Friday, June 30, 2006

Where did all the forks go?

I dreamt there were no forks. I opened up the silverware drawer in the kitchen and all the forks were missing. There were soup spoons, butter knives, tablespoons, serving spoons, and teaspoons. All were in their appointed slot. But there was a gap, an empty slot where the forks used to be.
In my dream I wasn't alarmed by this, just curious. Where did all the forks go? Then I noticed that all the steak knives were gone too. Come to think of it, all the knives were gone. The butcher block stood empty on the counter. All things sharp and pointy were gone.
I had nothing to poke or cut with. The world became smooth and rounded. I decided that I could make due without proper tools. If something needed poking or cutting, I would just pick it up with my hands and use my teeth.
It was like someone decided that I could not be trusted with sharp objects. I had butter knives but the ends were rounded and the blades were dull. It wasn't just my kitchen. Somehow in my dream I knew that all the forks and knives were missing. There would be no more poking and cutting.
I could see my life laid out before me without the use of sharpness. It was like a man using a pipe wrench as a hammer, inefficient and clumsy. Things would get done, but in a rough and ill mannered way.
Emily Post would cringe at the sight of a forkless, knifeless dinner table... greasy hands grappling with all manner of meats. We would tear off large bites in our mouths, chewing loudly. There would be no toothpicks to poke out chunks of flesh from between our teeth. The shishkabab would be a thing of the past. How would we fondue with no fondue forks.
Without needles how would we sew? When the clothes we had wore out we could not make new things. Men would grow long beards without razors. Hair would grow long without shears. Without nails and saws how would we build our homes? People would resort to chewing their toenails off.
With the world round and smooth there are no sharp edges to cut ourselves on. The world is safe and risk free. Yet, we are reduced to primative naked lives. In a risk free world we are but lost animals. We would starve, unclad, cold, exposed. Without houses, clothes, we would die.
So where did all the forks go?

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