Thursday, March 27, 2008
All You Can Dream
"The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me what it talked."
-Tillie Olsen
Spouse had a dream, another curious and, I expect, note-worthy dream.
We were in an Indian restaurant at Buffet Time- quite like last Saturday afternoon, as a matter of fact. We partook of an enormous feast, relished every second of it and emerged feeling rather like thundering happy elephants. That was quite real, and I can yet taste the mutton curry on my lips. I will never be used to restaurants to the extent that they are no longer a treat.
We were together, anyhow, in the nocturnal vision of my Spouse, eating our buffet lunch when suddenly he noticed that all the dream-patrons had finished eating and departed; we were the only customers left. Apparently we had eaten so much food and had sat for so long that the restaurant was about to close- and still we stayed.
It was awfully kind of the dream-waiters to let us remain for so long, given that they presumably wished to go home, but it is one of my very worst nightmares to enter a buffet or bookstore and be informed that there is not enough time to savour what I find. Rifling through bookshelves while the proprietor taps his foot; attempting to have one last plate of food while the waiters drum their fingers on the table: ghastly.
I should say that it is our nightmare; Spouse experienced it and felt terribly sad afterward, but I felt it too.
In life, and even in dreams, there is never quite enough time to have it all.
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8 comments:
Brings to mind a time during high school when I weighed 147 pounds. I went fishing on the Pearl River near Slidel, LA with two of my friends. We were at the fish camp for about three days when we decided to get a real meal. We went to a restaurant called "The White Kitchen." They served an "all you can eat" fried chicken platter there. After eight large platters, my friends and I were asked to leave. We protested that it was not all that we could eat - The management replied "but it's all you're going to get."
Wow. I wonder if they were legally allowed to do that? Still, I suppose you don't argue with people who have prior access to the food you'll be eating...
Now, that would have brought tears to my eyes, to be told to leave.
"In life, and even in dreams, there is never quite enough time to have it all."
Oh this is so what I am struggling to make sense of right now. So your post spoke straight to my heart.
Hele,
I don't feel like I have enough time, and there's so much to do. I'm so glad you liked my words. Everywhere you look there's too much noisy emphasis on what we might have had, or on how we should do this or that. We find our answers, I think, in the quiet moments. And we always find them, eventually.
You and your husband just sound like my favorite kind of folks. I was intrigued by the quote you used--I'm deep into writing a legal brief right now and someone hearing a clock talk to them was part of the evidence. I think your quote probably related less to schizophrenia and more to the relentlessness of time.
Beth,
I do think we have a lot in common.
I've always thought clocks had a certain mysterious aspect to them. Too many adventure books that featured them, I suppose...And look, there's a coincidence to back up my notion ;) Good luck with the brief.
ah what can I say, you said it all - in the dreamworld or in the lifeworld: "there is never quite enough"
wonderful images ....
Thanks, Kimy. We just need more time!
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