In a small but very busy town called Body, there lived two brothers. They were no ordinary boys. They were as light as a feather and as flexible as rubber, because they were made of balloons. The elder was named Inhalo and the younger was named Exhalo. They lived in a spacious cave with two entrances, which was called the Nose. Their work was incredibly important for the entire town.
Every morning, as soon as the town of Body woke up, Inhalo took a deep breath of the fresh, fragrant air from outside. He would inflate like a giant ball full of energy and then set off on a journey through long, pink corridors called the airways. Along the way, he delivered his precious cargo, called oxygen, to all the little houses in the town. These little houses, the cells, were eagerly waiting for the oxygen because it gave them the strength to work, play, and grow.
When Inhalo had delivered all the fresh air, it was Exhalo's turn. His job was to collect all the used, tired air, full of something called carbon dioxide. It was a type of waste that the little houses produced. Exhalo carefully gathered it all, inflated himself with it, and quickly returned back out of the town to release it far away.
And so it went, day after day. Inhalo in, Exhalo out. Thanks to them, the town of Body was healthy and full of life.
One day, however, something strange happened. Inhalo took a breath as usual, but along with the fresh air, a small, gray cloud snuck inside. It was full of tiny, tickly specks of dust.
"Brr, what is this?" Inhalo frowned as he moved forward. He could feel the specks of dust tickling his thin, balloon skin.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," replied Exhalo, who was just preparing for his journey out. "It looks like a pile of mess."
Inhalo tried to ignore the dust and continued on his way. But the deeper he went into the airways, the more the dust irritated him. The specks stuck to the walls of the corridors and swirled in the air. The little houses, waiting for their dose of oxygen, began to flicker restlessly. "Where is our fresh air? This one is sort of dirty!" they cried.
"We have to do something about this!" Inhalo decided. He stopped and tried to gently blow at the cloud of dust. "Whoooosh."
What do you think, children, did he succeed?
No. The dust just swirled everywhere and tickled him even more. Some of the specks even went deeper.
"This isn't working," said Exhalo when he saw this. "Let's try something else. What if..." he mused, "...what if we try to catch the specks?"
It was an interesting idea. Inhalo and Exhalo carefully approached the dust particles and tried to collect them with their smooth bodies. But there were too many specks, and they were as tiny as pinheads. Every time they caught one, five more escaped.
"This isn't working either," sighed Inhalo. He felt a growing itch and tickle in his nose. It was very unpleasant. "What are we going to do? The little houses in the town need clean air."
Just then, Exhalo remembered the wise Nose, the great gate to their cave. The Nose was the oldest part of the airways and had seen all sorts of things.
"Let's go ask the Nose," Exhalo suggested. "Maybe it will know how to deal with such rascals."
They returned to the start of their journey, right to the entrance. The tickling was now almost unbearable.
"Wise Nose," Inhalo called out, "we have a problem. Dust has gotten into the town and we don't know how to get rid of it. It's tickling us and making the paths dirty."
The Nose was silent for a moment. Then its walls trembled and it spoke in a deep, booming voice: "Sometimes, when something thoroughly scratches and tickles me from the inside, I have to use all my strength. I gather all the air I have, and then I blow it all out at once in a sudden burst. It's the fastest way to get rid of anything that doesn't belong inside me."
The brothers looked at each other. All their strength? A sudden burst? What did that mean exactly?
While they were pondering this, the tickling reached its peak. Inhalo felt a huge pressure building up inside him. His whole body tensed, the air within him compressed like a spring. Exhalo felt the same.
"I... I... I can't take it anymore!" cried Inhalo.
And then it happened.
"AHHH..." they both began at once, sucking in even more air than they could hold.
"CHOOO!"
Such a powerful stream of air shot out of the Nose cave that it could have blown out the candles on a giant's birthday cake. It was an enormous, loud, and above all, an incredibly fast explosion. And with it flew out all the dust that had been bothering the brothers. In a single moment, the airways were clean and clear again.
Inhalo and Exhalo stared at each other in surprise. They were a bit shaken, but the tickling was gone.
"Wow!" Exhalo exclaimed. "That was powerful! Is that the sudden blast the Nose was talking about?"
"I think so," Inhalo smiled. "And it seems to work perfectly. The paths are completely clean."
They quickly got back to work. Inhalo brought fresh, clean air to the town, and the little houses thanked him joyfully. Then, Exhalo easily collected all the tired air.
From that day on, they knew what to do whenever dust or any other impurity got into the town of Body. They discovered that a sneeze isn't a bad thing, but a great and fast cleaning mechanism for the body. It's like having a super-powerful blower built right inside you.
"You know what the best part is?" said Exhalo as they were resting in the evening. "Next time we sneeze, we have to put a hand or a handkerchief in front of the entrance. So we don't send that cloud of dust onto other towns nearby."
Inhalo nodded in agreement. Not only had they learned how to keep their town clean, but they also understood how to be considerate of others. And that, after all, is just as important. What do you think, children? Weren't they right?