The dream started with awareness of being in the upper reaches of a tall tower. Two others were there near the top with me, women by the sound of their voices and the glimpses I caught of their hurried movements. Through the center of the building ran a broad shaft, reaching all the way up and down, fully enclosed by the building’s superstructure. At first, I was afraid of approaching the railing at the edge of the shaft, preferring to wander the darkened corridors that made up the building’s higher floors.
After a while, however, I leaned over the railing and found the pair of women clinging adeptly to rafters. They were reaching black plastic shopping bags filled with laundry up and down, a thousand feet of open air between them and what looked like a lobby area, far below. I exchanged a few words with the laundry movers, a pleasant conversation which I no longer remember. Other humans were at work in the lobby, tiny figures who were rearranging large pieces of furniture. A sense of knowing filtered up to me, the notion that there is yet time for me to procreate, that I have permission to do so.
Making my way down to the tower’s lower levels to get a closer view of what was going on (as in many dreams I don’t know exactly how I got down, merely that of a sudden I had arrived), I noticed an immense hall stretching out to one side. Its entrance was staffed by a female maitre d’ who was standing at an upright lecturer’s pulpit, a rectangular box made of dark wood complete with bronze reading lamp. She and I exchanged a few words, which I do not remember. No matter to which side of her I moved, I could not clearly see her face; a curtain of long brown hair hid it too well. The only visible feature was a sidelong glancing eye that flashed my way, keeping me in view. The hall before us was so long I could not fathom its end. Seemingly endless rows of columns with horseshoe arches such as those found in Muslim architecture - the Moorish Alhambra castle in Spain, for example - rose from the floor of the hall to its ceiling. The gate guardian and I stood on an elevated platform that looked down onto the polished expanses of stone flooring below.
I made my way over to one of the columns for to get a closer look. The column itself was made of a solid length of blue-green marble, whereas its upper reaches appeared to be covered with snakeskin leather. I said words of praise about the unique construction and reached out a hand to feel the snakeskin, which was loose and supple to the touch.
Then, I awoke from the dream and carried the restless dachshund, who shares with me my bed, back to the kitchen so she could void her bowels.
americanifesto / JPR / whorphan / 場黑麥
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