Pip has a little wooden boat with a red sail. It is Pip’s favourite thing in the whole burrow.
Pip: “If I take the boat to the stream, someone will want it.”
Bramble padded in and said softly,
Bramble: “Maybe. Wanting a turn isn’t the same as taking it away. The boat stays yours.”
Bramble and Pip walked the mossy path down towards the water. Hazel was waiting with a little sand timer.
Hazel: “Hello Pip! When two of us want one thing, we turn the timer over. One turn each.”
Pip: “And if my turn ends before I’m ready?”
Hazel: “Then you say so, and we turn it over again.”
Under the wide oak, Old Oakley thought for a moment before speaking.
Old Oakley: “Sharing is not giving away. It is taking turns, and turns always come back around.”
Pip: “What if I don’t want to share at all?”
Old Oakley: “Then say, “not right now.” Nobody has to share, and nobody has to grab. You can say “my turn next,” and I will help you keep it.”
At the stream a small otter watched the red sail with big eyes. Pip held the boat tightly for a while, and nobody hurried Pip at all.
Pip: “You can sail it to the stone. My turn next.”
The boat wobbled, caught the breeze and glided. The otter laughed, and brought it straight back.
The boat went back and forth until the light turned orange on the water.
Pip: “It was more fun with two of us.”
Bramble: “Sometimes it is,” said Bramble. “And it was still your boat the whole time.”
Pip carried the little boat home through the golden evening.