A String of Laughter

This is the story of my piece of string.  No ordinary string this.  My string has power, the power of laughter.  The sort of laughter that is contagious; the laughter that catches you by surprise and changes the colour of your day.  From the power of a smile to the strength of a blasting guffaw, my piece of string can make people see the quirks of life and find them funny.  Faded now, it used to be a colourful piece of string; but it has not lost its extraordinary power of amusement.
My string of laughter can tie people in knots.  It can bind people together.  My string can break ice, remove tension and form friendships.  All I have to do is show my string - reveal it in my hand, hold it high for people to notice and the response is contagious.  Laughter making more strings of laughter.
How long is a string of laughter?  A blast, a guffaw, a twitter, a snort, a bubbling rumbling hearty sound that tapers into tears of joy, leaving us feeling loved.
Once I kept it hidden in my coat pocket.  I thought no one would be interested in an old piece of string.  it was reassuring to touch it and know it was there, but there it stayed, me fondling it briefly now and again.
I don't remember how it came to be revealed or how I discovered its power,  I only remember that one bright morning I found myself connected to a group of strangers by this colourful thread which had taken on a life of its own as it twisted and tangled and tied its way teasing us as we flailed helplessly into convulsions of hysteria.
As my mysterious string aged it began to fray.  Its power now revealed happy wrinkles around the eyes and mouth, lines of laughter that spoke of a time before the war, before the death of a spouse, before the deluge that rushed away fragile temporal realities.
But in its fraying there was multiplication.  My string of laughter was now four winding tendrils making their way into faded thoughts and memories where there was still a sound, the faint sound of a string of laughter.