It was a cold starless night. I was miserably sitting in my cardboard box, cold as ice, when suddenly I heard a soft clink, clink, clink.

I cautiously peered over the edge of my box, and saw her. The old lady. She had wrinkles all over her, she wore a scarf, sweater, skirt and she looked as old as the dinosaurs.

I began to wonder why she was looking in a dump that had been abandoned years ago. Everything used to be colourful, but now it was grey and gave everyone the feeling of misery.

I was desperately hoping that the old lady would take me home. Then I thought again ... and sighed, what was I thinking? Who would want me, a faded yellow umbrella, tattered and useless?

The lady walked slower than a snail over to me and picked me up, opened me and looked knowingly at my holes and surprisingly ... smiled. She put me in the trolley she had and strolled away.

I was finally going to get out of this dump!

The old lady pushed the trolley to another part of the filthy dump. She left me and the trolley there and went behind a pile of junk. After a few minutes she emerged holding a faded blue bird which was probably made out of wood. The old lady carefully placed the bird into the trolley and walked off humming a happy tune to herself. After a couple of minutes we came to a broken shelf which had tin cans on it. The old lady picked the one with the most holes and a lot of rust on it. She tossed it into the trolley.

We walked for another hour, stopping every few minutes to check behind piles of trash. The whole time the lady was saying to herself "where is it, where is it?"

Eventually we came across a car which looked like it was a fossil. It was getting very hard to see what the old lady was doing because everything was piled on top of me. But I still saw most of what the lady did next.

First she got into the car and looked at the tree that was hanging off the rear-vision mirror. She then took it off the mirror, smelt it, and put it in her pocket. The old lady then lent back in her seat, but as she did this the chair gave way and she fell back.

There was a soft ding ding Ding sound. The lady sat up holding a golden music box. "This is all I ever wanted" she muttered to herself as she slowly opened the box and peered inside.

I didn't see the rest because the old rusty tin fell on my face. When I finally managed to get the tin off me, the lady was already walking back holding a diamond ring with the biggest smile I have ever seen on her face.

The old lady started pushing the trolley all the way back. It was the crack of dawn by the time we arrived at the lady's home, which was actually just a tent. I began to wonder why the old lady needed all these things that were practically useless.

My question was answered when the lady lit a candle and carefully placed the old rusty tin over it. She hung me on a hook above the candle. Next she placed the bird and the tree in front of one of the tin can holes. Then for the finishing touch, she placed the diamond ring in front of one of the other holes in the tin can.

As soon as that was done the whole room lit up like it was Christmas. The shadows of the bird and tree danced with the light. The light shone brightly through the holes in my fabric. The light hit the roof of the tent, and it was the most amazing sight I had seen in my life. I saw the old lady gaze at the beautiful lights in wonder, then slowly lay down and go to sleep.

I have been hanging here ever since. I had finally learned my purpose on the earth. But most importantly I love it, I love it when the light shines through me.

So from that day on, I have loved every minute of my life.

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