Threads of Imaginary Time

The elephant carried loose threads of time from every person he had loved. Blue belonged to a vanished friend, red to his mother, gold to a child who had grown up and left the caravan. Afraid of losing anyone again, he tied each thread tightly around his body. The balloons dipped; the wheels slowed; even the birds became tangled.

A child climbed onto his back and loosened the gold thread. ‘If I untie it, will the memory go?’ the elephant asked. ‘No. It may finally move with you.’ They tied the thread to a small bell instead of a cage.

It rang whenever the wind changed. One by one, the other threads became music, not restraints. Time still took people onward. It no longer had to take their meaning away.