The Man with a Toaster
A heartbroken man who shut doors to the outside
A little boy with a kind and pure heart
A life-changing story after a simple encounter
2020 / Digital Painting
Working Process
This project is for the 2020 CLAIRVOYANTS competition.
The story is a team project with my talented friend--Charlotte Chou.
We brainstormed the story setting together. After that, she finished writing it, and I illustrated it.
Storyboard
1. In a living room filled with jars of jams, there sat a lonely man who was crazy about toasts, he ate toasts wherever he was. Hence, everyone called him Mr. Toast.
2. From time to time he went out wandering, he always brought a toaster with toasts inside and a bag of jars with him, in this way he could eat them on the way.
3. He passed by lots of different people on the way: a group of excited kids, a fair lady in purple coat, an uni-bicycle performer, loquacious housewives, an old couple carrying a giant pumpkin and many more interested ones but he never chatted with neither of them.
4. He just passed by the crowd, eating toasts. He watched them from distance as if he were watching television in his living room. He was like an observer.
5. But today, something changed. A red ball bounced to Mr Toast’s leg and stopped in front of him. Then a boy chasing after the red ball entered his different world.
“Hi, how are you?” The boy said with a lovely voice. It was the first time in a while somebody talked to Mr Toast.
6. “Um…uhh…” Mr Toast wanted to respond, but he couldn’t say anything properly, so he ran away.
7. The boy was awed but he realized that he hadn’t said thank you to Mr Toast so he started running after him.
8. Due to a lack of exercise, it didn’t take long for Mr Toast to run out of strength and stopped. The boy then got to talk to Mr Toast.
9. -
10. “Why did you run away like that? I just want to say thank you for stopping my ball for me.” The boy asked with curiosity and worry in his eyes.
11. Mr Toast didn’t say anything but he couldn’t refuse the boy again, so this time he opened his mouth. “ Wow, a huge fishbone.” The boy shouted while seeing a huge fish bone stuck in the throat of Mr Toast.
“ Is that the reason why you didn’t talk?” The boy asked. Mr Toast nodded, it was the first time he showed the fish bone to others.
“ It must be painful, let me help you. I have tiny hands, I think I can take them out.” Mr Toast was a little afraid of the boy’s idea but he wanted to try it, too.
12. The boy then put his hand into Mr Toast’s mouth, it was hard at first, because Mr Toast couldn’t help but resist. The boy was afraid, too. He was scared that Mr Toast might get hurt in this way and that Mr Toast might bite his hand. But none of them backed off.
“ Ah….ahh…ahhh…ouch!” The boy did it, he took out the bone that had been torturing Mr Toast for months.
13. “My goodness, thank you, fellow.” Mr Toast said. He was able to talk again. The boy widened his eyes while finally hearing Mr Toast’s voice. It wasn’t hoarse even though he had a fish bone stuck in his throat for months, instead, he sounded gentle, but a little sad. “I’m happy to finally hear your voice. My name is John, but all my friends call me Johnny. What’s your name?” Johnny asked. “I’m Albert.” Mr Toast responded. “Hi, Albert, thank you for stopping my ball. And what happened to you, if you don’t mind me asking.” Johnny carefully asked. “I don’t mind since you are the one who saved me, I will tell you what happened. ” Albert said and walked toward a bench with Johnny.
“Six months ago, my wife and my son passed away in a car accident and I was devastated. I tried to swallow my sorrow by swallowing a great amount of food. One day, I swallowed an entire fish, and then its bone stuck in my throat. It made me incapable of talking anymore. So I got distant from people, I no longer expressed my feelings and grew to get used to it. But after a while, I couldn’t stand it. I tried to cough out the fish bone but it was useless, then I started to swallow toast, hoping for swallowing the fish bone together with it. After months of trying, it didn’t work at all, but swallowing toast became a habit and I was getting used to being detached. I thought seeing people living happily was enough. But sitting here talking to you makes me realize that I still want to be part of the world, although talking about my story is still painful, the power of telling it to others, makes the fact sounds like a story. It is no longer a sad experience that happened in my past, it happened within the whole world, I have the whole world sharing my sorrow and if the world could listen to my story and make my story a part of it, I think I can also feel the happiness shared by the world created by others or with others. I’m not alone. Like now having you listen to my story here makes my heart warm, thank you so much for bringing me back into the world, young fellow.” Mr Toast hugged Johnny and wiped his tears.
Johnny hugged Albert back although he didn’t understand what Albert said completely he wanted to create happiness with Albert.
14. “ Then let’s go feel the happiness together, Albert, I want to show you my secret spot in the park since we are friends now!” Johnny said with excitement, they jumped off the bench and left without the toaster and
the bag of jams. Johnny brought Albert toward the center of the park where lots of people were having a great time. This time, it won’t be a beautiful scene for Albert to look at from afar, but this time he could be a part of it.
