Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

My Magic Carpet Is Out Of Gas

My magic flying carpet ran out of gas."

My magic flying carpet ran out of gas. I had run out of dreams to dream. Now it was time to look in my treasure box and pick a dream to live. That meant taking a risk. Riding on the magic carpet had been far more fun. When you have a thousand dreams, how can you choose one and make it a dream come true? I didn't know how long it would take me to pick through all those dreams. I wasn't sure a month would give me enough time. Maybe I just needed a week or two.

I decided to use one Sunday. I wouldn't go to church. I would hike through the mountains. Go up into that lonesome, crooked one room shack and sit down at the table. I would take my alarm clock. In one hour's time, I would choose my dream. I would live with my choice. I wouldn't grumble about a lack of time or that no one had been there to support me.

That Sunday was a foggy one. No rain, just foggy. I didn't take my cat, Peter. I went alone. I walked slowly up the mountain. I tried to think along the way. I couldn't do it. The lake down below and the wildflowers could always distract me from thinking especially blue wildflowers. When I reached the door of the cabin, it was opened a little bit. One squirrel sat up on the table cracking an acorn. I hurried him along. After all, this was a big day for me. I had a dream to choose and later, live.

I had a small sack of apples and my drinking water. It was so quiet. Not even the birds were singing. I sat down. In my sack was a bag of pretty marbles. I would move those around on the table as I played with my dream. I had one hour. Then, the timer would go off. I wouldn't change. Only my heart would change. I would become a new person. Doing something completely different from what I might have been born to do.

I was scared. Whatever dream I chose would make the rest of the family upset. I never could please them. I didn't mean to do it. It just happened. I was the underlying cause of all their big fights. Mom and dad fought about whether I should wash the dishes or just go ahead and do homework. My nephews argued over whom did I loved best and how did I show it. My sister just out right hated me because dad said, "you're jealous of Carole." I heard that statement so many times it made me sick on the stomach. What in the world did I have to be jealous of? I wasn't pretty. I wasn't smart. I didn't have a lot of friends.

I never believed Marie could be jealous of me. Impossible. I knew she didn't like me. I didn't know why. Then, other times I felt she loved me with her whole heart. Marie puzzled me. I should have stood up and said, "why is she jealous of me?" I never thought to question my parents. I just knew to grumble, roll my eyes, stamp my feet as I ran up the stairs.

So, I didn't need any of them here with me as any so called support. They would make me nervous. Skeet would laugh at me. "You can't make a dream come true." James would mumble something and go somewhere else to draw or sketch whatever.

All I needed was me, my marbles and a little water to drink. I didn't want the apples. I was becoming more serious by the minute. Pick a dream I mumbled to myself. Then, never change it. Go live it. I picked up four more marbles and skipped them across the table. I closed my eyes. No thought came. Pass dreams disappeared. I couldn't remember one. I closed my eyes again. Nothing. Then, I remembered Langston Hughes' poem about a Dream Deferred. I had waited too late. My dreams had bellied up. What now? I couldn't imagine living the rest of my life working in a factory canning tuna. I had to have a dream. It was the only way I could survive here.

Pressed for time, I could hear my little clock ticking. I stated my dream out loud. I would marry George Ruler. He lived not far from us in the valley. I had known him since grade school. He didn't look too bad. He just had two big bumps over his left eye. I would marry him. We would make dreams together.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I gathered my water, clock and apples. I took a big bite out of one apple. After all, this was a cause for celebration. I had a dream. I would make my dream come true. I would live happily ever after away from all the people that I seemed to upset so badly.

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