The Watching Rock
"The Watching Rock"
In the heart of a bustling city, nestled between a tangle of walking paths and gnarled oaks, sat a rock. Not just any rock—this was Watcher, a smooth, gray boulder with a curious spirit and an unusual hobby: he loved watching humans.
Watcher had been in the same spot for hundreds of years, long before the city rose around him. At first, there were only animals, wind, and rain. Then came carriages, bicycles, skyscrapers—and eventually, people in stretchy pants doing yoga and arguing about kombucha flavors.
Every day in the city park was a new episode of Watcher's favorite show: Strange Humans Doing Stranger Things.
He adored the early joggers, with their rhythmic puffing and red faces. He'd try to guess who would trip over the uneven paving stone that always caught new runners off guard. (He kept an imaginary scoreboard. The current tally was: Stone – 48, Humans – 3.)
The dog walkers fascinated him too. The humans always thought they were in charge, but Watcher could see who was really leading whom. He once saw a pug drag a grown man through a puddle like a sled dog on caffeine.
Lovers were the most mysterious. They would sit near him on the bench, whispering secrets and pressing their foreheads together like oddly shaped mushrooms. Watcher didn’t understand love, but he liked the way it made humans glow. Once, a couple carved a heart into his side. It tickled, but he didn’t mind. He thought of it as a tattoo—though he was annoyed when another rock called it cliché.
Children, though—children were the best. They would climb him, jump off him, hug him, and sometimes dress him up with scarves and silly hats. One winter, a child glued googly eyes on him. He couldn’t see, of course, but the squirrels insisted it made him look “extra alive.”
Watcher never spoke. He never moved. But he felt everything. He soaked in laughter, heartbreak, songs played on portable speakers, and the electric sizzle of skateboards scraping past.
He wasn’t just a rock.
He was part of the park.
Part of the city.
And part of the story of every strange, beautiful human who ever walked by.
