Pranas Mašiotas
Juozukas, Pencil and Eraser
Pranas Mašiotas
Juozukas, Pencil and Eraser
2013 Vilnius, Lithuania
Juozukas had decided to draw a small picture for his sister Onytė. There were only a couple of days left until her name-day, so he was rushing. He was scrabbling with the pencil and erasing so hard that he broke out in a sweat. “Okay, I need a rest,” Juozukas sighed, put the pencil down and stood up. He stretched and went through the dining room to the small garden. The pencil also sighed and said: “Oh boy, that kid really tired me out.” “You must have gotten yourself into a draftsman’s hands for the first time if you tired so fast,” replied the eraser.
“Yes, this is a first.” “So, where did you come from?” “From ‘Faber’ factory.” “Not the first time I erased ‘Faber’ pencil’s drawings. But I never had a chance to chat with any of them, though I wanted to know where you pencils come from very much.” “Well, if you want to know that bad I can tell you about our family,” agreed the pencil. “I’d love that very much. And from what I saw, the draftsman is tired, so he won’t be back soon.” “So... Where do i start from? By the way, my actual surname is Graphite. Graphite was found by the British, in the mountains, some 350 years ago. I’d say it was a soft, fragile, dark colored rock. They found out very soon that you could write with that graphite. After using it a bit they were certain that it was better to write with than led or other things
which were used back then. Soon there were a lot of people mining graphite, making pencils and transporting it to other countries. But the government, after understanding the value of graphite, took the mines into it’s own hands. Graphite’s price increased immediately, so other countries began to search for it. But they didn’t find graphite as good and pure as the one in Britain, so they had to refine the graphite they mined. They ground it, and made paste with various additives out of it. After the paste solidified, they made pencils out of it. The ‘Faber’ factory was and still is very good at making pencils. It was built in Germany a hundred years ago... Wait, isn’t the kid coming back?”
Juozukas entered the room, but he just looked around, took something and went out again. “Please continue your story,” suggested the eraser. “Actually, I’m done. It would take too long to tell you about all the details of making a pencil. It would be better if you told something about yourself.”
“I can... But where’s the kid?” “I can see him in the garden, eating something.” “I’ll start then... You won’t believe it, but erasers are made from a liquid that looks like white dandelion sap.” “There is a tree, which grows in warm climate, especially Africa, it’s called the Rubber tree. It’s enough to cut through it’s bark with a knife and the milky sap starts to seep through. They let it drip into dishes. After they gather the sap, it is cleaned of any bark pieces and various crumbs. The liquid is heated over the fire until it becomes a thick gruel, and then it’s left to dry in the sun. This way lumps of unprocessed rubber are made, they look like bread loafs. These rubber loafs are then sold to factories and are made into various objects, varying from car tires to erasers of various colors. I was born in one of such factories... But look, the draftsman is returning.”
Juozukas came back and took the eraser right away. He rubbed something off and continued to draw what he imaged while he was resting.
Vladimir Leleiva Layout and illustration Marija ÄŒipkutÄ—, Oleg Mazec Original text translation
2013 Vilnius, Lithuania