monday night dream

I was nearly horizontal 12 feet in the air. I hugged the tree trunk desperately, my feet hooked over a smaller branch. Below me the massive form of the gray coated bear circled; panting and growling. My muscles quivered from the strain of suspending myself in the awkward position. With a grunt the bear lifted itself onto its hind legs and reached toward me. His massive jaws and frothing mouth were directly below my belly. I could feel the wet heat of his breath on my skin. I knew that if he reached me he would drag me down and he and his cub would tear me to pieces.

I woke up in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding so heavily I was sure it would wake my wife. To my left I could see the glow of 3:05 on the digital clock on my night table. I was wide awake.

The dream began on a beach. I was walking toward a jetty of broken rocks. The voice in my head explained that the drugged whale wouldn’t drown because it had made its way to the beach where it would sleep. As I moved toward the rocks I made out the form of a thrashing black mass half covered in the breaking waves. Smaller forms circled on the beach and in the water splashing and barking. The young seals on the beach were trying to make their way past the killer whale back to the safety of the pack while the older seals desperately tried to keep the whales attention.

“He’s hunting the seal pups. He’ll be fine. Don’t feel sorry for the hippo’s. They have these special antlers.” The voice explained.

As I turned away from the scene, 30 feet in front of me stood an odd creature. It was a bear with antlers. The kind of antlers the voice had mentioned. The creature looked at me but with only moderate interest. As I looked down a set of the antlers sat at my feet. “You can use those to defend yourself” I reached down and picked up the white antlers. A piece of skull the two small jagged limbs. I held the surprisingly light structure in my hands. Looking it over carefully, I couldn’t quite figure out how it could be used in my defense.

I took advantage of the bear-alopes disinterest and moved back along the beach away from the odd scene. I could sense the bear behind me and knew I had to press forward or risk being chased and eaten. My progress along the beach was blocked by densely grown evergreen bushes. Knurled arm-size branches snaked inches over the sand. The dense tangles of smaller branches twisting upwards with deep green spoon shaped leaves formed impassable barriers. The maze of clear passage led me away from the beach and through low loose sand dunes toward a road running parallel to the beach. Through the bushes I could see the shape of two more bears: a large gray adult moving along the berm and a smaller cub following 100 feet behind; the cub complaining loudly. I knew that behind me somewhere was the bear-alope and I had to move ahead.

I waited as long as I could for the cub to pass and then I quickly and as quietly as possible made my way to the road. I moved through the hot heavy sand, stumbling and tripping as I tried to move forward. As I fell forward and drug myself along dried branches and thorns stabbed into my hands. A car sped by. I wasn’t close enough to get the drivers attention for him to stop and get me out.

I stood at the roads edge. The searing heat rising from the road boiled inside my strained lungs with each heavy breath. To my right the bears stopped and turned toward me. I thought I might be far enough away that I could run to safety down the road in the other direction.

I never stopped to see them chase. I knew they would. The crunch of gravel slipping beneath my feet was all I could hear. How long could I run before they caught me? I had to find someplace to hide. The tree had to be big enough that they couldn’t take it down and small enough for me to scale.

There it was; to my left; through a small clearing; a small tree with several small trunk shoots. Not many branches to scale but I could get high enough…maybe. Still not looking I jumped up and scrambled. I wasn’t high enough and they were coming. My legs were well within their reach. They could easily grab and drag me down. I hugged the trunk and walked my feet up a parallel trunk as high as I could get them. I couldn’t do this for long. The bears were below me now circling and growling. They tried to decide if I was food, sniffing and wondering how easy I would be to kill. Would they give up before I fell? My muscles strained and quivered. I imagined them tearing me to pieces.

I woke up in a cold sweat. I was wide awake. Why can’t I get a whole nights sleep any more.