He jolted awake from the most bizarre dream.
He raised his head from the open book he’d been reading. He closed his eyes, sat still, seeing the images again. There is a young girl, she is walking quietly through a large garden. She seems to be coming towards him. There are mythical creatures throughout the place, under bushes, in trees, burrowed underground, none of them readily visible. This fact causes him to ask himself how he could possibly know that they are there. Suddenly, they each hear a rustle and turn to see a large snake winding through a leafy bough. Beneath, stands a lamb, its innocence somehow clashing with the evil above. A small flock of doves rise up and a sense of peace settles once more over the place.
The youngster draws closer, he can see now that she carries a basket. He is not sure whether she is smiling or grinning. She lifts the cloth and takes out a small jar, then puts the basket down between them. She is quite obviously grinning now, as she unscrews the lid. Dipping her fingers in, she scoops out a large portion of dark brown paste. Jamming her fingers into her mouth she begins eating the unidentifiable goo with a great deal of relish. He simply stands and watches as this is repeated several times. Finally, she drops the jar and raises her hand to show that it’s covered with the stuff. She moves closer and without warning slaps his face!
He sits blinking for a while. What a peculiar dream! He now realises that it must have been the unexpected slap that woke him. Looking back down at his book, he wonders whether it was this that brought such a strange reverie about. Although he could hardly imagine this could create such peculiar images. The book itself being a fairly dry read; basically a reference work on the psychological analysis on the categorisation of logic. He smiles at his attempt to blame the book. He felt it was high time that he returned to reality. He got up. In the bathroom, he ran some cold water. He was wetting his hands in order to rinse his face when he noticed marks across his cheek. He peered closely, but could not make out what it was.
He dried his hands and gently wiped some off with his fingertips. He licked them.
Vegemite!
