In Love with the Dawn

The sun was rising over Nogoori, the capital city of the planet Joom. Our hero, Nimori, woke up in his dank basement and wobbled off his cheap bed and into his workroom. He had to start work right after he woke up, the law of the land mandated that, and so he did. The regulation was made so that dreams could be captured in material form before they fly away into the sky with the hot vapors.

Nimori was a sculptor, he used a high-temperature flame cutter to shape old junk into things people wanted - metal bars for fences, baskets, doors, windows and so on. He always bent them in shapes that made people think of the places they had come from. He was a craftsman and a great artist, so the government really came down hard on him to work every waking hour. Or as many hours as the law of the land could mandate.

Presently, a screen came to life in a snap of static. Nimori’s overseer appeared on it. He was ugly. He was missing many eyes because of the war. He still had many more eyes than Nimori, even though Nimori was not missing any eyes.

”How is work, Nimori?” the overseer said.

”Well, overseer,” said Nimori. He would have gladly used the overseer’s name, but overseers were not allowed to have names.

”What troubles you, Nimori?” asked the overseer.

”I wanted to catch a glimpse of the sunrise today, overseer. Will I be allowed?"

"I would be beheaded if they found out… But I’ll allow it.”

Nimori wobbled over to the window. He could not see much out of the basement, but luckily his window pointed upward, so he could look at the sky. Whimsical purple shapes were dancing in the wind, rising in the heat of the rising sun. Nimori’s love Kaete was among them. He could not tell her apart, but he knew she was among them. Nimori would be with her one day.

Nimori wobbled back to his workstation. “Thank you, overseer.”

The overseer grunted and his screen snapped off.

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk