Once Upon a String (A Parable of Things Déjà Vu)

Once upon a time, there was a man with strings—or rather string ends that would erupt, here and there, from his hands, face, throat, lips, and tongue, like skin tags—short tapering ends that were plainly visible, except the man didn’t seem aware of the string ends. He was a VIP, so no one mentioned them to him either. Those who wanted to were intimidated by those who wouldn’t because the man was an extra-special VIP. But one day, a simpleton pulled on one of the string ends and the VIP completely unraveled.