In the drawer of an old desk, between a ball of wool and a forgotten photograph, lived an old blue telephone. It wasn't a modern, sleek phone with a single large screen. This one had real buttons, where letters would cheerfully take turns when a message was being written. Inside this phone was a small, bustling town called Letterville.
On the number two button lived the friends A, B, and C. On the number three, D, E, and F would play. Each group of letters had its own little house, and when Grandma Annie, who owned the phone, wanted to write a message, it was a grand event for them. The letters had to jump onto the display in the correct order. Just imagine the dance! If she wanted to write "HEY", H had to jump up twice, then E twice, and finally Y three times. Everyone had to work together nicely.
One day, however, something unexpected happened. Grandma Annie wanted to send her granddaughter Emma the most tempting message in the world: "COME OVER FOR SUPER CAKE!"
She carefully pressed the buttons. P jumped up. R... didn't appear. She pressed again. Nothing. The number seven key, where the friends P, R, and S lived, was somehow silent and stiff. Instead of a cheerful click, there was only a faint, sad "thud."
All of Letterville was celebrating that day. All the letters applauded the brave R, who wasn't afraid and discovered that even the biggest problem can be solved when they join forces. And R? He learned that every single piece inside the phone, even the tiniest one, is important—whether it be a letter, a copper pathway, or a tiny, swift impulse.
And perhaps you, too, the next time you write a message, will remember the brave letter R and his adventure inside the old telephone. Try looking at an old device with your parents and imagine what little worlds might be hiding inside.