Once upon a time, there was a very disobedient boy whom his family called “the No boy” because whenever they told him something, he did the opposite. If they told him to get up, he would stay in bed; if they told him to get dressed, he would stay in his pajamas. And so on and so forth. He spent hours watching television and he respected nothing and no one. For example: if he went to the bathroom, he would leave the light on, and if they told him to turn it off, he would reply, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” but he would not move. If he opened the refrigerator, he would leave it open, and if they told him to close it, he would reply, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” but he would not move. He always did the opposite.
One day, “the boy from No” turned on the faucet in the sink to wash his hands, and then he went to watch TV, leaving it on. His mother, hearing the water running from the kitchen, said to him: “Turn off the faucet!” and “the boy from No” replied “I’m coming, I’m coming” and continued watching TV. His father and grandfather also told him the same thing and “the boy from No” replied: “I’m coming, I’m coming” and continued watching TV.
After a long while, the “No boy” got thirsty and called out from the armchair, “Mom, get me a glass of water,” but no one answered. Then he called out, “Dad, get me a glass of water,” but no one answered. Then he called out, “Grandpa, get me a glass of water,” but no one answered. Grumbling, he got up to get a glass of water, but to his surprise, when he turned on the tap, not a drop fell.
“Where is the water?” he asked himself, and began to look for it everywhere. He looked in drawers, in cupboards, in rooms, under beds, and even looked out the window to see if the water had gone for a walk. Then he thought: “Stupid faucet, it must have gotten clogged,” and stuck a finger in to check. At that moment, from the finger inside the faucet to his toes, “the boy from No” turned into a drop of water and went down the drain.
As he slid down the pipes like a giant slide, the “No” boy shouted: “I can’t swim!” And he fell and fell until he reached an underground river. There he met other drops that looked at him strangely. He shouted: “What are you looking at?” and the drops responded “glub, glub.” Without knowing where he was going, he followed the other drops along the path of the underground river until he reached a lagoon, where millions of drops were waiting.
"What are you doing here?" asked the "no" boy. And the drops answered: "Glub, glub." A drop that spoke the language of children came up to him and said:
– «Let's create electricity.»
– “What for?” asked the boy.
– “For many things,” replied the drop. “So that you have light at home, so that the appliances work… Do you want to help us? No drop is too much.”
And the "no" boy, as usual, answered: "No. I prefer to go home and watch television." "Well, that requires electricity," the drop explained.
Suddenly, a drop that seemed to command the other drops gave the order and they all prepared to create energy. As if they were one, they launched themselves against a wall, forming mountains of foam, while the child of the no watched them from behind. He watched how they worked together, how they sweated the big drop so that he could have electricity in his house and he remembered what the drop that spoke the language of children had told him: "no drop is left over." And he felt inside something that can only be felt on one of those days when something magical can happen: he felt the need to help. And he joined the rest of the drops to create energy.
When he finished, he slipped through a pipe and returned to the tap in his house and became a child again. He gave many kisses and hugs to his parents and grandfather and, although they did not believe his story, they confirmed that something had changed, because if they asked him to pay for the electricity, instead of saying "now, now...", he would say "save, save..." and he would quickly turn it off, because he had understood the importance of saving energy and the enormous effort it took to create it. And over time they stopped calling him "the boy of no" and he got his name back.
By Paco Ríos (Winner of the contest “A story to save the planet”
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