* Maria Sourgiadaki
It’s happening every July the 1st. The smell of the freshly brewed coffee is charging the batteries that are hidden in the secret mechanism. There is no ticking; there is no sound, just a slowly growing force that explodes when the clock hits 10.31 am; 10, for the 10 months of school life and 31, for the 31 days of July and August.
So, every July the 1st, at 10.31 am, if you sit on the roof of a tall building, you will see swarms of butterflies rushing out of open windows into the sky.
“What is happening?” asked little Jules, who was having his breakfast at the balcony of a hotel by the sea. “Why are there so many butterflies around?”
His grandfather smiled. He knew why, because he was one of them; one from the universal league of the magicians who could make the papers fly. He looked at a butterfly that was approaching. Jules was eating a juicy piece of water melon and red drops on the table attracted it.
“Is it real?” said Jules.
“No, it’s a magical paper butterfly. Soon it will disappear” said his grandfather.
“When? Why? Where will it go when it’s vanished? Jules asked with the innocence of his 3 years of age.
“They become words!” said his grandfather smiling.
“I want to see these words” said Jules, “where are they?”
“You will see them when you go to school. Your teacher keeps them ”
“Do you have such words in your school granpa? You are a teacher too”
The butterfly disappeared. It only had 31 minutes of life.
There is a secret movement of the hands, forming two opposite question marks in the air, a shake of the head backwards and two secret words, that do the magic that works every July the 1st, at 10.31 am. All school paper work that is kept in the house of the teachers become butterflies that live only 31 minutes and then disappear. They get transformed into words, ideas in the head of the teachers…and they stop swirling in their mind only at midnight of June the 30th.
Jules looked at the blue sky above that was merging into the horizon with the sea. No butterflies anymore. He said “I want those words!”
It’s happening every July the 1st. The smell of the freshly brewed coffee is charging the batteries that are hidden in the secret mechanism. There is no ticking; there is no sound, just a slowly growing force that explodes when the clock hits 10.31 am; 10, for the 10 months of school life and 31, for the 31 days of July and August.
So, every July the 1st, at 10.31 am, if you sit on the roof of a tall building, you will see swarms of butterflies rushing out of open windows into the sky.
“What is happening?” asked little Jules, who was having his breakfast at the balcony of a hotel by the sea. “Why are there so many butterflies around?”
His grandfather smiled. He knew why, because he was one of them; one from the universal league of the magicians who could make the papers fly. He looked at a butterfly that was approaching. Jules was eating a juicy piece of water melon and red drops on the table attracted it.
“Is it real?” said Jules.
“No, it’s a magical paper butterfly. Soon it will disappear” said his grandfather.
“When? Why? Where will it go when it’s vanished? Jules asked with the innocence of his 3 years of age.
“They become words!” said his grandfather smiling.
“I want to see these words” said Jules, “where are they?”
“You will see them when you go to school. Your teacher keeps them ”
“Do you have such words in your school granpa? You are a teacher too”
The butterfly disappeared. It only had 31 minutes of life.
There is a secret movement of the hands, forming two opposite question marks in the air, a shake of the head backwards and two secret words, that do the magic that works every July the 1st, at 10.31 am. All school paper work that is kept in the house of the teachers become butterflies that live only 31 minutes and then disappear. They get transformed into words, ideas in the head of the teachers…and they stop swirling in their mind only at midnight of June the 30th.
Jules looked at the blue sky above that was merging into the horizon with the sea. No butterflies anymore. He said “I want those words!”
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