When You Die in Your Dreams (excerpt 17)

(excerpt 17. If you missed the previous installment, scroll down the blog to catch up)

I found myself in a small boat - you might call it a dinghy - out in the middle of the ocean. Nothing but water as far as the eye could see in every direction. I wondered how I got there and what I was doing all alone miles from land. Wait a minute, I thought, this is a dream; I am in a dream. I can do whatever I want to do. I stepped out of the dinghy and onto the water. Is this how Peter felt when he walked on the water to Jesus? I wondered. I strutted across the waves, smiling and whistling as I went. A dolphin swam up to me, playfully cocked his head back and forth, and squeaked at me in dolphin-speak.

“Why are you squeaking?” I thought. “This is a dream that I am in control of.”

From that point on he spoke to me with the voice of Frank Sinatra. I'd always wanted to ride one of those marine mammals like they do in shows at aquatic theme parks, so I commanded him to be still while I climbed onto his back. I then proceeded, through telepathy, to instruct my watery friend to dive deep into the ocean. I saw giant octopuses and shipwrecks and Leviathan, that great monster of the deep. I saw nuclear submarines poised for battle. I saw sultry mermaids with golden hair that flowed in the underwater current, barely covering their ample bosoms. They flapped their tails at me as I rode past. I saw underwater cities – giant half-domes made of glass, glowing with golden light, populated by people of all ages and races. Their faces bore peaceful smiles and bright eyes.

I told my nautical friend to leap out of the water and high into the air. We soared hundreds of feet above the surface of the deep, slicing through the clouds. When I jumped off my steed and onto a particularly portentous cumulonimbus, my feet sank in the spongy white surface. A rainbow, anchored in a field of wheat, rose into the sky and disappeared into the puffy white mashed potato mountain I stood on. I dove onto the polychromatic slide and glided into the soft, flaxen bed below. I'd never felt anything so soft and luxurious and lovely. I wanted to stay forever in the warm bosom of my bride.

The blaring autopilot alarm startled me out of my sleep, alerting me to the fact that we were coming out of hyperspace as we neared Earth. I landed at a remote Kansas town familiar to outlaws and bid good-bye to my hired guns.

I set the autopilot for Home and kicked back to enjoy the scenery. Vast fields of wheat gave way to rolling green hills dotted with trees. Eventually, the rolling hills evolved into craggy mountains which were capped with vast snowfields. As the autopilot beeped to indicate I was on final approach to the hideout, the cruiser approached a rustic, dilapidated mining shack nestled deep in a hidden valley and set down in front of a pair of large, broken-down doors.

The building seemed to be abandoned and looked like it should have been condemned, but that was the point. Cobwebs and rusted, broken metal pipes hung down over the door opening. Once he was sure it was me, Theron walked out of the building with my parents and Janelle. They ducked under the pipes and brushed aside the cobwebs as they exited the dilapidated structure. Janelle ran up and threw her arms around me. She squeezed me so hard I thought I would break.