Five Toronto winter dreams

1.   Roses and music

In this dream, I am living inside an abandoned Indian fort. There are aspects of it that look like the fort in Agra which we visited with that strange older woman who lived next door to Mr Jurd. The dilapidated fort overlooks a river (quite possibly the Yumna), and I inhabit one of the rooms upstairs. My room is really quite beautiful, even though it has no ceiling. The view over the river is expansive and very calm, I can see miles into the distance.

One day someone drops off a package at the front of the fort, and I find it some time later. There are no clues to where it came from as it is completely unmarked. I open the package in my room and inside there are hundreds of fragments of sheet music which looks like it has been ripped up. Interspersed with the fragments are hundreds of rose petals all of different colours.

Then I receive a whatsapp message from Emily along with 6 photos of roses all from different angles. She says that one of these pictures holds the key to the music. I click on the picture of six red roses next to a statue, and an unfamiliar piece of music starts playing. I know this is what the music sounds like if I can put it together. But how can I put it together? Then I wake up.

2.   Bananas and a fall

In this dream, I am in bed with P in my apartment in Toronto. Suddenly he says, I can hear something outside! I go out into the living room and all is quiet, no one is there. But when I look at the fruit bowl, there is a bunch of green bananas in there.

How did these bananas get here? I wonder. I don’t remember buying them at all.

I call my father and ask if he left me bananas in my apartment. The person who answers the phone is a nurse in an orthopaedic hospital.

今年哈尔滨大雪非常厉害，你爸爸摔了一跤，大腿骨骨折了。

(The snow has been very bad in Harbin this year. Your father had a fall and broke his hip.)

I am so shocked that I woke up.

3,  Swimming and crying

In this dream I am at a cabin in the forest with P. The season must be fall, the leaves are just departing the trees and everything feels like it is just winding down. The cabin is very rustic, made of rough slabs of wood and sparsely furnished. We are the only people staying in the forest.

We have a big fight over something, but I really cannot remember what. He tells me to leave him alone, so I pick up a book and leave the cabin. I walked down a path next to the cabin and after some time, came to a small lake. I cannot see any way to get around the lake, except for some stones which are just out of the water. I started jumping across the stones but halfway I realised that I was crying and I could not see clearly because of the tears.

I slip and fall into the lake, and still crying, try to swim across to the other side. Whilst swimming I have to keep one arm above the water holding the book, making the progress very slow and difficult. Whilst crying I keep inhaling water, and very soon my lungs are full of water. I cannot see, and I cannot breathe. Then I wake up.

4.  Cookies and loss?

In this dream, Emily and Ryan and I are in a car together, driving along a highway. It looks pretty non-descript, like any major Canadian highway. It’s snowing but the roads are heavily salted so there is no real danger and the atmosphere in the car is relaxed.

Suddenly Ryan shouts here is good!

We stop the car on the shoulder and jump out. We climb over the fairly tall snowbank and walk into the forest. Despite the heavy snow and the thick layer there is a visible path leading through the forest. The scene is magical, like a winter wonderland. The trees are coated with the finest powder, and our boots squeak pleasantly as we pass between the trees.

Suddenly we come to a handful of condo buildings. What are they doing here, in the middle of the forest? I wonder

We go inside the building and Ryan starts knocking on all the doors asking for unwanted cookies. We collect them into a big black garbage bag and tie up the opening. Back on the path we walk a little further, with Ryan lugging the now huge bag of cookies a la Santa style. I pause to take photos of the silvery pine needles, and with Ryan walking so slowly, the three of us soon become separated.

Further along the path, I come suddenly to a beautiful lake, completely frozen and surrounded by snowy mountains. It is one of the most wonderous things I have ever seen, everything white with just the glimmer of the orange setting sun beyond the mountain range. Ryan catches up and dumps the cookies on the ground. The next thing I know they put on ice skates and skate into the distance. I am left watching the sunset alone. Then I wake up.

5.  A riddle by a patient

In this dream, I have a very unwell patient but the diagnosis is not clear to me. Even though I think really, really hard about it, I really don’t know what is wrong with this man. But I am convinced that his life is at grave danger, so I take him home to my Canadian apartment with me.

I set up a bed for him in the corner, covered in blankets and cushions to try and make him comfortable. The sun is trickling weakly through the large window, and the season feels distinctly like winter.

I’ll be fine, doctor. He lies down and closes his eyes.

I go to my room and shut the partition doors. I close my eyes and rest, but my sleep is broken by the sound of people talking outside. I get up and go back out to the living room. A middle aged woman wearing a pilot uniform (complete with the cap!) is standing next to the patient, gesturing wildly and speaking in what sounds like Russian. Next to her is a younger man who is wearing a dark suit, looking very serious. The patient looks unperturbed as if he is still sleeping, but with a chill I think is he unconscious?

When I approach the woman she introduces herself as the patient’s wife, and the younger man as a friend of the patient. He says he was there when the patient started to get sick, and I ask him if there are any clues to his illness.

With a very serious expression on his face, he begins to explain

If you pick the flower bud of a tea plant, it causes the whole plant to die.

He pauses for effect, and I see in my mind’s eye this exact action.

So if you want to keep it alive,

you must decide if you want flowers or tea.

I know this is the answer to the patient’s illness, but I still can’t figure it out. Then I wake up.