Exercise #4

Exercise #4 - Mac

Author: * MacMorna Niafer - 4 Posts on this thread out of 2,698 Posts sitewide.
Date: Mar 10, 2008 - 19:22

OK – So now you’re all going to KNOW that old Mac is truly nuts! Though I do not normally bore others with my dreams, I felt this was a perfect fit with the "What Kind of Animal Are You?" topic. This is one of those recurring dreams, and it is always about the same. Sometimes it runs a little longer but it gets muddled after this part. One night, a while ago, I woke from this dream and tried to capture it in words. In reality, it is more a series of sensory impressions, so words cannot do it justice.

What kind of animal am I? I am not sure. I have only one clue. When a fox passes through the neighborhood, everyone says "EWWW! "What’s that smell?" Not me, though. I am filled with a feeing of warmth and companionship and, yes, I think you could call it love. With that little preamble, here is my dream.

I awoke early, as is my usual custom. A yawn, a stretch and another yawn. The home was close and warm and dark. My other self was curled in the corner, wrapped protectively around the younglings. They wriggled and fought for the warmest places, making small mewling and suckling sounds.

I sniffed. Earth smells. Animal smells. Soft and musky. I sniffed again and a hint of a new smell came to me. Sharp and clear. Hard edged.

Dry grass and dead leaves rustled underfoot as I moved to the door of the home. I slipped easily between the massive roots of the old, gnarled oak and peered out thorugh the dried bracken. The world, normally dark and dappled, had turned a silvery blue-white. I rememberd from long ago, another time when the world was cold and white. Hunting was poor and it was hard to hide from the flying people. It was a time of hunger and sickness. Many of the people died. We are still many, but we would be more.

I do not want to go out into the hard white world, but we hunger. I must hunt. I must have food to be strong. My other must have food to keep her warm and to feed the younglings. Cautiously, I put a foot onto the white and pressed down. The top broke with a soft sound and my foot went through to touch the world. This would not be good. It would be too easy to find me if I left marks in the white. It would be too easy to find the home.

Slowly and quietly, I made my way through the fallen branches and other things around the base of the oak. I found a small open space where there was no white. I braced my strong legs against the base of the oak and pushed hard. I landed far away on the rotting trunk of another old tree. Another jump, and I was far enough from the home for safety. Still, I kept close to the ground-wood and tall grasses so I could hide. I would stop often to stretch up to my highest, to look and listen and sniff the air for outsiders.

I moved toward the running water and soon reached it. There was white where the water should be. Far from the edge, I could see a dark place where the running water still was. I put one foot on the white and then another. There was a cracking sound and the white started to move beneath me. I jumped back to where I had been and watched the white move away on the water. Soon there was a clear place and I could drink.

So… that’s where the dream usually fades out and I wake up. I never know if I fell in and drowned or caught something for breakfast. Very strange! Do you think I am "channeling" some ancestral fox? *G*