The girl came back.

The boy was standing under the tree. She looked around but did not see the gift.

“Where is the gift?” she asked.

“I am the gift,” said the boy. “The gift is me.”

The girl looked skeptical. “I think I understand the gift even less now.”

“That’s okay,” said the boy. “As you get to know me, you will get to know the gift as well. And look: my hands are empty now. We are free to play. You can hold my hand or hold me or just stand over there and look at me and I can do the same with you. I can bring you an apple or receive an apple from you. We can share apples now.

“In order to see where we are standing under the tree, we throw words at each other. The words stick and help us see each other, but we are not the words. Under the wrapping we are broken into a glittering treasure, a bomb, a snake, a light, water, a crushed spider, the stars, the wind, laughter, tears, bitterness, and a host of other things. They are all inside of us and inside of the gift.

“You do not have to decide whether or not to receive the gift. The gift will always exist. You just need to decide how we will play together. Sometimes you will play at your house and I will play at my house, but we can still play together. Sometimes you and I will play with other people, but this will always remain our tree and we can always meet here. This will be the place where we can come and tell each other about our adventures. It can also be where we both set out on an adventure together, if that is what we both want.”

The girl thought about this.