Sindacollo

I was stumped for a short story concept till I decided to tell the tale of an inanimate object in my possession and of its most recent experience...

I have many powers and serve many purposes but it takes a human to discover and awaken those in me. I am nothing if I am alone but once I am held and worn by a person I can be many wonderful things. Recently a new power was discovered for me and I am still abuzz with the thrill of it.

I had been taken to a picnic and lay inconspicuously by the purpose-made picnic blankets. I have been a picnic blanket many-a-time but most of those events involve adults only - this one also involved children of a very playful and imaginative age. Yes I grant you - the adults I interact with tend to be playful and imaginative too. Nonetheless it has been a while since a new power of mine was discovered and this one is a doozy!

In conjunction with a child wearing me I became a boulder! It was fantastic. We blended in well with the setting and fooled passers-by. However the children there could all still see us and soon each child wanted to take a turn using me to become a boulder. One of the adults expressed concern for my welfare but my owner dismissed such concern, knowing, as he does, that I am made of sturdy stuff and have passed many tests of endurance. I did, however, notice that he was monitoring my activity just in case my wild magic exceeded safe proportions, making intervention necessary.

I was made at a workshop along with others of my ilk a long time ago. I lose track of time, spending as much of it as I do in wardrobes, but I suspect that if I were human I would now be granted the vote. As it is, however, I am aware of the passing of time in the form of a shifting array of scents and forms. The coterie of humans that I meet has slowly changed over time.

I need humans to make me more than just a pile of cloth in a corner, and likewise I sometimes find it useful to work in conjunction with other objects to work my magic. With a few other items including a big stick (redefined as a staff) I became one of the Istari - a wizard from Middle Earth and the character that had originally inspired my grey colouration. I have pockets which allow me to hold such things as sparklers and a small jar of glitter which helped me evoke the image of Gandalf The Grey at a masquerade ball.

At other times I have partnered with a toy light saber to help depict a Jedi. What fun light saber duels can be with all the swishing and swirling around and feeling the wind of our movements. The light saber told me that the joy for it, however, came from making hissing and crackling sounds, which I must admit is something beyond my ken.

And yet another time I worked with a card-paper model skull to become some sort of eight foot tall puppet death. At a party we scared some of the machismo from someone who was very much in need of having his mere mortality exposed to himself. You have to trust me, however, in saying that I am usually employed to enhance positive, rather than negative, experiences.

I have often been an extra blanket at sleep-overs and camps. I have been an instant tent in which between two and four friends can gather for some warmth. Some startling things have happened under me. If only humans knew just how much items of cloth notice and remember, they would be rather nonplussed.

There have been a few difficult experiences in all of this. On a walk once a part of me was ripped by thorns. Luckily I was mended. I do wish my owner would attach a proper clasp to me - this button and loop-of-string is hardly the most attractive. Yes I am a functional garment but I feel that some bling could give me a bit of a lift as I get older.

I hope for much more of this. I enjoy sleeping in wardrobes but I am only truly me once I am taken and worn and shared. And if I can become a boulder then what other powers lie in my future for others to find? Life is good for this grey cloak.

The word 'sindacollo' means 'grey cloak' and is taken from the Elvish invented by J R R Tolkien.