A Curious Acquaintance

As I was drifting off to sleep, somewhere in between scattered lightness and keen perception, I heard my mother say to my father:
"James, why that'd be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!"
I was in my straw stuffed trundle bed. The fire was popping below and the gray floorboards creaked when my mother got up from her darning to get something.
"Needle in a haystack...." I repeated as I melded with sleep.

I felt in the night something cold and metallic next to me. It felt like a fishing rod at first. Then, more like a fencing sword. I found this odd, but was so lazy that I put my arms around it and fell right back into a most comfortable sleep.

In the morning, my father called me to rise. I pulled the covers away from myself and put my feet on the floorboards where lay a very large needle, as long as my bed. I could have put my arm through the eye of this needle and its point was so large it seemed to be rounded.
"What are you doing on the floor?" I wondered.
The needle stood upright, curiously, eye towards the floor, and made me know that I was to help him come to the aid of frustrated people who used the discouraging phrase, "Like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

I took on my new duty at once without really having time to reflect on it. We honed in on people searching in vain for things and were transported to these situations like magnets, traveling outside the laws of space and time.

The first mission involved a young farmer who lost his wedding band in his field of beets. He was scouring the soil for hours, worried the crows would spot the golden glimmer before he did.
"This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!" he said, defeated.
We appeared. We stood before him and he stared at us. The needle said, "You could find me in a haystack!" In agreeing, the farmer acquired a reaffirmed vigor to find his ring and with a little game of 'hot and cold' with the needle, his ring was found.
In his glee, he forgot all about our meeting and we disappeared.

Over the years I joined the needle on countless missions that were always varied and unique. I don't really know the part I played during these experiences, all I know is that I agreed to show up.

When I became an adult, my desire to participate in these adventures waned. The needle felt this also and threw himself on the floor of another sleeping boy or girl I am sure.