The Bricklayer

The bricklayer shaded his eyes and looked up at the sun.  The temperature continued to rise.  He should have started his work earlier but there were too many things to move - all the possessions he had collected over the years had taken longer to move than he had expected.  

He had started early in the morning and moved his treasures to just outside the city limits.  He stacked them carefully, one on top of the other.  He lovingly wiped off every speck of dust, polished every surface and placed each thing just so.  They would finally be safe.

He got to work.....one brick at a time.

He had spent his life laying brick and could work quickly.  This would be his final job, the pinnacle of his life as a bricklayer.  He was building a tower which would hold him and all his possessions.  He laid each brick with conviction - conviction that he was a success, that he was right, that he would be safe, that.......well, that he was better.

"Whatcha doin', mister?"

Huh?  Who was that?  The bricklayer looked down.  There stood a small boy with dirt on his face and a worn out teddy bear with one eye dangling from his hands. 

"I'm building a tower."

"Whatcha doin' that for?", he asked as he wiped his nose with the back of the hand not holding the teddy bear.

"Kid.  You need to go home.  It's not safe here and it's hot and I need to get this done today.  Go."  That's the problem with the world today....no one taking care of these kids.  Where are this kid's parents?  Who would let him out on this hot day by himself and without any water........HMMPH.

The bricklayer grabbed a bottle of water from his cooler, took a long drink and got back to work.  Just a little while longer now and his tower would be built and he would be safe and his treasures would be safe.

"Hey mister.  I got something for you."

Not again.  Sigh.  The bricklayer looked down.  Both of the boy's hands were now filled - one with the sad-looking teddy bear and the other with a raggedy-looking bouquet of dandelions.  "Kid.  I told you.  GO HOME."

"I just thought you might like these for your fancy dinner table you have in that tower.  It looks kind of empty.....kind of, I don't know.....plain?"

"Sure, kid.  Dandelions.  That's what I need on my table.  Thanks.  Now go on.  Get out of here."  The bricklayer tossed the flowers aside as the boy turned his back and wiped an invisible speck of dirt off of his prized-possession - the Tufft Table.  No dandelions would grace this fine table.  Kids nowadays have no respect, no appreciation for beauty.  He walked back to his work, stepping on the dandelions in his eagerness to get finish his tasks for the day.

Brick after brick was laid.

The tower grew higher as the sun sank lower.  

The bricklayer arched his back and wiped his brow as he stepped back to take a look at his work.

Just another layer and he would be done.  

"Hey, mister.  Looks like you're almost done.......wanna play?"

The bricklayer looked down once more and once more the small boy was back with both hands filled - one with the teddy bear, the other filled with small rocks.

"We can play tic tac toe or throw these to see how far they can go.....there's lots you can do with rocks......so you wanna play after you're done?"

Sigh.  This.  This is what drove the bricklayer to build this tower.  Isn't this kid supposed to be in school?  Where are the parents?  What are these schools doing, anyway? All this kid wants to do is goof around.....hasn't anyone taught his to work or to not talk to strangers?  It's all seemed to be getting out of control and the only thing he could do is to protect what he had.  Once more he waved the boy away and kept building.

The last brick was held in place.  His task was accomplished.  He pulled the cigar out that he bought  the day he started as a bricklayer.  He had dreams even back then  - dreams of proving that he could, he would and now he did.  He had saved it for the day he would lay his last brick and today was that day.      

He allowed himself a moment to sit back and look upon all the accomplishments of his life - all that he had built, all that he had become.  He struck a match and held it to his cigar.   He flicked the burning match to the ground and was about to stamp it out when the flame caught on a dry leaf and then another and another - the heat of the day making everything so very dry....the flames made their way to the tower.  He scrambled from his sitting position but it had been a long day and the bricklayer was older now, his reflexes not so quick.....

The tower door was open......and it seemed to take but a moment.

His brick tower had become a brick oven.......what was meant to keep out, also kept in.

There was nothing to do but to watch his life's work go up in flames.  

He sat back down, tears streaming down his face making tracks in the dirt on his cheeks.  He looked around just wanting to throw something, to hit something, for somewhere to place his rage and anger and sadness and frustration......he scrambled to grab as many rocks as he could to fling at that tower.

"Hey mister. You ok?"

He looked into the eyes of the dirty-faced boy with a hand full of rocks and a teddy bear dangling from the other.

It was as if he was looking in a mirror........a mirror to the past.  And he remembered.  He remembered being that kid.  He remembered the yearning, the discarded gifts, the lonely days, being made to feel small and insignificant.  He remembered that day......buying that cigar and burying that boy deep inside.   That day he became the bricklayer.

He lowered his hand that was full of rocks and wiped the tears from his face.

And as the flames continued to burn and the sun sank in the sky, he asked the small boy:

"Do you want to learn how to build?  I used to do this all the time when I was a kid."

And so by the light of all his possessions the bricklayer and the boy began to build castles and towers as they created a whole other world with their rocks.......just as the bricklayer had done so many times as a small boy.

Only this time he was not alone.