Friday, August 6, 2010

rude awakening


I was on a balcony and I saw my cat, Emma, in the crepe myrtle and there was a big snake, yellow with brown specks with a brownish head reaching out to bite her. I could see the intent in the snake's eyes as it opened wide it's mouth stretching out towards the cat. I tried yelling at the snake and at Emma but they ignored me so I reached out and grabbed one of the trunks and shook it and the cat and snake were gone. I looked down and saw Emma on the ground. I thought she didn't get bit. Next I'm picking her up and she has two big lumps which erupt and blood starts streaming out. I run into the house to change clothes (I'm in pajamas which I never wear). I start rummaging through my dresser, three huge drawers or a huge suit case with three big zipper compartments. I have to close each zipper before I can open the next. I can't find any of my clothes although the drawers or compartments are full. I keep asking how my g'kids clothes or Marc's clothes got in my drawers. I'm throwing clothes out frantic because it is taking so much time and finally find a top and some shorts and change. Next I am in the car going to take the cat to a vet. One of my g'girls is driving and I'm a bit nervous because she has to make two left turns in traffic. The vet is just down the block. It's a small white house set far back on a big lawn. I hope she is there and the gate is open and lights are on. But the second gate or door is closed and I'm having trouble with it. Next the door is opening and the vet is calling me by name to come in. She remembers me from my previous visits. It's Amy, (one of my gallery owners) We sit at a long table, there are lots of people, all women I think, sitting along it. She pours us a glass of wine and a small liqueur. She gets out a ledger and starts writing in it. I tell her that Blackie (a cat I had long ago) is dead and so is the other one (another cat I had had). Just then another cat has jumped onto the table and Emma is rubbing faces with him. This just astounds me as Emma does not play well with others, does not like other cats. Eventually I manage to tell the vet/Amy that Emma was snake bit though she seems fine. Amy picks her up and looks at her and wants to know what the snake looked like, how big. The woman sitting next to me gets up and brings back some cracker things. I look back at the table and it is covered with treats, small pastries and fruit cups, mostly berries and puddings or sauces. It's turned into a sort of bacchanal. Everyone is festive and eating and drinking. I pick up a small plate of crackers and take a few and pass it on and someone hands me a small glass with some sort of fruity sauce in it. I looked down to the end of the table and the woman sitting there has a footed cake plate piled high with berries and puddings in small paper cups and she picks up several at a time and puts them in her mouth, paper and all. I'm a little shocked by this and ask someone if she's eating the paper. Someone replies that it's not paper but sugar. I'm looking around for my wine glass and when I start to pick it up Amy pours me more until the glass is overflowing. I start to think that this is all just a little weird and look around for the cat so I can leave. Next I am outside and the house is in the background and I'm talking to someone but don't remember what they are saying about where I just came from. It's gets fuzzy here because the cat is in the bedroom and meowing meowing loudly waking me up. She's very insistent and I am resisting trying to continue/remember the dream. She won't let up until I am awake and then runs out of the room. 


I stumbled out of the bedroom and asked Marc what's up with the cat. She didn't want out, didn't want to be fed. “She just wants you up as nearly as I can tell” he says to me. Now that I'm up, she's laying on the floor sleeping.


27 comments:

  1. I didn't realize this was a dream at first. You had me going. WOW.

    We've have been talking a lot about dreams in our home lately and even my beloved MIL brought up one she had yesterday while we were chatting on the phone.

    Weird. Fascinating. But weird. :)

    SkippyMom

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wild dream! I would have woken up exhausted on that one. Ha!
    Glad your cat was not bitten by a snake.
    Hugs
    SueAnn

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm with Skippy..at first and then I realize. Wow, dreams can stick with you and "haunt" you. I sometimes ponder mine for days...never do figure them out. Good luck with this dooooozie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow. Good Alice in Wonderland dream. I would be annoyed with the cat for waking me up!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What did you have to eat last night ?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yep, sounds like the kind of dreams I have - except they don't usually involve a cat. I'm a dog dreamer (usually they can talk in my dreams).

    Your cat is gorgeous by the way, if that's a picture of her.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Typical cat behaviour, dream or no dream.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Emma woke you up cuz she didn't like the dream. Once you were awake, her job was done.

    Nice writing. Wonderful, vivid, well paced and I was captured from the get go. Thanks for the ride.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow. How come I never have dreams like that!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ellen, you scared the piss out of me, because i thought she had really been bit, at first. I'm so glad she wasn't and that you and she are all right.

    I have had dreams, very rarely, where something happens to one of my pets, and when I wake up I just want to hug 'em and love on 'em til they're sick of me.

    Is that Emma in the picture? She's so beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  11. ellen - i'm so damn smart i figured this must be a dream but the really interesting part i think is when you unpack what it's all about. i like the idea that dreams are actually just about you and your life and everything that connects to all of that. so unpack it. what's it all about? steven

    ReplyDelete
  12. Maybe she was REALLY in that dream and wanted you to wake up and end it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dreams can be very strange and you should look it up on one of the dream sites. At least yours had a happy ending!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I guess when a person is insane, their waking lives might get to be as confused as their dreams. Not that you or I would know, oh no, not us.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You have a genuine passion in your pen, my compliments!

    O
    R

    Du har ett äkta glöd i pennan, mina komplimanger!

    Agneta, the swedish one ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow what a dream! It's archetypal and mundane and has everything in it from the story of the Garden of Eden to the current day. Whoa.

    What was going on in your mind that day, Ellen?

    ReplyDelete
  17. I loved the way that was a dream but you made it sound like a stry at first. I used to do that with loads of my dreams, it was great fun.

    Great post.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I loved this. This was just like many of my dreams, especially the drawers with the ziplock bags. And you're in such a panic to get to the vet and then when you get there, it seems like a better idea just to eat fruity things and drink wine. So funny!

    ReplyDelete
  19. You wicked, wicked woman! Here I was all shiny eyed thinking something awful happened to the kitty!

    What a dream indeed! And what a way to tell a story!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Yikes... I just stumble into your dream from the golden fish.... and wasn't quite sure it was a dream at first. Whacky, and so very familiar as dreams go! Your kitty looks just like my Pasha cat who I just posted about over at www.ravenwoodforest.blogspot.com - he just chased a bear! Gotta love those Maine Coons.... or Norwegian Forest Cat?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Your cat Emma is so lucky to have you. Great blog! Have a great week :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'm impressed that you remember so much of any dream. Most of mine peter out into vague remembrances, much to my disappointment. Wonder what it all meant?

    ReplyDelete
  23. I think the cat wanted to exit the dream and had to wake you to get out!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I knew it had to be a dream! I always wear things I never wear in dreams :).

    ReplyDelete
  25. I did know this was a dream. It was the rummaging through the drawers trying to get dressed. I can't have an anxiety dream that doesn't involve not being able to find clothes to put on. Or running through airports with two minutes to catch a plane. Or there's that one about having to take a dump in a public place. But I digress.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Wonderfully imagined and told in that long....paragraph of stream of consciousness.

    ReplyDelete
  27. I had a weird dream recently and wrote it all down as soon as I woke up - spookily I started to realise what it meant....
    I'm glad this turned out to be just a dream

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.