Bottom's Dream

Alex Carter was feeling at the lowest point of his life as he left the restaurant. What he had planned to be one of the greatest points of his life quickly turned into one of the worst. He had planned to propose to his girlfriend of three years, but instead she not only turned him down, but had broken off the relationship saying that she had found someone else. As he walked through the dark streets, he was completely closed off to the sights and sounds of the city around him. All he could feel was the emotional pain in his heart. As we strolled along, he found himself along the riverbank. He came upon a bridge that crossed the river. This was the spot where they first met. As he stared out upon the water, he thought back to that first day thinking back then that this was the one person who could complete him and spend the rest of his life with. Looking out upon the darkness of the water, he could help but notice these four fireflies floating around his head. He initially thought it strange because the city isn’t known for having insects of this type, but because of the events that had just happened, he chose not to focus his attention on them and on to what his next steps would be. He thought about all the time they had spent together and how much she had come to mean to him. Walking across the bridge, the pain of this sudden emptiness and loneliness started to build up inside of him. The fireflies started to swarm around him, trying to gain more attention from him, but all Alex could do was to swat them away hoping the would just go away and leave him alone. As he approached the center of the bridge span and looking down into the darkness of the water, the pain inside had grown to an unbearable point. Without much more thought to it, he climbed over the railing and leaped into the water and plunged into the depths below. The fireflies followed him down to the water’ surface and continued through the water.

When Alex awoke, he found himself on the floor of a stage in a theater. The lighting was dim, there was enough that he could see out into the empty seats. It wasn’t a large venue, something more for a local community company to perform in. He stood up and saw that his clothing had changed. He was now wearing some kind of costume. It resembled something out of the age of Victorian England. There was then a commotion coming from backstage. Four young women walked out on the stage. They were wearing these bright pastel-colored costumes with wings and antennas and face make up that matched the color of the dresses.

“There you are.” said the one dressed in yellow. “I see you are already in your costume.”

“Who are you and where am I? How did I get here? The last thing I remember was…” and with that Alex went silent. The last thing he did remember was jumping off the bridge. 

“I am the character mustard-seed. We are getting ready to rehearse our scene in the play together.”

“What scene? What play?” asked Alex.

“A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare” replied the girl in blue. “I’m playing Moth. You are Bottom. She’s playing Cobweb and She is Peaseblossom” pointing to the other two girls wear silver and green respectively. “As for how you got here, well we all have our own means of transport. Cobweb, can you go backstage and get his hat with the donkey ears? We need it for this scene.”

“Sure thing” replied the girl in silver. When she left the stage, Alex noticed that she seemed to float away with the wings of the costume moving, but there were no wires that were lifting her up leaving him with a sense of awe and wonder making him more curious as to what had really happened.

Alex then heard a voice from back stage. “OK everyone! I want everyone on stage to run through the next scenes. We are rehearsing the scenes between Bottom and Tatania.”

“Who are you?” asked Alex, still in his state of amazement.

“I’m the director, Robin Goodfellow. You must be Alex, the agency said they were able to send me someone. Sorry for the last-minute notice, but there are some events that aren’t really planned out, right. You know about those kinds of things, don’t you?” Robin said to him with a wink as he turned away from him.

Cobweb returned to stage. “Here is Bottom’s hat with the ears.”

“Thanks.” Answered Robin. “Now where is my star, Titania? Has our resident diva arrived for her scene?”

“I’m here, you can relax now. It wasn’t my fault Bottom needed to be recast.” With that this woman walked on to the stage. She has a face with beauty that could not be compared to another. It radiated a glow that reflected off her porcelain skin. Here eyes were of the deepest shade of blue that only the depths of the ocean could be compared to. Here hair was of the blackest ebony color that was darker that the night itself. Her gown appeared to be made out of flowers and leaves and vines. It was as if an entire garden had come alive and wrapped itself around her. She was of the highest beauty that even the Birth of Venus couldn’t compare to.

She walked over to Alex. Alex just stood there and staring in astonishment at the presence of her beauty. “Are you ready for our scenes together? I suppose you will do for our love scene together.”

Alex, staring at her, managed to stammer out a response. “I’m not sure if I know all my lines for the play.”

“Not to worry.” Replied Tatania. “I’m sure you’ll be able to improve something if you get stuck. Just keep on going and don’t freeze up.” With that, Tatania lifted a figure and touched his forehead. Alex had his eyes closed, so he didn’t notice the glowing of her fingertip. With that touch, a swirl of knowledge entered Alex’s mind. He could see all the scenes, all the characters, all the words that the great bard had written and a surge of emotion swept through him that drove him to perform in the play.

Robin took a place out in the theater seats. “OK everybody, places for the first scene, and ACTION!” As the scene began, Alex knew exactly where to stand, how to move, and what lines to say. He had never read the play or even scene it performed, but somehow, he knew precisely what he needed to do. Earlier, Tatania said that there was a love scene that initially had added to his state of shock. But ever since Tatania had touched his forehead, everything just seemed to come together, and with the love scene, he had accomplished it with as much compassion and emotion that a true performer on stage could muster, just short of the real action and feeling.

As the rehearsal went on, Alex was overcome with a new sense of life. The grief that he had before about his loss from his girlfriend had been replaced with this new feeing of desire. Not just for love but for life itself. He felt that he was ready for a new beginning. He sees that he was a fool for the actions he took on the bridge and was ready to begin anew. But could he start new. He still wasn’t sure where he truly was or how he had arrived here. Was he alive, was he dead, or was he somewhere in between. At the conclusion of the scene, there is one final kiss between Titania and Bottom. With this kiss, Alex began to fall into a deep, almost hypnotic, sleep, unassured where the lines between being awake and being in a dream separate as he continued to drift off.

When he awoke, Alex found himself laying in a grassy knoll in a park. His watch told him it was the following morning. He could see the bridge and river from the night before. He had the memory of the leap he had made, and the memory of the play that he had performed. The was a city worker passing by with a broom, sweeping up the dirt and leaves from the path. Alex asked him, “Excuse me, do you know if anything weird had happed here last night”.

The worker turned to him. His face resembled that of the director, Robin Goodfellow, and he said, “If you were offended, just think of it this way and everything will be all right. You were asleep when you saw these visions, and this silly and pathetic story was no more real than a dream.”