Ghostly Reading

Dreams 19-08-06

I'm sitting on a fence in the middle of a huge muddy field, reading a book on the history of the area. As I read, the events in the book come to life around me and I see the early settlers build the town. As I advance through the chapters the progress speeds up and people's whole lives flash past me and the town rising and falling. I watch the rodeos and training of horses. It's wonderful and beautiful and I just sit there as it all swirls past and is whatever I read. Then they all grow transparent and disappear and I close the book.

I'm very tired, so I climb down off the fence and trudge back through the deeply churned mud to the wooden house at the edge of the field. I take my boots off and leave them on the veranda before going inside. It’s decorated like an American ranch from a film. I go and make a cup of tea in the kitchen. As I walk past I notice that there's an impressive pile of post waiting for me. It's stacked up since I've been reading and experiencing the past. I just note who they're from, I don't open any of it yet, but most is from my sister in blue envelopes. There's a lacy packet which intrigues me so I take it back into the kitchen with me.

The front door opens and there's a "hello" from the lady who runs the house I'm staying in. I'm not sure whether she's a relative or not. She joins me in the kitchen and I give her a hug and tell her I've finished the book, so my holiday’s pretty much over. I open the parcel and it’s a wedding invitation made up as a gothic black and crimson t-shirt. I sigh. It’s going to be a real hassle returning to the real world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I go to see the rest of my family in Sweden. The rest of the family and Marilyn have been there for some time waiting for me. First up is a meal with the family out in the deeps of the forest near where the family’s cabin is.

The trees are tall and spindly and look they’ve been dead forever, no leaves
and leaning over the circle where the table has been set (should be really threatening but isn’t). Everything has a dark sepia tint to it. Big bowls of salad and other foodstuffs are laid out on the table and served with wooden tongs. I’m feeling very subdued and don’t really want to take part. Dad keeps asking me how often I’ve come home to do my laundry during the last term. I have to remind him that I haven’t worked at the school for a while now. He seems angry that I went to the ranch after work finished instead of coming here to meet the family.

I can’t drag myself out of the gloom, although everyone else is having a good time. Over the next couple of days I go on walks and talk to the others in the woods.

Near the family home is a cabin under construction and I hang around there playing with Spats (our cat). She worries me though, as the cabin is full of holes and surrounded by a deep chasm. Spats blithely leaps through the holes and plays in the cabin. This leaves me panicking until she returns. She jumps through solid walls, so I go in after her. The cabin is dark inside and only has half of its floors and walls.

Marilyn comes in to find me but she doesn’t notice Spats, even when she jumps into my lap and I scoop her up. It’s only when I go to jump over the gap that separates the floor from the door that I begin to suspect that Spats and I are just ghosts, tolerated and welcomed by the family.