -
if one is passing by.

RULE NUMBER 8:
The shape of the rock is up to you.
(There is a girl in Alaska who only likes flat rocks.
Don't ask me why.
I like them lumpy.)
The thing to remember about shapes is this:
Any rock looks good with a hundred other rocks around it on a hill.
But if your rock is going to be special it should look good by itself in the bathtub.

RULE NUMBER 9:
Always sniff a rock.
Rocks have their own smells.
Some kids can tell by sniffing whether a rock
came from the middle of the earth
or from an ocean
or from a mountain where wind and sun
touched it every day for a million years.
You'll find out that grown-ups can't tell these things.
Too bad for them.
They just can't smell as well as kids can.

RULE NUMBER 10:
Don't ask anybody to help you choose.
I've seen a lizard pick one rock out of a desert full of rocks
and go sit there alone.
I've seen a snail pass up twenty rocks
and spend all day getting to the one it wanted.
You have to make up your own mind.
You'll know.

All right, that's ten rules.
If you think of any more write them down yourself.
I'm going out to play a game
that takes just me and one rock to play.
I happen to have a rock here in my hand...