The Plate Nobody Wanted to Break

Every winter, the family served dessert on a large painted plate that had belonged to Aunt Elsie. Since her death, carrying it from the cupboard had become a serious operation. Someone cleared the path, another dried their hands, and everyone watched as though the plate might suddenly jump.

This year, sixteen-year-old Finn refused to carry it. He said he could not enjoy dessert if one accident might make him the person who ruined a family memory. His mother started to argue, then looked at the worried faces around the kitchen and realised that he had a point.

They decided to use ordinary plates for dinner. Afterwards, Finn asked what Aunt Elsie had actually thought of the special plate. His uncle laughed. She had bought it cheaply because the painted flowers hid a small mark. She also used it to carry sandwiches into the garden whenever the weather was good.

The following afternoon, they placed biscuits on it and carried it outside together. Nobody pretended it could not break. They simply stopped behaving as though protecting it was their most important family duty. Finn took a photograph of the plate surrounded by reaching hands. If something happened to it one day, they would still have the picture, the stories and the people who could tell them. For now, they also had biscuits to share.