Thursday 27 November 2014

Pillow Talk


I've always had a problem knowing what day of the week it is. I'm not talking about just being a bit absent-minded. I really have experienced considerable difficulty with this all my life.

It was an absolute nightmare when I was at school because you were liable to get beaten if you failed to hand in your homework on the day it was due. Even now, I regularly have to get my wife to tell me what day it is. Anxiety about this is something that often features in my dreams. However, the dream I had two nights ago was something else.

I found myself in a city I did not recognise and yet I knew exactly where I was going: I was going to see the wife of my cousin. I entered a house by the back door and in the kitchen were a young woman and a girl about four years old. They were both extremely alike with the same jet black hair and there was something subtly unusual about their features, though I could not say what.

The woman greeted me and I thought at first that her accent was Irish but after a while I began to doubt this. I felt quite sure I had never met her before yet she seemed to know me well enough.

She introduced her daughter and I talked to the little girl for some time. I remember nothing of our conversation except that she seemed far too intelligent for her years.

Then the woman told me I should stop worrying about the days of the week. Those were not the real days, she said, and the reason I could not fix them in my mind was simply that the shadow of the true days lay underneath them.

After saying this, she told me I should go now because her husband would be home soon and he would not like to find her talking to me. I knew then that she was no relation of mine.

A moment later I found myself out in the street once more, and a moment after that I awoke. Lying in my bed, recalling the dream, I was immediately filled with the conviction that the woman I had spoken to was a fairy.

8 comments:

DT said...

A wonderfully evocative piece of writing, and surely an opening to a future piece of work? Speaking of the faery race(s), have you read the work of Fiona Macleod?

Brian Keaney said...

Thank you very much, Derek. That's very kind. Somebody else made a comment about this sounding like the beginning of a story when I posted it elsewhere. So maybe I should seriously consider it. I haven't read Fiona Macleod. I will check her out.

Elin said...

Brian, that is a fab dream, thanks so much for sharing it. And I agree with the others - a great start for a story :)

Elin
x

Brian Keaney said...

Thank you, Elin.I do enjoy my dreams. Lovely to hear from you!

Bernice said...

That was a story it's self! Full of clues though ...

Brian Keaney said...

Well, Bernice, if you have any idea what those clues suggest, I'd be happy to hear them.

Bernice said...

I have no idea, what the meaning of the dream for you may be. I think dreams need to be interpreted individual, because they usually have personal character. Somebody close to you, will possibly interpret it best (your wife).

But this comes in my mind:

Small girl = the stories you write for children? Good stories for children are very intelligent (I have not read yours yet though).

The woman = any relation to Our Lady? She too appears from an other world, accompanied by a child.

The days of the week: In the end of our life, it is more important, what we have done with those days ("true days"), rather than knowing the names of them!

Her husband would not like to find her talking to you = are you "her husband"? Is "her husband" our own consciousness, not wanting to to talk about it ... maybe also due to traumatisation?


Just a few thoughts ...

Brian Keaney said...

Thanks very much!