The Power of a Silver Paperclip

You never know when ideas will come or where they come from. I spent an hour and a half this morning sitting on a dirty monobloc, waiting in line to get Roger's LTO registration papers processed. I had a bottle of water, my trusty handbook (You Can Write Children's Books by Tracey E. Dils, a gift from Papa sometime ago), a pen and some initial notes on recycled paper. And voila! The ideas just kept coming. My scribbling couldn't keep up.

Snails. The summer he turned ten. Stargazing. Connect-the-dots/stars. Lego. Ice cream (rocky road?). Ten birthday candles. Swimming. Seeing a cloud in the shape of a Range Rover? Pebbles. Sand from a sandbox. Four wheels versus two. "It's harder to fall off four wheels." Surprises. Acceptance. It's a cloudy night but there are three bright stars.

I don't like walking on eggshells. I need a friend. Don't get me wrong, it's not about love, but about respect. What role do you play? No wonder old lovers can't be friends. Sneaking out at 13. Slow dancing at 14. Give me a break. A little too well? Frigid conscience. There's something seriously wrong here. Let me be the voice of all grownup kids. Can you just let me be me? Maybe I'm asking too much.

Now the challenge is to create something out of these thought bubbles. I don't know where they came from but I'm glad I captured them in furious scribbles. Who knows? Maybe they're all from that silver paperclip attached to the LTO files. Maybe the silver ones aren't so dull after all.