The gift.
A wind-up toy, it was.
A colourful tin mouse. Plastic whiskers bristling with fun. Little teeth grinning cheekily.
A suggestion of haunches, with 4 rubber wheels where the mousey little feet should be.
Silver key on the back. Simple clockwork.
Just turn the key and watch it go.
Straightforward fun. No batteries required. No technology needed. No app. No plug-ins. No USB sticks. No codes, no cables, no connection.
Simple.
Not so simple if you don’t have fingers that work. Or hands. Or arms.
Then you’d need a loving person who will lovingly, willingly, wind up the toy for you. Again and again. As often as it makes you smile.
Infinitely patient. Able to watch the clockwork run down, over and over.
To fetch the toy for you. To bring it back.
To wind and re-wind. Again. Again.
Giving one small pleasure to another.
No key required. Doesn’t need winding. Never needs batteries. The perfect wireless connection.
Hard to find a reliable power source like that; looks so simple and keeps on running.
Better than clockwork.
