Day 131: Planting Dreams

Planting Dreams
by
Matt Zurbo

 

There was a patch of grass behind Ada’s place that was the most fertile on Earth.
(Ada sitting in patch of green grass, insects everywhere.)

The weeds would get out of control, so Ada decided to fill it with things of her own.
(Ada looking up at a pillar of weeds, disappearing into the sky.)

She would throw her apple cores and fruit pips over the soil on her way to school,
(Ada looking at fruit trees of every variety. School kids picking, eating ,throwing fruit.)
then when she got home again! Wow!

Fruit for everyone!
(Kids faces, sticky with, manically eating, various fruits.)

One time Ada lost her key in the soil. The next morning… 
(Ada looking at a key tree!)

Every key on the tree opened something special. Secretes, hearts, minds. Long forgotten lockers of dead men…

The gate to Miserly Mrs Jones’s waterhole.
(We can see through open bush gate to waterhole, kids playing, having a ball.)

Ada then tried planting a tear she had found into the soil.
(Ada planting a tear in freshly hoed row.)

A merry-go-round grew from the tear, ridden by the memory of a young boy, happy and free.
(Merry-go-round, tilted, growing from tree trunk. Branches coming out of top.)

Listening to its music was hard for Ada. It sounded sad.
(Ada, tilted head, watching merry-go-round tree from a distance.)

She decided the tear belonged to old Mr Brown who was down and out and just wanted to be young again.
(Ada watching homeless man sitting back on local jetty, dog by side, daydreaming.)

After that, Ada poked small holes in the soil.
When the rain came, it would fall into where Ada had pressed. Little storm clouds grew from each hole.

She would put them in her pocket and throw them at bullies,

let them hover over people in suits,

and place them in teacher’s lunch boxes so their sandwiches would get soggy.

After a while, Ada started to feel shallow. Such rich soil was a gift!
(Ada standing in field, looking down at hands full of soil.)
She didn’t want to waste it on kids who would just plant money or toys. Yet she wanted to share.

So little Ada went around asking everyone about what they dreamed each night!

The dreams that fascinated them,
and scared them,
and filled them with wonder, puzzlement,
hope,
(Ada listening as kid, arms out, animated, sightly baffled expression on face, tells her his dreams.)

And wrote them all down, before planting a page per dream!
(Row of small rolls of paper, planted in soil.)

And waited…
(Ada sleeping, head tilted on tree while things grow in the night.)

Sure enough, by morning…
Oh, it was beautiful, it was inspiring!
(Double page of Ada walking through field of dream trees, some purple with crystals, others made of curls, others rainbow coloured tentacles, with small submarine floating by. One has wings, with small images of kids flying around it. One branches out into stars with planets circling it. One has bunyips under it. Several at varying types of tree house. One has a rainbow landing in it. One is full of bats, one is being circled by shark fins, one is a flame tree, etc…)
A dream forest!

Then, Ada invited everybody in.
(Kids, as seen from behind, running through long grass towards trees.)

And the kids of the town got to play, and fly, and dive through their imaginations, their hopes and fantasies.
(Three pages of kids interacting with their dream trees.)

It was a magic day. One that makes people strong, that saves souls!

And, when they were done, Ada knew her secret was safe.
(Kids leaving, back into the long grass, some scratching their heads. confused, others yawning.)
That, as soon as they left the area, they would forget everything about where they had been, and what they had been doing, except the for the vaguest feelings,
and half images…
Like in dreams.

That they would feel glad without knowing why. 

Ada was exhausted. When all the other kids were gone, she lay down for just a minute…
(Ada, cheeks puffed, exhaling, wiping brow, moon beginning to rise through dusk)

and fell asleep in the soil!
(Morning, Ada is still sleeping under willow-like tree. About ten Ada look-a-likes are dangling from and/or sitting in branches. Another ten or so have fallen off a branches and are standing about sleeping Ada.)
The End