It was half-past midnight when the paper clips revolted. Oh, all had been going well until then. I had worked all day, ate a quick sandwich sitting at my desk, trying to get all this work done before the deadline. All the various reports were done, all pages of each one paper clipped together with a note on top telling which report it was and where it needed to go. Finally. It had been a long day and I was so tired. Now the reports were all ready to be put into their individual covers to be sent to the people that needed them in the morning.
Suddenly, paper clips started sliding off the pages, doing back flips across the desk. The freed report pages began flying around the room, helter skelter, like little magic carpets flying through the air. Some pages twirled around each other, like square dancers doing a doe-see-doe. The room was soon filled with flying, swirling, dancing papers from floor to ceiling, some narrowly missing me as they flew by, a little too close for my comfort.
It's hard now to know just how long this went on for. It seemed hours, though could have been longer, or a shorter time. The clock in the room stopped at the time the paper clips began to slip. Finally, all was still. Paper clips laying all over the desk, sheets of paper all over the floor, desk, bookshelf, and anything else they could be laying on in the room. It was a disaster!! Oh my God, what a mess!! How in the world could I get everything back in order in time? All the bosses, the partners in the company, needed those reports first thing in the morning! They had to be ready on time. But how? All I could do at this point was sit there, stunned, and wonder what in the world could I do. Around this time I heard someone praying. It was just a quiet little voice confirming it's oneness with the Infinite Power and Presence in the Universe, saying that God was all there is. As I listened to this little voice go on and on, I finally realized that it sounded familiar. "Who is that?" I wondered. Then it came to me. The voice I heard was me. Yes, it was me that I heard praying. And as I continued to pray the papers all started to move again. "No! I can't watch it again!" I thought to myself as I closed my eyes and continued to affirm my unity with the One Life that God is, as I continued to affirm that God put the papers back together, as It put my life back together.
When I finally quit praying, was silent in my own mind, I noticed all was silent in the room. Deathly silent. I was afraid to open my eyes, yet I had to do just that eventually. I realized that I trusted in God with every cell in my body and mind, and this realization gave me the strength to open my eyes... very... slowly. I could hardly believe what my eyes saw. Not only were all the pages back on the desk, but they were all firmly encased in their report covers, just as I'd prayed they would be. I picked one up and thumbed through it. Yes, all the pages were in the correct folder, and all in the right order. I picked up another folder and thumbed through it, to find the same. All pages were in their right and proper place.
Joyfully, though in a state of numbness, I took my purse from the desk drawer, slipped my shoes back on my feet, and quietly left the office after making sure all the rogue paper clips had returned to their container on the shelf beside the desk. I didn't dare drive home just now, so I hailed a cab, gave him my address, and just sat back, stunned and perhaps half asleep as he drove me home. Having paid the cab driver, I let myself into the apartment building, took the elevator to the 27th floor, walked down the hallway to my door. I unlocked the door, quietly stepped inside, dropped my purse and kicked off my shoes right there. I dropped my clothes along the pathway to my bed as I went. Thankfully, I slipped between the sheets, closed my eyes, and let the world drift silently away.
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