The Oddlings

On the planet of Odd there were two very different types of Oddlings. The Squiggles and the Lines.

Lines made decisions out of security. They knew there was danger out there, and they protected against it in advance.

They usually had very sensible jobs. They watched what they said and they said things like ‘everything in moderation’.

They had breakfast, lunch and tea, usually at the same time every Oddling day. Their lives had order, an order they would prefer everyone else fell into line with.

They hated grey. They preferred black and white, with clearly established guidelines for them to follow. Law and rules made it easy for them to stay in line with the other Lines. They liked to know where they stood.

For them the sky was blue and the grass green.

They were logical, logistical, never whimsical.

They could tell you a million reasons not to take a risk. But they’d never taken one of their own.

They stuck to things, saw things through to the end, they were solid and steady. Reliable is a word used to describe them by other Lines, sometimes even Squiggles.

They had money saved.

They planned for a rainy day.

They had a diary and they used it.

They walked around with their feet planted firmly on the ground.

Lines were the structure of their world. They were needed, they were the foundations. Sometimes they secretly wished they were different.

To them, the Squiggles were very strange indeed – even for Oddlings!

The Squiggles were messy, untidy, sometimes even dirty.

They mucked about. They were often late. Sometimes they didn’t even turn up at all because some thing or other had distracted them.

They believed moderation needed moderating too.

For them the sky was full of red and pink and the grass a carpet of blue.

They knew there were rules, but they believed they were more like suggestions.

They lived with their head in the clouds. They scribbled, they doodled, they coloured outside the lines.

Their minds ran away with them.

They packed at the last minute.

They bought pretty diaries but didn’t use them for more than a few weeks.

They ate dessert first.

They wore odd socks.

They didn’t wash up immediately after cooking.

They sometimes dreamed they were different.

Both the squiggles and the Lines were quite intolerant of each other most of the time.

But here’s what you need to know about Oddlings. Every being on the planet of Odd, started off life as a Squiggle and as they grew up, they had the chance to choose to continue to be a Squiggle, or to continue their life journey onwards as a Line. Once they decided, they could never change back.

It was a tricky choice and Odd society often dictated the young Oddling’s route through life. When Oddlings chose their destiny, sometimes their friends and family rejected them.

The difference between humans and Oddlings is that we can choose to be whoever we want to be and at any time in life, we can change.

Be who you are, love who you are, and respect each other’s life choices.