The Challenge

I often dream about my family, my father , my sisters, my mother and brother. The dreams are always very tense and complex, often involving complicated plots, and elaborate sets, in large houses, or big train stations where I try to board in time to get home. Last night was no exception, except this time, the dream took place in ancient times. Perhaps brought on by my son talking about his visit to the Seattle Art Museum yesterday, as he shared his impressions on the Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Greek exhibits. The dream took me to immediate action. I was a prisoner waiting to fight in a stadium owned by a very large man who seemed to be a Hun. My mother and sisters were prisoners too, but he made them slaves in his extensive harem. He decided he did not like my defiant attitude, so, I was destined to die in a fight to the death with a mean looking dude. Great, I thought, but I am going to get out of here. The fight was not scheduled for several days, and that gave me a chance to make friends with a guy who took an interest in my situation, and offered to disguise himself as a woman and take my place. He was my height, skin tone and hair colour, and build, so it could work. The plan was to give me a chance to intimidate my opponents by the time it was actually my turn to go out there and fight, and I remember feeling very confident I could do that, an emotion perhaps instilled in my dream by my actually being a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. The guy who became my fast friend in the dream also gave me a tiny, very sharp knife that fit in the palm of my hand and taught me how it razorsharply cut a throat very quickly and invisibly while giving a throat blow with a closed fist. He said he had used the technique successfully several times, but he was afraid he was running out of time. He said he could help me escape when the time was right, to which I readily agreed, thinking we would be able to return and save my sisters and mother, but that plan would also take careful thinking and planning. I manged to survive my first fight after my friend switched places back with me. So, our plan was working, and that gave me hope. I woke up at that point in the dream, but was able to get back to it once I fell asleep again. I spoke to my mother and sisters about the escape plan, but they wanted to stay in the harem, they liked their new clothes and the good food. They promised to not betray me, but the whole thing made me nervous. My friend decided it was too dangerous to delay, so we both got out through a tunnel he had found in one of the outer walls when he had followed a guard on night duty. A horse was waiting for us, and we rode away fast and hard, as we heard the horn blow for escaped prisoners. I woke up with a jolt, like someone had dropped me from above back into my bed. I have always had very vivid dreams, but this one really got my attention, because it was very fast paced and exciting and because it was set in a different era. Most of my dreams were set in current times. I told my husband and son about the dream,and they cracked up,shaking their heads. My son said : " That mama, even in her dreams she is a firecracker and fighting her way out." I was proud they thought I was a fighter, I guess I have had to be to, which suits me just fine.