The Story of Flat Ben
One day, we received a "Flat Melissa" in the mail
from our Aunt Kathy. Flat Melissa was a 2-dimensional version of our cousin,
3-dimensional Melissa. Melissa was assigned a school project where she
sent out Flat Melissa and asked her friends and relatives to take Flat
Melissa on adventures and send her all over the place. This assignment
was based on a childrens book that told the story of a small child who
was flattened (by a chalkboard, I think) and discovered that he could
fold himself up and mail himself to all kinds of exciting places he could
never get to as a child.
Flat Melissa went to see Metallica with the San Francisco Symphony at Berkeley (front row seats), she worked in a tattoo shop with Stephie, and she played at Ocean Beach in San Francisco with Shelly.
Stephie got the idea of creating a Flat Ben from Flat Melissa. At the time, Ben was very sick and unable to do the things he wanted to do. He could not go anywhere, could not have any adventures, and was very depressed. Stephie decided that Flat Ben would have adventures for Ben.
Flat Ben has been all over the place and seen many exciting things. Flat Ben has run marathons and road races with Stephie. He ran the San Francisco Bay to Breakers (which Stephie and Shelly do every year.) Flat Ben was dressed up as the King of Hearts, (a really nice paper costume that has since disappeared) and Stephie ran dressed as the Queen of Spades. Flat Ben was at Wildflower 2000, and will probably be on the back of Stephie's bike for Wildflower 2001.
Oddly, Flat Ben disappeared for about 6 months after the Bay to Breakers. We don't know where he went, but he went somewhere. If only he could talk!
Flat Ben will be going to Europe with Stephie and Shelly this summer. Flat Ben reminds us that although 3-dimensional Ben is gone, he's always with us.
