Mapledorum Trinket, Supposedly, Dreams in Rainbows

Mapledorum is granted a wish that will only come true if he doesn't believe it will.
This a tale that travels across the country... and across time. But mostly, it is about the magic of our imagination.

Mapledorum Trinket, Supposedly, Dreams in Rainbows. is a larger-than-life story. This is not as grandiose an introduction as it appears because Mapledorum was "the smallest man in america." When Mapledorum straightens his back, he stands a full six inches tall. For him, everything was larger than life. (Note: The officials who had the authority to bestow such a moniker thought it quite a bit of fun to exclude all capital letters from his title.) Nevertheless, Mapledorum wore the golden thimble gallantly until the first of January, 1932. For reasons to be explained in this account, his reign was-as it were-cut short. He welcomed his sudden estrangement from the circus of royalty. This is because Mapledorum was in love... with desire. The only crowns he was interested in wearing belonged on his teeth.

Chapter 1: INDIGO

New Year's Day, 1900
Walnut, Indiana

Mapledorum Trinket was born at sunset under the shell of a circus tent, specifically under the indigo triangle of the rainbow big top. The other colors of the spectrum were present both under the canopy and in the watercolor sky above it. Since the indigo triangle had a small tear in the fabric, Mapledorum realized the possibility that there may be a loose seam in the heavens as well. Even as a newborn, he had perspective. He quickly learned just how small one's life can feel in the shadow of the infinite. And this was only the tenth of it.

His mother was a sideshow performer. Standing at six inches tall, six-and-a-half inches with heels, her stage name was "The Diminutive Damsel in Distress." Her act involved being tied to the tracks of a model train set. For the first twenty-five years of his life, she and Mapledorum traveled the thunderous railways across the continental United States in paths of slow lightning bolts.

By this time, Mapledorum had grown to the identical stature as his mother, although, he never wore heels. But he did have an act of his own. It was modeled after the final scene of the silent film, "Safety Last!" In the scene, the headlining actor, Harold Lloyd, scales a tall building, which culminates in a gymnastic and hysteric effort to resist gravity's desire. He grasps on to the hands of a large clock, possibly to save himself, or possibly, to turn back to the time before he made this attempt. In Mapledorum's act, his little fingers latch on to the hands of a pocket watch.