History In An Instant...

Perhaps the worst kinds of dreams that I have are those that have the 'end of the world' kind of element to them- but then, they are usually the ones that are the most beautiful, colourful and vivid.

One in particular that I can remember is the Shooting Star dream I had when I was somewhere in my mid-twenties. I don't remember how I get there, where I am, but I am lying under a great big tree beneath it's spreading branches, and I'm there with someone that I know. I think it is my Hubby and I guess it must be, because who else would I be there with, watching the stars with, like this- languidly sprawling like we do after fucking each other- legs intertwined bodies intermingling. You get the picture. Onwards and upwards.

We are watching the stars, comfortably talking for a change about nothing in particular when all of a sudden all of the stars in the black sky begin whizzing around the universe like flocks of fish. Darting and sporadic. It's not right seeing the galaxy behave this way, this is something worse than mere global warming, this is cataclysmic. Presumably we are also a part of this rollercaoster ride. Our own sun is also a star and is also behaving in this erratic matter; we just can't feel it that's all.

Why aren't we falling off the Earth? When we must be travelling at the speed of light or faster how is that we can't feel anything but the stillness of the world? We realise that its only a matter of time until one of those stars collide- with us or another star- which would certainly trigger an explosion of unknowable force, power enough, perhaps, to extinguish all that has ever existed. A monsoonal type storm comes upon us, and the rain and wind lashes at us viciously as we make our escape. It seems pointless to try, though, being as the whole world as we know it is surely never going to be the same.

We manage to hail down a passing bus but the driver is scared and driving dangerously. Trees and all types of other debris are being flung around by the screaming howling wind. The noise, we thought, was deafening, but was in fact nothing compared to the sonic boom that accompanies the explosion of a nearby star. For a moment there is only a blinding hot white flash. Then complete darkness. When our eyes adjust again we stare from the open door of the bus upwards to the sky and take in what we see, our sun Sol; which is now a gigantic swirling inky-black hole that has oil-slick-like shades of metallic pinks blues and greens throughout. I think I remember thinking that this was just like one of the types of marbles that I used to play with, with my Sister and her friends- they were called Oilies unless I'm making it up- but that is how that part of the sky looked to me in my mind- like a giant rippling black ink pond that had a faint oil slick on it's surface. If I could draw it for you then I would.

I know it isn't very logical. If our sun were to explode we would be history in an instant. This would be no slow starvation of the species. But at least now I feel like I've seen a black hole- and they are beautiful.

Then there are my tornado dreams to consider. I think I've had a fascination with tornados and twisters ever since I first saw the Wizard Of Oz when I was a kid. I loved the book even more than the movie though, because you also got to know about the Good Witch of the South; who isn't the witch who appears in the pink bubble at Munchkin Land, by the way. I think I would have liked to be Dorothy Gale- except for the fact she was in a land far from home and had a bad witch chasing her arse- because everytime I watched the movie the Land of Oz seemed like a pretty magical place to live.

I would have liked to have walked around that yellow brick spiral and run through the poppy fields with my little dog. I liked the idea of scareceows that can talk and flying monkeys, and I wanted to see a tree that lunch pails full of ham sandwiches as it's fruit- that part's not in the movie, either, for those of you playing alone at home. I think that there might be such a place as somewhere over the rainbow, somewhere where life is no longer drab gray but cartoon orange. As is the sky in my dream this night...

It is just before an extreme storm, you can feel the electricity brewing in the air, and people everywhere are scrambling for shelter. I am at my local shops, and am waiting for the bus. Umbrellas all around me are turning inside out- gutters are rushing with storm water and there is this feeling of escalating paniic. Miserably wet I board the bus as best I can, which isn't easy, seeing as there is no room left inside the bus and I am forced to hang on to the outside by looping my elbow through a handrail. On my hip is my infant Son, so it is not just my life that I hold in my one sweaty hand that is now becoming ridiculously slippery due to the rain. I wish for a plastic bag to shelter my son in from the cold.

The storm gathers intensity and we suddenly notice about six giant tornados streaking across the brilliant orange sky. Surprisingly, each of them has a devil-like creature at it's tail, a face of pure evil with it's forked eyebrows seething. They are haphazard; too erractic; surely a Demon tornado would follow a master plan to eradicate it's vicims.

I know it's only a matter of time until I am in it's way, on it's path, and it will soon be our turn to be carried off to somewhere over the rainbow.

Where we will ride the Horse of A Different Colour...