Dreams and possibilty- Chap. 1

Chapter one,

Dreams and Possibility




Once upon a time, there was a small town. In this town people never woke up knowing what they were going to do that day. They would rise from their beds, and look at each other is a slightly different way from the day before, and then would try to cook something that they had never eaten before. These meals would be cooked in a creative way by whoever had dreamt of a new meal. Some days, they might skip breakfast all together, just to see what that felt like.
After breakfast, their dreams would guide their hands to what work they were called to do, some felt like cutting the yard into interesting shapes, some would experiment with liquids, while others would cook the most delicious desserts. Argus, the clockmaker, had clocks that could gently wake you from the most wonderful dream without dismissing it completely. Norbert the architect built the most amazing houses, each one unlike the last, marvels of beauty and design, each one hiding a secret room that the children could sneak away to when they didn't want to be found.
Eliza the dishwasher found exceeding joy in her job of washing the dishes to a perfect shine, and placing them carefully into the drying rack. Rusty the garbage man was filled with wonder every day as he witnessed the marvels that can be found in the trash (if you know how to look). People would come from miles around to watch them do their work.
There was no such thing as competition, Eliza the dishwasher was just as important as Norbert the architect, and they were happy to teach anyone who wanted to learn the mysterious secrets of building a house and scrubbing the silverware.  Nobody worked for money, because everyone gave freely of their creations, using their skills to support each other.

One day Argus the Clockmaker and Eliza the Dishwasher had a child, and they named him William, but William would not dream. Argus and Eliza summoned Peter the Painter, and he painted the most wonderful scenes on the baby William’s wall, pictures of him having magical adventures with wizards and dragons. Argus set to work building a clock that could sing sweet songs to his child, and guide him through dreamland. Every morning, William woke up frowning, and always demanded the same thing for breakfast every day. His heart would not guide him, and so he watched the others as they created their dreams freely and resented it.
One day, when he was a young man, he was watching his mother as she cleaned the dishes with her usual flair, sudddenly a dish fell from her soapy hand and cracked on the tile floor. William whooped with laughter and pointed his chubby finger. Eliza knew that when you wash many dishes, you are bound to break a few, so she was puzzled by William's laughter. She smiled, and cleaned up the dish.
"Why do you laugh, William?" she asked, wishing to know the joke.
"You broke a dish, it was funny because you are so good at washing dishes, but for a moment, you weren't very good at it at all, you were clumsy and stupid." He grinned. Eliza was even more puzzled, because she had never thought of being "good" at something before. She did dishes because it made her feel happy, she loved the clean dishes as they sparkled in the drying rack, and the challenge of a dirty meat pan.
"I suppose..." she thought to herself "If i were to go on breaking dishes every day, until there were none left, that would make me a bad dishwasher!" This was new to her also, for she had never thought of anyone as a bad dishwasher before, even cousin Bernie who could break silverware when he washed the dishes.
"I must be more careful" she thought "I don't want to become a bad dishwasher, and break more dishes"
Still, she could not laugh as her son did, in fact this whole idea filled her with dread. Every dish became a obstacle for her to overcome, and as she slipped the last dish into the drying rack, she breathed a sigh of relief. "Being a good dishwasher is hard!" she thought to herself as she walked to her husband's workshop to see what he was working on. William was there, watching his father craft a large mechanical tree.
"When I am done, this tree will grow real fruit, on the hour, for anyone who wishes to pick it!" said Argus, showing his wife the diagrams and sketches. He smiled as he looked up at his work, and so did his wife.
"Thats impossible!" said William. "There's no way  you can do that" and William laughed at his father.
Argus was puzzled by his son's laughter, but his wife turned to him. "Perhaps he means you are not a good enough a clockmaker to do this?"
"No" stated William "This is impossible, no one can do it, not even my father, who is so good  at making clockwork" Argus stared up at his work again and knew his son was right, why should he work on impossible things? he knew that as a clockmaker, he would try to create things that he had seen in his dreams, but they had never worked quite like what he had dreamt, but that was all well and good to him, because he just enjoyed the smell of the gear grease, the tools, and moving parts.
"My son is a smart boy" thought Argus "I should be sure what I work on is possible, so that I don't build things that might not work" He sighed and began dismantling his clockwork tree.
The next morning was a very different one for the family. Eliza woke from dreams of crushed dishes, and as she washed, she worried that one might drop and break. William watched her very closely, and when she finished the last one, she breathed a sigh of relief and sat down.
"Good job" said William "you didn't break a single one!"
"I am a good dishwasher" She said.
Argus came out of his workshop and sat down at the table with a sigh.
"What is  the matter? " said Eliza "did you not dream of a fantastic clockwork creation to work on today?
"I dreamed a magnificent dream!" said Argus glumly "I dreamed of a mechanical little man who would tell the funniest jokes every hour" then he sighed. "But i don't even know if it is possible!"
"Yes" said William "and you are such a good clockworker, you should make sure your time is spent wisely"
They all sat around the table, eating the same thing that they had eaten the day before.
The next day, people traveled to see what Argus had been building in his workshop, and saw his tools sitting lonely in the corner. They came to the door to see what was the matter.
"Why is Argus not at work? Is there something wrong?” they murmured to each other as Argus shuffled to the door, still in his pajamas. “Did you not have a magnificent dream last night?” they asked him.
"I dreamt last night of a clock that would make you breakfast, and wake you with the tastiest coffee at the just the right temperature to drink" he sighed.
"What a fantastic dream!" cried the people "This would be a marvelous invention!" and they clapped and rubbed his shoulders.
"But i have been assured this is impossible. Later today I shall perhaps make a simple clock that tells you the time" then Argus shuffled back to bed "I wish I would dream some possible dreams" he muttered as he covered his head with a pillow. The people outside puzzled with this idea, and went home to tell their families that some dreams may not be possible.
Suddenly a shriek exploded from the kitchen
"Oh No! cried Eliza. Argus came rushing in and saw her weeping over a shattered dish on the tile floor.
"Its just a broken dish Eliza! We have many more!" said Argus as he held her hands. Eliza looked up, tears streaming from her face.
"Oh, it's just as i feared" she wept "I am not good at the dishes anymore! The dishes fill me with fear every morning, trying to be the best dishwasher in the land is the hardest job I've ever done!"
"Your performance has definitely fallen" said William "You must be more careful!" Eliza wept all the harder, and retreated to bed with her husband, leaving dirty dishes in the sink for the first time in years.