The Man Who Never Slept

May 15, 1959. Albert, the local school custodian, begins his day as he has for seventy years. He sits at his desk, notebooks piled high with his writings. His bed remains unslept in and covered in plastic. A photograph of his young parents and a small blond-haired boy sits on his desk. Albert has salt and pepper hair that frames a youthful face and an affable smile. Although he has not slept for seventy years, he never questioned the reason. Polite, he is self-absorbed. Few friends and never been married or had a steady date. His father died and his mother abandoned him by the time he was seven. He heads to the bus stop and rescues a small boy being bullied, Wilbur. Out of character for Albert. Wilbur, adopted by Veronica, a server, when he was two, is small by any measure with an unfortunate stutter. Albert, forgetting his watch, returns home, missing his bus. The next bus is a senior home retirement bus full of residents on the way to a picnic. He asks to be dropped off at his school job. Destiny takes a detour and Albert ends in a parallel universe with all kinds of odd characters and scenery. He trades his watch for a novel bicycle and finds his way home by way of a door back to his universe, That evening, Wilbur, and Albert, both loners, bond at the local malt shop where Veronica works. Veronica thanks Albert for saving Wilbur. Albert acknowledges that he also comes from a broken home. The bully’s cousins show up at the malt shop, they harass Wilbur and Albert calling them names. The insults fit. The gang steals Albert’s new bike when they leave. An interplanetary spaceship, The Traveling Circus from Outer Space, arrives the next morning. Wilbur and Albert prepare their entries for a contest the Circus is giving. Wilbur wins a contest for s space ride. Albert accompanies Wilbur. They land in a parallel universe and begin the journey home. They meet wizards, the Genius Council, Edgar-a small boy like Wilbur who is cast out of the genius Society when he fails a maturity test, and the Ancient Queen of the Forest, Grizzelda. She conducts a school for children of the forest. She gives them a magic stone, a Mirror Stone, that allows them to connect with the important people in their lives. The antagonists, the Drogon, dog-like beasts of the forest, capture Edgar. They threaten to devour ‘all he is. Albert is asked to save Edgar, something he resists. He barely knows Edgar, but Edgar is friends with Wilbur. Albert rescues Edgar, but Wilbur continues alone, Albert is missing. Wilbur crosses a mile long five-foot wide footbridge. There are no handrails. Wilbur wears suction cup shoes that pop as he walks. This is a giant step for the seven-year-old. He is gaining self-confidence. He takes a crowded trolley to Eastern Paranoia. The scenery is grim. The other riders do not make eye contact. Wilbur is challenged by a man working a crossword puzzle. He shows his growing spine. Wilbur exits the trolley and finds a Messenger boy. He asks if the boy has seen anyone else like him. The Messenger boy remembers seeing someone earlier and Wilbur is excited to hear it is Albert. Albert has been captured by the evil Dr. Clodhopper and Voltage Control, tyrant ruler of Eastern Paranoia, and is confined to a prison barracks at Dr. Clodhopper’s command post. The Messenger boy directs Wilbur to a lady in black, Arista, the Ancient Queen’s sister, sitting in a park. She takes Wilbur to a meeting of the Reminiscence Brigade, Dr. Clodhoppers’ resistance. Determined to find Albert, Wilbur uses a a special compass that is synchronized with one owned by Albert. He locates Albert and they escape and destroy Voltage Control. The Messenger boy takes them to a secret phonebooth and the Subway of Inner Fields of Self Identity. On the ride home, Albert discovers his seven-year-old alter ego on the subway. He has come full circle and learns why he has not slept. Arriving back in Suburbia Heights, Albert ages overnight. His hair thins, he has trouble walking. Worried, Wilbur and Veronica get him to the hospital. Six months later, he is released and has fully recovered with a new outlook on life. A miracle thanks to the attention of Veronica and his new friends. Albert sits at his desk. His bed is rumpled. He stares at the pictures of his broken family, a picture of himself as a seven-year-old, and a new picture of Veronica, Wilbur, and himself. He writes in his journal of his self-realization:” I traveled a million miles and its right here on my desk, in that frame.” Albert, Veronica, and Wilbur start a life together.