A younger self

“Our whole life is but a greater and longer childhood”

Speaks a gigantic poster with the painting of an intriguing small boy gaping at the viewer. Charlie loved paintings, but he wasn't still quite sure what the words meant.

Now, as he lies here watching the stars, Charlie isn't in the mood to think of all that, in fact he isn't even in the world. He is far into his heart, feeling a heavy burden of pain. Not-so-friendly mates at work, a failed marriage, his parents' deaths, hardly any friends to even share anything with. People can only take so much pain. There, Charlie goes to sleep, for once he can be in peace.

----

Little Charlie.. you probably don't know him. He was so different; More of an antithesis of the Charlie now. Little Charlie had so many friends, so close and dedicated. He even had a rocking horse, the birthday gift from his dear father. And a fantasy story book from one of his friends (Which he loves and even has it somewhere stocked in the house).

Little Charlie's days were longer. He never once, felt guilty about anything. He was so free, that the only thing he seemed to lack was wings. Nobody hated him. He was such a child with a great love for everything around him. He wished to never grow up.

Only if.. he'd still been Little Charlie, things might have been different now. Everyone at his workplace would be his friends, his wife.. would have loved him so much, and his  parents would have been there. Why couldn't he be little again?..

----

A sudden abruptness wakes Charlie up. It is still midnight. Nothing had changed. Same house and same old charlie. It was a dream... a.. nightmare. But there is this little change in the gigantic poster, some magic has happened.

He seems to understand faintly, the meaning of the words on the poster. He sits there, tears starting to drip from the corner of his eyes.

"Can I go back in age?", he whispers to himself. "Can you go back in age?", asks the heart. He closes his eyes as if in deep thought.

He lies down on his mother's lap. "Go to sleep, Charlie." his mother says and kisses him on the forehead. Bed time stories told, a lullaby sung, softly, he goes to sleep, like a child.. like a child.

----

The next morning, it is another day. He has grown again. Child to adult in a few hours. The environment is concrete. No more a child, a broken rocking horse, no more birthday gifts, insufficient days, no more father, no more kisses, no more stories, no more lullabies.. no more mother. It is another long walk into the persistent daily life.

He believes it was just another dream, and not a connotation to resurrect his very self. He believes so. Maybe he is unwilling. Maybe he fears to reach things that are beyond him. Maybe it's because he had abandoned his younger self once. Maybe..



Badges (Contest wins)

Complex Minded  (Bittersweet)

Not Quite (Short Stories of Fantasy)

Self Harm (The Really Sad Short Stories)

Reviews

[bbb]

I really enjoyed the thought that went into this, and the message it relates. However, I will say in regards to it being a story, it could use a little more meat. I know how you write your poems; full of lush description. This story could use some of that. For instance, a background, even if it's a short one. Another example would be to describe the main character just a little more, and give him even more emotions and thoughts. I'm thinking maybe you just wanted this to be very brief, and it was. It was a nice, quick and easy read. I just felt like there could be more. Anyway, what I have to say is only an opinion, an idea...it's not meant to be a bad review.

[Magdelena]

Dinesh there is one word I have to say on your writing.. BRILLIANT!!!! Always makes me feel as if the pen you bring forth to paper is blessed with the art of above.. You master in story-telling, bringing forth images of such that make us gasp and plead for more..

Keep that pen flowing my friend..


Mags xx

[Emily Burns]

oh, those maybes . . .

[Dane Osborne]

Dinesh,

You have a real talent for prose writing and i think you should try to encourage that talent more. Poets actually make the best prose writers once they become accustomed to writing it. WIlliam Faulkner wrote and published only poetry for years before he ever wrote his first novel and nowadays his novels are what he's known for. Jack Kerouac was really just a poet who used prose fiction as a poetic device to remarkable results. Ernest Hemingway, while he never wrote any poetry that I know of, seemed to have very strong poetic sensibilites and a poet's outlook. While his prose has the reputation for being extremely simplistic and sparse, it is actually quite eloquent and beautiful if read in paragraphs rather than sentences.

As for this story, I think I would label it as an "expression" as opposed to a "statement". That is NOT any kind of a bad thing and will explain to you what I mean. The story made me feel rather than analyze and it made me feel very strongly. It made me feel the all the sadness, happiness, sorrow, whimsy, of the human condition. It didn't seem like any particular idea or theory was being projected but rather it just shows you a picture of life for what it can be. That is why I would call it an "expression" rather than a "statement".

"statements" are Dostoyevsky. "expressions" are Chekov. Both are equally brilliant but just different.

I deepy and sincerly enjoyed this piece, Dinesh. It is going into my library. Well done.

[Fantasy's Wings]

Your a very deep thinker. I liked it a lot. It was very nicely writen. Even better, no grammar errors ruined the story's flow.

[Blue Moon Ice Cream]

Very interesting way that you presented this story...it's like a slightly different spin on the common longing to be young again. I really liked the quote, too--hadn't heard it before. I did find it a little hard to understand what was happening...there were so many quick jumps in time, and I had to reread each section several times to understand how it flowed together. Nice job, though.

[JulieZee]

Heartbreaking. The regret and the longing for a better age really hit home for me.

[PyroKitty24]

Very nice. It kept me thinking and was a fun little read~

[Kevin Vorshak]

A bit of a thought provoking subject where it seems the adult wishes he could have the life and the type of friendships he had as a child brought into his adult life.

[Willow]

This is a wonderful piece of writing.

[Matthews Reggie]

good one, thoughtful subject...