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The Story:
So many people told him it was time to quit playing with toys, but his obsession outgrew their concern. He couldn’t help it. He liked his tiny worlds better than he liked the world that engulfed them.
It became less weird to his friends and family when he began a toy store that specialized in model building. Cars, ships, planes, people, buildings, entire towns could be purchased there. But the displays were off limits.
He had created an overwhelming number of tiny worlds. His passion for making them had launched his shop into having the most impressive miniatures displays in the country. But any violators of his “no touching” policy would find themselves banned for life. If something in a display was broken, he would mourn its loss. If anything went missing, he would offer a reward for its safe return.
Everyone who walked into his store saw the models as toys or at best, collectibles. To them, hunks of plastic were shaped into fascinating works of art for their pleasure. They were toys and nothing more.
To him, they were alive. Day and night he saw them moving buy cialis uk. He saw the propellers spinning on the airplanes and the trains running without the electricity from a wall socket. Every town had a name. Every tree, rock, and building had a purpose. Every person had a story. If he could’ve shrunk and assimilated himself into their world, he would have without hesitation.
When the lightning hit his store, he was at home, asleep. The call that woke him was from the local fire department.
“Mr. Higgs, I’m sorry to have to tell you this. There was a fire at your store, and it has pretty much burned to the ground.”
Images of his lost family flashed through his mind on repeat. Norman the milkman. Wiley the cropdusting pilot. Valentine the city diner’s waitress. Charlie, the train engineer. He had loved them all for so many years, and now, they were destroyed.
In the coming weeks, his sorrow was so great that his body began to shut down. His will to live had been consumed by that same fire.
They found his body at home, clutching the very first train he had ever built.