COTTON SWABS 

After being purchased and taken out of their sealed boxes, cotton swabs usually live with their heads or butts uncovered, in cups. For the untrained eyes of humans, both heads and butts look exactly the same.

Cotton swabs placed head-down, with their butts sticking up, are usually made fun by the ones who, although by mere chance, were put upright. The sad truth is, all of them have to live with their heads really close to the butts of other Cotton Swabs, sometimes even touching if there isn’t enough space.

When they see a hand approaching, Cotton swabs move surreptitiously, trying to avoid being picked. They know the horrors awaiting them: they will be forced inside hairy, greasy tunnels, and turned around until both their neat white ends become brownish and disheveled. After that, they’ll be thrown in a can of trash, and a lid will descend upon them, bringing total darkness.

As opposed to humans and some other animals, cotton swabs are only young enough to live while their manes are white.