[Short story]

To dream the impossible dream …

Punyakante WIJENAIKE

He could see, yes he could see, a patch of blue sky through the tree branches.. He had almost reached the top of the tree! The top branches were not as strong or steady as the lower ones but he climbed on bravely. It had been his dream to climb to the top of this enormous tree and conquer it. It had stood outside his bedroom window in the back garden challenging him and now that he was seven years old he was going to reach his goal. The very top, the summit of the tree.

In his imagination it was not a tree but a mountain. He was climbing Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. He had equipped himself for the climb. A bottle of water, an axe and the Sinhala flag were strapped to his back. When he touched the summit, the topmost branch, he would tie the flag to it and let it flutter proudly in the wind. The wind WAS strong at the top but he was Tensing, Superman Tarzan and Spiderman all rolled into one.

'One day that tree will fall down on our house and kill us all,' he remembered father saying. But he had done nothing about cutting the tree. Now HE was going to be their savior. First he must reach the topmost branch, the summit of his climb before he started his work in trimming the branches. Clinging tightly to the main trunk of the tree he peered down through the swaying branches. A sea effaces holding nothing but admiration looked up at him. Some smiled and waved. He waved back. He saw the cameras clicking. Among the faces was his mother's anxious one, his tuition teacher and his little sister. She looked scared. Was she afraid he would fall?

He waved to them all and turned his face upwards again, towards the sky.

White clouds drifted by almost touching him, so tall was the tree. Yes, maybe he could touch a cloud that drifted by...

To dream the impossible dream -

To fight the invincible foe

To go when your arms are too tired...

To right the unrightable wrong.........

The wind brought up his mother's voice screaming.

'Dhanu come down at once!'

She wanted him down when he was about to reach the summit?

'Your tuition teacher has been searching for you for one whole hour! Whoever thought you would be up there. Have you gone mad? You will fall and break all the bones in your body. If you don't come down this instant I will call your father and the fire brigade to bring you down.'

The fire brigade to bring him down before he could tie the national flag to the topmost branch? He shouted down: 'Amma this tree was going to fall down on our house. Thatha said so.' 'Let your father and the tree cutter handle that problem. You are too young to cut down this huge tree! Come down at once! Do you hear me?'

He looked up at the sky for the last time. The branches sighed. The wind sighed. All in vain his dream was ended. He looked down for the last time. Where was the crowd that had gathered to cheer him on? Where were the cameras, the flashbulbs?

Only mother's face, his tutor's angry face and his little sister's frightened face remained. Reality had replaced imagination. Slowly, reluctantly he began the climb down, keeping his face away from the ground, uplifted towards the sky. As long as he kept looking up at the sky and the white cloud floating there his courage would not rail him. It was strange he had need ed no courage to climb upwards., towards his dream.

But he needed courage now, needed all his strength to climb down to reality.