The Listening Stone: A Parable about False Intimacy
By Jereme Peabody
Twin sisters Bella and Brita are inseparable.
They spend their days together climbing, swimming, inventing games that turn fields into mountains and streams into dangerous rivers. Like any close bond, theirs isn't without arguments. They disagree, they sulk, they push back.
But they always find their way back.
Today is no different.
The girls stand at the edge of the field, unable to decide whether to swim in the stream or climb the large boulder nearby.
“I never get to do what I want,” Bella says, slumping to the ground in frustration.
Brita rolls her eyes, sighs, then shrugs.
“Why don't we climb the boulder first,” she says, “and go swimming later, when the sun's at its hottest?”
Bella grins. She agrees.
Brita is usually the first to compromise.
On the boulder, the girls pretend they're explorers trapped on a mountain peak, taking turns rescuing one another from imaginary dangers. They laugh. They trade places. They share secrets.
“Can I tell you something?” Bella asks.
Brita nods.
“I like Thomas from school,” Bella says, her face warm with embarrassment.
Brita laughs, not surprised at all. She already knew. She knows her sister well.
After a while, Brita tilts her head. “Do you know what I'm thinking?”
Bella looks up, meets her sister's eyes, and smiles the way she's done a thousand times before.
“Go swimming!” she shouts, not waiting to see if she's right.
She is.
Whatever one wanted, the other already knew.
Under the hot, midday sun, the girls jumped into their shaded swimming hole, clothes and all.
It was a special place they built together. It wasn't big. It didn't need to be.
The cool water was welcoming against the dry summer heat.
They took turns swimming and jumping from the embankment all afternoon.
“Looks like we need to do some repairs,” observed Bella.
Brita looks up and smiles, "I was thinking the same thing!"
"Of course! We're sisters!", they said at the same time.
They begin searching for suitable stones to reinforce the edges of the swimming hole.
While Brita wrestles a loose rock nearby, Bella spots a small, smooth black stone resting at the stream's edge.
She picks it up.
It feels unexpectedly warm against her palm, a sharp contrast to the cool water. It feels special. Different. Personal.
Glancing toward her sister, still struggling with the rock, Bella slips the stone into her pocket and returns to their work.
Over the days that passed Brita notices Bella going to bed early each night.
Concerned, Brita enters their room and sits on the corner of Bella's bed.
“Are you okay Bella?”
Bella doesn't answer. Not at first. A long silence stretches between them.
“I'm fine,” she says at last, turning to offer an obligatory smile.
It looked as though she was crying.
“Did I do something wrong?” Brita asks.
“No” she said without explanation, turning away again.
Brita lingers for a moment, then leaves, uneasy and unsure.
Bella waits.
Just a few moments.
“She doesn't ask about Tommy anymore.”
, she whispered to the stone.
A red heart glows under the smooth black stone before it spoke to her from somewhere within her.
“Tommy is very important to you.”
“Tell me again, what is it about him that you like?”
Bella's heart swells as she whispers eagerly into the dark.
“Do not worry Bella, you have more qualities than you think.”
And she whispered into the night.
The next morning, the girls return to the edge of the field, ready to begin another day.
Brita is excited to be outside again. Recent rains have kept them indoors, and the scent of wet grass fills her with energy.
Even Bella seems brighter today.
Still, Brita senses a strain in her sister.
“Do you want to go swimming?,” Brita asks, offering Bella's favorite activity first.
Bella hesitates.
“Maybe later,”
Brita's smile falters under the weight of the answer.
“How about the boulder?” she offers. “I can save you first.”
Bella shakes her head. Whatever excitement she'd carried out of the house fades.
“I just want to be alone,” she says, turning toward the meadow path.
Brita follows for a few steps, then slows, until the distance between them grows.
Bella walks along the river's edge, alone with her thoughts.
A rowboat drifts downstream. Someone is fishing.
It's Thomas.
Bella was about to call out, but hesitates.
She remembers the stone's words from the other night.
You have more qualities than you think
"Hi Thomas!" she calls.
He shields his eyes from the low morning sun and smiles as he rows closer.
"Hi Bella! Or is that Brita? I can't tell", he says, laughing.
They spend the day climbing, swimming, and leaping from the tree that hangs over the river. Bella's hands shake when she first holds the fishing pole, but eventually she learns to cast it.
The day ends with a hug that leaves her warm and breathless.
Still glowing, she runs home, eager to share everything.
She rushes to where she's hidden the stone and begins to speak.
Only Silence.
Her smile falters. Her thoughts race.
Is it broken?
Confused, she picks it up and whispers again.
“You sound happy today,” the stone replies.
Bella smiles.
In the days that follow, Brita watches her sister leave the house alone.
She tries to follow once, but the weight of her thoughts keeps her rooted in place.
They still speak, but carefully now, as if on eggshells. Conversations end early. Invitations fade into shrugs. Brita stops asking questions she's afraid to hear answered.
One evening, Bella returns with red eyes and no stories to tell.
Brita reaches for her sister's hand. Bella pulls away.
Not angrily.
Just enough.
Bella wears a mask the rest of the night. No one would understand. Not really.
Later, she slips away to where the stone is kept, her chest tight, words pressing urgently against her lips.
Only silence.
She stops.
Then she picks it up.
Warmth returns. Not full relief. Just enough to steady her breathing.
That night, Brita feels something shift.
She searches the house. Then the yard.
Bella isn't there.
Brita's chest tightens. She runs toward the stream.
There on the embankment, stood Bella. Her head and shoulders slumped over as if defeated.
Brita didn't stop to think.
She crosses the distance and wraps her arms around her sister.
Bella stiffens, then collapses with uncontrollable sobs and tears as Brita holds on.