ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz: NO CONTROL

I sleep, sleep the sleep of the child I am. The glass of warm milk my mother has left for me near my bed remains as it was, except it is no longer warm. The Oreo cookie has long ago reached my belly. It grumbles, almost cries for more.

There are no bad people in my dreams but just the same I feel frightened, kick off my blanket, and wake just enough to pull it tight around my shoulders. Mary Sue, my biggest, prettiest doll, waves to me, calls me into her garden. I shake my head, don’t want to go in her garden. The grass is too high. Loud grunts, groans, roars, snorts are coming out of there. An ugly face, red paint circles its eyes, red and white twisted striped horns aim at me. Over a long nose, white circles cover its forehead. Its crooked open mouth, sharp teeth top and bottom, seem to be smiling at me. Mary Sue comes out of the tall grass carrying the ugly head on a tall bamboo pole. She laughs at me. ‘Gotcha good. Gotcha good, didn’t I?’

I can tell I have kicked my blanket off again, reach out and pull it up where it belongs without losing Mary Sue. A tall giant of a man walks out of the tall grass right into my face. I think he is made out of gold but isn’t shiny. His chest is bare. He wears a grass skirt on top of strange looking ankle length wide bloomers. No shoes are on his feet. Both strong arms hold a tray over his head that has ½ of the sun and ½ of the moon glued on. Strange words I cannot understand come out of his tiny mouth as he fades away.

Mary Sue looks at me. My eyes follow where she points. There, on the edge of my dream, is a tall wooden pole. It has carved animals, people sitting on each others shoulders until they reach the sky. ‘Don’t fall, don’t fall,’ I cry out to them. A strong shake like I imagine an earthquake would cause rumbles. Everyone, everything that is on the pole falls, one at a time, to earth. How can I save them? I can’t.

Mother is shaking me.’Wake up, Honey. You must be having a bad dream. You woke up Daddy and me.’ I put my arms around my mommy. She holds me close. ‘Honey, it is too early to get up. Can I sleep with you?’ Not waiting for an answer, she straightens my mussed up covers and climbs in.

We sleep tight and I dream my mother has a beautiful red and black Indian blanket around her as she brings me a whole tray of Oreos.