Animal Dreams

The thesaurus gives "woolgather" as an alternative to the word dream. It's appropriate I think, for a dream about animals.

  In the first of the two animal dreams that I had had  I was walking up a country road, it was familiar to me as I had driven it many times when I had lived in Missouri, there were scraggely trees and brush along the sides of the road. I came upon an iguana sitting on a bare branch it was frowning at me allmost like it was disgusted. I had a long stick in my hand and began to poke at the lizard and saying to it, "cheer up Mr. Lizard, smile." The iguana began to smile, as it did an alligator came into view from behind the brush that grew on one side of the tree. It was coming at me with its jaws wide open into one of those evil alligator smiles. (crocodiles aren't the only reptile that smiles at you) I turned to get away and my feet were tangled, they were like rubber and didn't want to cooperate with me. I bent to straighten my tangled feet so I could run, but it was like being in thick mud. I turned to face what I thought was the inevitable. The croc had stopped, its mouth still wide the corners still turned up in that hideous reptilian smile, then I awoke...

  ... Shortly after I fell back to sleep again and had the second animal dream.
I was standing in the driveway of the house I had grown up in (I have not lived there in over 30 years), edging the grass with one of those old style edgers that sort of look like a spur on a stick (God I hated those things). There was a hedge that had seperated our property from the neighbors. I heard a noise and a pig comes rushing out at me. I fend it off with the edger. Looking around I find an old metal garbage can lid and use it as a sheild. The pig comes at me again and I get it on the snout with my spur on a stick. It squeels and runs back through the shrubs into the neighbors yard. I pick up a quartz stone and go to throw it at the pig, as I am throwing the rock in its direction I notice that in the middle of the neighbors yard is a big mud waller full of pigs. (dureing this time the sun is begining to set, turning the sky into a strange orange color) The pig comes back once more, charging at me, I hit it hard again with my strange yard implement lance and once again it squeels away back towards the rest of the pigs. As it approaches them wings sprout out of his body and he takes flight. The rest of the pigs follow, all sprouting wings and flying off. From out of the direction that the swine flew came a site as unbelievable as the first. Through the darkening orange sky a small heard of pegasus' flew past. I stood and stared in disbelief untill they were out of site. I ran into the house to tell my parents, looking for them upstairs (which is odd for a one story house) I tried and tried to tell them but they wouldn't listen. I wasn't sure if they didn't care or didn't believe. I awoke.

I'm not quite sure as to what to think of dreams like these. I don't even know what would trigger such dreams. They say all dreams have a purpose and a meaning, but I'll be damned if I know what these were about. My Grandmother used to tell me not to eat pickles before bed, that they would give me nightmares, fortunately I have grown to look forward to nightmares. They give me something to write about.

                                                                 Pleasant dreams