He didn’t go and get the hat, but watched to see how other people responded to it being there. He noticed most people walking by simply walked around it or stepped over it. A few passersby looked at it briefly and just kept going. One child actually stooped to pick the hat up, but his mother pulled his arm and shook her head with disgust.
As the day progressed, the hat stayed where it was. No one picked it up or came looking for it. To Jack, it was there for his imagination to run free and wild with. Jack wanted to be a writer and his parents always told him he let his imagination get the best of him.
First, Jack imagined a mobster losing the hat in a gun fight. Then he imagined it was lost by a grandfather, much like his own, on the way somewhere important. The hat was too nice to be used for “everyday.” He imagined it belonged to an actor who had been filming on the streets of New York overnight. The possibilities were endless.
His grandfather noticed Jack’s distraction throughout the day. After lunch, his grandfather came to the doorway and saw what Jack was dreamily looking at. His grandfather said nothing, but seemed to smile a secret smile. He went to the back of the store to retrieve something.
A few moments later, his grandfather handed Jack a very old notebook. It was bent and scarred and was apparently very loved to have been spared a trip to the trash can. Jack ran his hand across the black and white marbled cover and read the word “COMPOSITION BOOK” on the front. He looked questioningly at his grandfather. His grandfather simply reached out and opened the cover of the book, displaying Grandfather’s name on the inside of the cover. Jack sat down in the nearest chair and began to read wild adventure stories his grandfather had written as a child. Stories about pirates, dinosaurs and cowboys seemed to be his favorite. He could hardly believe his grandfather had written the words scrawled across the pages in tiny script. It was amazing! His own grandfather had an imagination as wild as he did!
As the day wore on and the skies began to take on the iron grey tint of evening, Grandfather gently nudged Jack and turned to the back of the notebook. Here in bold letters across the top of the page was the story title – The Hat. Jack was amazed.
He watched as Grandfather smiled and walked outside to where the hat was sitting. He looked all around before stooping to pick it up. He brought the hat inside and handed it to Jack.
Jack turned the hat over and began to inspect the silk lining when he noticed a name written inside the hat. It was his Grandfather’s hat! Did he put the hat on the sidewalk to make Jack wonder, or maybe just to give him something new to write about? Grandfather just smiled and began to write in the notebook. Jack got into his knapsack and pulled out his own notebook. They wrote in comfortable silence.