The young birds had flown off the nest. A few memories in the shape of scattered stationery and toys remained.
A few months later, Joan could boast of seeing half a decade of life, and spending more than half of it, in cleaning up. Her job in the Fraud Prevention Cell of a bank, did not do much to boost a sagging spirit. The wonders of technology posed new challenges every day.
What could a paper clip do, in a paperless world? The brilliant invention is now a piece of junk. For how long could she hold it all together?
Inspired by Rochelle Wisoff at
Image : Claire Sheldon
Reena Saxena 
Reblogged this on Read 4 Fun and commented:
With the beginning of a new month, a bit of immediate, poignant, street-level philosophy. I will ask my students to read this and give immediate feedback about what they think is going on here. What a short passage with soooo many possible interpretations! It may not be a happy start to the day but it does kickstart the thought processes.
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Thanks for the appreciation, Ron! I would love to see the responses.
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The mixed metaphors make for an intriguing piece.
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Thanks!
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Paperclips as metaphors! Well thought out story.
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Well done, Reena. Very introspective and pertinent in an ever changing world.
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Thank you, Sascha!
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Loved the metaphor. So creative.
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Thanks, Amie!
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Great metaphor indeed…
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What could a paper clip do, in a paperless world? – Brilliant lines
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An excellent story held together by the paperclip…
I enjoyed it!
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Thanks 🙂
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I hope she finds purpose. I like the analogy between the paperclips and the way she perceives her life.
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Thank you! She is at that particular stage in life, where one starts questioning the worth of all efforts.
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Paperclips make great bangles and necklaces – just thought I’d mention it!
Please click to read my FriFic
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I have heard that wire coat hangers are used to create racks in the kitchen. Creativity never ends 🙂
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A true testament to the times in which we live. Paperless paperclips, stapleless pages on screens… So many changes in our livetimes, it seems. Another generation, and I wonder if they will even remember what it was like to hold a pen, or write their name.
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They will read about it in digital history textbooks 🙂
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I make generous use of paper-clips and feel its limited use will never become extinct. ‘holding together’ is a beautiful metaphor used by you, Reena.
http://ideasolsi65.blogspot.in/2017/07/ashes-and-memories.html
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Thank you, Kalpana!
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I never thought about all those doomed paper clips though I guess I do still have a draw full!
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Staplers and hole-punchers are irrelevant in absence of paper. People go scurrying for a pen or pencil. The paper clip is too small and insignificant 🙂
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Like I said, I have never thought about it that way 🙂 time to clear out my desk draw
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Who knew paper clips could think 🙂
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Anything that is used and thrown has a perspective. The user does not think about it 🙂
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I feel for this paper clip, and so hope that she finds a fine piece of paper to retire with.🙂
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The key lies in finding new props 🙂
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Reminds me of Asimov’s Computer – Man – Dog theory. Well written, Reena. Cheers, Varad
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Thank you, Varad!
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I love this. Really felt her emotion particularly in the last line
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Reena, I really enjoyed this and how you used the metaphor of the paperclip to reflect how Joan feels about her life at this point. However, I also thought it could be tightened up a bit in places. Looking at your opening line: “The young birds had flown off the nest”, the saying is to “fly out of the nest” and as it stands you’ve gone half way. Just food for thought.
xx Rowena
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Thanks for pointing out. Maybe, I economized on words to stay within the word limits. It is meant only to elucidate on the stage of life she is in.
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You’re welcome, Reena. That word count is brutal and it can take fresh eyes to point out when we’ve trimmed too much off.
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I agree that technology and specifically AI/Machine Learning is making inroads to areas we always thought only people could perform, but as much as the computing industry boasted of creating a paperless society, there are still plenty of jobs that require physical documentation.
Right now, I’m working in a back office behind a print shop and I can tell you, there’s plenty of paper and paperclips to go around.
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Good to know that the print medium survives.
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I once read an article about using AI to create technical documents but I don’t think it could extend to writing fiction, could it?
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I am not aware about fiction. But there are apps where one can feed the keywords and theme, and get a blog. Maybe one of those we skip reading as too cliched and trashy.
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Google had a go a couple of years ago. The AI produced something like weird post-modern poetry with a very dark subtext. It wasn’t any good. Give ’em ten years though…
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I like this neat take.
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Not much to do… we are dinosaurs.
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Yes, a very good metaphor, Reena. Who knew how much technology would go in only the last twenty years or less? Wonderful!
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Technology is a boon that scares us. Maybe, there is a lurking fear of redundancy.
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I really liked the way you used the paperclip metaphor
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Thanks!
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