The Woman of His Dreams

The Woman of His Dreams 

    Alex Ferber woke at his usual time, conducted his usual morning ritual, ate his usual breakfast, and then dressed in his usual non-descript uniform: white shirt, green slacks, brown shoes.

    Alex walked to work along the same route he had taken for ten years; the scenery was always the same, the weather was always nice. Even when it rained it was gentle, just light enough to water the flowers and clear the dust. Mostly the sun shined, but it was not so bright as to burn the grass nor the people enjoying the day. Life was relatively perfect in Dream World.

    Alex felt restless, however, and he didn’t understand why he felt this way and thought there might be an imbalance in his diet. But that couldn’t be true, he also thought, because Dream World constantly adjusted to the needs of its occupants.

    Dream World was at the edge of the Universe; it was one of the many worlds that, taken together, balanced and controlled the Book of Life. Alex had a part in this balancing act since he was one of the Developers who worked on Level Two of the building where dreams and visions were stored.

    As a Developer, Alex would quickly scan through the files of the people assigned to him, pluck out snippets of their memories, and create dreams for them. Alex and the other Developers were not to worry about the content of the dreams; that was the job of the Analysts on Level Three.  However, if the Developers got too carried away the dreams could get messy, and the Analysts would notify the Coordinator who would then work with an errant Developer to get the dreams back to nice and neat.

    It is well-known throughout Creation that dreams are essential for a healthy mind, and occasionally, dreams are used to predict the future. But the Universe was incredibly careful with prediction dreams since most humans didn’t have the emotional stability to handle the results; besides that, some futures were best kept secret. Because prediction making was such serious business, it was confined to the few who operated on Level Four (workers at the various levels never, ever mixed with each other).

    Alex knew all of this. He knew he was thinking about crossing department lines, and on this particular day his restlessness pushed him hard enough to do just that.

    Alex sat down at his console. The two video screens at his workspace were just some of the thousands of screens in the room. A blue-gray light flowed from the screens and filled the room with a uniform glow, somewhat bright, but not painfully so.

    Alex opened the dreaming files for Jay Evers and Janice Fielding placing Jay’s record on the left screen and Janice’s on the right. He had been watching these two for a while, and tonight Alex was going to cut and paste some of their visions and blend them together.

    Alex knew that Jay and Janice were looking for companionship. Independently, they prayed for it, talked about it with their friends, and longed for it so loud that Alex could hear it clear across the Universe. So today, Alex was going to help them find each other.

    Alex had developed a dream program in which Jay walked on a beach and dozens of frigate birds swirled on the wind above him. Jay watched as the frigates dipped their wings ever so gently into the breeze and circled around in large, lazy spirals. It soon became clear that pairs of birds, males with their red throats and the less colorful females, circled in unison in courting dances.

    The swirl of birds drifted as one mass further down the beach. Jay continued watching, and his eyes were soon drawn towards the horizon where he saw a woman walking alone; Jay walked towards her.

    Janice was having the reverse dream: it was she who watched the frigates; it was she who walked towards the solitary man. In both dreams, however, before Janice or Jay could say anything, they would wake up.

    Alex felt it best not to spend too much time during his shift with this couple as the Analysts would be watching. He pulled out other vision files for other sleepers and set their dreams in motion. He would come back to Jay and Janice later.

    For the next few nights, Alex was in a better mood, his restlessness channeled. He looked forward to work and to seeing the couple again. He opened their files just to maintain a sense of protocol, but he knew he wouldn’t use any of their own visions tonight.

    He started the program again that held the new dreams; the frigate birds still circled in pairs. First, he let Janice and Jay reach each other but not talk.  Then, on following nights, he allowed more verbal contact. Later in the week, he allowed them to touch, hold each other, and then kiss. In later dreams, Janice and Jay became lovers. And, in their waking hours, Janice Fielding and Jay Evers started walking the beaches for real looking for the birds.

    For about ten days, Alex felt quite pleased with himself. Then he got the call.

    “Alex Ferber, please report to the Director’s office,” the overhead speaker said. Alex was instantly tense. He knew he was in real trouble; he didn’t want to lose the only job he had ever known, especially now that it had purpose.

    On his way to the elevator that would take Alex to the Fifth Level, he rehearsed answers to questions he might be asked. When Alex stepped into the elevator, he realized that “2” was the highest button he had ever pushed. This whole thing really unsettled him.

    At the Fifth Level, Alex approached the receptionist, identified himself, and expected to be told to have a seat; he was still practicing his speech. Instead, the receptionist said, “Go right in Mr. Ferber, the Director is expecting you.”

    The Director wasn’t alone; Alex’s boss, Mr. Ingram, met him at the door. “Have a seat,” Mr. Ingram said as he escorted Alex to a chair in front of the Director’s desk.

    Ingram sat in the chair next to Alex and started the conversation: “Alex, do you know why we’ve asked you here?” Alex’s mind went blank, his rehearsal wasted.

    “No Mr. Ingram,” Alex replied meekly, “I don’t.”

    “Alex, we know you’ve been adjusting dreams, and we know you’ve been sharing these dreams between people. We know about Jay and Janice.”

    “Let me explain, Mr. Ingram. I only wanted to help; they seemed so lonely before, now they seem quite happy.”

    “That may be true Alex, but we have rules and procedures in place for a reason. You know that workers on Level Two are only allowed to create dreams, not manipulate them. It takes eons of experience to reach Third Level status, and you jumped straight to Level Four.”

    The Director sat quietly, watching intently, while Ingram continued to talk to Alex.

    “Alex, workers at your level are not supposed to care about individual dreamers, you’re supposed to follow the protocols. Can you imagine the chaos the Universe could cause with that much control in the hands of a novice? You have no way of predicting the long-term effects on Janice and Jay.

    “Alex, this violation of trust is so serious I really have no choice but to suspend you from your duties. It may take me a few days to decide what to do with you; in the meantime, go home and think about the damage you may have caused.”

    “But Mr. Ingram…” Alex started to plead. “This job is the only thing I know, please don’t take it away from me; this is my life, my soul!”

    Ingram leaned towards Alex; Alex pushed back in his chair. “Alex, I’m not firing you. But I can’t have the others see you break the rules and get away with it. Regardless of how positive the outcome may seem today you don’t have the authority to alter the plans the Universe has for these two people. So, take a week off, and I’ll get back to you in a few days. At the very least, I’ll probably reassign you to another division where I can keep an eye on you.”

    Mr. Ingram stood and offered his hand to Alex. “You need to look at this as a learning experience, not punishment.”

    Alex also stood up, shook Ingram’s hand and said, “Thank you, Sir, I will.” He nodded towards the desk and said, “Director!” and then turned and walked out the door.

    When the door was closed, Ingram sat back down to discuss things with the Director. “What do you think?” Ingram asked.

    “Do we need to undo Janice and Jay?” the Director asked.

    “No,” Ingram replied. “I ran the data through the Analysts, and they agreed that the couple probably would have met in about six months anyway. The circumstances were to be a little different, but the result was going to be the same. The people on Level Four confirmed it.”

    The Director thought out loud: “So, Alex based his actions entirely on intuition. Maybe the Universe is trying to tell us something.” The Director got up and looked wistfully out of his window; the weather was indeed beautiful. He turned back to Ingram.

    “Promote him to Level Three. It’s obvious he has the gift. He needs to be guided, but you’ve been doing this for centuries and you know what to do. And” the Director added almost as an afterthought, “he needs to get a life outside of work. See what you can do.”

    “I’ll do this one myself,” Ingram said. “He is a bright young man, isn’t he?”

    The Director concluded: “Much like you were when you came here, and I was the Coordinator for Level Three. The Universe does take care of its own.”

    The Director sat back down at his desk and asked, “Anything else, Ingram?”

    “No, Sir. Thank you for your time and support.”

    Ingram headed to the door, hesitated, and turned back towards the Director. “Oh, maybe there is one more thing: thank you for not firing me all those years ago.” Both Ingram and the Director smiled as Ingram left the office.

   That night, despite his uncertainty, Alex Ferber slept deeply, and he dreamed of a woman named Amber. Two days later, during one afternoon in his week off, Alex bumped into Amber on a sidewalk in the park. And, after they had talked awhile, Amber confessed she had also recently dreamed of him.