The Child With a Pocket of Seasons

The boy carried four small stones: cold as winter, warm as summer, fragrant as spring, crisp as autumn. Depending on which he held, the world around him shifted. People begged him to change their weather, but he refused. “Seasons come when they’re needed,” he said softly. And one day, he let the stones fall into a river, trusting the world to turn without him. It did—and so did he.