Folds and Creases

He was a simple creature.
Four Legs, Two Ears, A tail,
and a nose slightly pointed towards the left.
His favourite spot was under the park bench.

One day, a girl was so smitten by his folds and creases, she picked him up by his ears and started folding him further.
She folded one of his legs and then another.
His tail disappeared and his ears became wings.
She lifted him into the air and said “Fly!”
He flew from her hand, around the trees and bees and landed on the grass, his eyes tightly closed throughout.
Everyone started clapping and he liked the clapping.

The next day, the girl picked him up again.
This time she folded him differently, and his wings became a sail.
She placed him on a puddle and he floated wonderfully, as children cheered.

Soon he learned that everyone liked something different.

One boy liked brave animals, so he became a lion.
Another preferred pets to cuddle, so he became a rabbit.
Some just wanted to monkey around, so he became a monkey.
But nobody asked him what he wanted.

One day when he was making everyone laugh, a girl said “Monkeys are messy”.
He looked at his folds for a moment and then folded himself into a cat.
“You look so much better”, the girl smiled.
He smiled back.

From then on he watched people carefully.
Before they spoke, he tried to guess what they wanted him to be.
Sometimes he got it right, sometimes wrong.
But when he did get it right, they smiled and said “you’re just like me.”

So he became better at this game.
He stopped saying he liked red when someone liked blue.
He stopped saying he hated hats when someone loved them.
He stopped saying he was afraid of heights.
He stopped saying anything at all.
People admired him and said
“you’re so easy to get along with”,
“You understand everyone.”
“You’re exactly what I need.”
He smiled.

One evening, he sat at the park bench with three others.
“I love the rain,” said one.
“So do I,” he said.

“I hate rain,” said another.
“So do I,” he changed.

The third laughed, “Which is it, then?”
He laughed too, because he couldn’t remember.

The next morning, someone asked him what his favorite color was.
He opened his mouth to say red, but he was not sure,
Was it blue, Was it yellow?
He just couldn't decide so he said nothing.

That afternoon he heard people calling for him from the doorway “Come on! We need you.”

He looked up, wondering what he should become. No one told him anything and he waited.

“What are you?” people at the doorway asked.

He tried remembering.
He remembered puddles.
Or was that yesterday.
He remembered flying.
Or was he a bird.

Four legs and two ears.
A Dog? Perhaps.

He looked down at his folds and creases.
There were so many.
He tried to find the first one.
He was not sure where to start.
He followed a crease with a finger. It led nowhere.

He stood still.
He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came.
He had an answer once.
Perhaps.