Pliny the Builder

The building never seemed to end...

With resilience, Pliny the builder poked his nail gun against the shingles as he had many times before. Each jab pounded a piece of steel with great force into the top of his creation. He knew the nails were too long and would be visible from the inside. Perfection was never his strong suit. His compromise was essential.

The shingles would be watertight, and keep the place dry. Still, he couldn't help wincing with every shot, as if he was inflicting pain of some kind. He walked along the top casually blasting with reckless abandon. Such relentless brutality to something so precious.

But he knew it was just a house, and although it was built with great care and planning, a bulldozer or even a raging inferno could never hurt it. It was invincible, even if only a fixture in his noggin. It could be built again any way he pleased. And this was his essential compromise. Although his house was of supreme importance, his imagination was completely uncontrollable.

In fact, as he built, he realized all the time it took to construct this one was eliminating all of the other wild creations he had thought of along the way...

As he nailed the last piece of plywood to the floorboards he realized he hadn't included a place for a jacuzzi. Sure, the rest would need to be completely redesigned for such a thing, "but oh, wouldn't that be cool," he thought.

As the final wall was nailed into place he pondered a bay window.

As he tested the electricity he wondered about a 220 volt circuit.

As he pounded the last shingle he imagined a second story.

All in all, by the time he had finished framing his house he finally knew precisely what he really wanted, and it was a completely different house.

He walked inside and looked around. He lamented the misplaced rafters and other imperfections - a direct result of his head being permanently affixed to the clouds. Each nick in a 2x4 became another one of his dreams that fell somewhat short. Each piece of misshapen plywood in the ceiling became a reminder of his failure. He wondered how he could have constructed such a potent obstruction to his happiness. It was all wrong, he decided. What had driven him to construct such a thing had been the same thing that destroyed it.

He sat in the middle of his new vinyl floor and rested his cheek on his hand. "How could I have known? Could I ever build again? How can I ever ensure such effort is not wasted?" He thought about his life, his job, his aspirations. He wondered why he did anything at all. "The greater the goal, the greater the failure," he thought.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared out the window and thunder shook the newly built house. He stood and looked out the window. The sky was black as night. Moments later a small pattering on the roof intensified into a steady downpour. A powerful storm then crashed against the shingles he had just finished moments earlier.

He watched for leaks, hoping to find one. There were none.

The wind pounded against the side of the house.

He walked over and held his hand against the wall, hoping to feel a breeze. He felt nothing.

As the storm raged against the house Pliny considered every possibility. Were the gutters clogged? Did the foundation leak? The windows?

Pliny found nothing. It appeared as though his newly built house was, if completely imperfect and shameful, entirely sound to live in. By this point he still wanted the storm to blow it away, and take him with it.

Then Pliny heard a loud knock on the door. He rushed over to open it. It was his neighbor, Bliny.

"Good day, Pliny, would you mind if I came in?"
"I suppose not, but you are a filthy beggar for it."
"Granted. By the way, have you seen the displaced state of your rafters?"
"Yes, I have indeed noticed that. And have you seen the soggy state of your clothes?"
"Oh yes, I suppose they are, aren't they. Oh, and the misshapen puzzle of plywood overhead."
"Why yes, thank you for reminding me. I have noticed that as well."
"And the sorry state of your..."

Bliny continued to point out the various mistakes throughout the duration of the storm. After several minutes the rain suddenly stopped and Bliny left.

Pliny looked around at the various faults that surrounded him. He noticed a nice place for a shelf and thought of the many wonderful things he could place on top of it. Picture frames, little wooden sculptures, a cribbage board, flowers.

He picked up his tool belt and continued building...