A Can Of Dreams

• Soraya Houghton, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2015

A Can Of Dreams

Stepping into the early morning chill, young Heidi sneaked out of her ram shackled house to climb the mountain for the final time. Today she would finish her work to bring happiness to her downtrodden people. As she climbed over the slippery boulders her thoughts went back to her elderly grandmother who would have given anything to have her last breath from natural sunlight rather than from a can.

The little town where Heidi lived was wedged between two huge mountains and was a miserable, cold, wet place as no sunlight penetrated into the valley. In the centre of this awful place was the store. The storekeeper preyed upon the townspeople. The most popular item for sale in the store was not food but a can of sunlight which was highly sought after. The greedy storekeeper imported sunlight from a far-away land and sold it in cans at extremely high prices. Day after day, week after week the miserable townspeople worked in appalling conditions in the salt mine to earn money to buy a can of beloved sunshine to bring happiness into their lives.

A year before Heidi had decided to save her town from the grip of the storekeeper. She gathered as many mirrors as she could and decided that she would glue them to the cliff at the top of the mountain to reflect the sunlight down into her little town. Heidi knew the mountain was guarded by the storekeeper’s henchman and worked secretly. Every weekend for year she took a bag of mirrors to the mountain top and hid the mirrors in a cave at the summit. At the top of the mountain she worked feverishly to glue all the mirrors to the rock ledge overlooking the valley. To the east the sun started to rise and she glanced into the valley with happiness in her heart.

Suddenly a mirror shattered just to the side of her. Then another and another. The evil storekeeper had found her and as he approached was hurtling rocks at her mirrors. In sheer rage Heidi charged towards the shopkeeper, she flung her bag at him and he laughed as he dodged out of the way. Her tiny frame crashed into him in a desperate attempt to save her town. With ease he brushed her aside and continued smashing mirrors. Just then the first ray of sunlight hit the mirror and blinded the shop keeper. He staggered to one side and as he did he slipped on a rock and fell into the dark valley.

As the light filtered into the valley below the people came out laughing and shouting so loudly that Heidi high up on the mountain could hear them. The beautiful sunlight transformed the whole valley. The people laughed and danced in the street. Now, crops could be grown and harvested, and young boys and girls could play in the street. Heidi had dared to dream and had changed the lives of her people.