In the large table at the center of the room, there is a secret drawer. A small drawer resting on two wooden rails, not on a sliding track, and it\u2019s secret because it\u2019s located right in the center of the table \u2014 the belly of the tabletop where we work.<\/p>\n\n
This table wasn\u2019t bought new. It came to the clinic naturally, as good and sturdy furniture tends to do when it refuses to wear out. I discovered the drawer only a few days after the table was placed in the room. An unexpected surprise I never asked for.<\/p>\n\n
One child noticed it faster than I did myself. He wondered aloud: \u201cHow can it exist and be completely empty?\u201d And I, in a very unplanned response, said, \u201cThis is the fairy\u2019s drawer. Sometimes she leaves all kinds of things here, maybe next time will be one of those times \u2014 who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
He chuckled, didn\u2019t believe me, but still, I felt the emptiness and the way it reflected in his face hurt.<\/p>\n\n
And since then, the drawer really has been leaving him something every week. Sometimes a note with a small drawing or a word (even just \u201cHey!\u201d with a funny face is enough). Sometimes an object or a part of something that used to be something else, sometimes a tool like a screwdriver or scissors. Sometimes lots of little scattered things that are a bit hard to gather.<\/p>\n\n
Sometimes the end of a thread. A real thread end. Or a button, a fine dust crumb, or a single bead. Sometimes you have to really look closely to see that, yes \u2014 there is something there.<\/p>\n\n
Once, it even left him a soap bubble, or actually a delicate soap dome, cracked at the bottom of the drawer, just waiting for him to come and pop it with his little finger. And laugh. Who puts a soap bubble in a drawer?! Only fairies can do that. Just to be sure.<\/p>\n\n
In many cases \u2014 neither of us really knows what\u2019s actually there, or what it was, or what it was originally used for. Honestly, we\u2019re not that interested. We\u2019re more intrigued by the material it\u2019s made of, its potential, what it can become, what part of something it might be.<\/p>\n\n
Some things stay in the drawer without any attention after they come into the light, and disappear the following week as if they were never there. Some things are adopted immediately or receive recognition and enthusiasm \u2014 after all, that\u2019s exactly what we needed to finish something we started! How did she know\u2026<\/p>\n\n
This drawer can only hold small and simple things, and even so \u2014 the drawer fairy is small and cannot carry heavy or bulky objects in flight. For these things, it doesn\u2019t really matter if what came from the drawer goes outside or not, if it gets used, if it receives enthusiasm. They are there \u2014 that\u2019s it, they might help or not. They don\u2019t really take themselves seriously \u2014 after all, they are small and ordinary. They\u2019re just there.<\/p>\n\n
Children, even the little ones, know there\u2019s no Tooth Fairy \u2014 it\u2019s just their slightly na\u00efve parents who take the tooth and leave a gift in exchange (but the parents get so excited about it, so why ruin the trick? Let them enjoy it).<\/p>\n\n
There\u2019s no Elijah the Prophet coming to drink wine, the magician at the birthday party bought all his tricks on Amazon, and if you don\u2019t believe it \u2014 you can google \u201ctelekinesis\u201d and learn the whole story yourself.<\/p>\n\n
And yet \u2014 they close their eyes so tight when the birthday candle\u2019s flame flickers on their little faces, waiting for their breath to blow the fire away far, far off and send their wishes to a place where they\u2019ll be cared for and made true.<\/p>\n\n
Maybe they\u2019re already such smart and knowledgeable kids, maybe life\u2019s reality has slapped them more than once or twice, maybe they\u2019re even a bit rough around the edges, cynical despite themselves, and with all the experience they\u2019ve gained.<\/p>\n\n
Still, at their core, they remain, just in case, believers.<\/p>\n\n
Holding in their hearts and still reaching for the soft and babyish edges of this blanket \u2014 which has no logic or reality but holds hope, magic, the scent of milk in a toothless mouth, wishes coming true, someone who hears, understands, and fulfills even though nothing was said, and maybe they\u2019ve never even met him.<\/p>\n\n
They know it\u2019s a game and that really \u2014 we\u2019re just fooling around here a little, that it can\u2019t be real, and if someone from outside saw what we\u2019re dealing with, they\u2019d probably think it\u2019s silly (or at least \u2014 not cool).<\/p>\n\n
And yet \u2014 we insist on our right to play, speak our language, keep our rituals that gradually don\u2019t need many words, because everyone already knows their role so our inner logic can continue to exist.<\/p>\n\n
We leave the drawer fairy a small opening in the window, so that as long as we\u2019re here \u2014 she can keep coming, managing this movement of leaving her treasures, giving them up forever, or returning to gather them back to where they came from, back and forth, again and again.<\/p>\n\n
This drawer has no rails or locking mechanism holding it at the edges, and it falls and detaches from the table every time it\u2019s opened (then it takes a very long time to put it back, and it requires four hands). And yet, it\u2019s the most secret and most guarded place in the room.<\/p>\n\n
In this narrow and strange drawer, which I really don\u2019t know who designed it this way or why, which I never imagined could ever have a use or that someone would be interested in it or even discover it \u2014 this drawer can hold the whole world, and a whole world can come out of it.<\/p>\n\n
If it exists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the large table at the center of the room, there\u2019s a secret drawer. A small drawer that rests on two wooden rails\u2014not on a track\u2014and it\u2019s \u201csecret\u201d because it\u2019s located right in the center of the table, tucked into the underside of the work surface. I discovered the drawer only a few days after the table was placed in the room. An unexpected surprise I never asked for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-6414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1","tag-art-therapy-behind-the-scenes"],"yoast_head":"