The Price Of Dreams :1:

There will be times when you pay dearly for what you love.

We had been warned, and remained stubborn. So convinced the script would shine and the storyboard would leap right off its mounting. To us, the opening scenes with the musical box and the magical house had held a world of significance. To them it had been 8 seconds of artistic wankery.

Hopes dampened but not dead, he walked the grey concrete length from our client's office to his car, cradling the golden vision of carved gilt edges and tinkling music close to his heart. There was to be a way somehow. His sensitive, stubborn nature would see to it that the tiny silver bells we heard on one inspired afternoon would be heard by a million others.

I could see it in the determined hunch of his shoulders and the deliberate pace of my steps. The silver ballerina must dance, and keep dancing.

The dream of the music box must not die.

I wished with all my might to hold his anxious arm for the length of that brief endless walk. Instead I smiled and waved, saying I'll see you tomorrow.

He never waves back.


* * *

A mellowing dusk paints the air with muted shades as I come to a regular watering hole. Called Blue Paradise, the bistro is decked in shades of Mediterranean cool with warm splashes of amber. The fatigued calm I usually end the day with is decidedly absent; I am ruffled for no good reason. Perhaps I just need a beer. I exhale antsily and push the door open.

Light laughter brushes my ear like a breeze. An exiting couple sweeps past me – and I stop. In the evening light, too bright still for tricks of the dark, her naked shoulders gleam a pure silver.

She turns briefly to look over her shoulder, and now I can see her dainty profile. A Madonna's mouth; a queenly forehead and nose, all sculpted in the same gleaming substance. The dress flares out in a stiff quaint petticoat. And beneath it, peeking out like a miracle, are slim silver legs on en pointe beribboned shoes.

(Dance for me. Once more before you die)

The sun sets; night imbues her with the life of dreams. Our dreams. She turns back to her lover and laughs again. From her lips emerge the sound of tiny, tinkling bells....