In the warm, steam-filled bathroom, the air was fragrant with soap and laughter. Little Mickey sat in the bathtub full of foam and blew into his palm. Right then, from one of his cheerful puffs, she was born. The Bubble.
She wasn't just an ordinary bubble. As soon as she separated from the rest of the foam, she felt how special she was. Her thin, transparent wall shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the light of the bathroom lamp. For a moment she floated, danced in the warm air and looked around her new world.
"Oh, how round I am!" she thought to herself and examined her perfect shape with wonder. She felt how an invisible yet firm force held her together around her entire circumference. As if she had her own elastic skin that wouldn't let her fall apart. It was her little mystery and her great strength at the same time.
Curiously, she looked around the bathroom. She saw big Mickey splashing water, a yellow duckling bobbing on the ripples, and a shelf with white towels that looked like soft clouds. But then she spotted her mission. A bit away from the ceiling, a tiny gray speck was just floating there. It was Dust Speck Greybeard, a stray piece of mess that had escaped the evening cleanup.
The Bubble immediately knew what she had to do. She wasn't here just for decoration. Her soapy essence whispered to her that her purpose was to catch just such specks and help keep the world clean.
"I'm going hunting!" she whispered determinedly to herself and let herself be carried by a gentle air current toward him.
The journey wasn't easy. Right at the beginning, she was almost threatened by the sharp corner of a shelf. "Watch out!" she squealed in her mind. She felt her delicate rainbow wall stretching. If she had touched it, she would have burst and that would have been the end of her. Fortunately, Mickey waved his hand in the tub and created a small breeze that safely carried her a bit further away.
She sighed with relief, though she had no lungs. She headed toward Dust Speck Greybeard again. He looked at her curiously. He had never seen anything so shiny and colorful.
The Bubble floated on and admired how light refracted on her surface. When she flew under the lamp, her colors were even brighter. Red, yellow, green, blue... they danced and blended like in the most beautiful painting. "The white light breaks apart into all colors inside me," she realized with amazement. "I'm actually a walking rainbow!"
Her joy was almost interrupted by another obstacle. She was floating too low and approaching a terry towel hanging on a hook. The towel was dry. For the Bubble, this was a dangerous desert. Its rough and dry fibers would immediately tear her moist wall.
Again, an unexpected helper saved her. The steam rising from the hot water in the tub lifted her a bit higher, away from danger. The Bubble swayed gratefully and flew on.
Finally, she got close to her target. Dust Speck Greybeard looked at her with his tiny, invisible eyes. He had no idea what intentions the Bubble had.
"Hello, beauty," he whispered to himself. "I've never seen anything so pretty."
The Bubble approached completely quietly and slowly. She extended her round, soapy embrace and gently touched the dust speck. Dust Speck Greybeard didn't even realize it and suddenly he was inside. Her sticky but gentle wall safely enveloped him and trapped him in her interior.
Mission accomplished!
The Bubble was no longer alone. In her center floated a small gray speck. She felt a bit heavier, but very proud. She had shown the whole world, or at least the whole bathroom, that even the smallest soap bubble has important work to do.
Her flight was slowly ending. The forces that held her together were weakening. She descended slowly to the ground. She was no longer afraid. She had fulfilled her purpose. She gently landed on a wet tile by the tub. She didn't make a loud sound, didn't burst in panic. She just quietly and peacefully merged with a drop of water that was waiting there for her.
All that remained of her was a small wet spot and in it the trapped Dust Speck Greybeard, who could no longer fly around the bathroom.
And maybe, when you take a bath next time, you too will notice a small rainbow bubble on her short but important journey toward cleanliness.