The Smallest Storyteller

“Where was my favorite place to visit, you ask? That’s a difficult question to answer because I was fortunate enough to travel to so many places. In fact, I’m more well-traveled than many humans in this town. But to answer your question, I’m going to say “school”. After all, that’s where I learned most of the fascinating facts that I share with you all.

“Hmm, what did you say playground ball? You spent some time at school too? Yes, I do agree it can be chaotic and noisy, but there were also quiet afternoons spent in a warm classroom with the gentle murmur of voices and the tapping of keyboards or rustling of paper.” There was a longing in the speaker's voice that was picked up by the many listeners.

“I spent hundreds of hours in classrooms as I rotated among the heads of three sisters I lived with. Thankfully each girl had a mess of curls, so as a bobby pin, I was called on daily to keep hair out of their eyes. While I was pinned in the hair of the youngest daughter who was in elementary school, I learned to read, and I memorized all fifty state capitals.

“I learned about the complexity of the human body, literature, and government while holding in place the curls of the middle girl. And I learned complex calculations, art history, and which boys were the cutest from the eldest daughter in high school. And do these human children appreciate the amazing opportunity they’ve been given? No! They whine and complain endlessly about having to go to school and listen to teachers’ lectures.” Bobby Pin opined.

Several broken and nubby pencils, a beat-up notepad, and some wrinkled index cards spoke up in agreement. A slightly stained gold and maroon striped backpack called from out from a few feet down the trash pile, “Kids today have no appreciation; no respect for their stuff. Just look at me – I could have easily gone to school another year. No tears, holes, and all my zippers still work. Just because I was a bit dirty and my boy no longer liked my colors, I got thrown away.”

“What’s cool one day is out of fashion the next.” sighed the nearly new fanny pack.

This time the voices from the surrounding garbage were louder as many items agreed with the backpack's sentiments. Bobby Pin waited quietly for the conversation to wane, lost in its own thoughts until a torn bandana spoke up, it’s speech a series of wistful stops and starts.

“I still remember the joy of movement when I was worn for sporting events. Running, feinting, jumping, sliding – such delightful sensations. Sometimes I imagined I was flying. Basketball, flag football, baseball, frisbee – I never got tired of it, even when I was baking in the sun.”

Bobby Pin could remember all too clearly how wonderful such events were, although it's experience with sports was in a far more casual setting, like during recess or pickup games after school. Bobby Pin remembered with a thrill the wind and speed that came from riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline, or the rarest but best of all – riding in a convertible with the top down.

The empty plastic soap dispenser begged for a description of what it was like to play sports and many boxes, wrappers, and a broken umbrella chimed in as well. The next few hours were spent providing vivid descriptions and recounted memories from the bandana and Bobby Pin, with a popped football and a ripped jersey adding to the conversation.

Some days later after the mound of rubbish had been shifted by trucks and new items added to the top, Bobby Pin began telling a broken flowerpot and a dented metal spoon about the greatest week of its life. Once the story began, it seemed all of the items within a close distance were listening.

“I went on a special trip with the family last year. The oldest daughter chose a trip to Europe for a graduation present.”

At this point, Bobby Pin had to stop the tale and provide an abbreviated geography lesson about land and oceans, continents and countries, of which most of his audience had no knowledge.

“I rode on a plane to Glasgow, Scotland and visited a castle over 600 years old.” (A description of castles and airplanes followed before Bobby Pin could continue the tale.) “Dad rented a car and Mom was navigator; I rode with the three daughters in the backseat across the countryside to England. It rained the day we visited Stonehenge, and I feared I was going to slip from the youngest girl’s hair and be lost among the green fields, 4700 miles away from home. But thankfully I managed to hold on.

“We visited London where I saw Big Ben, took a tour of the Tower of London, and marveled at the lights reflected in the River Thames while crossing the Tower Bridge.” More hours passed happily for Bobby Pin and listeners alike as it recounted specific details about the trip and answered questions about unfamiliar words. The empty tube of toothpaste seemed the most interested in the adventure, and with it being the least familiar with the world at large, it asked the most questions. The crumpled newspaper was able to add a few things about the world that Bobby Pin hadn’t known.

It was with fondness that Bobby Pin completed its recounting of the trip and finished with a description of its journey home. It seemed as if the story had created a spell upon the listeners since Bobby Pin’s experiences were far beyond what most of the nearby discarded objects had ever known. It was the empty bag of dog food that broke the spell with the controversial question, “So how did you get here?”

It was well known in the trash pile that some objects hyperfocused on their reason for being thrown away, while other items couldn’t bear to speak a single word about it.

“I’m afraid it’s an unremarkable story.” Bobby Pin finally responded. “After spending over two years in the family with three girls, I was lost on a playground after the youngest swung upside down from the jungle gym. Four days later I was found among the gravel by a toddler who picked me up and put me into his pocket, which was already full with rocks, a rubber band, and a button. His father, upon finding me when doing the washing, tossed all of us into the rubbish bin. The older brother found me on top of a pile of dryer lint and having just watched a spy cartoon, proceeded to use me to try to pick a door lock. After the attempt failed and I was bent out of shape, I was thrown away again, and my journey ended here.”

The telling of the story was done in a flat voice, however, a waterproof mascara tube guessed at the buried emotions Bobby Pin suppressed as it told of being lost then found, discarded then reclaimed, and finally damaged and thrown out. Bobby Pin fell quiet after it’s tale, and it didn’t speak for a long time thereafter.

However, garbage trucks came daily to drop, push, smash, lift, and pile pieces of trash. It was only a few days before Bobby Pin was once again persuaded by neighboring items to speak of the human world and it's amazing facets and intricacies. Because after all, who among us doesn’t enjoy a good story?