Filters with Accurate Energy

It was yet another cold day under the powerful air conditioning vent in Kelsey Renfrew’s university office, and it was yet another day of no great ideas for her club’s charity gala. All of the proceeds would go to the local homeless shelter in an attempt to supply free menstrual products to underprivileged women, whose voices were rarely heard…but donating the money was only possible if Kelsey got the money—if Kelsey could figure out some kind of theme or gimmick to draw the public in.

It was almost lunchtime for her, which was usually taken a bit later, now that she was aware she did her best thinking in the morning. Checking the clock, Kelsey figured it was just about time to give up and come back with a fresh mind after a nice tuna salad sandwich. As she stood up to exit the tiny closet she called an “office”, there was a rumbling in the vents above her desk.

Shocked, Kelsey watched from a step away as the vent opened, hanging by a screw on one side, and a little black notebook clattered out of the confined space and onto her desk. She raced forward to peek into the vent, but it snapped shut with absolutely no evidence that this was a joke—or even a mistake. Fate, or someone, wanted her to have this notebook. In fact, a light blue sticky note on the cover read, in a gothic handwriting, “As sure as I am of the fire within, please use as you see fit.”

That left Kelsey alone with the little black book.

For a while, it was a stare-down of epic intent. Kelsey had slipped back into her rolling desk chair, rolled as far from the notebook as she could, and was just staring at its beautiful leather cover inscribed with a gorgeous, fruitful, blooming tree. She wasn’t sure what else to do. After half an hour of a grumbling stomach, Kelsey was ready to push aside the hunger and take a sneak peek into the notebook.

The first page held the title, “My Life as an Elemental Gnome”. An elemental what?! Gnome?! Kelsey parted the second and third page, and was fully immersed in a world of fantasy where small gnome-like creatures that were born of the four main elements existed. The writer of the journal seemed to claim themselves a “Fire Gnome”. It was amusing, considering some pages were dusted with ash or finely scorched quite accidentally; the author noted that they hated when their “bodily material” tainted the pages.

For what felt like the entire afternoon, Kelsey read the fictional journal, wondering what brilliant mind had come up with such a fantastical, appealing concept. It was around the middle of the journal when she had a fabulous idea after reading about some shortcomings these “elemental gnomes” faced daily: stereotypes, a popular issue ravaging the media in recent days.

What if Kelsey were to create a photo-app filter to tease an Enchanted Forest-themed gala? She could even rewrite some of the stereotypes and tell the true inner workings of this gnome population! Brilliant.

So, day after day, Kelsey—who’d been named the gala planner due to her artsy nature—worked on properly capturing the vibrant gnomes via sketches and the descriptions in the notebook. She designed them to sit on the user’s shoulder, and each type of gnome could be featured by tapping your finger through the filter designs. Most of the gnomes were rather easy to recreate with her knowledge from the notebook, but the film industry had always claimed catching the essence of moving water was difficult. With one gnome being a combination of moving water and various pieces of magical clothing, her job wasn’t easy by any means of the word.

Kelsey sought the help of an old friend in the computer science program to code her work and make the filter possible; what she believed would be the hardest part actually turned out quite easy. Her friends in that department really knew what they were doing. She had always admired that.

The finished product:

An elemental fire gnome on the user’s shoulder with the fact, “Did you know Fire Gnomes are actually really cool?”;

An elemental water gnome with the words, “Did you know Water Gnomes actually prefer dry humour?”;

An elemental air gnome whose filter claimed, “Did you know Air Gnomes are actually very grounded and down-to-Earth?”;

And an elemental earth gnome on the shoulder with the trivia, “Did you know Earth Gnomes actually have a very airy disposition?”

It was rewarding to see their stories displayed in her work; their unique, diverse voices were finally having a say. Now, these fictional pieces of art could live on as complex, yet relatable, entities.

After creating the filter, Kelsey and her friend from the com-sci department marveled at their work just before publishing it. Her friend Jamal congratulated her, “This must have been a lot of work. Where did you get the idea? It’s perfect for your purposes.”

“I had a little help from a friend.”

“You had help from a little friend? Gnome-sized,” he teased, nudging her gently with his shoulder. She chuckled and rolled her eyes, allowing him the joke. “Well, congratulations, Kels. It looks great. Are you ready to publish it?”

Kelsey tapped her way through the four filter styles one last time and nodded nervously. This was a pretty big deal; she might have been artsy, but she rarely published her work…until Jamal encouraged her to push the button, and, eventually, she just bit the bullet and did it. Her eyes were closed for a brief moment of nervous excitement, and then her phone buzzed and Jamal gasped. It buzzed a second time.

“Two people have already used your filter!” Jamal input with a deep, hearty laugh. “We did it, Kels!”

Kelsey’s eyes flew open, and she squealed. He hadn’t been lying. People were flocking to use her filter. Most of their success was being traced to the air gnome filter, which was rewarding because animated swirling wind wasn’t very easy to capture either. The shading in the water had just been more difficult at the time of creation.

“I have to head back into the main building for class. Go enjoy your fame, Kels; you really deserve it.”

“I think I will, Jamal. Thank you for all your help. I couldn’t have done this without you.” Jamal smiled gently and accepted that as he waved to head back to class. Kelsey got off the stone bench they’d been perched on outside the Biology Building and loped off back toward her office.

The cool breeze seemed cooler than ever when she entered the room, and upon closer observation, she realized the vent cover had come off again, hanging by that same screw.

Kelsey climbed onto her computer chair to shut it and stepped back down to go wide-eyed with utter surprise. There bundles of hundred-dollar bills on her desk. She was so overwhelmed by the sheer number of bundles that she could even begin counting them. Thinking it was a joke, she rushed to stick her head out into the hallway, but no one was present to enjoy her shell-shocked expression. As she stepped back in, the vent opened again and a fluttering, breezy light blue sticky note floated down toward her desk. The vent snapped shut again immediately.

Kelsey rushed to catch the sticky note and read it aloud,

“You did wonders for my story. In more ways than one.”

Counting the stacks and doing the rough math, before her sat $20,000. The homeless shelter wouldn’t go without resources for a year now! And, all because of that little black book.

Photo credits to Brii Vonee