The Oddest Dream I've Had Yet

It was a crisp morning and the ice had not yet thawed from the brook behind the stables. I awoke earlier than usual and accomplished chopping a day's amount of fuel and hauling it from the wood field, up the hill, and into my home with the strength of my back. I got the fire started (making a mental note to purchase more matches next time I journeyed into town) and boiled water for coffee.

The house warmed and the rich scent of my Colombian roast melted through the room. Rubbing the shadow of scruff on my jaw, I rocked back in my chair and puffed heartily at my pipe. As the smoke of my exhale swirled about my head like dizzy trout in a current, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to dream.


It was the most queer dream I have ever had.

I dreamed I was a 20 year old female, living in the year 2009--quite the stretch for my imagination, but it was oddly vivid. I was of short stature, with long bonny hair and nimble little feet. I wore trousers like a man and guzzled coffee as I do when I am awake. I remember entering a large building, illuminated strangely from the inside, though it was well past dusk. I made my way to a series of glowing rectangles and sat myself down before one. My fingers moved naturally to a tray of smooth pebbles with letters stamped upon each one, individually. My little fingers began stamping away at the pebbles and lo! characters and words began emerging before me on the glowing rectangle, as if they had been slumbering behind the frost of white, and melted through to the forefront.

The stamping went on for quite some time, until I heard the sound of a click--somewhat akin to the snapping of a twig, and I awoke in a cold sweat. My fire had died out and the tobacco leafs had tumbled onto the ground, along with my pipe which lied, reposed, next to my boot.

Running my hands over my beard, I was relieved to discover I was yet a man. But the stamping sound from my dream echoed throughout the day and generated the most irking sensations.