Patrick's Dreams

Patrick flew.

No one expected it. No one saw it coming. See, all of Patrick’s life, people brought him down, kept him out of the sky, destroyed his dreams.

Patrick took this all very well. His feet were well planted on the ground, and his head never within fifty feet of the clouds. At first, it seemed as though he was simply a very well-behaved, quiet child. But as it turned out, he had given up his dreams in order that they might not be destroyed.

And so, in a way, he destroyed them himself.

He grew up to be a solid young man, focusing on his studies, completing all his work. He was kind to people in general, though a little distant. People thought him aloof, which was not at all the case. He simply was so solidly on the ground that he thought of little else but the very present moment, for his future was shackled to the hard stones of the earth, and his past was far too painful for reminiscing.

One day he met a young woman, and their relationship developed from his steady solidity, and her complete adoration for the way he quietly obeyed her orders.

For years he followed her as her steady shadow, quiet and solid, taking orders and obeying, and finally through an unexciting marriage. She refused to have children, though he had allowed himself to hope for them. Another dream dashed against the solid rocks of earth.

But finally, he had enough.

No one expected it. No one saw it coming.

He told his wife he wanted children. She stared at him for a long time before telling him that they had discussed this already.

He told his wife he wanted children. Again, she told him they had discussed this; they were not going to have children.

He walked out of the door, solid to the core, and walked down the street. He turned the street corner and continued to walk. With each step, he allowed himself a dream he never let free, each one of them causing his next step to be taken with a little more buoyancy. The neighbors watched him as he continued on and on, until suddenly, he sprouted a set of wings made of all the dreams he never had.

Patrick reached the end of the sidewalk, dropping off into a deep abyss. The neighbors stared at him as he spread his wings, a smile touching his face as the sun burst through the clouds above.

And Patrick flew.