The Third Way (I Hope)
There are two ways that you can write about dreams.
The most usual way is that you tell the whole story as though it actually happened, along the lines of "This morning I noticed that there was something strange in my garage - - " and you tell the whole story about the alien spaceship and then end triumphantly "And then I woke up and it was all a dream."
"HAH!" you think, "that's clever, nobody will have thought of doing it that way. How very clever and original I am."
But of course, so many people have written about dreams that way that you've lost all readers by the third sentence, because they have realised what you're up to, and they know that, mostly, other people's dreams are just - - well - - dull.
The second way is to begin, "I had a very interesting dream last night - - " and you've lost your readers at that very moment, because other people's dreams just aren't interesting, mostly.
I'm hoping I have found a third way, which is to tell you the little - and TRUE - story that the recurring dream comes from. STAY WITH ME PLEASE NOW!
When I was small, I was on my way home from school with my mother, who was a teacher there (it's the school across the road from the house where I live now. We lived here then, too!)
We had reached the corner of our side road and we met a lady who had a child at the school, and she knew my mother. She had the child, a girl, who was even younger than I was, with her.
"And how's your hamster?" asked my mother, for the girl had recently been given a hamster as a present.
"Oh, it died," said the girl.
"Ah well," said the girl's mother, "we forgot to feed it."
I don't think my mother knew what to say to this but I expect that I gasped in horror.
"Yes," said the girl's mother, "it was running up and down the cage looking for food but we just didn't take any notice. So it died. We might get another one."
When you're only about eight, as I was, you don't know how to say things like "DIE, YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU HAVE AN ANIMAL AND NOT LOOK AFTER IT? HOW CAN YOU BE SO CASUAL ABOUT IT? DID YOU EVER WORK FOR HITLER BY ANY CHANCE?" so I don't expect that I said anything at all.
But I couldn't bear the story, simply could not bear it. And it has given me a lifetime of dreams where I'm in charge of some creature and I have forgotten to feed it. Goats (last night), dogs, cats, elephants, geckos, rabbits, sheep, chicks - - all have, in my dreams, been neglected by me, and died horrible deaths.
On the plus side, if you ask me to look after your pet whilst you go on holiday, it will almost certainly be fine. It certainly won't go hungry.
The most usual way is that you tell the whole story as though it actually happened, along the lines of "This morning I noticed that there was something strange in my garage - - " and you tell the whole story about the alien spaceship and then end triumphantly "And then I woke up and it was all a dream."
"HAH!" you think, "that's clever, nobody will have thought of doing it that way. How very clever and original I am."
But of course, so many people have written about dreams that way that you've lost all readers by the third sentence, because they have realised what you're up to, and they know that, mostly, other people's dreams are just - - well - - dull.
The second way is to begin, "I had a very interesting dream last night - - " and you've lost your readers at that very moment, because other people's dreams just aren't interesting, mostly.
I'm hoping I have found a third way, which is to tell you the little - and TRUE - story that the recurring dream comes from. STAY WITH ME PLEASE NOW!
When I was small, I was on my way home from school with my mother, who was a teacher there (it's the school across the road from the house where I live now. We lived here then, too!)
We had reached the corner of our side road and we met a lady who had a child at the school, and she knew my mother. She had the child, a girl, who was even younger than I was, with her.
"And how's your hamster?" asked my mother, for the girl had recently been given a hamster as a present.
"Oh, it died," said the girl.
"Ah well," said the girl's mother, "we forgot to feed it."
I don't think my mother knew what to say to this but I expect that I gasped in horror.
"Yes," said the girl's mother, "it was running up and down the cage looking for food but we just didn't take any notice. So it died. We might get another one."
When you're only about eight, as I was, you don't know how to say things like "DIE, YOU BITCH! HOW DARE YOU HAVE AN ANIMAL AND NOT LOOK AFTER IT? HOW CAN YOU BE SO CASUAL ABOUT IT? DID YOU EVER WORK FOR HITLER BY ANY CHANCE?" so I don't expect that I said anything at all.
But I couldn't bear the story, simply could not bear it. And it has given me a lifetime of dreams where I'm in charge of some creature and I have forgotten to feed it. Goats (last night), dogs, cats, elephants, geckos, rabbits, sheep, chicks - - all have, in my dreams, been neglected by me, and died horrible deaths.
On the plus side, if you ask me to look after your pet whilst you go on holiday, it will almost certainly be fine. It certainly won't go hungry.
posted by Daphne at 8:12 pm
8 Comments:
In previous posts you always seemed so very sane - now I think you may be certifiable like Jean in "EastEnders"!
This experience must explain your propensity for feeding everyone and everything that comes into your house (or garden).
By the way, why goats? Have you by any chance been to see Northern Broadsides' production of Heidi? Or maybe you are about to see it? That could explain the goats cos they talk about/do a lot of eating in the show (as well as going 'baa' a lot)
PS the girl and the girl's mother should have been reported to the RSPCA
So that's what you mean when you say "Hello Gareth, pet. Come in".
I've had recurring dreams to for much of my life.
One is that I still wear a brace or retainer.
The other is the final term of university, realising I've got too much work on, being unable to cope and then failing (this didn't happen, I got a 2.1 incidentally).
Or, you can go to a Gestalt counsellor and work on it, as remembered and recurring dreams are projections of oneself which have been ignored or rejected or suppressed. Ha! Bet you're sorry you mentioned it now. ;)
Hey, excellent post for a first time reader!! Have to say that I've never read a post quite like it. The casual throw away line about the pet running up and down looking for food but they still didn't feed it.... OMG!!!
yeah they should have been reported, and what did your Mam say to this?
I keep having re-occuring dreams where my Teeth are falling out, happens quite a bit actually, but that may be cos i hate my teeth yet have somewhat of an obession over them
and as a child i can imagine that would have a huge impact on you. I hope you Mam stopped talking to that woman
XxX
I've had the one about all my teeth falling out also, usually about a hundred teeth or so, far too many. And also the one where I'm nude in the middle of Picadilly Circus or the lobby of some fancy hotel and trying to hide behind a potted palm or something. But never the one about failing to feed a pet.
Which reminds me, I'm going on holiday next week and need someone to look after my pterodactyl....
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