CRACKING daydreams BY JUDE MIRE

It was metal and rivets and magic.

And it was leaving.

The great sloppy rocket shuddered and wobbled its way up into the night sky, headed for who-knows-where. Someplace better. Julia didn’t feel sad because she wasn’t on-board and wasn’t going with them. She was confident she’d be on one eventually. She’d been working hard on her imagination. Her older brother, Trevor said it was almost there.

No, Julia was a little sad because it was Becky rising up into the speckled darkness. Her good, big sister-style, always there when she needed her, Becky. They’d spent their whole life next door to each other. Becky always was the most fun to play with and had such wonderful ideas all the time. She’d miss her terribly.

She watched the spaceship until nothing but a smear of smoke remained, streaked in a curve across the starlit heavens.

“C’mon, Dinger. She’s gone. Let’s go home now.” The black cat at her side blinked but didn’t move.

Julia gathered up her multiple sketchbooks, filled with pictures of strange creatures, silly poems, and over two hundred types of madeup flowers she’d sketched, named, and cataloged. She shoved them into her bag along with her action figures, yarn, and polished glass. Trusting that Dinger would follow at his own pace, she headed across the roof to the ladder down. She needed to get back soon. She’d already taken too long. If she was lucky, Trevor may not have noticed she’d gone out to see Becky’s departure. But it was a thin hope. Her older brother was pretty good at keeping an eye on her. Even better than Dinger was.

Trevor was a good brother, for the most part. He helped decorate her room and was always eager to join in any game she came up with. He brought her toys and tidbits, paints, and craft supplies. Mostly things he got from a fantastic marketplace on the far side of town that he called Trash. She’d never been there, but it had all sorts of amazing little things. He was quick with a smile and could make her laugh by just pointing his finger at her. She knew he loved her very much.

But Trevor never wanted her to leave their tiny apartment. She wasn’t allowed to look outside, even though they were really high up, and she could have probably seen the whole city. He’d covered them with a painting of ships sailing on clouds, like mock stained glass. He said the world was “spirit crushing” and the less she saw of it, the better. He said it had happened to him.

“I was just like you, Julia,” he’d say. “It was my daydreams that were going to guide one of those ships up. To help take people to amazing new places. But I spent too much time looking around here. Too focused on the world. You can’t do that, Julia. It’s not good for you. Earth is a cage and it’ll trap you if you think about it. If you must go out, try to ignore it. You don’t want any cracks in that imagination of yours, do you?”

Just last week, when she’d snuck out in search of fairies, she’d smelled something that made her stomach growl and her mouth water. Certain that it was some magnificent feast, she’d resisted the urge to look. When they got home, it was the first thing she’d asked Dinger to describe. As he curled on the end of her bed, licking his hindquarters, he’d explained to her that it was, in fact, the aroma produced by a fish in a robotic suit. He went on to spin a fantastic tale about how this particular fish normally lived on the bottom of a lake, but the lake was near a strange sandwich factory. The sandwich factory only made perfect sandwiches and, whenever one wasn’t just right, they’d toss it into the lake. There, it would settle to the bottom, and, by amazing coincidence, made the fish smell wonderful!

And Julia did her best to try and ignore it. Even now, she kept her eyes on the ground, only occasionally peeking up, so as to not bump into anybody. It was tricky, with serpentine streets so thin between the domino-stacked buildings. It was harder, at night, to keep her bearings in the maze of shops and neon signage. She did her best, glancing as little as necessary. Some of it was interesting, but she was good at keeping her eyes off the things she shouldn’t see. After all, she didn’t need to look at them for herself. Dinger would describe it all to her when they got home.

Dinger could watch all of it, of course. He wasn’t learning to help with the imagin-ometry calculations. He could look around as much as he pleased. He never spoke, per se, but she understood him anyway. He was a great describer. Dinger was an expert.

She always had the most interesting conversations with her cat.

She crowded into an elevator with about forty other people and went up three levels. She had to shove to get off with all the new passengers trying to get on. She tried to imagine they had good reason for pushing a little girl and almost trampling a cat. Perhaps, they were mind controlled by evil puppies, tired of little girls, and ancient enemies of cats.

The fish had rented the robot suit so that it could come out of the water on holiday, so it could sight-see the Vast, and maybe try one of the perfect sandwiches. When she asked about the sort of squealing, hissing noises that had gone with the aroma, Dinger told her it was a family of origami worms, obviously excited to see such a sight.

Or, maybe their heads were on backward, and they couldn’t see properly. Whatever it was, she didn’t look up to see. Dinger would explain it to her later. Just like he always did.

She was only three blocks and a nexus point away from the Insparium Slums when she smelled it. That wonderful smell. Or, maybe their heads were on backward, and they couldn’t see properly. Whatever it was, she didn’t look up to see. Dinger would explain it to her later. Just like he always did.

She was only three blocks and a nexus point away from the Insparium Slums when she smelled it. That wonderful smell.

The fish.

She was kind of surprised to smell him again. After all, according to Dinger, vacations weren’t something the fish could easily afford. Why was he out here again? Whatever the reason, she licked her lips at the smell. She shouldn’t even be here. She was only out because she’d wanted to see Becky off. To watch her rocketship float up on fire and daydreams. She’d done that, and she should get right home, but, well, couldn’t she take just one peek?

The delicious scent came from a vendor stall, not a fish in a robotic suit.

The grubby counter was equipped with a grill, deep-fryer, and was manned by an overweight fellow in a stained apron. He had squinted eyes and a scowl on his face. The area was piled high with cages of live rats. Squealing rats, not adorable origami worms.

Julia gawped. It was nothing like what she’d imagined. It was brutal and horrible and...

“Dinger, why did you lie to me?”

The cat sat there and gazed at her silently.

If this had been a lie, then what about the rest? She lifted her face to look up, but before she could make any sense of things, a figure burst in front of her, blocking off the marketplace spectacle.

“Julia! You shouldn’t be out here. You know this!” Trevor took her by the arm and turned her away. “Come on. We’ve got to get you back inside.”

Caught in the act, she immediately dropped her eyes to the ground and let him lead her. “I’m sorry Trevor, I just wanted to say goodbye to Becky. My Becky.”

Trevor sighed heavily. “I know. I thought you might. I’ve been looking for you for an hour.”

He took one out, held it by the tail, and swung it so its neck snapped on the counter-top. With a bored expression, he swiftly removed the head, limbs, and guts, skinned it, and dropped the rest into the deep fryer. Several already cooked rats, impaled on sticks, were spread out on a greasy towel next to a sign that said $10.00.

She felt the tension in her sibling and had some idea of what was at stake. It was only dreams, random imagination, and unfiltered creativity that completed the inter-planetary drive calculations. She was the one who could do it, get them on a ship, up, up, and away. He’d failed at it. Her best Becky hadn’t.

Julia wished more than ever Becky was still here to tell her what to do.

“You didn’t see much did you?”

“No,” she lied.

“Good,” he said.

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