Very Berry
In this dream Em and
I had just bought a farm, but at the start of the dream I am not
entirely sure what the farm is like. We get the keys and drive to the
farm, pulling up at the farmhouse in the late afternoon. The light is
gentle and it’s not too hot (unlike recent times!)
The farmhouse is
quite old – a greyish wooden house with a triangular roof, not
unlike those rustic barns one sees in lifestyle magazines. Inside it
is slightly musty but quite clean. We drop our bags on the counter
and run out into the field.
What will we
discover? I think as we run into
the field.
Strawberries.
We are surrounded by strawberries as far as the eye can see. Neat
rows of strawberry vines stretch marvelously in all directions. The
fruit they bear are an incredible hue of mature red, glistening in
the low sun and inviting us to eat them. We pick one after the other,
stuffing them into our mouths and relishing their sweetness. They
have such an intense concentrated flavour like those supermaret
strawberries could never have. Each berry bursts in the mouth filling
us with ecstasy. Red juices run down our chins and stain our shirts,
but we don’t care. In a moment we have eaten countless
strawberries.
What
a fantastic idea it is to buy a strawberry farm!
We return to the
farmhouse on a high and congratulate ourselves on our excellent
purchase. On the big wooden table is a stack of stationery, and we
see that the stationery is for the farm. The name of the farm is Very
Berry (what a great name for a farm! We marvel) but the spelling is
quite different with varying numbers of Ys
Veryyy Berryyyy
Veryyyyy
Berryyyyyyyy
Veryy Berryy
Any
number of conflicting Ys are on all the stationery and we ponder
which one is the real one. Then I wake up.
---------------------------------------
Between
Two Worlds
This
is a deep, dark and dense dream.
At
the beginning, I am in a carpark with P. We have driven there in a
car that neither of us own, and that I don’t recognise. We get out
of the car and the air is eerily still. For a carpark, there seem to
be no cars coming or going.
A
thought flashes across my mind that we are here to look for the
entrance to the other world. (Possibly I have been reading too
much Murakami again)
We
look for this entrance but neither of us have any idea what it looks
like. We walk up and down the ramps, but other than a few cars parked
here and there resting silently, there is no clue to the other world.
Suddenly we hear a big group of people coming down the ramp from the
level above us, and we crouch down behind a ute to observe them.
The
leader calls out Everyone! Join hands and call out your numbers!
There
are perhaps 30 people there, and they come from all corners of the
carpark towards us. We step out from behind the ute and try to blend
in as leisurely as we can manage. Paul is on my left and I join hands
with him, and with another man on my right. Each person in the circle
says out a random number, and we both make up numbers (I can’t
remember what I said)
Then,
as suddenly as they came, the group dispersed and it is just the two
of us again in the carpark. The silence is still eerie but the
density of the atmosphere has changed, and that is when I know we
have already crossed into the other world.
We
walk out of the carpark, keen to explore the world. There is a fence
just in front so we jump it – I am surprised by my own strength as
I would never be able to jump a fence in real life. I look back at
the 2m-ish fence, wondering how I got to the other side. I jump
several more fences and realise that we are in a highly suburban
area, most of the houses having neat lawns and trampolines or
playsets. Some of the fences have sharp edges but that doesn’t seem
to bother me either.
I
jump a dozen fences or so and realise that in the meantime I have
lost P. In the distance I can hear a throng of people again, though I
can’t see them or which direction they are coming from. I am filled
with this sense of dread that they are the same people who have
realised that we are invading their world.
I
jump another fence and see a huge house with a single huge
rectangular window at the rear of the house. It seems to be a huge
glass window which has been concertinaed so that Em is sitting on the
wooden ledge. The aperture the window leaves draws one to it. I get
closer to it and can see that it is an ordinary house inside – a
row of hooks with coats are by the front door.
She
is sitting with her legs drawn up on the ledge, and she says to me
with some sense of urgency: You must come back into this world,
quick! This window is the way!
The
wooden ledge is only chest height, and I would be able to reach it
easily in real life. But no matter how hard I try and how much she
tries to help me, I cannot get my feet off the ground more than a few
seconds at a time. I try to run up to it, jump up to it, sidle up on
my rear… no matter what I try, I cannot get onto the windowsill,
the connection to the real world.
The
voices come closer, and for a moment I wonder, which is the real
world?
Then
I wake up.
