It was the rock 4H club and Mr. Hart in junior high; that was what got her interested in rocks. She just liked their solidity. Like the earth itself. So solid. You could depend on it. Mr. Hart said the earth moved and changed all the time but very very slowly and that was OK. Then Mount St. Helens erupted one Sunday morning and her world was covered with thick choking dust and the white cone of St. Helens was now a gaping hole and fifty seven people and millions of trees and animals and insects were dead. The earth had changed and it did it quickly and pretty much without warning and she loved it all the more.
Her rock collection was modest. She rarely bought a rock. Mostly she found them or traded. Each rock she owned held a story and she was ready and eager to inflict her rock stories on anyone. It did not occur to her that the story behind the formation of a quartz crystal could be of no interest.
Her name was Samantha, only child of Jessica and Albert. Born after twenty five childless years. Born long after any hope of a child had been abandoned. They treated her with surprised neglect. Did not accommodate their careful lives to a child's needs, and mostly Samantha flourished in their lack of care.
She won the blue ribbon for her rock collection at the county fair. The 4H leader helped her build a fancy new display case to take to state. Painstakingly she lettered labels in her best calligraphy. She arranged the rocks in careful, logical order and glued down the labels on the white fiberboard. She got about half the rocks glued in place when she ran out of glue. It was eleven p.m. The stores were all closed. She wasn't going to the State Fair, but Mr. Hart was going with Dave and Glenn. She called Mr. Hart in the morning before they left. Mr. Hart was preoccupied.
``Mr. Hart? This is Samantha - you know Dave's taking my rocks to State?''
``Yes, yes.''
``Umm - I ran out of glue and I couldn't get more - could you have Dave finish gluing down my rocks before he puts them on display? I ...''
``No problem. No problem.'' Mr. Hart hung up.
``God...don't even hear me out,'' she muttered.
Dave came by with his mom in their SUV pulling a trailer. Dave had a steer to show as well as his rocks.
``Dave, Mr. Hart has glue. Please glue down the rest of my rocks. Mr. Hart will help you...''
``Yeah, yeah,'' said Dave and grabbed her precious collection.
She didn't win. Didn't place. They hadn't stuck down the rocks. Hadn't placed them correctly. Hadn't done anything but drop off the display case and leave. The rocks she hadn't glued down were scattered at random around the display.
``I would have done it for you!'' she said through her tears, and a dark anger began to smolder. ``I look like a fool,'' she thought.
The vision of the new display case so proudly labeled with her name and the scattered rocks inside stayed with her all her life.
``Its not important,'' the 4H leader said.
But Samantha knew it was.