The Man Who Looked Like a Cornflake

300-word story: Your appearance doesn't define you, even if you do look like a popular breakfast cereal. 

There once was a man who looked like a cornflake. His name was Trevor Jones, and he really did look just like a cornflake. It wasn't that his skin was bumpy or his complexion strangely yellow: he had a head that was actually composed of a huge flake of toasted corn.
 
Trevor had been born this way. When he emerged into the world, the doctor almost dropped him in surprise. Thankfully this medical professional had managed to stay focused, slapping the baby on its backside and giving an almost imperceptible nod when the crispy face parted to present a tiny toothless mouth, which wailed in a satisfactory fashion. While the nurses stared, Trevor's mother embraced her newborn as if it had the button nose and wispy hair of a perfectly standard infant.
 
Growing up, Trevor managed to live a good life. Aside from being lactose intolerant and suffering from severe koutaliaphobia, that is, an irrational fear of spoons, he was happily married and earned a good wage as a motivational speaker, often visiting schools to reassure students that it was okay to be different. He received the occasional jeer when walking alone through playgrounds, but only from the type of ruffians who in a decade's time would be sitting on the stage of a talk show, confronted by a booing audience. Trevor took a great deal of satisfaction in knowing that what goes around comes around.
 
And that's it really, there's very little else to tell. Perhaps you were expecting an angry mob and a grisly demise, which thankfully were not the case. After all, just because a man looks like a cornflake doesn't mean he should be treated differently to anyone else. And if you think otherwise, you simply need to ask yourself why that should be the case.

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Copyright © 2021 Rich Sutherland
Inspired by the bizarre mind of Sarah Penney
​Image: Engin Akyurt

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