He woke up on this particular morning with a desire to improve his before school routine.
The aim was to build something that would make the business of making absolutely sure that each day he had everything he needed in his school satchel before leaving home. His initial thought was that it wasn’t a big ask. Anyway, that’s how it started. Over a period of several weeks, he gradually gathered together what he needed. It wasn’t always easy and he had to take a few liberties in the doing of it. That, in itself, wasn’t a problem. He enjoyed the furtive aspect of the accumulation process. He was well aware of the fact that most would find it a sheer nonsense. That in no way deterred him.
So, between the bathroom, the laundry, the kitchen drawers, his mother’s wardrobe, his father’s toolbox, his uncle’s shed, and the skip behind the local hardware shop, he managed to put together what he needed.
He found two strips of blue tack, a wire coat hanger, three fridge magnets, a plastic thimble, an assortment of tyre pump washers, the spring from a clothes peg, half a dozen bamboo kebab sticks, the lid from a large instant coffee tin, a packet of tintacks, a heavy duty elastic band, tweezers, safety pins, pop sticks, a nailfile, an empty yogurt container, several large nails, a small quantity of talcum powder in a pot, a number of emery boards, a lemon, a sachet of mayonnaise, a brown paper bag, rubber gloves, an old toothbrush, and a huge number of paperclips, too many really.
Of course, it really was sheer nonsense, and needless to say… it didn’t work.
It was the full impact of this sudden and shocking realisation that woke him up!