Hi. I wrote this in 10 minutes... and it shows. It's a brainstorm piece (writers know what that means). Something I haven't done in awhile and felt the need.

Mal v2.0

It was noon. Mal was at home and just finishing up gift wrapping an ashtray he made for his mother in school today. His mom didn't smoke but that's not the point of a gift exchange between son and mother as far as he was concerned. He thought she could use it to store her chewed gum or matches she used to light candles or maybe even paperclips if she wanted. It didn't matter to him.

Mal just added the last piece of tape (1 of 133 strips he used) to the package wrapped in a wadded fashion. He didn't have any gift paper, just grocery bag material. Again, the seemingly poor quality of the gift and its encasement had little effect on Mal. He felt no shame for what he was about to deliver.

He finished his wrapping, turned the gift over in his hands a few times, smiling widely. He skipped into the living room to present the gift to his mother.

"Oh Mal. This isn't another ashtray, is it." Mal's mother looked annoyed.

"Only one way to find out, isn't there," Mal replied, still grinning.

She sighed, tearing away at the wadded, brown paper and looked disgustingly at what seemed to be 3 full rolls of clear tape used to hold the paper on. The woman probably had a dozen of those 133 pieces tacked on to her fingers, hand and some even made it out to her arm as she tore away at the paper. She finally got to the core, the gift, and stared at it. Mal's mother pursed her lips tight, turning her eyes up to her son standing above her - who was still grinning. "Are you trying to get me start smoking or something Mal?"

"You don't have smoke Mom," Mal said. "You can use it for-"

"Gum, matches and paperclips. Yes I know. I know from the eight last ashtrays you made for me. Mal, listen. This has got to stop."

Mom stood up and put her left hand on her son's shoulder as if to comfort him. Hand on his shoulder, she tapped his clavicle three times and immediately, Mal vanished right from the living room and out of existance. Mom sighed again. "Hopefully the next one will behave better," she said aloud to to herself and anyone who might be surveilling the situation from hidden view.