The Dream

It appeared as though the world was on fire. The hope was awakened time and time again through the word of the prophets, the poets, the writers of words and the singer of songs. A utopia was a pipe dream but a group of people with a vision for peace, love and understanding regardless of color, creed or religion was a possibility.


"This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place, and I think you people have proven something to the world: that a half a million kids can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing *but* fun and music, and I God bless you for it!" -MAX

Enjoying the smoke of good marijuana many times a day helped slow the anxiety as one waited for peace in the world.

All we are saying, is give peace a chance...J. Lennon

I drifted off to sleep enjoying the knowledge that I could sleep in the next morning. No work. It was Sunday. This did not stop my father however from coming into my room early in the morning. Boxer shorts, hair standing on end from his use of Vaseline as a hair cream.

"You're gonna be late for work," he would shout.

"Dad! It's Sunday."

"Oh," was his reply and he would stumble back to bed.

I slept soundly until I drifted into a vast plain. A gravel bed extended from horizon to horizon. Lined up into columns, one on the right and another on the left, also extending from horizon to horizon, stood what appeared to be soldiers. Like the ones seen in those old religious movies about Jesus. Or perhaps like in the Spartacus movie. Helmets, short swords, bronze chest guards. It was large and I was small, standing somewhere in between these long military ranks.

A voice boomed in an unintelligible language and I understood it plainly. I couldn't translate into English but I did understand. At least I was trying to understand. I thought that I understood. Then the voice spoke in a volume akin to that of a fireworks report on a summer night. You could hear the sound carry on the wind and feel it hit your chest.

"YOU HAVE A WORK TO DO FOR JESUS CHRIST!"

I awoke in a start. My breath was caught and my heart raced for release from within my chest. I had to walk, to pace, in an effort to calm myself.


What in the hell was that, I asked myself. A slight disorder of the stomach? An undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato?

I fell back asleep and thought no more of it.