Norma/n was an ordinary child. An ordinary worm child. She had a mother/father and a father/mother. Like most normal worm children she never met them. She started life with her worm siblings, happy in the warm soil, learning how to be a good worm.
But in some ways Norma/n was a most abnormal worm. One day she looked around, well no, let’s correct that now because Norma/n has no eyes. Instead of using a metaphor we will explain that Norma/n started thinking , really thinking, about the world she found herself in.
She thought about the nature of good and evil. She considered whether there was a higher power. She wondered what the role of a worm was in the world. And then she ate some dirt.
As she crushed and ground her dirt, she decided that what she needed was purpose. No mindless wanderings for her. She was going to adopt the dandelion above. And she would devote herself to making aerated and nutritious soil. If a dandelion could phrase its needs as words, then this is likely what it would ask for.
The wider world will never know about Norma/n and her simple heroism, but to the dandelion she is everything. A quiet hero for our times.
Ursula Hoult 