The paper towel
The Paper Towel
There was once a roll of paper towels
A very standard roll.
The regular 110-2 ply sheets you get at any store
With one exception...
A package containing 2 rolls had been dropped by the carrier on a snowy creek, spent the night under the moon and stars freezing, all wet, stuck between rocks and rolling ice ciold water, rescued in the morning and eventually opened by an old and very skinny Oriental owner of a small corner store. And placed on display for sale as individual rolls
An artist had just finished painting a magical paradise on a large canvas
He closed his studio, got into his truck, drove and stopped by that particular corner store for some dark chocolate and a bag of fig newtons
He wakes up the Chinese owner with a loud greeting. The owner stood by the cash register keeping a sharp eye on the store from opening to closing time, but by 8:30 PM he would start nodding and by 9PM we would be fast asleep not even the bells hanging at the door would wake him. He was a nice man so the regulars took turns berween 8:30 and closing time hanging around the store, it was Jose tonite, so he greets Jose too,
"¿Saves en que el cuervo se parece a un escritorio?"
No, yo trabajo todo el dia...
Hahahahahaha!...
This question really bothered the artist....he had several possibilities to discuss but no one to take him seriously
On his way to pick up the chocolate he walks trough the isle where the rolls of paper towels were displayed, got distracted, stumbled and ended up on the floor and on top of one of the rolls of paper towels, the roll was lined up to his heart, center to center
Something happened....
Probably the roll got some of the magic from the painter, because suddenly the roll sort of woke up from a long slumber
The first thing the roll did is attach itself to the left hand of the painter and somehow got him into thinking he needed a roll of paper towels too, for his studio
This particular roll knew that it would be all used up and eventually disappear.
This was a fact, nothing could change this.
So the roll tried and tried
To be and so make something exceptional
Something that would bring happiness to his owner and in this way somehow keep itself in existence for as long as possible
With every sheet the painter used, the roll got thinner
Until the last sheet was used, it was the end for the roll and nothing exceptional had come out from it's efforts
A sad moment, and a sad ending as it's owner used it to clean his bedside table a hard job that night, the ever clumsy painter had spilled the glass of lemonade he took to bed, and the last sheet of that wonderful roll ended up wet, ripped apart and on the floor and probably end up in the toilet come morning
All night long the sheet of paper struggled to be something
At the last moment the sheet of paper made a wish
The stars were out that night
The painter kept the window open on spring nights
The moon heard the wish and so did all the stars aligned to the window
A smart translator unit orbitig Earth picks up a signal and what sounded like beeps translates to:
"That little sheet of paper by the window just made a wish!"....."I have seen it before, the one by the frozen creek"......says the moon
"We heard it too!"
"How exceptional!"
"We should grant it!:
"Yes!"
In the morning the sleepy painter drags out of bed and notices a very interesting shape lying on the floor under the night table
A big smile takes shape in his face
The same smile the little sheet of.paper was making
Out of a piece of cardboard from a shoe box and with the colors at hand he paints a background, places the sheet of paper on top and on a cheap frame and glass he had kept for some odd job
The wish had transformed the shape of the last sheet of paper into a smiley face now framed and hanging crooked on the painter's studio for as long as possible, bringing him many a smile over the years.
Guillermo Hinojosa- Canales