Real Dreams

I was passing by the Boulevard of Broken Dreams when a man who was sitting under a lamppost caught my sight. I could hardly see his face in the dim yellow light oozing out of the antique looking lamp. His hands were clutching on to a bundle of ragged cloth from which a few of his broken dreams peeped out. They were beautifully hideous and were of bizarre colours. They winked at me and lured me to enter them and see how wonderfully fragmented they were, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle but never complete. He was smiling now, his eyes closed in contemplation. My cell phone rang; amma calling.She wanted to know why I was late for dinner. After mumbling a few hurried excuses to her, I turned back to him. He was gone. I crossed the street and walked through the Sweet Dream Avenue. It was crowded with all the people getting ready for Christmas. I could hear a couple of shrieks from the nearby Nightmare Street. One of my aunts was a regular visitor there. She was a kind of an adrenaline junkie. Her favourite spot at the Nightmare Street was Dracula's Hideout where you could get the world's most delicious Italian pizza. The shop-owner, Vlad Dracul, was a very old man who retired from the post of Dracula Rex. I once visited there as a child with my aunt but was dragged away into the Reality Corner by amma when she realized that I was missing from the Kids corner at the Fairy meadows. I felt excited to be walking among cheerful people who were all in a festival mood. I could see the tents being put up at the carnival. Since my house was at the Reality corner I could have a look at all the other streets. Ours were the last street. Amma was waiting for me at our doorstep. She led me to the food-laden table in the middle of our dining hall. By the time I reached the table I was rubbing my eyes, forcing them to open after a sound sleep. Reality check!!!