The Favorite Present

A little boy who just turned three
is not so much a sleeper
as a sleuth.

Enamored by a TV show where clues
are gathered
in an all important
handy dandy notebook

with a spiral at the top
just big enough to hold a blue crayon,
the boy is emphatic the notebook be
always at hand

or rather tucked in his britches
to use at any moment a clue surfaces.

In a pile of expensive presents
he wades with the small orange
cardboard cover poking from his jeans,
the prize he will not let out of his sight

no matter how the expensive toys
weigh around him and givers implore
his bright eyes for attention.

He pats the stiff surface of the notebook
in satisfied wonder and says again,
“It’s just what I wanted.”