Here's What I See

           Two men are occupying a rather sterile looking room with white-painted walls and similarly-coloured chairs and what looks like a very powerful, piercing light on an articulated metal stand. One man is standing, wearing a light blue shirt, pants and socks. He has a look of intense curiosity on his face.  At his feet is a webbed mask.  The other man is sitting.  He is dressed very differently, wearing an expensive suit and a costly silk tie to match. There was no intensity at all in his face. He looked tired, like he had only just awakened just a short time ago, and regretted the passing of sleep. The face of the lamp is pointed at his head, turned off now for a short time. Breaking the silence that had lingered in the room for about five minutes, the man standing in light blue then begins to speak.

“Here is what I saw when I looked for and found you. You were standing almost completely hidden behind a collection of large, black wheelie bins in a dark and dismal alleyway. I couldn’t see at first what you were holding rather tightly in your right hand. But then you raised your hand up until it was level with your head, and I could see that it looked like it was a very round rock that you were holding. There was something else you held in your left hand, but I could not see it at that time. It’s surprising nature would be a later discovery.”

           In response, the man still sitting just nods his head in agreement, but saying nothing. Then the man standing continues to comment on what he had recently seen.

“I looked as far to the left that I could, and saw a rather angry-looking woman with tightly curled reddish hair approaching, her hands clenched into two fists, her legs moving faster than I would have thought that they were capable of. She was headed straight for you. I would say that she was doing so with definite dark intent.

      Then you drew back your hand, obviously with your own dark intent in mind, looking like you were readying yourself to toss the rock at her. Then I saw the strangest thing. What I thought was a rock suddenly appeared to me to be actually a sponge ball. You threw it, and she knocked it down with a quick motion of an open hand, accompanied by a sinister laugh, which continued and lingered in the air. I can still hear it now in my mind, it made such a powerful impression. It would be a dream haunter.”

      The man in the chair finally speaks, saying “Definitely. It always has been such” The man standing up then continues to tell the story of what he saw and heard.

      “She then stopped laughing, picked up the sponge ball and slowly, approached you. When she came within arm’s length she thrust the ball so as to strike you in the middle of your stomach. I swear that at that very moment the ball looked more like a rock than it did a sponge ball.. You bent over forwards as if you had been struck with great force by something very hard and nasty. Her laughter then returned, and it was just as haunting as it was the first time.

      Then I could see what you were holding in your left hand. It was heart shaped, at least at the top, which was all that I could see. But just as I saw it, so did she. Her right hand shot out and grabbed it from your left hand. A big smile came over her face. I could see now that it was an object shaped not merely like the popular Valentine image of a heart, but more like an actual human heart. After grabbing it fiercely, she strode boldly to one of the wheelie bins, lifted up the lid, stuffed your ‘heart’ inside, then slammed the lid back down with more force than was necessary. I can only imagine how it made you feel.”.

      There was another nodding and a saddened face that hung down like leaves in mid-October. But he did not speak

      “I must have stopped looking for a while, as I did not see her leave the area. Maybe there is a way out of the laneway that contained the wheelie bins, and she left through that route. But I did see another person approach, slowly, carefully, like she was somewhat afraid to get too near to you. She stopped for a while, and waited until you looked her way. When she did, you smiled, as did she.

     Your smile must have encouraged her, as she renewed her walk towards you. She reached out with both hands, as so did you, and you held each other’s hands facing each other.”

      There is a brief pause.

      “So, is this what you dreamt when I had drugged you unconscious, had the blue light pointed at your head, and I wore the receptor mask? I don’t think that I made it up with my own very active imagination. What do you say?”

      “Yes, you’re right. That is what I dreamt in druggie stupor.  And just in case you are wondering. The first woman that appeared, the nasty one, was my first wife. It wasn’t hard for me to imagine that she would have done what I saw in my dream. Of course, the second woman was my second and current wife. Again, that is just what she would have done in real life.

      So in answer to the question that you haven’t asked, I will financially back your invention of the dream scan. I can see that it could have some practical functions, in the courts and in hospitals, but I suspect it would be a tremendous invasion of privacy if private citizens were allowed its use.

      Now did you say that the mask is also a recording device? I cannot remember. If so, I would love to have my wife to see what I dreamt. I promise you, and will put it in writing, that no one else would see it, not even my first wife, as much as I would like her to see my view of what she was like.”

      “Yes there is a dream recorder function to the mask. Now the part of the sequence I did not tell you about was of you showing your first wife the recording. I think that a legal written statement will be necessary.”