Clear Dreams (Short Fiction)

Caferati link

"Some men balk at miles, others at fences". The words full blown to me, and I could remember it perfectly for a long time. I thought about what it meant - some complain about how much they must do, and others about how little they are allowed to do.

It was a vast stone edifice, like a palace or museum with vaulted ceilings. I crossed a pillared hall to get to the apartments of Skip. I have written an exam before, and Skip was supposed to tell me how I fared. Also, I said to the girl who stayed outside, waiting, that I should say goodbye to Skip because I wouldn't see him again. We were obviously going away somewhere for good.

Skip received me with a smile. He said "Yours was a completely original paper, the only one that wasn't from a book." I felt pride rising like a warm liquid inside. I said I was glad. "But you didn't mumble, mumble", he said, and though I tried hard, I couldn't catch his last words. The air roared louder, and drowned out his voice.

It was raining heavily outside, the streets were puddling, and I walked mincingly across to the waiting girl. It seemed all the world was melting into liquidity. The rain fell hard from the gloomy sky, and hit the puddles and streams, making them bubble like a boiling cauldron of water.

I sat up, suddenly. In the dark, the radio was playing faintly in the background. It was 5:35, not yet time to get up. The dark kitchen feels asleep. As I started to make coffee, a faint odor of dust hangs over the place.

P'Yong is looking at my palms. Late in the evening, the sun is beginning to set in Nong Kai, at the border of Thailand and Laos, streaking the dusty sky.

He tells me I have really beautiful hands. "It will look beautiful when you do wai, like this" - he folds his hands in greeting.
He tells me he has never seen such hands before. Lotus hands, like the Buddha.

I wait for him to continue.

"What would you like to know?".
Nothing. I don't believe in his powers.

He says my career is already good, and will get better.
"But now you must do something for other people".
I've been out of work for five years. I don't have to tell him that.

He says I am deeply spiritual.
My mother is deeply spiritual. But I am an atheist. And I have not been deeply into anything, ever.

"How old are you?"
I don't want to tell.

"You have back pain."
I have never had back pain.

"You have sixth sense"
I can't recall any instance of extraordinary senses, but I want to believe it. Who doesn't want super powers?

"You must meditate -something good will happen if you meditate"

Meditate ... Does he mean concentrate ? Focus ? Think deeply about things ? Spend time introspecting ? Double-check my hypothesis? I've decided to look at his sayings as symbolic wrapper for a more practical action, not to be taken literally.

The last thing I remember him saying - "You have clear dreams".

I look up, as the coffee light clicks off. I am having trouble focusing. My hands shake slightly as I pick up the coffee.

If I passed the assignment, I will not need to think about money for the next two years. For two years, I will have a job on Skip's team, and maybe at the end of the contract, I shall get a chance to be permanently employed.
If not, I will have to consider Mandy's offer to go work for her parents in Florida. The money is far less, and there will be the question again in a year or two - what next?

As I went out the door, I hesitated for a bit. Then I picked up an umbrella.