(Untitled for now..I am still thinking about it.)

I started this one by thinking about abandoned pets...this is where that took me. More abstract than my normal stuff, its no great new way of thinking of life but..it has something I like!

I wrote it in the voice of a average guy...the language is a little colloquial, but not too much. The voice of the dream is a little more precise. So the couple of what seem to be grammar mistakes are actually intended. Read it in your favourite actor's accent!

I was walking along the road. I was happy; alone, but happy. Not expecting anything to change. But things do.

I found an abandoned dream by the road.  It shivered in its sadness. Helpless and lost, it lay there so I scooped it up in my arms and kept on walking.

‘So’, I said to the dream, ‘What happened to you?’ It turned to look at me.

‘Well, my owner just plain gave up on me,’ it told me. I wondered about asking it what it was.  But the dream had gone to sleep.

I walked some more.  As I walked, I did some thinking. I saw few other people, and those I did see? Well, none of them had dreams in their arms. I wondered if their dreams were still in them. Or if they had abandoned theirs too.

I stopped. The dream woke up.

‘Hey, dream,’ I said. It squirmed round again. ‘ What would have happened if I hadn’t found you?’ The dream just shuddered.

‘Keep walking,’ it told me, so I did. It slept some more.

Some time went by as we walked … maybe more than I even knew. I looked out for abandoned dreams all the time, but didn’t see none. I watched the road ahead, and waited for dream to wake up again. Sometimes it felt cold and I wondered if it had died.  Each time it warmed up, I wondered, should I ask it what it is?

Then ahead of us, the road changed.  Something familiar but at the same time, I was sure I had ain’t never seen before. The road split into two. One way was clear and bright, lakes and trees and blue skies and beaches, houses and happy people.  The other way was misty and dull.

‘Hey, hey dream!’ I shouted and shook the dream awake. It looked at me, maybe a little cross.

‘Here we are,’ it said.

‘Here where?’

‘See that building? That’s where old dreams go. See, people usually dream the same kind of dreams.  And too many times we get abandoned. So when we are not needed any more, we go there. We are given to new people. Look at this landscape. These are dreams come true. The most simple dreams usually do. But the others, well, they’re recycled. Dreams are ecologically sound, you know.’ He sounded kind of proud, which was odd for a dream

I paused….’So why ain’t you there?’ I asked.

The dream turned away. ‘Oh, I can’t go anywhere else. I am a special dream. I only fit one man. Look behind you’

I turned. The long straight road I had walked down was full of twists and turns. There were hills I must have climbed, ravines I must have bridged.  I could see where the road forked and broke and doubled back many times. I looked back at the fork ahead. Maybe this made sense.

‘Come on,’ Dream said. ‘It’s the usual story so you know this part. Which way do you want to go? ‘

Of course, I went down the misty road.

We walked and talked a little. The mist came and went and then stayed away. But it didn’t get any brighter.  Dream said he could be turned into a new dream, if he wanted. But then, he wouldn’t be him anymore.  Dream slept a lot. He laughed when I asked him if he could be a night dream. No, he said. They come and go. Dreams like me, we are made to stay inside people.’

Except you I thought.

I wondered about asking it what it was. But I didn’t.

So instead, we walked some more.

I noticed a pathway running by the road, something I hadn’t seen before. There was the road, a wide patch of dirt, the pathway.  It wasn’t a nice straight, whole one though. No, it was in parts, some longer, some shorter. Sometimes a crumbled bridge tried to climb over the dirt. But they never made it. They were falling down as we passed.

I looked up from checking on Dream, who was lightly snoring.

There was a house.

And a bridge which hadn’t fallen down.

‘Hey! Hey, Dream!’ I whispered, gently stroking it to wake it.

‘Oh, here we are’ it said. ‘Well, go on then, cross the bridge.’

I crossed over and when I reached the other side, a man was stood waiting for me.

He said. ‘I see you found my dream.’  He smiled but there was no smile there. All the light had been sucked away from him. In his wrinkles the shadows were black.

‘I have your dream,’ I said. ‘Here take it; I think I looked after it ok.’ I offered Dream up to him, but he turned away.

Dream ran up to my shoulder and whispered in my ear.

‘Erm..your..dream says can you at least come say a proper good bye.’

The old man turned back, took a step forward.

‘Did you see that pathway? Well, she took a different road a while back, so I don’t need this dream no more’ he said. I looked at Dream, confused. Dream just shushed me and went back into my arms. The old man reached out and lightly touched Dream. Briefly, the light came back to his face. He had moist, smiling eyes which were terribly sad.

‘I tried to build a bridge to her. She came back from the path a few times, but in the end, she had to go. So I stayed here, where she finally took the path the last time.’

He laid his hand across Dream, sighed and closed his eyes.

I started to hear music. I could smell the sea. I looked down and gasped. A promenade at night time, lit by torches and moonlight. Caribbean beach, happy people and talking and laughter.  People dancing, hugging babies, children chasing their tails. It was so beautiful. I couldn’t see the old man.

‘No, no, not there,’ he said, ‘Here.’ He pointed.

 In the far corner, off the promenade, barely lit by the flaming torches, two people were dancing in the sand. They were not very good, but they had such happy faces.

‘We were going to go back, you see. From 45 years ago. But she had to take the other path, so I don’t need this dream no more.’

He turned away again.

‘Who are these two?’ I asked. Like slow shadows, the old couple, a few steps behind in the dance, were following a young pair, vibrant and oh so happy. ‘There’s more people here, ‘

He started to walk away.  ‘That’s crazy! What ... oh, come on! It’s my dream, who else can be in there? That ain’t right.’ he started up the steps of his house.

‘A woman with a long pale blue dress. And a man with a hole in top hat. He’s putting it on her head’ I explained.

The man stopped, one foot poised in the air. ‘Well that’s right’, he said softly. ‘Can you bring my dream over?’

Dream snuggled into my arms. I wasn’t sure if he was scared or content, so I asked him. ‘Take me over, ‘he said, ‘Come on, it’s almost done’

I took Dream to the old man who had sat on an old rocking bench hung on old chains. I sat by him. His eyes turned to Dream and he laid his hand on it.

‘Well I’ll be! That’s Grace and me, 45 years ago! Where’d that come from?’

Dream squirmed to look at the old man.

‘Well, where’d do you think the dream came from?’ he asked. ‘Grace is in there, you are in there and all the years between then and now are in there. Sometimes we just got to hold onto the dreams, no matter how impossible. Because there is more in them than we can know.’

 The dream shrunk to a dot. I held my hand out and it rolled to my palm. The old man picked it up, put it in his left breast pocket and smiled.  He went inside but stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder.

 ‘Day’s looking like a good one, the sun is out. Now, you’d better get back to walking. You still have a lot of walking to do, you so young an’ all.’

So I did.