– 4 –

One day the little wooden boy is staring at Hans’ jam when it realizes that the jam does not exist. It is actually looking at a collection of objects and shadows that create the illusion — when seen from the wooden boy’s angle — that Hans’ jam is there. But it’s not!

The jam cannot bear this realization.

No sooner does the boy see this than the jam ignites. It flares from something into nothing in an awful burst of the sacred flame.

“Oh, God,” whimpers the little wooden boy, forgetting that wooden boys don’t talk or do things.

He’s only a little bit afraid of fire, but he’s just terrified of the jamlessness that burns.

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