One grey morning, she woke up and found that something was amiss.

The world needed some colours.

This time, she said, I have to do it.

She ate her breakfast, brushed her teeth, took a shower, put on a white blouse and working pants. She rummaged through her bedroom closet until she found her painting material and the stack of old newspapers she kept for occasions like this. She spread the papers on the ground and laid out the tubes, cans and spray bottles, arranging them like the first rainbow ever. She took her time. She needed to remember how the world was supposed to be.

She began with the sky. Fortunately, it was not a stormy day, the sort that gave her headaches. Just the postcard blue type, with several layers of clouds, little fluffy ones at the bottom and more stringy ones on the top. Poetic licence made her add a couple of contrails. She worked fast, with large swift strokes. The celestial vault was done in an hour. Not a masterpiece, but real enough to fool the inhabitants below. It was only a warming session for what came next.

The city landscape was to be a sunny symphony of low-saturation hues, yellowish, reddish, greenish, brownish greys with the sempiternal blue shading and the odd brighter spots. Though there was room for improvisation, the amount of detail was overwhelming. She had to be extra careful with anything official or related to brand identity, otherwise someone was likely to be unhappy and file a complaint. She didn't care that much for the smaller shops and personal cars, that she painted according to her whimsical disposition. After all, she had some taste, otherwise she would never had got the job in the first place. So she went on happily, spending the morning on the streets and buildings.

The real hard stuff she kept for the end. People. What a sensitive bunch they were. First, she prepared a separate palette for the moles, pimples, scars and tattoos. Then she made the clothes palette. Then the hair palette, putting some pink, electric blue or violet for punks or dyed-hard old ladies. Then - she sighed - the skin palette, ranging from Albino White to