Sunday, February 17, 2013

Soap

In our bathroom cupboard for many years there was a small powdery soft old cardboard box, half full of ancient bars of hotel soap in exotically-coloured paper wrappers. If you looked into the box, you sneezed because of the overpowering soapy dust and the aroma of concentrated perfume.
These were McMum's holiday souvenirs from the 1950s ; the packets were worn from rubbing against each other and from general ancientness.
Postbox red, clinical blue, flashes of yellow, each of the miniature packets looked more tempting than the last to open and try; paradoxically, this was probably why they had never been used.
Which to use first?
And of course, once the first one had been used, it was time for the second, the third, the fourth... and the magical box of free holiday souvenirs would eventually vanish along with its memories of forgettable motels and budget hotels.
So they stayed there on their bathroom cupboard shelf for years and years and years.
I wonder what became of them?

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