I Had A Dream
Last night I had a dream. It was astonishingly complex and detailed. Sadly, as is the case with most dreams, it passed quickly from my memory. Even now I can remember it only in vaguest outline, and for the overall impact it had on me. I think dreams are simply not made to be remembered.
As I recall I was being held in captivity, but in such a way that I didn’t even know until later that I was being held against my will. After all, it was a dream, and things didn’t proceed as they ordinarily would. Nor did my perception of them.
At some point I had to take what was termed “the box test”. This involved watching a number of films on DVD. I then had to answer questions about the films. The test was given by an attractive young woman for whom I had no immediate feelings. She sat at a bench alongside a rather matronly woman, who seemed to be giving her some sort of guidance when necessary.
The films frequently featured a woman to whom many sad things happened. Not horribly or bloodily sad things. They were simply unfortunate little tragedies, but they invoked in me a visceral wish that I could prevent such sadness in her life. Still, I knew I couldn’t. So I drank. And this drinking affected my ability to perform the test.
At one point I found myself transported into one of the films. I was fleeing for my life by half bounding, half flying down a long hillside pursued by some fantastic mechanical contraption which resembled a bird of prey. Its exterior appeared metallic, golden. And each time it came down and struck the hillside it smashed to bits. These pieces instantly reconstituted themselves into yet another fantastic creature and continued to pursue me. This happened repeatedly, until there simply weren’t enough parts left to continue the pursuit.
At this point the film ended and I was put into a small cell lined with blocks of stone. Eventually the door opened and I was led down a short hall to a much larger area. There I again saw the young woman who had given me the test. It wasn’t until that moment that I actually understood that all I’d undergone had been a test. I stood around making small talk with others, jokingly remarking how I was worried that my drinking had affected my final test results. Finally I was assured that everything was alright, that in fact I’d done quite well on the hardest part, which was “the box test”.
Then I was released and found myself standing on a hillside which constituted part of a long shallow valley. I watched as a fantastic metallic bird of prey came crashing down the valley, and I understood that someone else was taking the test.
Eventually all activity in the valley came to a quiet halt. The stillness was interrupted by the sight of a long convoy of vehicles of various kinds moving from one end of the valley to the other, where they passed out of sight.
The last vehicles in the convoy were some sort of utility machines. There were two of them, hauling large, flat circular objects. The machines positioned themselves and began to dig two very large but shallow holes. They did this by wheeling in a circular fashion. They skimmed the dirt covering two very large discs, revealing two flying saucers. At this point the discs which had been on the trucks were positioned over these discs in the ground (to the accompaniment of all sorts of whirring and thumping sounds), and they were screwed into them.
This being done the huge discs rose out of the ground, hovered awhile, then slowly moved toward the crest of the hill. Just before moving over the crest and out of sight one of the discs opened like a clamshell. Hovering in the sky above the hill, it actually waved one of its halves toward me! I instinctively raised my arm slowly waved back.
Believe you me, it was a real E.T. moment. Because I realized that the young woman for whom I thought I’d felt nothing was going away. And that I’d never see her again.
And here’s the thing that impressed me most of all about the whole fantastic series of events. As I stood there on the hillside, alone in the coming darkness waving slowly up at the sky, at that very moment I felt like I was in love again.
As I recall I was being held in captivity, but in such a way that I didn’t even know until later that I was being held against my will. After all, it was a dream, and things didn’t proceed as they ordinarily would. Nor did my perception of them.
At some point I had to take what was termed “the box test”. This involved watching a number of films on DVD. I then had to answer questions about the films. The test was given by an attractive young woman for whom I had no immediate feelings. She sat at a bench alongside a rather matronly woman, who seemed to be giving her some sort of guidance when necessary.
The films frequently featured a woman to whom many sad things happened. Not horribly or bloodily sad things. They were simply unfortunate little tragedies, but they invoked in me a visceral wish that I could prevent such sadness in her life. Still, I knew I couldn’t. So I drank. And this drinking affected my ability to perform the test.
At one point I found myself transported into one of the films. I was fleeing for my life by half bounding, half flying down a long hillside pursued by some fantastic mechanical contraption which resembled a bird of prey. Its exterior appeared metallic, golden. And each time it came down and struck the hillside it smashed to bits. These pieces instantly reconstituted themselves into yet another fantastic creature and continued to pursue me. This happened repeatedly, until there simply weren’t enough parts left to continue the pursuit.
At this point the film ended and I was put into a small cell lined with blocks of stone. Eventually the door opened and I was led down a short hall to a much larger area. There I again saw the young woman who had given me the test. It wasn’t until that moment that I actually understood that all I’d undergone had been a test. I stood around making small talk with others, jokingly remarking how I was worried that my drinking had affected my final test results. Finally I was assured that everything was alright, that in fact I’d done quite well on the hardest part, which was “the box test”.
Then I was released and found myself standing on a hillside which constituted part of a long shallow valley. I watched as a fantastic metallic bird of prey came crashing down the valley, and I understood that someone else was taking the test.
Eventually all activity in the valley came to a quiet halt. The stillness was interrupted by the sight of a long convoy of vehicles of various kinds moving from one end of the valley to the other, where they passed out of sight.
The last vehicles in the convoy were some sort of utility machines. There were two of them, hauling large, flat circular objects. The machines positioned themselves and began to dig two very large but shallow holes. They did this by wheeling in a circular fashion. They skimmed the dirt covering two very large discs, revealing two flying saucers. At this point the discs which had been on the trucks were positioned over these discs in the ground (to the accompaniment of all sorts of whirring and thumping sounds), and they were screwed into them.
This being done the huge discs rose out of the ground, hovered awhile, then slowly moved toward the crest of the hill. Just before moving over the crest and out of sight one of the discs opened like a clamshell. Hovering in the sky above the hill, it actually waved one of its halves toward me! I instinctively raised my arm slowly waved back.
Believe you me, it was a real E.T. moment. Because I realized that the young woman for whom I thought I’d felt nothing was going away. And that I’d never see her again.
And here’s the thing that impressed me most of all about the whole fantastic series of events. As I stood there on the hillside, alone in the coming darkness waving slowly up at the sky, at that very moment I felt like I was in love again.
posted by Le Boulevardier | 3:15 PM
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