The Lion Dream
Before the journey there was the dream.
THE DREAM
It’s almost dark. I’m standing with my back to the dark wall of a small wooden cabin. I look out into the dusk light; across the gravel road that sweeps across my field of vision right to left, to the darkening green vegetation hanging over and beyond the road. I pick out the sentinel boles of trees and climbers amid the furious undergrowth. I strain to see the unknown thing I know is out there. I can feel it. I am here because it is coming.
A lone cricket begins its tentative song, only to stop after a few moments. I strain my eyes harder to see into the gathering twilight. Did something move off to the right? Then I see it. Walking gracefully, unhurried, wheat colored fur bunching over muscles, the lioness comes walking down the road towards me. She doesn’t look at me, seems not to see me. My breathing has almost stopped. I want to run but cannot.
Her footfalls are silent. Only thirty feet from me now, she stops and looks across to me. The white fur of her chin seems to shine brighter than all else. She coughs from some dark animal place of wet fur and gazing green eyes. I’m unable to move; caught in the grip of fear. She looks across the distance between us, into my eyes and I look back. With a sudden swing of her head she resumes walking along the road, continuing past the cottage, and soon disappears into the twilight. Not now, not yet ... her eyes told me. Suddenly my dreamfright relaxes its grip and I ran.
I sat up violently in bed with a shout. It was dark, and I lay in my bed. Beside me Sue rose sleepily on one elbow. “Are you O.K.?” she asked.
Trying to breath deeply, I’m searching for the dream, which woke me, find it, and pull it back until it is clear in my thoughts. “I was in a forest. By a house. It was almost dark.” I looked at Sue before continuing. She was being very patient.
“Then a lion came. Came walking down the road out of the forest. I couldn’t move.”
Interested she asked, “Did it try and get you?”
“No. It just looked at me. But I think it wanted to come back.”
Sue looked over at our alarm clock. It was three a.m. “Look, if your O.K. I’m gonna go back to sleep. Alright?”
“I’m O.K.” We snuggled up, and I put my arm around her. I thought lazily about my dream for a short time before following Sue into sleep.
* * * * *
A week later my dream-self was again standing beside the wooden cabin in the deepening twilight. I remembered this place from the last dream and guessed what was out there this time. I could feel it in the forest around me. In the air even. Expectation. Something was about to happen. Then, as last time, the lioness came walking down the gravel road from my right, slipping in and out of night shadows, as she approached. As before I couldn’t move. Again she stopped and looked at me, and again she turned away and continued walking down the road to the left, out of view.
I jerked out of sleep and made some sort of noise. I sat up breathing heavily in the bedroom. From beside me Sue asked, “Bad dream?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m alright now.”
After a time I heard Sue’s even breathing. I quietly got out of bed and found my way to the bathroom, to shaken to sleep right away.
From this point on the dream came to me every week to ten days, always in more or less the same fashion. Then, after about three months or so, the dream began to change. I had gotten almost used to the dream, and no longer woke up afterward. When it happened the change was a surprise.
This time I became aware that I was standing on the gravel road. It stretched ahead of and behind me into the twilight. All around lay the dark forest. Off to my left a gravel drive led down to the wooden cottage I remember from before. In one of the windows a yellow light shone dimly. As I was looking around at this scene the feeling of expectation seized me. I knew the lion was coming, and began to feel panic about being out on the road. I looked up the road to see if I could spot her. Something moved in the shadows a hundred feet away.
I started to walk quickly towards the cabin. Glancing over my shoulder I saw the lioness trotting after me, suddenly very threatening. As I passed under a large tree branch I heard a groan above me, and looked up in horror to see a second lion, this one maned, draped over the branch, now bunching it’s rear legs to jump down upon me.
I ran. Past the cabin wall, I peeled around its corner and found a wooden door, which I flung open and slammed behind me. Breathing hard, fear making me sick, I cautiously approached the window that looked out onto the road. There in the near darkness I saw the lions prowling about, their tails slashing the air in agitation.
Again I woke with a shout and a start. “Jesus,” I breathed. This time I’m trembling violently. Sue woke up and put her arm around me and whispered to me that it would be all right.
With its new script, the lion dream came to me every week or two, scaring the shit out of me every time. The scenery never changed, and the plot rarely varied. Then, about six months after the dreams first began, they got truly terrifying. This version of the dream began where the last one left off. I now stood inside the cabin looking out on the road as night fell. Again I felt that sense of expectation. My skin crawled with it.
Looking up in the tree to the large branch overhanging the drive, I saw the male lion laying in wait. The lioness must be up the road still, I thought. I felt relieved that I was safe inside the cabin. Then to my horror I saw Sue walking down the road towards the cabin. “No,” I screamed.
“Sue!,” I yelled to her. “Run! Run! ....Lions.”
She looked up, cocked her head pointing to her ear, then waved as she continued walking towards me. I was sobbing now yelling, “No. No.”
As she passed under the branch the lion fell upon her and seized her by the throat, shaking her now lifeless body like a doll. The lioness walked up the road and joined its mate in dismembering Sue’s body. I pounded on the walls yelling for them to stop. They paused, muzzles dark, and looked in my direction, then resumed their feast.
I woke up screaming and sobbing. While Sue held me I told her what had happened in the dream. She told me not to worry, that it was just a dream, and that she was safe. After an hour I was able to lie back down. This more horrific version of the dream came to me a dozen more times. Each time I awoke trembling, near tears. Over the year during which I got these dreams Sue and I began calling them the “Lion Dream.” Then the dream stopped coming and I forgot about it. I wouldn’t think of the Lion Dream again for six more years.
THE DREAM
It’s almost dark. I’m standing with my back to the dark wall of a small wooden cabin. I look out into the dusk light; across the gravel road that sweeps across my field of vision right to left, to the darkening green vegetation hanging over and beyond the road. I pick out the sentinel boles of trees and climbers amid the furious undergrowth. I strain to see the unknown thing I know is out there. I can feel it. I am here because it is coming.
A lone cricket begins its tentative song, only to stop after a few moments. I strain my eyes harder to see into the gathering twilight. Did something move off to the right? Then I see it. Walking gracefully, unhurried, wheat colored fur bunching over muscles, the lioness comes walking down the road towards me. She doesn’t look at me, seems not to see me. My breathing has almost stopped. I want to run but cannot.
Her footfalls are silent. Only thirty feet from me now, she stops and looks across to me. The white fur of her chin seems to shine brighter than all else. She coughs from some dark animal place of wet fur and gazing green eyes. I’m unable to move; caught in the grip of fear. She looks across the distance between us, into my eyes and I look back. With a sudden swing of her head she resumes walking along the road, continuing past the cottage, and soon disappears into the twilight. Not now, not yet ... her eyes told me. Suddenly my dreamfright relaxes its grip and I ran.
I sat up violently in bed with a shout. It was dark, and I lay in my bed. Beside me Sue rose sleepily on one elbow. “Are you O.K.?” she asked.
Trying to breath deeply, I’m searching for the dream, which woke me, find it, and pull it back until it is clear in my thoughts. “I was in a forest. By a house. It was almost dark.” I looked at Sue before continuing. She was being very patient.
“Then a lion came. Came walking down the road out of the forest. I couldn’t move.”
Interested she asked, “Did it try and get you?”
“No. It just looked at me. But I think it wanted to come back.”
Sue looked over at our alarm clock. It was three a.m. “Look, if your O.K. I’m gonna go back to sleep. Alright?”
“I’m O.K.” We snuggled up, and I put my arm around her. I thought lazily about my dream for a short time before following Sue into sleep.
* * * * *
A week later my dream-self was again standing beside the wooden cabin in the deepening twilight. I remembered this place from the last dream and guessed what was out there this time. I could feel it in the forest around me. In the air even. Expectation. Something was about to happen. Then, as last time, the lioness came walking down the gravel road from my right, slipping in and out of night shadows, as she approached. As before I couldn’t move. Again she stopped and looked at me, and again she turned away and continued walking down the road to the left, out of view.
I jerked out of sleep and made some sort of noise. I sat up breathing heavily in the bedroom. From beside me Sue asked, “Bad dream?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I’m alright now.”
After a time I heard Sue’s even breathing. I quietly got out of bed and found my way to the bathroom, to shaken to sleep right away.
From this point on the dream came to me every week to ten days, always in more or less the same fashion. Then, after about three months or so, the dream began to change. I had gotten almost used to the dream, and no longer woke up afterward. When it happened the change was a surprise.
This time I became aware that I was standing on the gravel road. It stretched ahead of and behind me into the twilight. All around lay the dark forest. Off to my left a gravel drive led down to the wooden cottage I remember from before. In one of the windows a yellow light shone dimly. As I was looking around at this scene the feeling of expectation seized me. I knew the lion was coming, and began to feel panic about being out on the road. I looked up the road to see if I could spot her. Something moved in the shadows a hundred feet away.
I started to walk quickly towards the cabin. Glancing over my shoulder I saw the lioness trotting after me, suddenly very threatening. As I passed under a large tree branch I heard a groan above me, and looked up in horror to see a second lion, this one maned, draped over the branch, now bunching it’s rear legs to jump down upon me.
I ran. Past the cabin wall, I peeled around its corner and found a wooden door, which I flung open and slammed behind me. Breathing hard, fear making me sick, I cautiously approached the window that looked out onto the road. There in the near darkness I saw the lions prowling about, their tails slashing the air in agitation.
Again I woke with a shout and a start. “Jesus,” I breathed. This time I’m trembling violently. Sue woke up and put her arm around me and whispered to me that it would be all right.
With its new script, the lion dream came to me every week or two, scaring the shit out of me every time. The scenery never changed, and the plot rarely varied. Then, about six months after the dreams first began, they got truly terrifying. This version of the dream began where the last one left off. I now stood inside the cabin looking out on the road as night fell. Again I felt that sense of expectation. My skin crawled with it.
Looking up in the tree to the large branch overhanging the drive, I saw the male lion laying in wait. The lioness must be up the road still, I thought. I felt relieved that I was safe inside the cabin. Then to my horror I saw Sue walking down the road towards the cabin. “No,” I screamed.
“Sue!,” I yelled to her. “Run! Run! ....Lions.”
She looked up, cocked her head pointing to her ear, then waved as she continued walking towards me. I was sobbing now yelling, “No. No.”
As she passed under the branch the lion fell upon her and seized her by the throat, shaking her now lifeless body like a doll. The lioness walked up the road and joined its mate in dismembering Sue’s body. I pounded on the walls yelling for them to stop. They paused, muzzles dark, and looked in my direction, then resumed their feast.
I woke up screaming and sobbing. While Sue held me I told her what had happened in the dream. She told me not to worry, that it was just a dream, and that she was safe. After an hour I was able to lie back down. This more horrific version of the dream came to me a dozen more times. Each time I awoke trembling, near tears. Over the year during which I got these dreams Sue and I began calling them the “Lion Dream.” Then the dream stopped coming and I forgot about it. I wouldn’t think of the Lion Dream again for six more years.