Such a Character: Thelma

"Come right this way, right this way!" she said in her creaky voice.

I followed the bobbing showercap from the side door into a tunnel-like kitchen. Involuntarily, I blinked several times, but it wasn't my eyes that gave the entire room a yellow-ish tint. The countertops probably used to be white or off-white. "Off-" was an understatement now. The refrigerator seemed to have the same malady as did the linoleum floor.

morguefile.com / naomi

A soft clicking noise brought me back to the present. I saw that she had continued into the dim living room beyond, and, in doing so, had set to swinging the colorful beaded doorway curtain.

Again, I blinked. That wasn't a beaded curtain. On closer inspection, I realized this curtain was entirely comprised of colorful plastic bread bag tabs linked together to form the strands. Some had expiration dates printed on them, and it made me wonder how old some of them were. By now the curtain had stopped swaying and I had apparently spent enough time inspecting it that she came back to look for me.

"Ah, appreciating my art, are you?" she said. "Take your time and enjoy the picture, enjoy the picture!"

A little flustered at being caught, and hoping my face hadn't been wearing an amused look, I took a step back.

Art?

Then it struck me: the bread tabs were not randomly linked. The various colors were arranged in such a way that a picture emerged when the curtain was still and the viewer attentive. A pink rose. A pink rose made of bread tabs! There could be no hint of amusement on my face now, for my mouth was sagging wide open.

"Roses," she was saying from the living room, "have always been a favorite of mine; they're so delicate, so delicate!"

Inspiration: throwing away a plastic bread tab while cleaning my kitchen this morning.
Note: this character is fiction and not intended to represent any real person, living or dead.