Is it real or just a dream? Life can be confusing.

 

Questions drift through your mind. Answers are hard to find. You wonder if you can awaken from . . .

 

 

The Dream

 

     I stood at the stove in our home on Marvelous Lane, as Nancy entered the kitchen. She looked at me and smirked.

     “You seem to have something on your mind,” she murmured.

     “I had a weird dream last night,” I said, as I poured a cup of morning tea. I cherished the tea, as it was a cold autumn day and I was shivering.

     “What was it about, Tony?” she asked, with a lilt in her voice.

     “I don’t know if you can handle it if I tell you.”

     “Try me.”

     I hesitated before responding. “Are you sure you’re up to hearing this?”

     “If you keep stalling, I won’t be, because it’ll be bedtime.”

     “Okay, sit down.”

     She pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and collapsed into it. “All right, I’m seated. Are you going to join me?” she asked, as she stared at me, wondering what this was all about.

     With my cup of tea in hand, I shuffled over to the table and sat down across from her. I remained speechless.

     “Well, are you going to say anything?” she requested.

     “I’m not sure how to start,” I muttered.

     “I presume from the beginning. Wouldn’t you?”

     “But there was no beginning.”

     “What does that mean?”

     “I’m not sure I can tell you. I’ve got to go.”

     “No, ‘Mr. I’ve Got Something To Tell You,’ you’re not going anywhere.”

     She glared at me as if I’d committed a crime. I bowed my head in shame.

     “I’m waiting.”

     “All right, but don’t hate me.”

     “Hate you? I love you, or I wouldn’t put up with your bizarre antics.”

     I got up from the table and started walking out of the room. I looked back and . . .

     “Where are you going?” Nancy asked, confused.

     “To set the stage.”           

     “For what?”

     “The dream.” I pulled the blinds down and shut off the lights, leaving us in total darkness.

     “This is not making me comfortable. Can’t we have a little light.”

     “No! Dreams occur in the dark.”

     “Are you coming back?”

     “All in good time.” I wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing, but I had to do it.

     “Are you comfortable with this?” my soft inner voice whispered.

     “I don’t know. Do you have another suggestion?”

     “Let me think.”

     “Think. That’s how you always avoid facing the inevitable.”

     “Well, you can’t do it without me, so you’re just going to have to follow my lead.”

     “What lead? This is getting ridiculous.”

     Do I dare share my dream with Nancy? How will she react to what I have to say? I thought. I can’t keep her waiting in the dark. I’ve got to go back.

     “Are you awake yet?” the inner me chimed.

     “You mean I’m still asleep?”

     “That’s exactly what I mean. And you know you’ve never been married.”

     “But she’s in the kitchen waiting for me. We’ve been together seventeen years.”

     “Yeah, since you were born.”

     “But I’m thirty-seven.”

     “In your dreams you are?”

     “This is not real. It’s all a dream.”

     “Did you ask her to the homecoming dance?”

     “Homecoming dance?”

     “The one in December. She is the girl of your dreams, after all.”

     “Oh, my! I’ve got to wake up! I screamed.

 

 

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