The Gift of the Garden Gnome

When my elderly neighbor moved into assisted living this spring, she left me her garden gnome, a chipped, slightly creepy little man with a red hat and a fishing pole. "He needs someone to watch over," she said.

I didn't love the gnome. But I put him in my front garden by the roses, out of respect.

The neighborhood kids, it turns out, love him. They named him Gerald. They leave him tiny gifts: acorns, shiny pebbles, a single Lego. One girl wrote him a letter and tucked it under his hat. On Halloween someone gave him a tiny witch's hat.

I sent my old neighbor a photo of Gerald in his Halloween costume. She called me laughing so hard she could barely talk. She asked for updates every month. So now I send her "Gerald News," with photos. It's become the highlight of both our months.