Baby Paper Bag was born to a purpose: to carry things.
Smooth and flat at birth? No one believes me on that one.
Her destiny was the lifespan of a mayfly: a 24 hour period.
A carpenter stuffed so many nails into baby paper bag that she aged over night and even developed a small tear in her hindquarters.
The carpenter threw baby paper bag out because of the damage.
But, a homeless woman came along and plucked baby paper bag out of the trash barrel and put some socks in it and put it in her pocket.
The homeless woman then died and the paperbag in her pocket fell out of another bag that all her belongings had been put into by the hospital.
A squirrel found it and took the socks, one by one, to the tippy top of the tree where his squirrel house was built. The squirrel used the socks for curtains.
Baby paper bag, now empty and middle aged, blew down the street, light as a feather and got run over by an 18 wheeler tractor trailer that had new tires. And, that was the end of baby paper bag.
The wrinkles were now deeply grooved and permanent and baby paper bag was squished totally flat just like a newborn paper bag, BUT wasn’t dirty–which would have pleased baby paper bag’s mother (now in heaven) no end because she taught her children always to wear clean underwear because you never know when you are going to be in an accident.
And so that is how I came to find this paper bag: on the side of the road, wrinkly and discarded, but near some grass, a very pretty green color.
I took a picture and went home. When I came back the next day, baby paper bag was gone.
I think S. Le found it and recycled baby paper bag.
©Pat Coakley 2008
PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
Amazing story. Also, thanks for the advert!
So a new bag person has come.
With a very beguiling little visage.
There’s a good chance this new bag baby was adopted by Angelina and Brad and being ensconced in a new nursery in France right now.
Ne c’est pas tragique!
See, it’s these kinds of stories that you tell, Pat, that keep those kids hanging so close to their ‘ Pappy ‘.
“The squirrel used the socks for curtains.”~this part had me rolling….. great story. I will always look at discarded trash a little differently.
S. Lee, thanks to you for the end of my story!!
BL: a french paper bag would only come in size 2.
Sweetiegirlz: Squirrels rule my condo complex. Brazen. Take all the bird food put out on feeders and are simply incorrigible. I try to make myself like them and not think of them as a rat with a bushy tail.
You are so creative… you just blow me away. I wanna be you when I grow up!
Ah, the adorable baby paper bag had such a short life, and yet she lived it to the fullest. She should write her memoirs (on recycled paper, of course, with walnut ink). And yes, clean underwear is very important – you never know when you’re gonna be recycled.
Wow, you have topped us all!
Pat, per your request (and some others’), I posted what I wrote about my pieces in the show. Please be merciful… ;-)
And I finally got myself a face! Farewell blue tile!
Awwws its the bebe! Hmmm you sure that isn’t a baby rabbit? Look it even has ears! Excellent!
People, go check out Sanity’s use of le paper bag! We have origami bag, bebe bag, we have Smurf bag, and recycle bag (or else!), and now we have “David” bag. Creativity is not in short supply with this crowd! Thanks, all!
http://sanityfound.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/evolution-and-the-paperbag-pb/#comment-6524
what a wonderful story! i fell in love with baby paper bag and wanted to keep her, it turns out she was my sister, and you know how it is, so i let her go, but i will never forget her