Paper Boats

In the village square, Ana folds paper boats from yesterday’s news, stories of conflict and division becoming delicate vessels, creases smoothing sharp words into gentle curves. She kneels by the fountain and places them carefully, watching as each boat catches the current, drifting slowly toward someone else's waiting hands.

Passersby stop, curious, picking boats from the water. They unfold each carefully, reading headlines softened by water, ink blurred into faint whispers. Eyes meet across the fountain, hesitant at first, then warming with quiet understanding. Ana believes this is how peace starts, not loudly but softly, a ripple that grows with every folded paper.

Tonight, she'll dream of entire oceans filled with paper boats, strangers meeting on distant shores, speaking without suspicion, folding yesterday’s conflicts into new shapes of possibility.