“Oh, where could it be”, Rachel muttered, rifling through her handbag for the missing item. She found old receipts, chocolate bar wrappers, and loose breath mints at the bottom of the bag, but it seemed that the little blue coin purse she was looking for had disappeared.

“Hang on a sec!”, Rachel yelled, hoping that the pizza delivery guy at the front door wasn’t growing too impatient. It wasn’t that she didn’t have money to pay for the pizza, she had some bills left in her wallet, but she was trying avoid using those just yet. The little coin purse had about $30 worth of coins and she wanted to use that up instead of getting into the bigger bills.

Finally, with a sigh, she temporarily abandoned her search, deciding that the delivery guy had been waiting way too long for her now.

Rachel quickly grabbed a $20 bill and paid for the pizza, letting the young boy know that he could keep the change. It was kind of a shitty tip, but she didn’t have anything else on her right now and the bills in her wallet were too big to be used for tips.

She set the pizza down on the table- double cheese with half of it covered in mushrooms- and resumed her search. After about five more minutes she gave up for a while, deciding that the pizza would get too cold if they didn’t eat it right now.

“Camper! Suppers here!”, she screamed, waiting for her son to come running downstairs from his bedroom. It was the third night in a row that they had to have take out for supper, but with her work schedule and her visits to the hospital, Rachel found it difficult to have food on the table before Campers bedtime.

Finally, she heard scuffling and was surprised to see him enter through the glass sliding door that led to their tiny backyard; the backyard was another thing that Rachel wanted to spruce up the when she someday had the money and time. It wouldn’t be any time soon though, both those things were a rarity nowadays.

Camper came sprinting into the room, messy brown curls bouncing as he moved and bare feet tracking sand into the kitchen. His eyes, green like his late fathers, were bright with excitement.

“YESSSS PIZZA”, he yelled, fist pumping and running to the box on the counter. Rachel smiled, glad he wasn’t tired of the regular meal just yet.

She watched him chomp down the pizza, cheese running down his chin and his dirty fingers slick with grease. His fingernails were still caked in dirt from being outside and she probably should’ve told him to wash his hands first, but her mind was still on the missing coin purse. Rachel was a single parent and with her mother in the hospital and the extra expenses, every penny counted.

“Hey, Camp, have you seen my coin purse anywhere?”, Rachel asked, when he finally took a break from inhaling his pizza.

Camper frowned, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“The blue one?”

“Yes”

“With the seagulls on it?”

“Yes, Camp”

“And the little tea stain on the corner?”

“Yep, that exact one”, Rachel answered, growing impatient with the questions.

“Then yes I’ve seen it”, Camper chirped, a proud grin on his face.

Rachel perked, curiosity piquing her interest.

“Where did you see it?”, she asked, grabbing him a tissue to wipe his hands with. He dabbed at his face instead, smearing tomato sauce in the process. Rachel sighed and grabbed another sheet. Cradling his head in her hands, she gently cleaned his chin.

“I took it”

Rachel paused, pulling away and squinting at him.

“What? You took it? Why?”, Rachel blubbered, confusion rendering her near speechless. If Camper needed anything paid for he’d ask her, right?

“In the backyard. We have to wait for a bit though”, Camper said nonchalantly, as though it were the most normal statement in the world.

“Why is it in the backyard, Camp. What are you waiting for?”, Rachel asked, more confused than ever. Sometimes she forgot that Camper was only six years old, a fact that was made startlingly apparent during conversations such as this one.

“Well, Mrs Wallace said that when you grow a seed it turns into a big tree with lots of fruit”, Camper explained, clasping his little hands as he spoke.

“Okay, and? What does that have to do with my coin purse?”, Rachel questioned.

“Coins are money seeds”

Rachel considered his words, her anger softening as she understood.

“Honey, that’s not how it works”, Rachel said softly, rubbing a thumb across his cheek.

“When we have a money tree you can grow more money and then we’ll have enough to buy grandma flowers!”, Camper said excitedly, shooting her a lopsided grin.

Rachel smiled sadly as she took in his childish naivety. Last week after they had visited Rachel’s mother in the hospital, Camper and her had gone to the hospital gift shop. While they were there Camper had seen a pretty bouquet of yellow sunflowers, Rachel’s mothers favourite. At the time, the $30 price tag on the flowers was far too steep and Rachel had to tell him they couldn’t afford it. Even though Camper took it quite well, she could tell he was upset about it.

Rachel was quiet for a while, unsure of what to say. Her heart burst with love at the thought of Camper being so kindhearted, but at the same time she felt sad that he had to worry about money issues at such a young age.

Rachel stroked his head softly, smoothing the unruly curls beneath her palm.

“My sweet, sweet, Camper”, Rachel cooed, tears welling in her eyes.

“Mom, don’t worry, someday we’ll have a money garden and we can buy every single flower in the store! Grandma would love that, wouldn’t she?!”