I had a dream…of blankets

Posted on | May 24, 2006 | 4 Comments

My dreams have been vivid . Today I dreamt that I had a professional tuck me in every time I rumpled the blankets. Nice theory, and an interesting concept since D constantly steals the covers.

But yesterday morning, between my fits of wakefullness I went back to Germany. I revisted my house in Egenburg. To my dismay I found that the city to the north had swallowed my little town, surrounding my house with a plaza and they tore down all of the holly bushes, put a fence around the Grandfather tree (the oldest tree in Bavaria – which was in my yard) and then tore down the great oak where I used to watch the owls. The fields had been overgrown with garish buildings. I walked into our old house, the rooms naked, with velvet ropes, spanning the doorways of all the rooms. It felt like a museum. I walked over the ropes to show Rhonda (my stepsister who had the near-fatal car accident on Thanksgiving and who is still in the hospital) where the great oak used to stand. I told her about the owls and the strange birds of winter that used to ride the moonlight when I couldn’t sleep. I showed her the fireplace, and the hidden grate beneath the iron door where I used to sweep the ashes through. I wanted to show her the ash bin in the basement where all the ashes fell, but the door was locked. It never locked when I lived there. I showed her the attic, still full of sheets and dust and treasures unexplored. Then we went back outside and I scaled the fence surrounding the Grandfather tree and watched the people mill about below me. They smiled at the tree because they knew I was there, but none of them said anything. I woke to the sensation of leaves brushing the apples of my cheeks. I know that’s all disjointed…but that’s how dreams run.

I can still smell that old house in Egenburg. Still feel the sting of nettles on my hands, the scent of the lavender that bloomed up the hill near our landlord’s house, the taste of winter’s first snowflake, and the sound of being completly secluded from the world outside.

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