One pencil. One label. Back by home time.
A new pencil case.
Twelve new pencils, each one named with a wrap-around label. Lily is ready for Grade 2.
Then one rolls away.
Break time. A pencil rolls off the desk and under a chair. By the bell, nobody can remember whose it was.
Found at pickup.
A dad on pickup duty finds it in the corridor. No guessing and no lost property box: the label says Lily M., Gr 2.
Back where it belongs.
The pencil is back in Lily's case before home time. Now think of every jersey, shoe and lunch box in the term.





