Day 20: My Town

I know I have already talked about decorations and imaginary dwellings, but I just can't help myself. The thought for the day was brought about by a mix of things. I got home late last night and it was already dark and spooky. The clouds were dark and ominous and the wind was whipping everything into a frenzy. I went inside and got comfy, made some pumpkin tea, sat on the sofa and watched my candy corn lights flicker outside on the porch. After a while I picked up one of my October magazines and began to thumb through it. Two words caught my attention; they were "imagination library."

Now if you know me at all, you know my brain was immediately thinking two different things at once. First, I was pondering what exactly an imagination library would look like if it were to take on a physical form, and second,  I was thinking about the inspiration file in my desk. From now on of course I am going to call it my imagination library. What a wonderful choice of words. I put the magazine down, looked back at the Halloween village and began to day dream.

Every year I have spare moments where I imagine what it would be like to live in my Halloween village. There are a mix of spooky and normal houses, a train depot, a bakery, a roadhouse café, a cemetery, mansions, a few ghosts, Halloween trees, fall trees, of course a movie theater and much more.

My favorite piece of the village will always be the haunted mansion that my grandmother made for me. It was lost in a fire a few years back but it lives on in my memories. It was ceramic, the paint was chipped in places, the lights on the inside only worked half the time, and each transition of color made a clicking noise. But it was an old haunted mansion after all and such things come standard.

My Halloween village has had various incarnations. It is a magical town after all and nothing likes to stay stagnant. I can imagine walking down the cobblestone lane of my town. Some roads would be paved; some would be dirty and filled with overgrown weeds. Some roads would lead off into the woods and some would take you right to the mayor’s residence. In my town fall would be a big deal and a mandatory three month celebration. The local high school would be named after either bats or pumpkins and the town drink would be cider. Of course my town would be very monster tolerant, after all, monsters are either lab experiments gone wrong, or individuals who could just use a really good hug.

The Mummy, would run the local Bed Bath and Beyond. The Invisible Man would be the sheriff. The Creature from the Black Lagoon would be the swim coach, Frankenstein would be a surgeon and the Wolfman would be the owner of the local cinema. Dracula would be the bank manager and the Phantom of the Opera the local music teacher. An Igor would run the local coffee joint and the Headless Horseman would be the bus driver.

But the library, the library would be something special. After all, it would be an imagination library. The building would never be in the same place twice. Sometimes it might be found in the deepest parts of the forest. Other times it might be underneath the lake. Every so often you might find it on Main Street....or above Main Street. You could only access it by closing your eyes and picturing it. Once you saw it in your mind’s eye, suddenly you would be standing inside the great front hall. This library would be built like a castle, but without the drafts. There would be many rooms, attics, basements, secret passage ways and comfy chairs. There would be roaring fireplaces, window seats, spiral staircases, catacombs, and rolling ladders. Genies, elves, gargoyles and ghosts would retrieve any book you needed and you would never have to worry about returning books because once you were done with them they would just reappear back on the shelves in the library where they belonged.

In my library there would always be a chair waiting just for you, and it would always be exactly what you wanted and exactly where you needed it to be. The only limits to what the library could be would be your own imagination. Instead of using elevators to get to different floors, you would use magic mirrors. And as to the imagination part, there would be a very special room for that. Once in the room, you could walk around inside your own imagination. You could sail the seven seas, fly along the clouds, and create a world entirely built by gumdrops if you so choose, after all, it would be your imagination.

Wow, best town ever. I can't wait to move there. But first I have to find the shrinking potion that Alice drank in Wonderland. I know I put it around here somewhere. That pesky rabbit must have run off with it. Now that you know about my imagination library, what would yours look like? Have in it? Did I mention mine has a coffee fountain and butlers who like to bring you scones?