[ALVIN]
"A Neat Career". A story about Thomas

(ALVIN gives the pages to THOMAS.)

[THOMAS]
...Okay

(THOMAS begins, not quite understanding ALVIN's choice of story.)

My college application required a sample of my writing - a short story - and I had nothing. I'd been writing things down for years, but nothing resembled an actual story - so, in a panic, I went to find Alvin at the store to tell me what to do

[ALVIN]
(As he's working, shelving books etc.)
There's gotta be thousands of stories in that head of yours, Tom, just pick one and write it down!

[THOMAS]
So, I... picked one and wrote it down. Three hundred and fifty words, amounting to, I suspected, a pile of crap. So, I decided to read it to Alvin, and let him decide if it was any good at all

"The Butterfly", by Thomas Weaver

[ALVIN]
"The Butterfly"?

[THOMAS]
Yeah
In a far-off land
There lived a beautiful butterfly
In a kingdom full of blossom-covered trees
And, winding through this paradise
A river danced along
And played with the constant summer breeze

[ALVIN]
Keep going

[THOMAS]
The butterfly found a tiny branch at the riverside
And watched the water rushing who knows where
Carefully, he sheltered from the power of the breeze
For surely it could toss him through the air

I'm a butterfly, he said
Trivial and small
And, in the greater scheme of things
I don't mean much at all
So I'll flap my wings to stretch myself
And just enjoy the view
I'm a butterfly
What more can I do?

One afternoon, the butterfly asked the river
"Madam, what makes you hurry so?
What splended destination are you rippling toward?
Where, oh where, do you go?"
The river said, "I'm heading for the ocean
And the summer breeze inspires me to race
My friend, you'd love the ocean!
It's remarkable to see
Won't you join our friendly chase?"

"I'm a butterfly," he said
"Trivial and small
And, in the greater scheme of things
I don't mean much at all
So I flap my wings to stretch myself
And just enjoy the view
I'm a butterfly
What more can I do?"

So the butterfly, he dreamed of the ocean
He longed to flutter high above the seas
But there are dangers in the sky
For a tiny butterfly
So, from his branch, he asked a question of the breeze:

"What makes you chase the river towards the ocean?"
Then the breeze told him a most amazing thing:

"I'm simply made up of the currents in the air
That start from the movement of your wing
Your tiny wing
You're a butterfly, my friend!
Powerful and strong!
And I'm grateful for the way
You've always hurried me along
When you flap your wings to stretch yourself
It might seem small to you
But you change the world
With everything you do!"

So he stretched his wings, and took off
From the safety of his tree
And the butterfly
Finally saw the sea