All in a Dream

All in a Dream

Dreams that Came True

Harry wouldn’t describe himself as a superstitious person, or as being particularly quirky in nature. But there was this one thing. He believed that his dreams gave him hints and predictions about his future. Once, a dream told him when he was looking for a job, that he should buy the local paper that morning. Sure enough, when he did so he found under “jobs” the one he would apply for and ultimately get. His now deceased mother had been worried for a long time about his job prospects. This would have made her happy.

 In another dream, his mother appeared and said to him “Be sure to wear your raincoat and rubber boots dear” as she did when he was a young boy. The weather looked fine to him when he woke up and looked out the window, but he still took his mother’s advice. Sure enough, later on, when he was outside working there was a sudden downpour that he and his co-workers couldn’t have predicted. He was the only one dressed for the occasion, thanks to his dream and his mom. He felt that somehow that his mom was still taking care of him.

A Strange Dream and a Stranger Solution

Now these dream predictions seemed sensible to Harry, quite unlike the dream he had just awoken from on this Saturday morning. In large letters in the sky in his dream, were written the words on the sky, “Do not let the sun set on you on this day.” What could that mean? He didn’t believe that it was a reference to Elton John’s “Don’t let the sun go down on me.” He took it more literally than that.

But how could that be done? The sun set every evening. He could not avoid that, not even by hiding in the basement of his house, and covering all the windows. Then he had a thought. Harry worked at the airport loading and unloading the big metal birds. He knew most of the people who were employed there, including the pilots who regularly took off and landed at that airport. One in particular, George, he considered a good friend. He had helped George on many an occasion, even including acting a few times as a flight attendant on a few of his flights. This happened particularly on weekends when Harry was not scheduled to work, and one of the flight attendants couldn’t or wouldn’t show up. There was even an old uniform in the employees’ closet that he had been allowed to use.

George regularly flew far west on Saturdays. Harry knew that if the timing were right, the flight taking off early enough and going far enough so that he could stay far ahead of the sun, he would not have so see it set on Saturday, just very, very early on Sunday morning.

So Harry drove to the airport, and parked in the employee lot. Harry walked into the pilots’ room, and saw George sitting down with a coffee. He suggested to his good friend that he was available to help on the flight, and, after a few tense seconds for Harry, George smiled and agreed. He worked for a relatively small airline, and was a part-owner. So he had a lot of freedom in what he could do. As Harry well knew, the flight that George was piloting was going to Vancouver on the West Coast

It was early summer, and the flight took off late in the afternoon, so this seemed like a good plan. And he would not have to explain about the dream. 

Harry sold him on a story about wanting to surprise a young woman he had just met, who was visiting a friend in Vancouver. There was no such woman. His story on the return flight would be that the friend was the man she was engaged to, her fiancé. Which ‘the hussy’ didn’t mention in the time they spent together in the pub.

After serving the passengers he sat down beside Sue, who was the other flight attendant on duty, whom he knew from previous flights. She opened their conversation by saying, “I hear that you are going to meet some woman whom you met in a bar. Good luck with that.” When he looked at her face, he didn’t believe that she really meant the ‘good luck’ bit.

Success

The plan worked. The sun lit the sky throughout the flight. There were four hours between flights, so Harry took a taxi to a breakfast restaurant he knew from previous flights, had a wonderfully non-airplane meal and a couple of strong coffees to keep him awake. Then he took another taxi to the airport, told George the story, which he readily believed. Harry’s fake sad face provided the visual evidence to support the words.

After serving the passengers, he sat down beside Sue again. She looked into his eyes, put her right hand on his and said, “I hear that the woman you went to see had a fiancé. That must have been a shock.” Harry told her his made-up story almost like it had happened to someone else. Her hand stayed on his for quite some time. They talked about what life was like in their shared hometown for people in their late twenties who are still single. There was light laughter from the two of them when they told of their own experiences.

           When the plane landed and the work was done, Harry and Sue walked out of the airport building together. He asked her whether she drove there. She told him that she had taken a taxi. He offered to give her a lift. She readily said, “yes, of course’, and then told him where she lived.  Along the way, Harry asked her whether she had ever been to the classy restaurant that they had just passed along. She said she hadn’t, but had heard that it was nice.

           When they got to her place, she invited him in for ‘some fresh coffee for a change’. He accepted. It wasn’t long before he asked her out to dinner in the restaurant that they had talked about briefly. She said ‘yes’ and put her hand on his again. His mother would be very happy. He would be thanking her for the inspiration.