A world with soft edges

THE WRITER'S LIFE | FICTION

(Crochet toys!)

There are many things which make my life good, when I've served myself so many shit sandwiches in the past. For me, the main ones are having kids and being a writer. Looked at the other way around, it's even better: I'm a writer and I have kids. From their point of view, it's one of the greatest things ever: When you're 11 and nine-years-old; when you want a bedtime story and your dad's a writer, you can just have a completely new story written for you.

Louis (11) and Lola (9) gave me the cast: Their bedtime companions; A Minecraft cuddly pig and a stuffed puppy from IKEA, called Snorty and Greg respectively. Then I asked my kids what super power they'd most like to have: Lola would like to fly and Louis chose invisibility. So I wrote a story: A completely new bedtime story, and my children were at the world premier, read by the author. But it's a story for everyone:

A world with soft edges

Lots of people have wondered what it might be like to make a dream come true. But what if someone's dream was simply to be awake? Then, what if you could share your life and your time with them? What if you could make their dreams come true, just by sleeping, so that when you were asleep, they were awake?

That was Snorty's wish and Greg's dream.

Snorty was a small Minecraft pig: Just a simple collection of polygons in the Minecraft world, made real and less cube-like as a soft toy, and with a back leg which hung a little loose. Greg was a Labrador puppy from Ikea: His coat was a bit faded and he was small. But he was Swedish: He could bark very loudly if someone said or did something he disagreed with, or if something happened which he didn't like.

The pig and the dog would spend their nights exploring, but always aware of the giant children, in case they woke. Because when the giants woke up, the animals would immediately fall asleep: That was just the way things worked. The giant children would look after the animals during the day.

"Are the giant kids asleep?", asked Snorty.

"Yes they are. If they weren't, I wouldn't be able to answer you and you wouldn't have been able to ask me in the first place, would you?"

"Oh yes", said Snorty. "My leg's a bit loose".

"How many times do I have to tell you, your leg is fine."

"But that giant girl has had me for so long, and she loves me so much that she's made my leg loose."

"Yes, and the giant boy loves me a lot, so I've got faded fur. But when we're awake and those two are asleep, I put an amazing technicolour dream coat on." Greg gave Snorty a Thespian twirl.

"Ooh, look at you!" Snorty smiled, then looked at his leg. "But what about this?"

"You look fine!", Greg said. "Your leg might drag a bit, but I won't leave you behind. When the giants are asleep and we're awake, your leg is as new as my coat."

"Greg? Do you wish you could talk to your giant?"

"I can't talk to him. He has to sleep, so that his batteries recharge."

"Have they got batteries?"

"No. Just big, developing brains. I can't talk to my giant kid and you can't talk to yours. They have to be asleep, so that we can get up to things. We have to explore and have adventures while they sleep. Some of what we do, they see as dreams and that feeds their batteries."

"Their brains, you mean."

"Same thing really, Snorty. But yes. Then while we're asleep, they go off and do nice things, so that we have pleasant dreams."

"So it is like we can talk to them? I mean, we live their dreams while they sleep; And they live ours while they're awake? Is that right Greg?"

"I think so Snorty. Do you know what your one dreams of?"

"She said that if she had one superhero power, she'd be able to fly. What about yours, Greg?"

"Mine said that he'd like to be invisible. If you could wish for something though, what would you want your giant to do?"

"Well, she wants to fly. That means I can fly. But we're different to the giants. I think I'd want her to know that if she really wants to fly, she can. Maybe one day, she might fly in a different way. Or maybe, she might actually fly. I want her to keep imagining. Would you want to be invisible, like your giant does?"

"That would be a lot of fun. There could be intrigue and espionage, which would be very exciting. We have to be responsible though and not misuse the superpowers. All superheroes have to be careful not to reveal their powers. We do have a bit of a problem though", said Greg.

"How so?", asked Snorty.

"Well, if you can fly and I can be invisible...", Greg began.

"Then I can't see you." Snorty finished the sentence.

"Hmmmmm...", said Greg.

"Hmmmmm...". Snorty agreed. "So, I could be flying around and not know where you are."

"And I could see you flying around but you wouldn't be able to see me."

"Hmmmmm..."

"Hmmmmm..."

"I know!" Snorty shouted. "If I'm flying and you need me but I can't see you, you could just call my name."

"And if I'm invisible and you want to find me", said Greg, "You could call mine."

"We'd be a a superhero double act. A bit like siblings", said Snorty.

"But without having to admit that we're best friends", said Greg.

"Yeah."

"That's quite cool."

Suddenly and for no reason whatsoever, a castle appeared: Not in the distance; not just in front of them, but all around them.

"We're in a castle," said Snorty.

"You do have a habit of stating the obvious, piggy."

"But why are we in a castle?", said the pig.

"I don't know. One of the giants is dreaming. And they've given us a castle." The dog looked thoughtful. "Shall we have a look around? I mean, seeing as we're here?"

"What are we looking for?"

"I don't know. But a castle has just materialised around us. It would be a bit silly not to look around, wouldn't it?"

"Isn't it a bit rude to look around other people's houses?"

"Well, yes. But we've been put inside this one, so it's kind of ours."

"Perhaps we're trapped? Maybe there's no way out."

"If anything really bad happens, then the giants will wake up. When they wake up, all of this will be gone."

"But I like it here." Snorty looked around. They were in a huge entrance hall, with large wooden doors on either side and a grand staircase, leading up to a balcony which ran all around the room.

"I like it here too", Greg said. "As long as nothing bad happens, we can stay here until the giants wake up. So we must look out for anything which looks like a bad dream and use our superpowers to keep them away." Greg stood on his back legs, so that he looked more dramatic in his colourful coat.

"What am I supposed to do?", Snorty asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you can stand up like that and look like a twonk. I've got a wonky leg, remember?"

"I do not look like a twonk. I am being theatrical. Besides, your leg is fine in here. How many times do I have to tell you, Snorty?"

"Oh yes." Snorty stood on his hind trotters and looked down. "The floor's further away."

"Don't say you're afraid of heights. I thought you wanted to fly."

"I do. I'm not afraid of heights. Aren't you afraid of not being seen?"

"I'll only use my invisibility if I have to. I can bark. I mean, I can shout, remember? It's got a bit cold and dark in here. I am a little bit worried. "

"So am I."

"I think there might be a bad dream here somewhere."

"Me too. Don't go invisible yet, Greg."

"I won't. But don't you fly off either."

"I won't. What does a bad dream look like, Greg?"

"I don't know. The whole point is that the giants wake up and then it stops. All we can do is..."

"What?"

"The best we can, I suppose. I feel strange, Snorty."

"So do I Greg. I think this might be how bad dreams start." Snorty looked at Greg. "Hey!", he shouted. "You've got my legs!"

Greg looked down. "I thought the ground looked closer." He walked around for a while on his new trotters. "There's nothing wrong with this leg you're always moaning about. It just looks like I'm wearing pink trousers. It is cold in here. Hey! You're wearing my coat!"

"Ooh! I am." Snorty looked at the coat, then down at the floor. "The floor is even further away. Greg! I've got your legs!"

"I'm glad you've got them, because I was wondering where they'd gone. I think we should see if we can get out of here. This is a bit weird."

"There are two doors", said Snorty. "Shall we check one each?"

"That sounds like a plan", said Greg.

But both doors were locked. Greg trotted back to the middle of the room, using Snorty's legs, which he now had. Snorty padded, on Greg's legs, which he now had.

They looked around and there were no other doors. The castle had materialised around them after all; They'd not walked in through a door. The only other way of leaving the entrance hall was the staircase leading up.

The dog and the pig walked to the stairs. But the stairs had turned into an Escalator, which was running down.

"What in this world has happened?", said Snorty.

"One of the giants is dreaming this," Greg said. "What will they think of next?"

"Shall we try going up it? The moving staircase?"

"We can try. We'll need to run. And keep to the left."

"Why?", asked Snorty.

"Stand on the right, remember? And we'd better be quick."

"Why?"

"Because the walls are closing in."

"And the ground is shaking. Do you think the giants are waking up?"

"I hope so. Whether they are or not though, there's only one thing we can do to get out of here." Greg looked up.

Snorty looked up too. The walls stretched up as far as they could see and were closing in on all sides. They couldn't run up the Escalator: It was running too fast; The walls were closing in. And besides all of that, they each had the wrong legs.

"You need to fly up", Greg said to Snorty. "And I need to shout as loudly as I can."

"Erm, Greg?"

"What, Snorty?"

"Actually, I am afraid of heights."

"Oh you twonk! Why did you get that superpower? Well, you need to fly and you need to carry me. And I need to shout. Hopefully, we can wake someone up."

"But I can't carry you!"

"You can if I'm invisible."

"How?"

"Because I'll weigh less. I'll be with you, so you don't have to be afraid."

Greg closed his eyes and became invisible. He shouted to Snorty: "Now, fly piggy. Fly!" He shouted and shouted; He barked and shouted some more.

Greg's coat became Snorty's wings and his legs dangled beneath as he rose into the air. The higher he went, the quieter Greg's shouting got.

The walls continued to shrink in around them and the whole world shook, as Snorty's wings grew tired and Greg's barking was drowned out by the earthquake around them.

How long does a blink of the eye last? A blink is the time between the eye closing, then opening again. Usually it's less than a second. Sometimes, it's a whole night; or perhaps a lifetime.

In the blink of an eye, Greg and Snorty were back with the giants.

"Is there any way we can tell them about this, dog?"

"The only way to change things, piglet" Said Greg. "...is to end the dreams."

"Could we tell him about it? That man on the typewriter."

"I think he already knows."

Lots of people have wondered what it might be like to make a dream come true. But what if someone's dream was simply to be awake? Then, what if you could share your life and your time with them? What if you could make their dreams come true, just by sleeping, so that when you were asleep, they were awake?

It happens every night. All over the world.

It's rather wonderful, if you think about it.

(C) Steve Laker, 2016

Postscript

Nailed it, according to the test audience, aged 11 and nine.

Post Postscript

[SPOILER ALERT]

Floored someone, when I heard from a contemporary who'd got all of the subtext and said they had a wet face at the end. Because there's a very tragic thing at the end, subtly hidden: I put that in, so that a parent reading it to their kids might be as deeply affected by it as those whose heads it should drift over.