It's Not A Sin To Dream

It is not a sin to dream, so she always dreamt that she would make it big in the city. All her life she lived with the baker in a small town, and used to watch him as he would wake up early in the morning to make fresh bread for the morning customers. Although she tried to pay for her lodging by helping the baker clean up after hours, the baker hardly noticed her. Only Tom ever paid any attention to her, and he would always play rough. He would always scare the life out of her and she in turn would run away and hide. Even though Tom was mean to her, the baker seemed to like him and preferred to ignore her. At times he would give Tom delicious pieces of meat and fish all the while smiling at him, he never ever offered anything like that to her. Was it because she was a poor skinny orphan? She had enough….now she was grown, she will leave the baker and head for the big city. So that night she decided to leave.

She waited until it was night and the baker was asleep. She went into his room, looked at him silently one last time in thanks for all the food and shelter she was granted during her younger days there. Then turned away, hoping never to come back again.

So, she boarded the local train from her small town in the morning and thought that this would be her ticket to make it to the ‘big life’, but things didn’t turn out exactly as she had imagined them to be.

She found that the train bogey was a crowded place and it was lucky that she wasn’t trampled underfoot! These people were packed tighter than sardines in a can! She managed to find a small corner in which she waited quietly for the train to reach its final destination. It was not too long a time to wait, only a few hours, but for her it felt like forever. No one seemed to notice her, she was as good as invisible….she felt a bit more nervous than usual as the train came to a full halt.

She hopped down from the train after everyone had left and looked around her slowly. This place smelt and sounded different from what she was used to back home at the bakers. At home she remembered the homely smells of food cooking in the kitchen along with the cheerful greetings of neighbours gathered at the bakery for early morning bread. The beautiful smell of freshly baked bread! How she longed for a nice hot bread…but here all she saw were strangers walking quickly past her, not giving her a second glance. She darted in a corner, nervous and skittish.

The thought of bread made her hungry….she needed sustenance. A nice hot bread freshly baked from the oven was her favourite. She remembered the baker fondly, and even though she didn’t remember a time when he said a kind word to her, she knew he was a very nice man at heart, because he had a lot of love, which he put into his baking. And the most delicious breads, pastries and cakes came out of it, of which she used to enjoy a bite of, when she had a chance.

She felt cold and hungry now, as it was late morning, and she did not bring any food with her in her hurry to get away from the small town life. Today was different, today there was no baker or bakery or freshly baked bread. And it was her doing. She wondered if she did the right thing….what if here she was treated worse than at the bakers? Worse than Tom? – No! Nothing could be worse than Tom! Or could there?....there was a time when he pulled at her and she got scratched badly. A strange sense of foreboding filled her and her heart began beating erratically.

Oh God! There was someone who looked very much like Tom coming towards her! She squeaked in fear and began to scurry away quickly, but it was too late. The stray tomcat caught her and began enjoying his late morning breakfast.

It is not a sin to dream, but one should follow through cautiously.